Coat of Paint Battle Reports - Which Style?

With the possibility of a camera in the near future, I thought it was time to talk about the details of my Coat of Paint Battle Reports.

When I got in to wargaming, I spent a lot of time on YouTube and forums looking for ways to improve. After a few days, I started seeing people throwing the term "bat reps" around. After sheepishly asking what they meant, they explained battle reports to me.

The term is pretty telling. A battle report will usually be a written retelling of a game with photos taken of key events. It usually gives a turn-by-turn analysis (usually glancing over the inconsequential details), including die rolls, unit movement, how they interacted with terrain, etc. Here's a basic example.

My preferred battle report style, however, is a full-blown video report that does the same thing. These are a bit more diverse, and I find some methods better than others. Most video bat reps use a banter style report, which basically puts you in the room as the game is played. It's entertaining for people who have time for a longer video, enjoy hearing the players banter, and are knowledgeable enough in the game that they don't need explanations of the more intricate rules of the game.

Here is the best example of such a style. This has a much higher production value than you'll usually see because this is done by a big name channel during a tournament's final match. Typically you'll see the full duration of a game, with edits done only during long stretches of "dead air."



On the other end is a very concise style that better resembles the written style. This is my favorite kind because it gives the commentator a lot of control over the video. Large snippets can be cut down, movement can be sped up, crucial explanations can be given, and for the most part it allows a 3 hour game to be finished in 10-20 minutes.

The down side to these is that you're being read a script and given the facts. It also puts a lot of pressure on the commentator, because you can't just record a game, edit out a few minutes of unnecessary content, and post it. You need to record the game so that you know everything that happened when you watch it (which means explaining every action out loud), then you need to go back, edit the video down to the bare essentials, and then make sure you adequately explain what's happening without the on-screen action getting away from you.

Here are two examples. The first is from MiniWargaming.com which I think popularized this style. The second is by WarGamerGirl, who has taken MWG's style and pushed it beyond its limits.

WarGamerGirl's style is a bit longer, but tracking the damage and such is worth the extra time.

So you can see how difficult it can be to get these things off the ground. I'm still undecided about which style I'll use. One is quick to post but long to see, the other is quick and easy to digest, but takes a lot of work. I imagine I'll test both and see which I prefer, so be sure to give me feedback before and during the process. I may even try a few written ones, but I find them dreadfully boring to read, so that may be a "for emergencies only" style.

And that's the state of the bat reps so far. I'll be back with final details once I figure out the specifics, but I thought you guys would be interested to see what's coming up.

See you tomorrow!