Hi all, a quick guest post again from Alex Ley regarding the epic streamed narrative Age of Sigmar charity event, Mind over the Realms. If you can support the cause, spread the word and watch the stream for some amazing hobby inspiration.
Mind over the Realms
Hi everyone, hopefully you read my first article a month or so ago about the London scene and how the hobby scene in the capital is starting to expand in such a diverse and multitude of ways. This, in a way, is meant to serve as an extension of that article but with a much more poignant focus.
About 3 months ago, myself and Ming Lee were talking about ways we could host a narrative event but with a twist – one that focused on streaming and bringing streamed hobby content to our screens in the same way we are already used to with matched play. With that in mind, we called in the NEO crew and set about coming up with a plan.
The one element that Ming was very quick to push, and rightly so, was that this should be for charity. Fundraising over live broadcast content has been a feature of our television screens for years and there was no reason we couldn’t try and do the same. As for the cause, discussion with the other NEO’s gave us a clear cause we all felt was the most fitting for our community.
Over the years, I feel that we have all more than likely seen and even felt for ourselves just how the hobby and the community can offer solace and support for those suffering from a wide variety of mental health issues.
The Warhammer hobby allows casual players, collectors, modellers, painters and dedicated gamers to express themselves in such a flexible and wide variety of ways underpinned by a thriving and welcoming community. It’s because of this we believe that, for many, the hobby plays such an import role in their mental wellbeing.
As such, we decided to come together to tell an epic narrative game to raise money for Mind: the mental health charity at Magic Madhouse London to be streamed live on Saturday July 13th 2019. With everything from beautiful tables, custom models, fantastic painting, bespoke missions and narrative play to celebrate our hobby and community for an excellent cause.
For every £1 donated, every sponsor will receive 1 ticket in our amazing army give away prize draw kindly all arranged by NEO Steve Foote. We also hope to add other prizes to the list as more people and business’s come forward to support us!
If you would like to sponsor and enter; please head to the JustGiving Page.
If you run a hobby business and would like to help us with prize support, please email me at [email protected]
Hey all, today I have a guest post written by Alex Ley of the Angel Wargamers with the first in a series on the growing Warhammer Age of Sigmar scene in London. Alex will be giving us a tour of the boroughs, their clubs and events throughout the season.
As always, check out Dark Fantastic Mills for great 3D printed terrain perfect for wargaming. Its super versatile and light so worldwide shipping is inexpensive. Use the “aos shorts” discount code for a further 10% off the already decent prices.
Age of Sigmar in London
I remember moving to London with my girlfriend nearly 7 years ago and one of my immediate ambitions was to locate my nearest club and start getting involved with the Warhammer scene as soon as possible. This was back in the days of 40K 6th ed and 8th ed fantasy and I was a dedicated 40k player at the time. One of the luckiest moments of that move was going to house party hosted by one of closet friends from school and meeting Adam Cunis (@hadrielcaine) for the first time who introduced me to the Angel Wargamers at the Blacksmith and Toffeemaker pub in Angel. 7 years on, I’m a proud Angel Wargamer and co-host of the club’s podcast!
Despite London’s size, it was a little intimidating back then trying to locate a club as the scene was quite binary between 8th ed and 40k and often existed out of pubs or non-dedicated venues. There were loads of events and clubs to choose from but, as you may imagine, getting around London with a KR case full of models on the tube can be a challenging and off-putting endeavour. The hurdle for clubs and venues was not just to exist but to coax in players who largely do not drive or own a car by offering scenic tables and maximum utility from their spaces as possible in great locations.
This market gap coupled with the arrival of Age of Sigmar and hobby now being more accessible than ever, the London scene has grown tremendously with clubs for every district of the city and more dedicated gaming venues and events than ever (including some that my own club proudly organises). Whether you want narrative or pure competition, I guarantee the big smoke has something for you.
Over this series I will be covering the London scene, starting with covering the cities brand new dedicated wargaming venues, their events and what they bring to the scene. Part 1 covers Magic Madhouse London, the home to my club and host to our recent and upcoming events.
Magic Madhouse London – Hackney Wick
Since Angel Warmers moved to Magic Madhouse nearly 3 years ago its become our second home. Based in Hackney Wick, East London, Magic Madhouse London (MMH) is run by the intrepid Gav and Tim and we now congregate here every Tuesday. MMH now even cover Angel events on their very own Twitch!
Magic Madhouse London’s initial focus was Magic: The Gathering, our hosts branched out to become a great venue for anyone looking for a game of all sorts – including lots of Age of Sigmar! They now fully support the Age of Sigmar scene scene with a mixture of bookable tables and hosting events. Situated in the trendy East London hipster-highway, if you’re looking for a game within easy access from Stratford and the Olympic park then look no further.* MMH has hosted Angel’s matched, narrative and even master’s events.
Angelcore, our premier matched play event in conjunction with Corehammer, has now run for two years over 2017 and 2018, utilising the brilliant pack written by our very own Matthew Hinton (@skyel14). Matt wanted to ensure that competitive AOS tournaments used a robust set of secondary objectives. As the power in the game shifts with time and the natural evolution, Angelcore was designed to make sure that players always had something to play for, even if the primary is over quickly. By having a comprehensive and achievable set of secondaries the game stays competitive and allows players to never feel like its all over by turn 2! London is a city of inclusion and this pack was designed to bring that mantra to the matched play scene.
Matt captured this by using a 50-0 scoring system of which only a maximum of 30 points is achieved by a major win on the primary. Up to 20 points are available by scoring secondary objectives which ranged from achieving maximum board coverage to killing the enemy general. Players also did not max score secondaries by labelling their opponents, meaning that keeping the game alive was of tactical benefit to generals looking for maximum points.
With the support of MMH Angel hope to bring you Angelcore again in 2019 so watch this space. [Editor: check out the coverage of Angelcore 2018 for a taste of the action]
The London AOS masters was one of the premier events hosted at MMH this year. The nefarious Looking Donal Taylor (@wargamerdonal) invited 8 of London’s top players for a showcase show-down event at the start of 2019. Covered on the MMH Twitch and by yours truly on Twitter, it was amazing to see some of the South East’s finest take to the tables. The main takeaway from this was just how many masters live within the London based community, underpinning the strength of the scene here with not only great venues but a pool of some of the top players. If you want to see some of the coverage, head to MMH’s YouTube channel and catch some of the games!
Finally, I think its worth noting that yours truly, in collaboration with Ming and Steve of the RAW fame, are planning the Narrative Party Invitational 2018. Tim from MMH is already planning how we can use set design and lighting to bring even more drama to this stream. While the event is an invitational for now, this is simply so we can experiment with the format. Once refined, we will be launching this as part of MMH/Angel event calendar so I promise to update you all soon.
I guess the point I wish to make here is that London is melting pot of a wide array of talents and for us to be able to experiment with taking the streaming and viewer engagement part of the hobby to the next level is a testament to that. The Narrative Party aims to enrapture the joy of story driven narrative gaming and set a new precedent for the city.
Thats all for now folks. See you next time.
*Space for 6×4 war-games tables are limited at MMH and we would always recommend booking or contacting the Angel Warmers direct if you’re looking for an opponent!
Hey guys, today I’m joined by Chuck Moore, US wargamer, to talk about the new US Age of Sigmar Event Modular Pack released by the US Age of Sigmar Community group. The sound quality is not the best again unfortunately, as we were recording over the internet, but the content is gold.
The pack is an invaluable resource for Age of Sigmar players and event organisers alike and has been compiled by a large group of members of the Age of Sigmar community. At 50 pages, it provides a range of pick and choose options for organising an Age of Sigmar event. The pack contains the following modules:
Introduction and ethos – Unifying without Homogenising
Social Interaction and community growth
Player responsibility (“the social contract”)
Choosing a venue
Terrain
Painting
Narrative
Scenario selection
House rules
Sportsmanship
Scoring
All of these modules are guidelines that you can use whether you are attending or running a local, regional or national event. The pack intends to help whether you are dealing with an 8 player local store event or a 200 player national extravaganza.
Check the site and the US event calendar at the new US Age of Sigmar Community site. It is also the best way to get in touch with the group, give feedback on the pack or submit an event to the calendar.
The Realm Gate blog
You can find Chuck on Twitter as @odiamh or at his excellent Realm Gate blog. Chuck provides painting, hobby and lore updates twice a week. Definitely check out his back story on Morathi in the lead up to the Daughters of Khaine release.
Nova Open Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament
Chuck is also the tournament organiser for the Nova Open Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament this year. Nova is the East Coast’s Largest Tabletop Wargaming Convention (over 1,300 gamers attended in 2016). Held in the Washington DC area from 30 August to 2 September, you can find all the details here. Registrations open on 1 March!
Get in touch!
I’d be really interested to hear if other countries or regions have a similar pack, set of resources, or shared community FAQ. The more we can share information as members of the global Age of Sigmar community, the more we can grow the scene through great events! Get in touch on Twitter, at AoS Shorts on Facebook or through this site.
