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4th Edition Launch Event at Common Ground Games

4th Edition Launch at Common Ground Games
with Mark Nisbett

Common Ground Games (or CGG) in Stirling was chosen to be my port of call for Scotland for a number of reasons; it has a good central location, there are plenty of tables for gaming on and lastly CGG has been the home of the tournament scene in Scotland for a couple of years now and we have close ties to the venue.

As mentioned above, we had players who had been gaming in Flames Of War for a decade or more come in, just as excited to get their hands on the 4th Edition conversion books primarily, but more often than not these players were just as quick to scoop up a copy of the hardback Mid War rulebook. The story was the same over in Edinburgh and Glasgow as the rulebooks and starter sets flew off the shelves.

The other thing that customers tried to barter on were the shop copies of the upcoming Desert Rats and Afrika Korps intelligence handbooks. I think had Common Ground stocked them on the day, they'd have sold a good dozen or so easily. Which is unsurprising as the books are great!

Away from the shop floor and into the gaming area; the majority of customers were unable to stop for long, most eager to get home and get reading at the new rules. But two stayed by for a couple of demo games; Kenneth and Craig. Both had got into the Flames Of War community through TANKS initially, before stepping up to Team Yankee and finally into Flames Of War, with the El Alamein box a perfect purchase for them.

They settled down to crack the box open whilst I took to a table to take a couple of players through a few demo games of the new kit. With plenty of questions being asked about how things work, what to do with their existing forces and the like, it was encouraging to see players who were initially unsure about the release settling into the new edition (A feeling that has been spreading through Facebook and beyond).
Demonstration games are always a tricky area; you don't want to overwhelm a player with tonnes of information at a time, but you want to give them enough information to make an informed choice throughout the game. Lucky for me the majority of players who indulged in a game were seasoned veterans stopping by to get their first hands-on experience with the new ruleset.

For those that are interested, the British and the Germans ended up on even scores at the end of the day, showing that even though the British tanks are a little fragile, they can definitely stand up to the menace of the tougher German armour.
4th Edition Launch Event at Common Ground Games

Over in Edinburgh at the Games Hub, there were also demonstration games on the go, in case you couldn't get to Stirling.

Our little demo table attracted a lot of interest from other games and passing customers; many of whom were quite taken by the new plastic tanks and unit cards. With a couple of demos throughout the day, interspersed with a lot of chat and in-depth conversations with players, a couple of whom were making a return to Flames Of War after a little while out, the day was definitely a success.

4th Edition Launch Event at Common Ground Games

The 4th Edition release was definitely well received in Scotland, as is true for the rest of the world. From my own experience, I'm heartened by the community up here and can only hope that 4th Edition brings more players into the fold, perhaps ones that have been a little standoffish in the past about getting into a game such as Flames Of War.

We can but wait and see, but I have no doubt that in the coming months Flames Of War will be a very prevalent game up here.

Left: Demonstrating 4th Edition.

In finishing all I can say is that I hope you enjoyed the weekend as much as I did and that you got your hands on a copy of the conversion rules, and perhaps were even fortunate enough to snag a rulebook and starter set before they sold out at your location.

Thanks for reading guys, and enjoy 4th Edition.


~ Mark.


Last Updated On Wednesday, March 22, 2017 by Blake at Battlefront