Hello,

I am planning to run an Epic Campaign Weekend, and would like to run the idea past potential attendees and other event organisers to see what the level of interest would be like. I think a campaign weekend would be a nice change from tourneys and give a nice change of pace that can compliment rather than compete with the EpicUK tourneys. Im an experianced event organiser (LAN and tabletop) but this would be my first Epic event (Epic being my favourite game system however).

The general idea is for it to be a 2 day weekend event, initially I am considering Oct/Nov 2011 (avoiding Open War, EpicUk GT, Bonfire Night, Warfare Reading etc). It would be held at my local gaming centre (triplehelixwargames.co.uk) which is basicly a LGS with gaming hall/cafe etc (like Cut and Thrust). Its in Westbury, Wiltshire (gogo Southern Events!), 5mins from the mainline Westbury Station, 20miles off the M4 and there are plenty of B&Bs around.

Gaming wise it would be 3 games on saturday, each a different scenario, played as doubles. 3000pts, simultaneous multiplayer. The result of each of the scenario games would lead to subtle advantages for day 2. Day 2 would be a massive multiplayer game to decide the fate of the campaign. I have 9 different scenarios written, which would be enough for 12 players, though can expand on that if there is interest. Initially I am planning around it being an Imperial Defense against a Chaos assault, requiring 6 Imperial and 6 Chaos players at a minimum, however if no Chaos players want to attend and 6 Ork or 6 Eldar players want to play then I am flexible and can mix it up.

The scenarios are all different and range from Linebreakers, Breakouts, Meeting Engagements, Strongpoint attacks, Counter Attacks, Desecrate Cathedral and Arnhem Bridge style scenarios. Examples of the kind of effect they will have on the Day 2 megabattle include: If Chaos win the Arnhem Bridge scenario they would have a flanking deployment option, Winner of the fight over the orbital defense laser 'wins' the roll for spacecraft turn choice, If Chaos win the Desecrate Cathedral they can bring demon engines on from the Cathedral etc. So in general they are subtle effects that are advantageous though not gamewinning.

Army list wise I am flexible and am happy to allow EpicUK and NetEA lists that are finished or finished in all but name. I feel it is important to get as wide a variety of army styles as possible within the narrative limitations of Chaos vs Imperial.

The venue has a cafe and can provide lunch on both days, I am initially thinking it will be ~£15 for the event, including lunch both days and unlimited tea/coffee all day.


In Brief:
- Oct/Nov 2011 (TBD)
- 2 Day campaign weekend, 3x 2v2 doubles scenarios, 1x 6v6 megabattle
- At: Triple Helix Wargames, Westbury, Wilts
- EpicUK and NetEA lists @3000pts
- ~£15, including lunch and drinks both days


I would appreciate any ideas or discussion from the community, indications of interest in this type of event and general comments.

Good luck with this, its probably too far for me to travel with my tank of a car.

Is it 3,000 per pair or 3,000 each? And are the pairings random or do you book as a pair?

Other than that it looks interesting.

Colour me as interested. Probably several more from my circle of friends who don't post online, too.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

To follow up Mephistons questions: It is 3000pts each, so the day 1 battles are 6000 per side, you would book as inividuals and would ideally be partnered with a different player in each Day 1 game, though if a pair specifically wanted to play together then I would try to allow that.

If anyone else has questions, suggestions or expressions of interest then please let me know.

Trying to complete 3 6000 point games in a day is pretty ambitious...

To be honest I'd stick with random pairings. It helps to mitigate against 2 people planning a 6,000pt list of doom

As to timings the different scenarios, 2 players and the more relaxed style of a campaign over a tournament should help with that.

They are not true 6000pt games as they are played using simultaneous multiplayer, ie each player on a team activates a formation at the same time, then retains, then the other team. Epic rulebook section 6, p148 has the rules for this. I am allowing 2hr30min for games in my initial planning, and have played a few 6000pt simultaneous games in this timeframe before, though if anyone wants to try one and post their thoughts on it then that would be great.

We've played games on this scale and I'd leave 3hrs minimum, more if using non-standard scenarios.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

E&C: Was that using simultaneous activations? My experiance is it speeds it up significantly, can you elaborate on the size and type of games these were.

Yes, but the extensive tactical discussions simply slow down the game a lot.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

I can change it to 3hr/game, if people are ok with 30min lunch, and I guess more layed back games is what im aiming for, so am happy to make it so.

I like the concept, and have attended 40k Campaign Weekends (Tempus Fugitives) but I think your being very optimistic with timings.

We recently played a 12000pts game and it took almost 9 hours. Trying to cram in 3 6000pts games in one day is pushing it with just one player a side, two players a side takes even longer- even with simultaneous activation* players will still want to co-operate on what their formations do, they will have to wait if both formations are shooting/engaging one opponent's formation, players will have to take into account Overwatch of an opponent perhaps distracted by actions of their teammate, etc, etc, etc.
*I'm not really sold on sim activation working in Epic. What if both activations engage one enemy? What if both choose to shoot one enemy? Is this treated as one big engagement? One shooting action?

I'd have two vague sides- Forces of Order armies (SM, IG, Eldar, etc), Forces of Disorder (Chaos, Orks, Eldar, etc), with a set number of tickets for each side.

I'd have 1 vs 1 game 1 in the morning- 3000pts, 2.5hrs. Perhaps some sort of skirmishing/scouting mission, garrison-only formations, etc. Give benefit to game 2. If your savvy, use the scores from game 1 to pair up best and worst players for balanced pairs, or best vs best, worst vs worst, pairs for equal playing field.

I'd have a 2 vs 2 game 2- 6000pts combined, 3-4hrs.
Give benefit to game 3.

I'd then have a 4 vs 4 (or pushing it a 6 vs 6) on the next day. For your big finish mission. At 12000pts- 18000pts it can and will take all day.

One of the selling points is 'laidback non-tournament gaming', which doesn't hold true if your rushing around trying to complete 3 6k games, skipping lunch to do so, etc. I'd rather have time to spare, than never finishing games.

well said Jeridan - in the UK tourneys some player (like me) can have difficulty finishing a 3k game in 3 hours and not through deliberate time wasting either. This is purely down to diminishing eyesight, old age and slower reactions

I quite like what Jeridan presented as a means of setting up a series of games, using the results of the one round to influence the next round in some way, and there are numerous ideas that could be used here.

An alternative, and quite popular approach might be to adapt Chroma's excellent 'total war' scenarios; or indeed allow the victors of one round to choose the next scenario etc.

Thanks for your thoughts, I agree with some of what you say, and appreciate your thoughts on timings. As you and C&E have both said you feel the timings are tight and may lead to it being overly rushed, I am thinking that a 2 game day 1 would be a good compromise between slackening up the timings and not making the day overly long. I disagree with your point on simultaneous activations, I find they work well and the 'what-if' scenarios you suggested are all covered in the rulebook, I dont feel it is overly complex, the rules section for it is just a couple of paragraphs, and I think it promotes better cooperation between the paired players.

I understand the logistics behind your suggestion of Order vs Disorder, but I think it dilutes the narrative of the campaign, and what Im really going for is a strong story. I plan on having a laptop/data projector with maps etc of the campaign flow, showing forces/landings/battles etc to really reinforce the links between battles and their place within the campaign as a whole.

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions.