Outbreak City at Eastern Front 2011

Only slightly more overdue than Episode 1...

Outbreak City at Eastern Front 2011

On Sunday 1st August this year Eastern Front, I made the decision to put on a display game  of All Things Zombie at the East of England Wargames Show. The show was held at St Andrews Hall in Norwich.

After announcing here I was doing so, one of our fellow bloggers, Colin (cmnash) said "I might just try and get over to Norwich to see you there!"

I knew that Colin wasn't local and seeing as he's a gamer and a zombie gamer to boot and making he effort to travel I emailed him to say "Why not play?" A few emails later and, before you know it, a plan was hatched - we were putting on a game together.

Great news because, whilst I was happy to put on the game, I'd only actually done it once beforehand and certainly not alone.

So Colin brought his massive horde of zombies, a few survivors, some wrecked cars, street furniture and a few other goodies and I brought the Risks and Rewards Deck, the gaming table and the terrain.

Colin's rather impressive zombie horde.

For a full report of the games we played, and bucket loads of pictures, check out Colin's post Eastern Front Game with Zombie Ad.

Humorously, Colin turned our display game into a full-on participation event with once quick question to a lady who scanned the board with interest, telling us it was the kind of game she and her husband could play together. "Cool, so do you wanna play?"

"Ooh, ahhh, that's how it starts. Then there's the running and screaming!"

We hadn't realised the impact us taking someone through the game might have on the other people watching. As soon as that game finished (she survived and made it off the table...just) we were approached by another group of gamers who asked "Can we get in on the next game?"

Colin and I exchanged glances and shrugs. "Errr...sure!" we replied.

Things turned ugly fast. Real ugly.

It was great to meet Colin and our combined ability to teach others to play ATZ (with equal measures of us getting the rules right and wrong, the wrong bit being mostly me) drive the narrative and lead the players into as much peril as we possibly could, worked perfectly.

We were busy with people at the table all day long, I was told we had one of the busiest tables and, most importantly we, and everyone who either played or stopped to ask questions, seemed to have a great time. It was great to meet with everyone, discuss gaming, terrain and zombies. Thanks should go to Mike and Dug who both dropped in to say hello and an extra special thank you to Dug, whose photos are shown here. My other half had the camera for a day out she had with the kids and I only had a phone to get pictures on. Epic fail.

Local 'Irwins' capture the action from the roof of the cinema.

One of the most amusing things was more than one person asking "So do you guys play a lot together?" to which we could only answer, "Actually we met a couple of hours ago."

The undead's clumsy ambush was no match for the cowgirl's firepower.

Whilst the buildings had all been built long before the show, the street layout was new and reached the stage it was seen in these pictures in the wee hours the night before the show. It is not finished, there's tons of detailing to go and I'll share the journey of it's development in some future posts.

I'm sure I'll be putting on another public game at some point in the future and this time it will likely be a participation game from the outset.

Thanks Colin, awesome stuff sir!

17 comments:

  1. This sounds absolutely great!

    Gamers coming together for some fun and dice rolling!

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  2. Good work guys, sounds like ypu had a GREAT time.

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  3. Sounds cool I wish some of you guys lived nearer

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  4. thats cool, we have a gaming weekend in Trinity College, Dublin, i was thinking of doing An ATZ Game their next year,but its mostly warhammer and 40k and D&D, as a x 40k player, i think ATZ would turn a few heads, as its a very cheap and exciting game to play

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  5. Looks great! I'd like doing the same in the next convention of my club but I still wonder what kind of scenario is the best for teaching people. Do you have some counsels ?

    David

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  6. Excellent guys, good to bring fresh meat into the hobby and genre.

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  7. The table looks great, you did yourself proud Zombie AD, and Colins zombie hoard...very impressive, makes me want to start painting Z's again.

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  8. Sounds and looks like a great demo/participation game.

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  9. It was fun and I'm glad that I made the trek to see Adam's game. Even though he claims it to be unfinished Adam's secenry was superb and it is that that makes the difference to any show game. So well done Adam - all I did was to turn up, turn Adam's demo game into a participation one and then run away to look at the trade stands!

    Maybe we should put on an 'ATZnet' game next year at a centrally located show and get some other Zedbloggers involved?

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  10. Very very cool - well done lads!

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  11. Cheers for the feedback guys. I'm about to start on the 'building the boards' posts and I also have something cool I wanna show that Colin was kind enough to give me as a gift.

    Cheers again Colin. it was ace, the running away bit and all! :) It was a great day and just cool to share the game with a fellow blogger.

    ATZ bloggers display (turned participation) game! Awesome idea Colin!

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  12. That's great! I never understood the draw of wanting to run a "display" game. Get people involved. Do a little OJT with the rules with people. Let 'em roll some dice and put their grimy little paws all over your minis :-) You hit the right note with the comment, "most importantly we, and everyone who either played or stopped to ask questions, seemed to have a great time". Kudos!

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  13. WE WANT POSTS!!

    "I'm about to start on the 'building the boards' posts"

    Oh yeah? WHEN?!?

    Seriously, hope everything is ok Adam, and that you come back to us soon!

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  14. Of course... you're right Colin.

    I'm good thank you, finally recovering from Christmas and 2011, here's to 2012!

    My 'to-do' list is much shorter now, so hang in there buddy!

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