Hi everyone,
As with my last article, there was a bit of a lag following Adepticon, but I am excited to bring you the follow up article for the Warhammer Fantasy event.
1. So how did the story go? What was the epic conclusion of the narrative?
Our epic finale was an extremely close victory, with order barely eking out a win with 641 points to 631 points for destruction, All this after the forces of order barely taking back the field after being down about 20 points in the previous round. It was amazing to see the close swings that went back and forth between players duking it out over control. To my great sorrow and frustration (that is for sure going into the book) my notes were not saved on my laptop after the event so the exact run down was sadly lost. Going off memory however, just shy of 60,000 points of models were slain with over 100 banners being captured, over 60 heroic heads being taken and just shy of 30 generals losing their lives. I believe that destruction had taken the most generals and banners to Khorne’s pleasure, while order slew more heroes of chaos and secured the most BSBs. Next year these records will not be lost to the ages and shall be inscribed in stone if needed to ensure their telling.
2. In your opinion what was the best moment of the event (ie. Epic save roll, narrative moment, etc.)
Honestly I don’t have a personal best moment, as I wasn’t able to play in the event, but I did witness many epic deeds and glorious failures. Certainly, the most memorable moment I recall watching was a chaos warrior player, round 1, having his daemon prince nuke half his opponent’s army with purple sun, regaining all his dice to effectively get a second magic phase…only to watch the same player round 2 fail to cast it four times with the fifth time misfiring the spell on top of him sending him into the dark abyss. Clearly not maintain the favor of his dark gods or nuffle, managing to barely lose both missions even with the initial triumph round 1.
3. Reflecting back on the day, what things went better than you had hoped?
The things that went better than expected, and blew me away, were players’ reception to the different style missions and rules packet. They were way more positive than I expected. With objectives being a new concept to fantasy, I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. Everyone came with good attitudes, and all seemed thrilled to jump back into the old world again. Lastly, I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome between the two teams with how insanely close they came at the end…man just ten points from thirty-nine games was unexpected, though for sure one side was going to solidly jump ahead.
4. Do you think you will run this event next year? What things would you want to improve on?
I will for sure be running the event again next year, the only question is it going to be the only one I will be running? I am currently tossing around the ideas of running a doubles event or Warhammer Army Projects event but haven’t come to a defiant conclusion as I want to make sure I have some days to enjoy the convention as well! As for what we want to improve on, I plan to have a full world campaign map physically present to show players their overall progress. Looking to up the quality of terrain further to make peoples head turn with the possibility of some fortifications/castles in the background. I will also be looking to have some unique side narrative missions players can volunteer for their side to partake in to further their cause possibly gaining their side further magical winds, reinforcements, control or unique items. Besides that, we will be continuing to playtest new missions and rules, while still refining our current set missions and changes till the old world comes back. Lastly, I will be working or hoping to find a more reliable pairing and scoring system that could accommodate a team v team style, as the one I built on excel was corrupted the day of requiring us to manual score and add up points to figure out pairings.
5. Are there any ideas, mechanics or hooks that you would recommend for other event organizers?
The first thing that comes to mind to recommend for any fantasy event organizer is to have an actual scoring system and objectives. I found that the outcomes of games feel both closer to what actually happened and emphasize greater strategic play besides just killing more, capturing banners or a tower. Don’t be afraid to add a bit more terrain to tables, fantasy tables can be notoriously plain lacking terrain, create a theme and story behind each table besides an open field with a build and two forests. Lastly, I really encourage event organizers to consider running a team/narrative event as a change-up instead of competitive focused events. They are a great way to introduce new players or bring back old ones into the fold, encouraging people to focus on the hobby and having fun rather than placing.
Wow thanks Ben! That sounds like an amazing event, and hopefully one I can attend at some point. It makes me smile to see people organizing events for this great game and I look forward to writing about many more!
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