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What are your Warlord demo experiences?


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I'd like to hear from other folks about their Warlord demo experiences. What works? What doesn't? Any particular way you go about teaching the game system?

 

I've got a little experience with beginner demos. We usually play a Last Man Standing scenario. But there is an inherent problem with it.

 

The way to win LMS is to hold back and let your opponents beat on each other, then swoop in and finish off whoever is left. This makes for a game that ends up being fun for one person- the guy who holds back his stuff.

 

I've been thinking of doing it as a Bounty guy. The one who loots the most opponents wins. Maybe use a simplified system, like 10 points for grunts, 20 for sergeants/captains, 30 for a Warlord. Big monsters aren't used. Smaller monsters and Solitaires could count for 20 points.

 

Maybe give a 5 point "prime" for the first five minis taken down, so they guy who jumps in and starts swinging first has the advantage.

 

What do you guys think?

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I've never played Warlord, but with any point based system can't a simple game be to just add up points killed with the most winning? Then everyone has to attack, no one can really go on the defensive, and you can still have some strategy, as in kill one really big guy or a bunch of little guys to score points. Last man standing might not even win because they held back too much.

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I've never played Warlord, but with any point based system can't a simple game be to just add up points killed with the most winning? Then everyone has to attack, no one can really go on the defensive, and you can still have some strategy, as in kill one really big guy or a bunch of little guys to score points. Last man standing might not even win because they held back too much.

I think If you decide not to award points for units still alive, and only count points of kills, then aggressors certainly fare better than Mr. Holdback-and-let-them-all-beat-on-each-other.

 

Also - Scenarios can be a good learning tool. Hold control of this terrain feature helps players learn about offensive vs. defensive models.

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I've never played Warlord, but with any point based system can't a simple game be to just add up points killed with the most winning?  Then everyone has to attack, no one can really go on the defensive, and you can still have some strategy, as in kill one really big guy or a bunch of little guys to score points.  Last man standing might not even win because they held back too much.

I think If you decide not to award points for units still alive, and only count points of kills, then aggressors certainly fare better than Mr. Holdback-and-let-them-all-beat-on-each-other.

 

Also - Scenarios can be a good learning tool. Hold control of this terrain feature helps players learn about offensive vs. defensive models.

Yeah, Bryan, that's true. I held a guy off for a long time in a LMS by taking a high point in a ruin with only once entrance. It helped I was rolling like a Vegas shark while he couldn't hit half the time or less. If it was points, not LMS, I'd have won, since I was very agressive early on.

 

I just think it would be best to have a simplified points system for Bounty, since it it takes too long to count up, people will get annoyed. Use beads for the five and ten point increments; guy with the highest stack wins.

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I generally have 4-5 people playing at a time. What I found works fairly well is ~500 points apiece, with a couple troops each.

 

What I did last time was have an altar in the middle of the board. As soon as a model touched it, I shuffled a Joker into the deck. When the Joker came up, I scattered Marthrangul D10 inches from the altar. Everyone in contact with the Altar made a DS check, and so did Marty. If a player's model won, he got to control Marty that activation. It made for a terrific furball around the center of the board.

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We've had two good scenarios for demos.

For LMS, we run teams of up to three 1000 point allies, against a similar foe. This allows six players, and doesn't reward "hold-backs"

 

Another good one is "Hunt the Dragon". Big Dragon, his spells, and a few "toadies", about 2000 points, against four players, working together, with 1000 points each. A mix of dwarves, elves, Crusaders, and Mercenaries gives any player style a chance to get eaten.......

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We've had two good scenarios for demos.

For LMS, we run teams of up to three 1000 point allies, against a similar foe. This allows six players, and doesn't reward "hold-backs"

 

Another good one is "Hunt the Dragon". Big Dragon, his spells, and a few "toadies", about 2000 points, against four players, working together, with 1000 points each. A mix of dwarves, elves, Crusaders, and Mercenaries gives any player style a chance to get eaten.......

What is LMS? Please explain for those of us ignorant of that acronym.

 

The "hunt the dragon" thing sounds cool. Sort of like the Dungeon Crawl they did at Origins, except that it was a free-for-all, with a dragon in the middle. Also had to contend with traps, kobolds, things of that nature. Man, wish I had the goodies to run something like that.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm trying to formulate scenarios for an up-coming tournament. I'll bounce ideas off ya'll later, but now I gotta scoot.

 

Mel

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I though it meant "Don't Buy Confrontation" :poke:

 

I'm glad you started this thread. It helps to see others ideas for running and presenting the game.

 

If you haven't gotten one of the Warlord posters, with Duke Gerard in all his glory, get one and frame it. It will help draw atention to your gaming or paint-n-takes....

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I use two demo scenarios.

 

Hunt the Dragon: Pretty basic, I use 4 Troops of about 300 points each and then make the dragon come in around 1200 with spells. This works for 4 people wiht the AO playing the Dragon. You can increase the number of players by simply adding another troop to the players' army and adding a Troope of skellies or something to the Dragon's army. I use skellies because I use Kaladrax for my demos.

 

Sword of the Undead King: OK this is just a catchy name for Kill the Rhino with Warlord Troops. Each player get's a troop of about 250 points. Then the AO takes a troop of similar size, but with a tougher leader. That leader has a Greater Magic Weapon. If you kill the leader, you can pick up the sword and use it. Get off the board witht he sword and you win. I call it Sword of the Undead King simply because I use my Nefsokar and an egyption looking sword for the AO force. It's strictly aesthetics, but you get the picture.

 

 

Now while those are the best for teaching, the best for drawing attention are a little different.

 

First is the Dungeon Crawls. You can do these any number of ways, it's really not important. The thing that draws attention is the dungeon. Everyone wants to play in a dungeon, but very few people have the terrain needed. It's expensive or time consuming to build. I've done some smaller stuff, but I just don't have enough Dwarven Forge to make it work well. I'm building some Hirst stuff, but it takes time. If you are going to try this, make sure you have a big enough dungeon to make it worth while.

 

The second is Dragons of any kind. Why? Because Reaper's 25mm dragons look freakin awesome on a table, you can see it from across the gaming hall, and everyone wants to play with a dragon. I use a scenario called struggle of the DragonLords. I'm not sure this was used at Origins, but we'll be doing it at Gen Con. Each army get's a dragon and 4 other troops. You can play this as either a bounty points or LMS style event. It works great for up to 10 players. I usually go about 2500 points per side, with 1100 being the dragons, give or take. This is easily done in 4 hours, once the battle is joined.

 

 

Those are what I have been doing, but I'm looking for new ideas. I'd love to hear what other people are doing.

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For those of us without MasterMaze or HirstArts, any suggestions on making reasonably easy dungeons?

 

Well, I'd try this. These guys are quickly making believers out of me. Their stuff is very good, better than I expected. It's still cardstock, after all, but with a good printer and some care in construction, you can build a decent set of terrain.

 

World Works Games - DungeonWorks

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