My First Game

Last week I went to my first ever tabletop war gaming event. I’ve played some DND in the past but it never really grabbed my interest and held it in a death grip as well as Warhammer (Old World, 40K, and now AOS) has since I first started interacting with it.

Anyway, more on my Warhammer history later, last week I went to my very first Age of Sigmar war gaming event at Tabletop Game and Hobby in Overland Park Kansas (check ‘em out!)(No I’m not getting paid commission)(however if someone wanted to pay me commission…). I’ve been visiting these guys irregularly through the past, first for the Pathfinder deck building game, then for DND, but with Age of Sigmar I have now become a regular customer. They have claim to all my money Uncle Sam. Sorry not sorry. Anyway, they are the closest game store to me (the local Games Workshop in Independence is a 40 minute drive and 31st Century Games and Hobbies in Olathe is a good 45. I know, I’m pretty spoiled) I really appreciated their staff, and I am excited to get to know them better. Hopefully we can have some interviews from all three of these stores in the future, but more on that later.

So I’ll go ahead and relate my experience of my first ever Age of Sigmar club night.

If you’ve seen 8 mile, or heard the Eminem song about sweaty palms and spaghetti, well, it was nothing like that. However, I was pretty nervous. I like people and I like gaming, but going into the big, brightly lit game room connected to the Tabletop Game and Hobby store (in Overland Park Kansas, check ‘em out)(hint, hint) was pretty intimidating. It was filled with gamers who all seemed to know each other, and I definitely was feeling the odd man out syndrome. Enter, my beloved fiancé. I was late from work and she had arrived fifteen minutes before me and got the lowdown. She intro’d me to the event organizer, his royal majesty Andrew Hooper, and he showed me the scenarios and where I could set up.

I was still a little nervous until I took the initiative (with some nudging from my lady, I think my fidgeting was making her nervous while she tried to read her book) and went to meet some gamers. I’m the worst because I don’t remember any of their names, but the two men I talked to were super cool, very gracious, and excited to show me their armies. One was playing daemons of Khorne, the other was fielding chaos dwarves, a massive cannon, and some centaur dudes I don’t know the names of because I’m new to the game. Yes I will pull that card.

Anyway I watched these guys play for a while, talking with them and enjoying it a lot, until my opponent arrived. The infamous Walter. I had no idea who this guy was until he walked in and I realized “oh…dude works for Tabletop.” For all I know, dude owns tabletop. See me shrugging. I’m shrugging right now. It is the shrug of “I don’t know”. Anyway, Walter, if you ever read this…yes I will be embarrassed, but whatev.

Anyway, Walter and I faced off.

WOAH!!! I forgot to tell you the basic rules.

1. 500 point armies

2. Slow grow campaign

3. Some path to glory elements (check the General’s Handbook)

4. Three basic scenarios to choose from

5. No paint requirements, but bonuses for painted or partially painted armies

That’s all.

Anyway 2.0, Walter and I faced off. I brought my Stormcast and he brought some Ironjaws. Ironjawz. Iron…etc. It was great, Walter did an emmy-worthy job of roleplaying, he had my fiancé and I rolling with laughter as he recounted Orc logic and went after my units who had the biggest, prettiest hats.

The lists:

Stormcast

• 1 Lord Celestant on Dracoth

• 1 Lord Relictor

• 2 units of 5 Liberators armed with hammer and shield

Ironjaw(z)(s)

• 1 Megaboss

• 3 Gore-Gruntas

• 5 Brutes

The scenario was to win the tower in the middle of the field. Walter attacked, I defended. I started the game with only half my force and got to bring in my full force soon after. Walter ended up cleaning my clock and winning the tower, but it was a lot of fun (I’m still convinced if we had gone one more round I could have won the tower back…and I would’ve gotten away with it if it wasn’t for those darn kids).

It was a ton of fun. I left after my first game, partially because I was still feeling pretty shy and nervous, partially because battle is exhausting and the temple of St. Arbucks was calling my name.

I’m excited for tomorrow night, round two. It’s a three week club so hopefully we can organize some more games tomorrow or next Wednesday and really develop the growth of an AOS community here in the Kansas City area.

Let me know if you are in the area and looking for some gamers to play with.

Anyway that’s all for tonight, thanks a ton for reading, and never stop playing.