Overachiever's Guide to Megagame Prep
When you first attend a Megagame, simply reading the provided rules and showing up on time is enough to have a great time. After a while, you might find yourself wanting to take the step into over-preparation. Here's how I over-prepared for my first play of Den of Wolves this year.
Weeks Before the Game
Ships are separated by job and then highlighted with their country of origin.
As soon as I got the announcement of Megagame Texas hosting a game of Den of Wolves, I knew I wanted to make the trip to Austin to play. I immediately found all the resources I could on the game. From blogs to podcasts, I tried to absorb it all. I even watched an entire Livestream of an online run of Den of Wolves, just to get an idea of how the turns worked.
Before ever getting the rules, I felt confident that I had a grasp on how the game in general might play and an idea of the roles I would want to play. My go-to role is Team Lead but I had my eyes set on being Admiral. As luck would have it, that was just the role I was given.
Week of the Game
As soon as I was given the role, my prep went into overdrive. I messaged my shipmates (those who were on Discord, at least). I brainstormed different ways to distribute jump coordinates. I took meticulous notes on where ships were from and what resources they produced. I even asked my wife for all the colors of highlighter we had in the house so I could color code my notes. It was a lot (and kind of unnecessary) but it helped me get in the right head-space for fleet leadership.
I spent my drive to Austin listening to more Megagame podcasts and thinking through some ideas I had, trying to get the jumble in my head to make sense. After checking-in at my Vrbo, I referenced my notes and set about first turn assignments for my crew. I mapped out what tasks I wanted the Aegis crew to do in Turn 1, with redundancy to check for any suspicious activity (both internal and external).
First Officer and Flight Wing Commander: get an accurate gauge of what our fighter strength is and what we need to get the fleet fighting at max capacity
Me and Logistics Officer: Figure out what everyone needs
Having a firm grasp on an opening helped me keep the game in front of me and, ultimately, lead to what I feel was a very successful run of the game. You can read about it here. The color coded ship guide was super useful and multiple people asked to reference it throughout the game.
Now, remember, you don’t need to do anywhere near this level of prep for a Megagame. Sometimes, however, it can be fun to go a bit overboard though.
