Indianapolis Game Day - Thanks to those who came!

[Retlaw]

EDITED to remove old/obsolete items and organize information:

Indianapolis Game day on Sunday October 28th. The games would start around 12:00 and go until we get tired of playing.

Site Information

The site has restrooms, water, ice -- but you would need to bring your own snacks, etc. (there are several fast food restraurants just over a mile away -- so a burger run could be done). The room is a large meeting room at a business, so no alcohol is permitted. Food and other drinks are ok.

To get to the game site, take Interstate 70 west from Indianapolis to the Plainfield/Mooresville exit (IN-267). Go south on IN-267. Stay on IN-267 around a sharp right turn and through a stop light. The first road after the stop light is "Network Drive" -- turn left onto Network Drive and follow it to the end. The game room is on the second floor of the large building at the end of the drive. See the "map" below.



Types of Games

The games will be team contests.

Teams will be random and change between games -- this way you get to meet more/different scapers as in each game you will be with 3 others instead of 1. Also, most of the time we don't get to play team games, so it gives us a chance to try something new.

There will be several different types (i.e., one with lots of roads/trees, one with lava, one with a lot of snow, one with swamp, some castle/walls, water and hills, etc.), so hopefully it will give lots of opportunities to try different armies. (maps posted at bottom of this post)

There are no fees to participate -- unless people want there to be awards (besides bragging rights) at the end.

Rules:

1) Each player have 4 pre-made 600 point armies to choose from for each game. This saves the time of drafting between games and also allows the player some choices in what army to use given the map.

2) No custom creations can be used in the tournament -- however, repaints for Nerak, Sir Hawthorne, Master Woo and EOV can be used.

3) Multiple unique heroes/squads are allowed in the same team (e.g., each army in a team can have Sgt. Drake).

4) Start zones: For each team, the start zone will be 48 hexes. With 600 point armies for each member of the team, that is 24 per player. But if one member of a team does not use all of his hexes, the other member can use some of them as long as the total for both armies on a team does not exceed 48 hexes.

5) Games will last 10 rounds or 1 hour.

6) Scoring is based on points that your team has left at the end of a game. Points for partial squads left will be based on the total points for the squad x the percent of the squad remaining (e.g., 2 blade gruts remaining would be worth 20 points - 40/4 x 2 ). The total points a team has remaining is divided by 2 and each player on that team receives that many points for that game (the divide by 2 is needed in case we don't have a multiple of 4 players -- if there is a 2 player or 3 player game, the individual scores on these games are not divided by 2).

7) At the end of 4, 5, or 6 games (however many hours we want to play), the winner is the person with the most points.

Marro Hive:

One of the maps will be made using 2 SotM sets and will include the hives as part of the map. On this map, each team will be able to include 1 of the hives in their armies. If neither player on a team has a pre-made army with the hive, one member of the team will be allowed to substitute the hive into his army and remove an equal or greater number of points from his pre-made army. If both partners on a team want to use the hive, the second will have to place his hive in the starting zone.

The hive can be used in any army on any map, and except for the map mentioned above, it will have to be placed in the starting zone with the rest of the armies for that team.

General Comments:

Remember that the teams will be random and change between games and that you will bring 4 pre-made 600 point armies. So you and your partner for a game can decide which armies you want to use -- for example, if you put together a horde army of orcs that uses 40 start hexes and your partner for a game has an army that uses gladiators, Isuma, and Charos (600 points and 6 start hexes), then your team would be ok. I guess the word to the wise would be to make sure your 4 pre-made armies are diverse.

Also, partners can obviously talk and plan attacks together. For example, you may want plan order markers to have one partner move a figure with a "friendly aura" into a position that will help the partner on his next turn. Or you could even place your destroyed Finn on your partner's card to boost one of his heroes attacks (especially handy if you only have common figures left).

Maps:

The first is "Forest Cross Roads" -- The glyphs are the +1 attack and +1 defense. My son calls this one the range killer. With all the line of sight blocks from the trees and the road +3 movement bonus, this map will let melee units get to the ranged units quick.



The second map is "Spring Thaw." The snow and ice are "heavy snow" and "slippery ice" and the glyphs are the +2 move and +8 initiative. This map will obviously favor fliers and range units. But there are enough line of sight block with the glaciers that melee units won't all be sitting ducks.


As promised, the SotM set map. Virtual Scape doesn't have the hive in it yet, so I used the 6 hex glacier as a "stand in" for the hive. On the real map the Marro Hives will be where the glaciers are. The glyphs are the +1 common attack and the +1 unique attack -- these will be face up in the game (are shown face down on the image due to VS not having the new glyphs yet). See the comments above on the use of the Marro Hive on this map. Obviously with the Hive and swamp water, this map is made for armies that use the Marro Drudge.



Four player map "The Outpost." The 2 glyphs are both the +1 defense and they are on top of the to lava hills (just to put a little risk in holding them). The outpost (castle) doors will both be open at the start of the game. Obviously getting and holding the castle is a big advantage on this map, but with two bridge entrances that can't be "closed" like the doors, holding the castle may be easier said than done.



One more 4-player map "The Last Stronghold." Jandar had built several "listening posts" along the edge of the Volcarren Wasteland, but the ever changing geological activity in the area has destroyed all but one of the strongholds and even this one has been damaged by the lava fields. There are two glyphs of Brandar "inside" the castle section -- they will make your army immune to the effects of the lava.



One more map to come... (a 3 player - just in case we have an odd number of players).

Well, I did finally get a 3-player map, completed last night, but didn't have time to create a Virtual Scape version of it - sorry. It is triangular in shape (starting zones at the points of the triangle) and builds to a "hill" in the center. There is a road that circles the hill and the hill is snow covered (will be treated as heavy snow). There are 3 of the small glaciers (small sight block) and 3 of the walls from RttFF to break-up a straight climb up the hill. The hill is 6 hex high and at the center will be a glyph -- I'm not sure which one, but probably either the "wound" glyph from SotM.

Estimated Travel Times

From downtown Indianapolis --- about 15 minutes
From Terre Haute, IN -- less than an hour
From Columbus, IN -- about 1 hour
From Lafayette, IN -- about 1 hour
From Louisville, KY -- about 2 hours
From Fort Wayne, IN -- about 2 1/2 hours
From Bloomington, IN -- about 1 hour (PM me if coming from SW Indiana, I can give directions that will save time using IN 67 and going through Mooresville)

[Bloodthorn]

Im interested, and can probably round up 2-3 more with me.

[Schulzy]

As I said in the other thread, I live about an hour away and may be able to convince a friend or two to come with me. Again, will there be fees?

On a side note, teams would be great. I'm *not* a very experienced player, and having a teammate to tell me what's incredibly stupid would be awesome

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Schulzy

Again, will there be fees?

I should be able to get the room at no cost, so unless people want to have prizes -- I don't see a reason to charge anyone.

[mecha frog]

Ahh!!! I just found out that my son's soccer tourney is 10/14. That date is the Championship series that he'd have to play into, but I think it best to schedule around that day.

10/21 is out for me - will be in Florida.

10/28 will work and I could possibly swing being available on 10/20 (Saturday & National Heroscape Day). The only problem there is that day happens to be my wife's birthday as well. I'm sure she wouldn't mind since this won't be an all niter.

Attendance - assuming it is the 20th or 28th, I have 2 guaranteed players + 2 likelys and 2 maybes.

m.frog

[Retlaw]

Boy this is hard to find a good date.

The Saturday the 20th doesn't work for me. I'll check on the 28th.

[Schulzy]

Hopefully we can settle the date soon, I'll have to ask off work.

[Retlaw]

I am trying to get the room for SATURDAY OCTOBER 27th (Sunday Oct 28th is the alternate if the room isn't available). Hopefully this date works for most.

[mecha frog]

2 confirmed for 10/28. I'll start working on getting more of my friends to come.

[Codo]

Let me check my schedule (*cough* wife *cough*) when I get home tonight. I'll have a couple of other folks check for availability as well.

Codo

[Zuse]

I do have to work that weekend but let me see what I can work out and I will let you know.

[pheonixq]

I will be there, and I'll lean on Zuse to make sure he is there as well.