NagoyaHammer 2015 - Preliminary ideas.

[me_in_japan]

Agree with Konrad re reduced numbers this year. I'm pretty sure the dates had a lot to do with it. Friday/Saturday means "can't go/one day only" to a lot of people. I almost didn't go myself this year (although I'm glad I did). If I lived further afield, especially if there was already plenty of gaming in my area, I'd be far less inclined to go to a single-day event in far off Nagoya, regardless of what game/style was being played.

Also, iirc the JIGG 3 day golden week event overlapped with Naghammer didn't it? That kind of thing will basically kill attendance from the Osaka crowd, in much the same way that none of us (bar Ash) went to the Osaka event.

[Spevna]

I think the reason there was not as big a turn out this year was simply because it was on a Friday/Saturday. For a lot of folks in this country, taking a day off means you are in the hospital or someone has died. And if I'm coming from out of town, I'm going to want a solid 2 days of dice geekery for the cost of a shinkansen ticket and hotel. I don't think the tournament set up had anything to do with it or 40K's decreasing popularity. The usual format of a day of anything goes freeplay and a day of 40K team tournament of some sort has always been good fun for me and this year was no exception.
As for terrain, you can put me down for a table's worth next year. That's one down, who's got the other 11?

I reckon this is spot on.

[ashmie]

I've been to the first two Nagoyahammers and the last one. My favourites have been the first and last. The competition in the first ever NH was high but a lot of fun. There were a few people tabled, myself included but you're always going to get that in a tournament. I really enjoy hanging out with all of you, you are really top blokes in my view and despite my general acting like a prick over the years I regard you as some of the best people I know. You've helped me through some tough times. In small ways but in bigger ways you could realise.
So drama aside, I'd happily create a table for next year. I think that's a brilliant idea and how fun would it be to try mystery terrain sets out made by other group members.
Venue is great but an alternative venue wouldn't be impossible.
I'm open to competitive play in a friendly atmosphere like this year. This could be a tournament or free play, both is fine for me. It's who I play not what I play so I'm happy with any variation of 40k. I like to play to win but not at all costs. I'll try for 2 days next year.
You have my axe. You know my feelings on this group. It's man love.

[The Underdweller]

I think the reason there was not as big a turn out this year was simply because it was on a Friday/Saturday. For a lot of folks in this country, taking a day off means you are in the hospital or someone has died. And if I'm coming from out of town, I'm going to want a solid 2 days of dice geekery for the cost of a shinkansen ticket and hotel. I don't think the tournament set up had anything to do with it or 40K's decreasing popularity. The usual format of a day of anything goes freeplay and a day of 40K team tournament of some sort has always been good fun for me and this year was no exception.
As for terrain, you can put me down for a table's worth next year. That's one down, who's got the other 11?

I reckon this is spot on.

Yeah, I agree too. I don't know if I can do a whole table, but I can certainly help out!

[Primarch]

A wee bit of thread-o-mancy here, but I'd like to have a second round of discussions on this topic, as I need to book things in early October, I want to have a clear idea of what I am doing.

First of all, venue. Badruck asked, why do we keep using the same place. There are a number of reasons for this:
1. I can book it 6 months in advance, giving me time to find a second option should it be unavailable. It also allows for you guys to plan your holidays around it. Most community centres can only be booked 2 months in advance.
2. It's next to a pretty big station, with access to the JR, Meitetsu and Subway lines. It's only a small hop from Nagoya for the Shinkansen and Kintetsu.
3. It's big enough to have plenty of gaming space and not feel crowded.
4. It is (by 2015, change to was) near my place which meant transporting stuff was easy.
5. There are a lot of restaurants, cafes, bars and hotels nearby.
It is an expensive venue and I need to get a minimum of 10 people in on each day to hope to break even. Any extra money goes towards the upkeep of this site, (Websites aren't free you know), terrain and covering extra costs on smaller events throughout the year.

I will probably keep using the same venue in the future unless someone can find me somewhere which fulfills points 1, 3 and (to a degree) 5 above at a really low cost and is fairly accessible to everyone who doesn't have access to a car. For a big event, plenty of notice and plenty of space are important, as is convenience.

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The other point I want to talk about is format.
Attendance was down this year, but as others have said, that is probably as much to do with the dates as anything else. While it's great to have a lot of people coming from all over the country to play, the key point for me is that I can see all my friends playing together in the same place, so I want to listen to what people have to say to help build the best event for you guys. I can't always accommodate everyone's wishes, but hopefully you all enjoy what I do.

So one day will definitely be 40K. It's still the biggest fish in the pond, despite GW's best efforts. Tournament or some other format will be decided later.

The other day....
Some ideas have been kicked around about having scenarios with pre-set lists. I really like the idea to be honest. The comment was made that people want to use their own armies for playing and I understand that. However, that makes scenarios difficult to plan for, and limits everyone to playing games they already play with the minis they always use. Not everyone has 10,000 points of army to choose from. The idea was also mentioned (and I have encouraged people to try at previous events) of doing Demo Games.

So, here is my proposal.
1 Day is 40K, use your own models, have fun.
The 2nd day has free tables for 40K, BA, whatever, line up your own games if you want. BUT....
People make an effort to put together demo/scenario games for any system they like, be it 40K, Judge Dredd, Malifaux, etc. They provide everything needed to play beyond standard d6s and a tape measure. Players coming on that day are asked politely to try at least one of the demos on offer as well as the free play tables. Demo games should be playable in about 2 1/2 - 3 hours. The person organising the demo can either play the game with/against other players or step out and explain the system/rules/minis to players as an umpire. Unless you already have enough stuff and the motivation to do the game by yourself, collaboration between 2+ people is probably best. That way one of you can run the game and one can try a different game. Then you can switch over. The game should be enough to introduce someone to the system OR to play the system in a different way. E.g. Playing 40K following a story, rather than just Dawn of War deployment and d3+2 objectives.

Now, I just want to hear people's thoughts on the above. If you're not interested in running a game, cool, it's not for everyone, but would you be willing to give up 3 hours of your time to play a new/different game (with no obligation to buy ), if it were on offer. If you are interested in running a game, we'll discuss the specifics in another thread sometime in the future, I just want to hear your feedback on the concept.

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Terrain is a major issue for the next event. Unless I get some very kind volunteers to come out to Kasugai very early on the morning of the event with a car, I am going to have almost no way to get any volume of terrain to the venue. I will ask players to bring along what they can, whether it is a full table of terrain or just a couple of stands of trees. Every little helps.

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Badruck stated that he was disappointed that there wasn't a painting contest at NH2014. Is this something that people would like to see brought back? Having tried to incorporate it into the main event, it's a pain for timing issues as 40K seems to get slower and slower. Maybe on the other day we could do something. I have no problem with having one.

Anyway, that's a huge wall of text, so if you got this far without skipping parts, thanks for reading.

If there is anything you feel that we should talk about, feel free to speak up and let your voice be heard.

Thoughts, comments and so forth go below. Again, this is only a discussion, nothing has been decided upon yet, so please be civil and don't get to wound up.

[The Other Dave]

Well, I'd certainly be ready, willing, and able to demo some Epic on the second day - it would, at the very least, give me a reason to go to the event! Like you say, it's always great to see a room full of friends getting their game on.

Here's my thoughts on your ideas: Personally, I'd be a little worried about giving the second day some organization. Last time I came to demo Epic on day 2 (and a lot of this was on me, certainly, and my efforts to push said demo before the day) it felt quite a bit like it was a 40K open day for which everyone already had all their games lined up, and I didn't actually end up demoing any games. Again, I'm willing to take that as a "lesson learned" and be more proactive about recruiting and organizing for any demos I do, but I do kind of think that making the day either a demo day or a free play day (but not necessarily both) might be an idea to explore.

(I also have car and will travel, so could help with terrain - at least for any day(s) I come out.)

[The Underdweller]

So, one day of Free Play 40K, and one day of playing a demo game and/or whatever you want?

Of course it would be fun, but I would prefer to have an organized day of 40k - I liked the format we used in 2013, which was flexible in case people didn't show up/did show up, or didn't have enough points, made sure there would be enough tables with terrain available for each game, and didn't have people waiting around for other games to finish in order to get a new opponent, because everyone finished at the same time. Also people had lists already made, which increased the amount of gaming time we had.

My vote would be to have that again, and then the Demo game thing sounds fun for the second day. I also agree with Dave that having some organization - people signing up for demos, at different time slots, basically - would save someone the time of organizing something they thought was really cool but then having few to no players because other games were more popular.

Anyway, that is my 2 cents!

[Primarch]

Er... the all 40K day would be either a tournament or similar. The other/demo day would have space for freeplay games.

[The Underdweller]

Oh, sorry - I was misinterpreting your "Bring your Own Models, Have Fun" statement.

Please ignore my first paragraph!

[kojibear]

So, here is my proposal.
1 Day is 40K, use your own models, have fun.
The 2nd day has free tables for 40K, BA, whatever, line up your own games if you want. BUT....
People make an effort to put together demo/scenario games for any system they like, be it 40K, Judge Dredd, Malifaux, etc. They provide everything needed to play beyond standard d6s and a tape measure. Players coming on that day are asked politely to try at least one of the demos on offer as well as the free play tables. Demo games should be playable in about 2 1/2 - 3 hours.

This sounds great to me. I would like to hear what people coming from out of town think about the second day, though. Would you stay for the second day? Do you feel a single day of tournament type play would entice you to come from afar? It would be great the both days were full

Terrain is a major issue for the next event.

I will happily bring a table of terrain.

Anyway, that's a huge wall of text, so if you got this far without skipping parts, thanks for reading.

Not at all. Thank YOU for your efforts.