A visit to…Games `n Dice Düsseldorf e.V.
Last June, I had the pleasure of being a guest at the Games 'n Dice hobby club. This name will not be entirely unfamiliar to some, as the podcast of the same name was created directly by the club members, Gregor and Benni to be precise, with whom I recorded a system introduction to Mortal Gods. Beside that, Dennis visited the club back in 2019 for the Historical Demo Day and covered the visit on here as well.
This was also the reason for an invitation to the clubs Open Sunday in Düsseldorf to play a demo game there too.
Games'n Dice e.V. was originally formed in 2010 from the community of Warmachine and Flames of War players. Of course, the focus was not limited to these two games, but at the time they formed those were the core systems. The basic idea behind founding a club was to have a fixed structure and a legally secure roof for events. The Drachental store has always been the home of Games 'n Dice. In addition to the Open Sunday, which only takes place every other weekend, there is also a hobby meeting every Wednesday evening.
The great strength of Games'n Dice is its great variety and openness to different systems. Club President Benjamin (not our Podcast Benni) answers the question "What do you play?" with "What don't we play?". Even though attention is often paid to current trends, there are also many players who turn to the "classics" from time to time and start a Necromunda campaign or like to meet up for a game of Infinity or FoW V3.
The Drachental store offers some very spacious premises for tabletop and board game enthusiasts. I really liked the store section, as you quickly get the feeling of a general store - you'll find the usual products from major manufacturers, but also some exotic items that aren't in the mainstream spotlight. The selection of board games is also wide enough to offer something for those who are not interested in tabletop games.
June 2024 review
A slightly postponed recap of June. While I was able to write up our visit to FeenCon at beginning of this month, a prolonged family weekend followed up by a few days of the flu changed my schedule.
First things first - the Horus Heresy audiobooks are back on spotify, and while that was in clarification between the license holders, I went to Bookbeat, as they have the audiobooks as well- by the way if you use the code "60tgratis" when you register, you get two months for free not just one. I'm currently listening to Betrayer, where the Word Bearers and World Eaters fight alongisde, attacking the realm of Ultramar, more precisely Armatura.
FeenCon 2024
Last weekend Dino and I went to the FeenCon, a convention hosted in Bonn, which went through a couple of changes over the last few years - one of them moving from the old location of Bonn Bad Godesberg towards Bonn Beuel, from the town hall to the comprehensive school.
And across the venue, the tabletop area was the smaller gymnasium, with the trade stands and board games and pen & paper in the other areas.
The tabletop area was hosted by three clubs, Bedburger Tabletop Freunde, Privateer Poza Boyz and the Tabletop Community Bonn. You might know the Bedburger Tabletop Freunde from our visit to their club house.
Road to CONflict – Part V
In the last step, we assembled the tanks for our demo table, and are now about to paint five armoured vehicles for our game of tank battles and the Road to CONflict.
Obviously we start with a primer, and as usual black coat with a with dusting on top. Makes it much easier to see details during painting and the white colour is a bit more coarse, giving you a better grip for your paints.
Road to CONflict – Part IV
Well, we already printed some items for the stowage of the tanks in the last part of Road to CONflict, and this time we're going for a bit of terrain, scatter terrain and markers to be precisely, and we got ourself some STL files on MyMinifactory from ImitationofLife.
We printed up about half a dozend medium sized scatter and a lot of mines to cover a flexibel area, close parts of the table or create zones to guide the flow of the game, without being fixed to a terrain module in the future. In detail I used the following files:
Road to CONflict – Part III
The tanks for Road to CONflict were built, all Warlord Games tank kits, 4 Shermans (one of which was a Firefly) and a Hellcat (this is the Italeri model produced for Warlord Games).
Next up would be to modify these tanks and add lots and lots of bits and pieces to them, to make them fit the post-apocalyptic setting. I used various regular plastic and metal bits, as well as 3d printed items. I will link the 3d printed items below, a great source was Imitation of Life, who offers a lot of items that are Fallout and Necromunda themed, so a great addition for this project.
The other side of the Con
The Chaosbunker had a historic moment at CONflict Rheinland, where Dennis and I each gave demo games for the first time. In my case, it was the historical game Mortal Gods.
My first event on the other side of the demo table was a good experience. I think that has to do with the fact that I went into the demo day with a good concept and I want to share it. This article is therefore very text-heavy - you've been warned.
What should be shown?
Before I even actively made the first preparations for the demo, I had a few basic thoughts about the game itself. Every game has a few characteristics that will distinguish it from others and that should be reflected in a qualitative way. I came up with the following points:
- Historical setting, Greece
- Simple mechanics, yet strategic
- Easily accessible and available
Setting
It was clear to me that I had to show a credible historical context in the demo. Mortal Gods is set in the Peloponnesian War, which I solved by painting the armies differently. One side represented the city-state of Thebes (allied with Sparta), the other Plataiai (allied with Athens). This served history well enough.
In general, you can paint ancient Greeks however you like, because there was no uniform back then. In the spirit of the demo, however, I gave both armies a uniform main color.
Road to CONflict – Part II
The Achtung Panzer! Blood & Steel starter set arrived, once again thank very much toward Warlord Games Germany for sending us the boxed set, it will receive a review of its own, but that meant I could start building further tanks for our Road to CONflict 2024.
Beside all of the rules and lots and lots of tokens, the Blood & Steel starter set covers German and British tanks, Panther and Shermans to be precisely. As we were going for a cold war gone hot scenario, I would only make use of the Shermans (yes, I know the Firefly was build in Woolwich, Hayes, Radcliffe und Nottingham, and not in one of the 10 American or the one Canadian factories) and keep the Panthers for different purposes.
Road to CONflict – Part I
For CONflict Rheinland this year, we had some special plans. We were invited once again and Florian asked me, after he hosted the large Frostgrave table last year, if I would like to join him on hosting a table. This progress would be covered under the project Road to CONflict.
Internal CONflict Rhineland 2024
The Internal CONflict is actually the first wargaming event I participate in this year. Due to multiple schedule collisions I wasn't able to visit any shows early to this date, as you can see from my event schedule. What does Internal mean regarding the CONflict? Well, it is not an open event, but internal affair and you have to be invited to tag along.
But (!) this is the first time, that I will host a demo table as well and I'm really looking forward to it. And obviously, we wouldn't show up empty handed, so we packed the car with some snacks (make sure those are non-greasy, as you don't want Orange Cheeto Dust on your miniatures) and drinks, as well as gaming materials. I'll go into that later, what my essentials for a convention are.
Regular readers know - no event report without a proper parking lot picture, and as the CONflict is held at the clubhouse of a local rifle club, parking is not an issue. Beside that, the hosts provide us optionally with a full catering, (breakfast, lunch and dinner from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning, along with a broad variety of drinks).
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