Halo Day?

[Landlubber]

Wanted to get a feel on what you all think about doing a "Halo Day" down at Gamer's Haven sometime in the near future. We've got at least 4 people now on MBS who have the game, and there are several people at the Haven who also have it. I've not talked to the staff about it yet, but I was thinking maybe late February or early March. My thought would be we'd take 3-4 tables, maybe have a continuous "learning game" running on one table, a scenario on one or two of the other tables, and maybe an "open play" as the fourth table.

This would be a chance for all of us to get our models on the table (Dale) and maybe generate some interest in the game.

If you guys (the Colorado Halo players on MBS) think this sounds like a good idea, I'll take point with working with the Haven folks to see about getting a Saturday to do it. If we did it in the timeframe I'm thinking, that would give the Haven a good amount of time to advertise as well.

Interested to hear your thoughts.

[Quickdraw]

Ok! I'm in!
It would be really great to see a big demo day.

[Landlubber]

Ok! I'm in!
It would be really great to see a big demo day.

Excellent, thanks Quickdraw. If you have any scenarios in mind, start jotting them down. I've got one or two that I'm thinking about. Would also be great to have your models involved, both from a painting standpoint and just having the models. I've got enough UNSC to run a thousand points on two tables simultaneously, but I still only have the Covenant models from the starter box (although I may pick up the Covenant fleet box between now and then).

[Ulric the Grey]

Ok I will bring my starter box of stuff as well. Started to paint the Covenant fleet today.

[Landlubber]

Talked to the staff at Gamer's Haven. We're tentatively scheduled for 23 April for Halo Day. A little later than I thought, but that's OK. Will let you know as things progress.

[Landlubber]

All-

My idea for a Halo Day at Gamer's Haven has now morphed into a Spartan Games Day at the Haven. Date is 23 April. I'm going to talk to Ed at the Haven next week to start working out the particulars, but I wanted to get thoughts from you all on MBS first. The goal for having a Spartan Games Day is three-fold: 1), to get games on the table so people can see them and try them out, and thereby hopefully grow the player base; 2), to help connect the Spartan Gamers we have in the area; and 3), to possibly use the day to announce an upcoming "league play" event for one of the systems on Monday nights. Rob and Quickdraw and myself have talked about this, but haven't worked out the details yet.

So at your convenience, please reply back to this thread and let me know the following:

1. Can you make it out that day, and if so, for how long?

2. What Spartan Games systems can you bring, and can you bring multiple factions?

3. Are you willing to run demo/teaching games?

For my part, I'll plan to be there all day. I can supply two factions for Halo: Fleet Battles and Dystopian Wars. I can also bring my RSN for Firestorm Armada, but my focus for the day will be on Halo and DW. (For example, if someone wants to run a Firestorm Armada demo, they can use my RSN).  I can also bring two space mats, one ocean mat, and one surface mat (it's a plain GW green mat) for the Planetfall folks if that would help. And I can bring various bits of terrain for Halo, Firestorm Armada, and DW.

I'm going to try to cook up some scenarios for Halo and DW that will help people learn the game, but are more interesting than "line up and shoot". So again, if anyone has any interesting scenarios in mind that would be good for beginners, let me know.

It might also be fun to do a "capstone" event towards the end of the day...maybe a massive Halo engagement, since that game moves faster than DW and Firestorm. I don't want to volunteer Quickdraw, but at this point he has over 3000 points of Covenant and I have over 3000 points of UNSC, and I know there are a few other folks out there (Ulric and Dale!) that have at least the starter sets.

I'd like to get things finalized with Ed by the end of next week, so the Haven can start advertising the event. So reply here when you can!

[Dakkar]

I'll probably run something for Firestorm and Planetfall, demos at the least, but maybe a mega-battle too.
I'd like to try and set it up so we can support one another's events, but that might be too much to squeeze into a day. Maybe to start with Firestorm, then some DW, then the big HALO event and leave Planetfall for another day? Not sure ... I'll discuss with Ed and Rob as opportunity presents as well.

Also, I can get Demo kits for each game as we wish.

I do like the idea of a big HALO capstone battle - it'll force me to get my Covenant stuff together!

[Landlubber]

I'll probably run something for Firestorm and Planetfall, demos at the least, but maybe a mega-battle too.
I'd like to try and set it up so we can support one another's events, but that might be too much to squeeze into a day. Maybe to start with Firestorm, then some DW, then the big HALO event and leave Planetfall for another day? Not sure ... I'll discuss with Ed and Rob as opportunity presents as well.

Also, I can get Demo kits for each game as we wish.

I do like the idea of a big HALO capstone battle - it'll force me to get my Covenant stuff together!

I'd like to get as many Spartan games as possible on the table, including Planetfall. Let's see how many tables we can get. It would be nice to have a couple games going at any given time. Yeah, maybe start with some Firestorm Armada and Planetfall, maybe on adjoining tables? Then roll into a couple concurrent games of DW, followed by a big Halo battle. Isn't Saturday night the unofficial Planetfall night at the Haven? Should we rearrange the schedule and run Planetfall at the end to tie into that player base? Not sure how many people usually show up for that...

There's a new Halo scenario out called Firefight, Quickdraw and I are going to give it a try next week. On paper it looks like a lot of fun, and I think it would be easy to bring first-timers into the game--give'em a battlegroup and let them try their luck. In the center will likely be my Punic and Quickdraw's CAS slugging it out!

[Ulric the Grey]

Hide that CAS! I will be there with my fleet to assist as need Greg. Love playing it.

[Dakkar]

If we made a true day of it, we could leverage all 12 hours the store is open (10 to 10).

I'd almost recommend we do Mega-Battle Demos, ala what the D6 Generation does at cons, or like what you were prepared for , Greg, at Genghis for DW. Set up a battle for 4+ forces, assign out players and start rolling!

So this might work...

10AM to 1PM: Dystopian Wars

1PM to 4PM: Firestorm Armada

4PM to 7PM: HALO in primetime!

7PM to Close: Planetfall!

So if Greg and I are running, and we alternate events, we can run a little over if need be for each one. But if we stick to time slots, we can jump from event to event. And we really only take up 2-4 tables all day!

[Landlubber]

@Ulric--awesome, thanks for the support!

@Dale--I like that idea. We can set up on one table while the current game is going on the other table. And maybe use a third as a "display" to show off models, rulebooks, fleets, etc. We all have models we're proud of that showcase a game--like my FSA John Henry squadron or the CF Dragon, or Stephan's Aquan Leviathan and Dreadnaught. Would be good to have folks on-hand to discuss game systems, answer questions, etc. Since this would be backed by the Haven, I think we could expect them to funnel people in our direction.

The schedule you outlined would be perfect, I think. Halo in "prime time" is a really good idea. For DW, I'd like to get as many factions on the board as possible, so maybe a large game where two allied factions (large forces) are in the middle, trying to fend off four smaller fleets--one coming from each corner of a 4x6' table? Maybe try to do the same thing for Armada, show as many fleets as possible. Some of us have beautifully-painted fleets (Stephan and QuickDraw), would be great to see them on the table.

Alternatively, we could set up both DW and Armada as an "engagement in progress"...fleets already on the board, some ships damaged, etc. People could drop in, move a few ships, get a feel for the moving and shooting. The Halo "Firefight" scenario is similar to that in that battle groups show up on random table edges and jump right into the fray.

I'll defer to you and others about Planetfall, as I have no experience with that.

Plus I can print up a bunch of MBS cards to give out.

The plan is taking shape!!

[Quickdraw]

I'm going to hold off confirming my participation because there is a chance I may be out of town at that time.
But What you guys are talking about sounds really promising.

[Landlubber]

I'm going to send this to the Haven staff tonight. Will let you know what they say.

[Landlubber]

Moving this discussion over to a new thread, as this is no longer a Halo-specific games day.

New thread is here:

http://www.manbattlestations.com/forum/index.php?topic=1188.new#new

Please continue to post there. Thanks!