Caithness’ gaming group, the Northern Knights, held an open day on the 15th of October. This group is really important to me. When I moved into the area and was struggling to meet people outside of work, they gave me the opportunity to meet new friends. I’ve had the chance to share and grow my hobby with them, and they encourage my creativity. I appreciate them hugely.
As a club, I feel that we are relaxed, positive, and friendly. We play a huge range of wargames, board games, and roleplaying games. I’m always delighted when we open up and invite people in like this, especially following the pandemic.
The open day was a chance to have a fun day of games, but it also served a much more important purpose. We need to be revitalised. We need new blood. We need to ensure that the group is able to continue into the future so that other people get all the benefits that current members have been lucky enough to enjoy. That’s why open days are important.
So, then, how did this one go?
I’d say it went well. Our tables were full all day and we had a good turnout both from existing members and from new people. I’m not expecting all of these people to become regulars, but if even a couple do, that would be fantastic. The rest of us also just had a good day, which isn’t something to be overlooked.
There was a huge range of games being played, including:
- Dice Miner
- One Night Ultimate Werewolf
- Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries
- Necromunda
- Marvel: Crisis Protocol
- Star Wars: X-Wing
- Warcry
- DC COmic Deckbuilding Game
- Clank! In! Space!
- Dungeons & Dragons
Between us, we got pictures of most games as they were being played:
There’s no picture there of the Dungeons & Dragons groups, but that table was busy all day, both for the beginner’s session in the morning, and the afternoon’s intermediate game. The DM for both sessions was on all day, and both groups seemed to be really enjoying themselves. Our attendance at our evening sessions is always much higher when there are RPGs going on, so I hope that some of the players will consider coming back for more.
As far as my day went, I spent the majority of it playing Warcry. I’ve had a couple of intro games to Warcry in the past, but I then leave it many months before going back to it. This time, there’s been an edition change in that gap, too. A reintroduction was called for.
My first game saw my Ironjawz face off against the Slaves to Darkness. I took a Megaboss, Gore Grunta, Shaman, and 4 Ardboyz. My opponent took a Chaos Spawn, Lord, Sorceror, and 4 Chaos Warriors. The game was very close. I feel that my opponent got off to a really good start, killing off my Megaboss really early.
Up until that point, my dice rolles had been somewhat lacklustre, but the loss of da boss seemed to reinvigorate the Orruks and I actually rolled pretty well for the rest of the game. It went from an early game dominated by my opponent to my Orruks dominating the late game. My opponent was lucky to get his shaman over to the second objective and deny me the win at the end of turn 4. I feel that this was my game to lose, and he really snatched that draw from the jaws of defeat.
For my second game, I broke out the Squigs. My list was a Loonboss on Giant Squig, a Squig Hopper, a Fungoid Cave Shaman, 4 Squigs and a Squig Herder. My Opponent brought an Iron Golems warband. The scenario saw the Iron Golems attempting to complete a ritual with my role being to disrupt it.
It started off alright, with my initial units deploying near the objective, or near enough to get within range reasonably quickly. The Boss and Fungoid Shaman both hit reasonably hard and were fun to play. The last bit of deployment screwed me a bit, though. Coming in at turn 2 in the opposite corner from the objective, one Squig and the Herder were unable to ever make their way across the board within an acceptable timeframe. The Squig Hopper made it across by turn 3 and got to do a bit of fighting, at least. He hit reasonably hard, but between having to spend his actions on movement and the wall of iron he found himself up against, it was just too little, too late. This was a firm loss for the Gloomspite Gitz.
I think a big factor in this loss was a combination of the deployment issue that I described above, and the single objective of the mission, negating the advantage that my Squig Hopper and Boss should have had in movement.
My third game saw me returning to the Orruks, using the same list as that used in the first game. My opponent fielded a Corvus Cabal warband. In Warcry, models are divided into three groups; sword, shield, and hammer. These are used primarily for deployment. Primarily. In this scenario, my opponent and I had to wipe out one another’s shield group.
I was the first player to lose a member of this group when my Megaboss was taken down pretty quickly. My Gore Grunta was already dead by this point, meaning that I lost my two heavy hitters very early in the game. I thought at this point that I was firmly on track to lose the game. My Shaman was the man (ok, Orruk) of the match this time, though. I absolutely shone at range and I ended up wiping out two of my opponent’s three models from his shield group. He did the same to me and we ended on a draw.
I really enjoyed playing Warcry, and I need to make sure that I get it to the table a bit more in the future, not leaving it so long next time. It’s such a simple and satisfying game.
Over lunch, I played a wee bit of Love Letter, just to fill some time. Love letter is a very minimalist game, but it can be fun. I quite liked how this game went, and it was a nice wee bonus that I also won.
I also got the chance, towards the end of the open day, to play a wee bit of Werewolf. Well, it was One Night Ultimate Werewolf, truth be told. The name is a bit of a mouthful. so we tend to just refer to it as Werewolf.
I like the game, and I think the app makes it a lot better. The app instructs your group, step by step, as to what you need to do, and when. It’s much better than relying on player knowledge that may not be there, or repeatedly on one person to keep everyone in line.
I will admit, in the first game, to being something of an agent of chaos. My intention was to be vague, self-contradictory, and confusing. Mission accomplished, and our little village got eaten up by the big bad wolves. I was, it turned out, one such beast. Or so I’m told. Unless I was the drunk. Or the seer. Or the hunter…
I also had a nice catch-up with a few friends, and sat in on the Necromunda games for a bit. At one point, I was set to run an introductory game of Ticket to Ride (Nordic edition, with is also the best edition) for a new player, but we ended up with another new player and I bowed out to make space, leaving another TTR fan to lead the intro game.
I was delighted with the turnout on the day, and the club members who planned and organised the event did a fantastic job. Everyone seemed to have a great time. I really hope we get a few new regulars from this but, even if we don’t get that, we all still had a fantastic day of gaming.
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