MF0 at RavenCon 2016

Dark Cloud Blogs returns to RavenCon 2016! It was rather surprised, I hadn't made plans this year to go but then got an invite out of the blue. I gladly took it and began my prep. Given when I got the invite I didn't do any Pathfinder Society so just stuck to Panels, Merch room, and the auther/artist alley besides doing my demo.

I was set up in the Gaming Room where people play board game, planned RPGs and with other demo people where I had a 4 hour slot scheduled but was allowed to stay an extra hour. I had copies of Rapid Attack and Intercept Orbit for sale though I did not sell any. I only got one demo done but passed out several fliers for the game.

So not the best demo night but I am proud of the actual set up. I think I need to advertise better; the blurb I put out on the programs wasn't the best and two I think I need a sign that says looking for players/ it is a demo. Also if I could get a bigger local community I like to have bigger/more slots for demoing where we take turns. I liked the size of my table but my spot was sort of around a corner so not sure how many saw me who just glanced into the Gaming Room.

Here are a few shots of the demo play. This demo I learned the importance of having the ability to cook the doomclock even in a demo game.

Sunday I got a game in, sort of. Adam just got the game the week before at PAX East and hadn't had a chance to put an army together so we used what I had to play a modified demo. He took three soldiers and the arty while I had 3 soldiers and a melee guy. We set up on opposite sides with half a ruler line limit with the objective in the middle. We started with 6 on the doomclock.

2nd round

My plan was to rush to claim the Station with my melee guy then keep him going to the arty while the soldiers would try to give support/be distractions.

Adam hammered at the melee with his arty once he realized my plan while rushing one of his own soldiers forward. He handled most of the attacks with minor and was able to claim the station before Adam and still be able to engage the enemy in melee combat.

Adam disengages from the melee so he can shoot and hopefully claim the station once my melee guy is gone.

My melee is destroyed and despite my soldiers firing round after round into Adam's lead soldier he is able to claim the station before the frame's destruction (because my melee was destroyed first). With the final push down from the doomclock.

I passed out a lot of flyers for the game during Adam's and I's actually session

I look forward to next year. You can read last year's post here.

Taking Mobile Frame Zero to RavenCon 2015

Last weekend I ran demos for Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack up in Richmond at RavenCon. Though I didn't get to check out much of the con itself, I had a good time and certainly learned some things.

Like some others have said, taking a day for yourself is a needed thing when demoing at a con. Friday was suppose to be my day but I wasn't able to get the day off like I wanted from work. By the time I pulled into the convention I barely had time to get dinner before rushing off to my Pathfinder Society Game.

Saturday morning I was able to really check out the convention but then my afternoon was taking up by the demo. When being a one man team, I need not being doing it for 6ish hours! It was great, had a lot of fun talking/playing with people. I think I spread some hype and got some converts. I was even surprised by how many who have heard of the game but haven't checked it out yet.

Right before the demo time I realized I was short some terrain, thankfully there was a Toys R Us across from the hotel. So as I ran out for lunch I also grabbed a Classic Box and a surviving Toys R Us exclusive set.

Yes, expect some reviews in the future.

So, take a look at the set up?

The Vincent Baker Demo!

The Capital Standard

A sample of my raffle give away.

Besides my own stuff I had The Hanger Forum Ced23Ric's  Handouts for taking and Condensed Rule book for browsing.

Of course we have the team and system summaries.

Arty Team

Soldier Team

Melee Team

Systems Summary

I was raffling off a Starter Pack which was won by Adam (or Alex, I am bad with names. Let me know if you see this winner boy so I can fix it.). He was very excited to get it so I felt awesome about giving it to him.

He picked up Sunday during my second slot (not sure if I will do that again either, a slot the following day). I more or less had it set up to do a game with him but they did not have time.

The Starter Kit

Our Awesome Winner!

Sunday Set up.

Over all I had a good time and learned some things about Convention demoing.

Thanks for having me RavenCon!

Getting Ready to Demo so I Can Demo at a Con...

So as I write this post I am getting ready to go to a friend's house, but not any friend's house. This friend is the Gaming Director for a convention that takes place in Richmond, VA called RavenCon.

I am basically going over to hang out with my friend AND demo Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack so I can be able to demo it at RavenCon. Wish me luck?

Group Shot!

Team 1 - Arty Team

The walker on the right is the Soldier and the one on the left is the long range gun!

Team 2 - Soldiers Team; special guest Wind Turbine Station.

Here we have the double soldier team with my station of choice for the night.

Team 3 - Melee Team

Here is our melee team, hope they know how to use cover fire.

Mobile Frame Zero: RA Battle Report 1 and Demo (10-26-13)

A little (freaking a lot) late but at least it is done!

So back in Oct '13 I had a demo night at the gaming store that I have claimed as MY gaming store (Atomic Comics Emporium II). The owner and I thought it be best if done during one of the card nights on a weekend to make sure people actually saw the game. We posted a flyer at his store and the sister store along with making a Facebook Event.

I came in early and got all the stuff set up and proceeded to wait for people to come to me, letting the scene sell it self.

The Battlefield Set Up

I set up the battlefield as I figure it would catch people's eyes and we could change it up before the actual start of a game. After that night I very much realized I need more trees and other kinds of terrain if nothing yes as options. If the multi piece LEGO tries catch your attention, check out my review on them here. The new Merida's Highland Games set has a similar Tree and the set in general is catching me eye but I am getting side tracked.

Stations and Squads

Here we have the squads I brought, should have gotten a closer individual group pictures. On the left are the displaced Terran Transit Marines The Purple Wyrms with there Wind Generator, Comms Station and Armory. On the right we have the Scrappers which are part of the Freelance United Miners with there Beacon, Mining Robot and Peach Transport with a flat tire.

The Purple Wyrms are basically two Soldiers, a melee specialist and a sniper while Scrappers are a Spotting Sniper, Spotting Heavy Guns with two Fast Attack Melee. Our chub squad was design with one or two systems less then the Scrappers do make sure their was no confusion.

My set up certainly did its job getting people's attention and striking up conversation about both rules and settings. It was fun and got me pumped but no one had time to try a game from these first inquiries.

A bit later after I had come back from grabbing dinner the owner of the store brought one of his regulars over who was looking for something different to do. He was glad to try out the game and chose the Purple Wyrms to play which would make him the Initial Defender. I was very excited as this was going to be my first real game!

We went through set up, deciding to keep the field as is and got everything placed. I got so excited I didn't take enough pictures of our play.

The Start

He decided the best defense was going on the offensive which prove to be a mistake as he pretty much walked into easy striking range of Teeth and Fangs.

Regrets

When the Teeth cleaned up one Solider from the round before, he backed up the other one as Fangs took cover to get ready for another run. Teeth charged at the Purple Wyrm's brave 'knight' while Rainmaker (heavy gunner) soften up the target for Teeth's death-stroke. The snipers traded shots at each other.

Run!

Teeth charged forward to claim a station as the team's sniper took out the Purple Wyrm sniper. The surviving Solider ran from Fangs to try and shoot Teeth while escaping the lead shower from Rainmaker.

Pack of Wolves...

With all other frames destroyed from the enemy squad, the Scrappers turned their complete focus to the last soldier and frankly it wasn't pretty.

It was fun to get my first game under my belt and once I got into it we were both getting the rules without having to double check most of the time. I felt a bit bad though because the dice were not with him at all but very much with me but he also might have had a better chance if he went more on the defensive.

So it seem like a partial success; I got my first game and had about ten people interested but so far I am still the only player. I have plans to do another official demo along with just taking the stuff up their randomly given the store is so close to me now. Also thinking about shooting some MFZ movies for Youtube.

"I am still picking two green dice..."