So some stats:
6 Learn to Play events run, 1 tournament (cancelled due to not enough people)
30 participants. 4 no shows (3 on Wednesday night due to the fire, and 1 on Thursday due to getting caught up in other events (Good for you Josh!)) and 1 person turned away because the event was full.
22 games of Kings of War played - 17 during the sessions, 1 in place of the tournament, and 4 from people that liked the learning session so much they had to come back for more games (ok, so 3 of these were with Chris, who was very enthusiastic about it the game with his friend Andy, they are already planning on how to get the game and what they want to play. Andy is going to try to go to GenCon and compete in the tournament even).
The good - everyone seemed to really enjoy the game - some almost excessively so :-). It felt great introducing the game to so many.
The bad
1) exhaustion. Just feel wiped out now.
2) communications failures so I wasn't able to get Mantic support for this. I'm finally in communication with them and this should not be a problem for GenCon. I think that if I could have had the rules booklets to give out, and a little bit of plastic crack (i.e. sprues) to give them players it would have hooked them even more.
3) no product to purchase. I would like to have an elf army, and replace my orcs with mantic orcs by GenCon, and was hoping to pick them up at Origins. Unfortunately nobody there was selling any. Several of the people who played were also looking to buy the book and models - but they can't buy what isn't for sale. I directed some of them to a local store in Columbus that I know has a small selection of Kings of War (but unfortunately it isn't selling well there either).
4) no tournament. I hope we can get enough at GenCon, however it seems to be hard to get a good foothold for the game here. This is where running demo events helps I feel. I'm not sure if a tournament at a con is the best thing at this point, if for no other reason than the high cost to participants (con entry + event fee -> usually costing $30 - $40) and all of it going to the con. In comparison, an independent tournament can put the cost (usually $10) all towards prize support and/or lunch. But it is harder to get people there if you don't already have a decent player base.
Ok, I don't mean to sound like it was horrible, it was actually really great. I actually got in 4 games myself (doubling the total number I've ever played :-) ) and no the rules so much better now. I like giving a bit back, and I want to support this company because I believe in healthy competition in the marketplace, and I really hate companies that use anti-competitive practices or that treat their customers and retailers badly.
So next up is GenCon (ok, I have a 3 day tournament for Warhammer in July, but I don't need to prepare for that since that army is done). See if I can get Orcs & Elves ready. I'm looking forward to it.
6 Learn to Play events run, 1 tournament (cancelled due to not enough people)
30 participants. 4 no shows (3 on Wednesday night due to the fire, and 1 on Thursday due to getting caught up in other events (Good for you Josh!)) and 1 person turned away because the event was full.
22 games of Kings of War played - 17 during the sessions, 1 in place of the tournament, and 4 from people that liked the learning session so much they had to come back for more games (ok, so 3 of these were with Chris, who was very enthusiastic about it the game with his friend Andy, they are already planning on how to get the game and what they want to play. Andy is going to try to go to GenCon and compete in the tournament even).
The good - everyone seemed to really enjoy the game - some almost excessively so :-). It felt great introducing the game to so many.
The bad
1) exhaustion. Just feel wiped out now.
2) communications failures so I wasn't able to get Mantic support for this. I'm finally in communication with them and this should not be a problem for GenCon. I think that if I could have had the rules booklets to give out, and a little bit of plastic crack (i.e. sprues) to give them players it would have hooked them even more.
3) no product to purchase. I would like to have an elf army, and replace my orcs with mantic orcs by GenCon, and was hoping to pick them up at Origins. Unfortunately nobody there was selling any. Several of the people who played were also looking to buy the book and models - but they can't buy what isn't for sale. I directed some of them to a local store in Columbus that I know has a small selection of Kings of War (but unfortunately it isn't selling well there either).
4) no tournament. I hope we can get enough at GenCon, however it seems to be hard to get a good foothold for the game here. This is where running demo events helps I feel. I'm not sure if a tournament at a con is the best thing at this point, if for no other reason than the high cost to participants (con entry + event fee -> usually costing $30 - $40) and all of it going to the con. In comparison, an independent tournament can put the cost (usually $10) all towards prize support and/or lunch. But it is harder to get people there if you don't already have a decent player base.
Ok, I don't mean to sound like it was horrible, it was actually really great. I actually got in 4 games myself (doubling the total number I've ever played :-) ) and no the rules so much better now. I like giving a bit back, and I want to support this company because I believe in healthy competition in the marketplace, and I really hate companies that use anti-competitive practices or that treat their customers and retailers badly.
So next up is GenCon (ok, I have a 3 day tournament for Warhammer in July, but I don't need to prepare for that since that army is done). See if I can get Orcs & Elves ready. I'm looking forward to it.
Darklord 6/18/13
ReplyDeleteHey Puggimer, thanks for putting so much effort in on behalf of KoW, it really is a great game, and it's cool to see you championing it!
I note you play Warhammer as well, do you still enjoy it? I'm solely into KoW these days. (for Fantasy Wargaming, I play lots of other games as well)
Daniel.
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puggimer 6/18/13
Dan - yes, I still play Warhammer, and in fact I've been having more fun playing my new Dwarf army than any in a long time. In fact I've gotten in more games with them since January than probably any other army I've run (except for maybe Orcs & Goblins, but that is because I have two separate armies for them). I even won best painted at the WFB tournament at Origins on Saturday. Also around here there is a very active WFB community - but not much for KoW (which I'm trying to change).
One of the things I like the most is modeling and converting. If you check my website (http://puggimer.net) you can see some pics of all my armies - some very heavily converted and themed. Unfortunately a themed army is not the best for teaching games (some players were confused which orc units (savage orcs, black orcs, orc boyz) were the morax and greatax units (black orcs were greatax as half of them had great weapons, the others were morax).
At this point I don't know what my next real project will be - maybe somebody invading the dwarf brewery? Dunno.
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Dardlord 6/18/13
Ah cool, I had a look, very nice!
Daniel.