club open day

A couple of weekends ago the local gaming clubs, 2 or 3 of them, depending upon who you talk to, got together for their annual open day. The event is held at the community center, with an open door to everyone passing through. While its not the most visited attraction it does generate a fair bit of interest, even if that interest is just from those passing by, going to other events or clubs in the building. This is the 2nd time we've run the event and this year I pushed for a 40k presence, as last time this was lacking. Unfortunately my pushing led to me being picked to organize and run the table! With some help from a couple of other members we managed to pull off quite a good show, even if we only played two games! 

We decided to run a simplified version of the game, removing a lot of the more complex to hit and wound system. As such all units were given a basic to hit and to would roll, 3+ for both rolls for marines and 4+ for guard and all were given a set saving throw, regardless of the weapon shooting. We thought that this wouldbe the easiest way for new players to get into the game quickly, something GW have also done with the Battle for Vendros" sets. For the actual game we again borrowed from GW, using the Lost Patrol idea, only on a full size mat rather than a hex tile system. 

A small display of models, from terminator's and chapter masters through to Scions and a Company command squad

The various force options played out, Tactical Marines, Scout Marines, Scions, Imperial Guardsmen and/or veterans. At the back are the various vehicles used for extraction.

Unfortunately, I have lost the pictures from the actual games end our table layout, including a very cool setup with some old skool Kasrkins guarding a landed Valkyrie. It looked awesome, two flames each side of the tail ramp, a rifleman standing just by the wings facing backwards, having just stepped out of the side doors, and a sgts standing in the jungle clearing to the rear, looking expectantly to the jungle for the remnants of the guard squad they'd been sent to extract.

The games we played went rather well, with the scouts from the first game holding there position in the center, taking on all the nids that came within range with only one casualty due to close combat. The second game saw a squad of marines annihilating all before them as they moved at will over the board. Both games were played by young kids, about 8/10 years old and they seemed to enjoy the games, one only stopped playing because his mum told him he had to leave! Hopefully the seeds have been planted.......

There were a few issues with the game though that will need ironing out, namely the fact that the nids kept running off the table! We went for a standard 6" move in a random direction. This resulted in several units running on and then running off in quick succession! On one occasion it was a 20 "man" squad of termagaunts! Not sure how to fix this apart from keep rolling until they don't run off the board!

I hope to run this again at the club one day, but set it up a bit, make it harder and more likely to fail, challenge some of the old hands so to speak.