Apocalypse game 2013

[turbo tj]

Would it be possible to do a All Weekend Apocalypse game?

I was just curious if that could be accomplished. It would be a little complex but here's what I'm thinking.

The game starts on Friday afternoon and goes till Sunday afternoon. It's held in a separate room from the other parts of the convention but instead of having the players setting up and carting off their figs, the idea is to leave the game board as is when the days gaming ends. Each day the game is played and wherever the miniatures are on table when the timer runs out is where they stay. Everyone can only take their books, dice and other game-playing stuff with them, but the miniatures stay on the table. After the players leave, photos are taken of the board, the room is locked and monitored with cameras(like what is used for the live feed). There will have to be allowances made for the cleaning of the room after gaming ends of course, but I'm sure that can be worked out. Then everyone comes back the next day and playing resumes.
Granted if a vehicle or squad of figs is killed off, you can put them in the cases and take them with you, but they have to stay gone and cannot be brought back in for the following days gaming.

I ask now because it would be about not that planning would need to start. Plus this will require everyone playing to be willing to leave their miniatures over night so this does bring in a bigger trust issue,(not to mention a waiver to be signed) but if enough people are willing to play with these rules, then it should be possible. The rules for the game would need to be hashed out but honestly I think this would be a really cool addition to the Adepticon Convention. Especially for those gamers who aren't interested in the other events or want to try something new. This also brings in the aspect of the creation of a new game table, scenarios as well as a new style of team playing.

Any thoughts?

[Redbeard]

I'd be interested in the game, but only if there were assurances that the doors would be locked when the players were not in the room. There's no way I'm trusting expensive apocalypse minis overnight on a hotel room floor without oversight. As is, someone tried to wander off with one of my ork boyz when B-Rad was using them and he had to chase them down.

If you figure out the security, there'd be an audience though.

[RichN]

The hotel has a number of smaller rooms which are locked at night, but you'd need to share space with the other events using those tables. Another option would be one of the executive meeting rooms. Oak might be big enough. It's 26.0' x 14.0. Just big enough to fit a 18x4 table. Don't expect to fit in any spectators. This year the meeting rooms were used for a variety of pod casting functions.

[Brian]

It seems like it would be a tough sell. Participation in a 3-day Apocalypse event would make it impossible to play in the Championship, TT, or Gladiator. If I'm traveling from out of town to Adepticon as a 40k player I'm definitely going to want to get in on at least one of those events.

Let's say you made 10 tickets available with each player bringing 4000 to 5000 points. That would be a 50,000 point Apocalypse game. I'm not sure you would need 3 days to complete such a game. You could probably start it early Friday in the A.M. and run it until completion. Start at 7am and end it at midnight with a 1 hour lunch break and a 1 hour dinner break. That would be 15 hours of gaming; probably more than enough to complete a 50k point game on a grid of tables.

[turbo tj]

It seems like it would be a tough sell. Participation in a 3-day Apocalypse event would make it impossible to play in the Championship, TT, or Gladiator. If I'm traveling from out of town to Adepticon as a 40k player I'm definitely going to want to get in on at least one of those events.

See this is why I'd want to do this. There are so many people who don't get to play in the Championship, TT, or Gladiator because they either don't have a team or enough miniatures or some other technicality. The Apocalypse game could be for the local population that love the game and want to play, but aren't skilled enough or can't take part in the big tourneys.

[RichN]

Getting dedicated table space for 50K points of Apocalypse over the whole tournament would be difficult to get, not to mention expensive. Going with what Brian was talking about, getting space on Friday 7am to midnight might be more easily done. As an example this past year, it would have been possible to have a whole row of tables on Friday (between Malifaux and WFB). Play all day, clean up the 40K terrain, then be nice and set up the WFB terrain for Alex on the way out.

[turbo tj]

Getting dedicated table space for 50K points of Apocalypse over the whole tournament would be difficult to get, not to mention expensive. Going with what Brian was talking about, getting space on Friday 7am to midnight might be more easily done. As an example this past year, it would have been possible to have a whole row of tables on Friday (between Malifaux and WFB). Play all day, clean up the 40K terrain, then be nice and set up the WFB terrain for Alex on the way out.

Seems like a good idea, except that I don't think that is enough time for a Apocalypse game to be played. Depending on how many people come in to play and the size of the armies, just setting up all the armies and both sides making their first moves can take 2 hours. I'm thinking that depending on how many people play, we might only need Friday & Saturday. It really depends on how many people sign up and then how many show up.

[RichN]

Maybe you plan for a Thursday night set up, the start play Friday morning. Only problem with that, is we never know what the hotel schedule is going to be until the last week.

[turbo tj]

Maybe you plan for a Thursday night set up, the start play Friday morning. Only problem with that, is we never know what the hotel schedule is going to be until the last week.

Now that might work. Honestly I understand that it would take a lot of work and risk to pull this off, but considering the amount of people that come out for Adepticon, this can only increase those numbers.

[Brian]

By comparison; this gaming club in Canada is running a 500,000 point game and blocking off about 16 hours for it.

http://www.apocalypti-con.com/

Their forum actually looks to be a good resource for planning a big Apocalypse game that's actually semi-serious and tactically challenging.

That being said I still think an Adepticon Apoc game, even in the 100,000 point range could be pulled off in a 7am to midnight slot. 17 hours is a ton of gaming. Figure 2 hours for setup and that still gives you 2 hours per game turn with time to spare for breaks and awards.

[RichN]

This past year we played Warhammer Ancients at Adepticon with 4 players and 12K points per side - the whole thing was done in 4-5 hours. It shocked me how quick and easy the game played, even with each player having 150% of a normal tournament army. The key considerations would be how many players are involved & how the armies are constructed. There is a world of difference between fielding a handful of super heavys vs hundreds of figures for the same point value.

[turbo tj]

See this is the kind of feedback I was looking for. Thanks So Much! Now that it's clear that this could be done in one day, What day would it be held on? Taking into account the other events and peoples availability from the work week, Saturday and Sunday would be the only days, but then given that much of the events take place on Saturday, Sunday may be the better day to do it.

[RichN]

Saturday has the most demand for tables with both 40K and WFB maxed out. Sunday has the shortest play time with cleanup starting at 4pm.

To get on the Saturday schedule, be sure to contact the 40K coordinators in August when planning starts. Be specific in what you want with number of players and table size. I would expect there to be a ticket fee to cover the table rental for the day. Will you be bringing in your own terrain, or do you need pieces from the Adepticon 40K supply?

[BigKahuna]

I run a number of Apocalypse Games here in the STL area as well as assist with Siegeworld (our big annual event). All of which we do in the span of 1 day. I would be more than happy to help plan and run the event. I always thought having an Apocalypse event at Adepticon would be great.

As for which day would be best, Friday sees like the target day. You get the most time and are not competing for tables with the other big events.

BK