Demo day in VA -6/2 (Updated-post action pictures)

[PhineusPhule]

On Sat. June 2'nd one of our local game stores, FTW Games in Richmond,VA, will be having a game demo day from 1-6pm. I will be hosting a Hell Dorado demo and Free Agent dluff has agreed to travel down from NVA and host an Anima Tactics demo. I will be
posting more pictures/details over the next week or so but I will be bringing my Westerners and Demons and a fellow player will have his Lost on hand. I am feverishly working to finish my "Necropolis" themed board to have on hand that day as well. There will be other events going on past 6pm so if ever there was a good day to plan a road trip, today is the day. Check out
     http://www.ftwgames.net  
             &
     http://stonypointrefugees.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=7808   (this is a local game forum and the unofficial home of FTW)

Hope to see people there.

[PhineusPhule]

Here is a sneak peek of fellow player Erik Walton's Lost.



DLuff  will be bringing his Immortals and I am attempting to borrow a friend's Saracen for the day so we should have every faction available for players to try. Cipher has graciously agreed to send some quick start rules to the store for giveaway to those who try a demo, course if you're here reading this you probably already play. That's why you should bring that stubborn friend who refuses to commit and get him to try this great game.

[Gaueko]

I'll do my best to be there. would you prefer that I bring my own stuff, or do you have plenty?

For anyone who is on the fence, the guys at FTW are the most welcoming group of gamers that I have ever encountered.

[PhineusPhule]

Created a thread highlighting some of the Necropolis terrain I'll be using on demo day. Check it out here:

http://cipher-studios.com/forum/index.php?topic=767.0

Gaueko:
   
I would encourage you to bring your own miniatures if possible. I should have plenty available for demo purposes but encourage players to break out full blown games with one another as space and time permits. Eric will be on hand with his Lost and dluff has said he's bringing his Immortals so there are two potential opponents for you provided your comfortable with the rules.

[PhineusPhule]

Thanks to everyone who came out and tried a demo, gave away quite a few quick start rulesets. Thanks also to dluff who ran Anima Tactics and Eric who helped out.

Westerners vs. Demons in a Necropolis. Ran this demo twice.



The Lost vs Immortals on the Howling Plains of Hell



My take away from my first demo day is not to let games run too long. I tried to run full  200 pt games which gave participants a great feel for each faction and helped them grasp the basics of the rules but may have been a little too much to process. Also had to end the games before any real completion. Smaller sized warbands and maybe some simplified scenarios would speed things up and focus the game direction.

[PhineusPhule]

A small band of Saracen prepare to explore a Necroplis of Hell.



Only to be confronted by a roving band of Lost



The final confrontation which ended in mutual,total destruction

[PhineusPhule]

a selection of Anima Tactics miniatures on hand for the day



an Anima demo on the Howling Plains of Hell(?)

[Gaueko]

Had a great time at this event. To be honest, I had more or less given up on Hell Dorado, but the demo went a long way toward revitalizing my enthusiasm.

Dave did a very good job of covering the game concepts, in terms of both the background and the rules, and had a good selection of models on-hand for people to try out. The demo portion did run long, but I think that was mostly down to the participants overthinking it a little bit.

We played more of a "real game" after that, and that was a lot of fun. As at least one of the players (Erik, who was aiding Dave with the demo) was experienced and knew what he was doing, the game went a lot faster, with more fighting and less maneuvering.

Those are my saracens up there, and it was exciting to finally get to use them. I went through my Paypal records and found that I had bought them in June of 2007. I had only played with them once since then, so they were excited to finally get an opportunity to kill some evil beasts.

Dave, thanks again for the demo and maybe we can play again before too long.

[dluff]

 

Hello everyone, I must say that was fun day, ran a few demo games of Anima Tactics using about 120 points which still might be still too big for demos but overall worked out.  I even played my first game of Hell Dorado with the Immortals and really enjoyed it.  Nice to see the interest in these rules and a few gamers placing orders.  I post the pictures of the demo games on the Anima Tactics section.  Good to show gamers there is other games outside the GW world...

[inkybrushes]

Glad to see your demo was successful! Sorry I was unable to make it that day.