Fanatics! Legionnaires! Prepare for battle! Come see how to organize your next ‘BIG GAME’.
Sometimes you just have to throw down and go to a mother of all events such as an Apocalypse battle or a grand tournament. What many of us forget is that it takes a lot of preparation to go to one of these things, and that is apart from your minis and rulebooks.
The days before any major event we have all sat down, well into the small hours of the night painting up a squad or a new warlord for our army, no one wants to show up with ebay level paintjobs when facing your peers in a tournament or an apocalypse. This is a very important part of the preparation because it also creates hype. Hype is needed so that when you arrive at the venue, you are absolutely bursting and ready to roll them dice! But then what?
Bring only what you can carry! – Always plan ahead.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is no joke. Bring only what you can carry. Always plan your packing and bring only what is needed for the venue. There is no need to carry the entire collection with you, unless you have separation from your plastics, in which case, then it is fine.
Pack the evening before, and do it early, not after a wombo painting session 3 a.m. and you need to be up 8 a.m. to catch a train. Mark my words you will forget something. Have your painting done at least two days before, so that you can categorically and systematically pack.
The more organized the better, so look into army cases, because what good does a golden deamon worthy painted army do, if you can’t bring it safely to the battlefield? There are many varieties out there, personally I use the new Games Workshop Crusader cases. They are awesome and they swallow away an immence amount of minis.
Bring the necessary books, no more no less, unless you are a douche and keep reading Twilight novels in between your turns. I have gone over to the ebook side of things. Much easier to bring a tablet rather than a pile of books.
What about second breakfast?- What you should eat.
Recently I attended an Apocalypse event. Not a very big one but it took the full day, from morning until the night basically. My regular diet when going gaming is usually quite a lazy one. There is always a fast food joint nearby and it is easy to pack up together with your friends at breaktime and just pick up a burger.
Three inevitable things occur with said burger;
- Little to no nutrition: I know, I know it sounds boring and overly healthy. But there is a point to this. You probably take the first food break after 3 hours or so of gaming, which means you have so far survived deployment and the first very intense round, where all the shiney titans have been firing their D-weapons of yore. Face it, your brain is slightly fried. You need nutrition to keep on rolling them dice boy!
- Food coma: Every time my buddies and I show up at Burger King or McDonalds, you know what magic phrase is about to command you to feed that inner fat kid. “Would you like to super size that?”. Not only do you super size, you order an extra side of Chili Cheese fingers, an extra burger and a strawberry milkshake for dessert (everyone buys strawberry milkshake when it isn’t your main order, you know this, I know this so shut up and keep reading). You basically inhale all this food because you already lost 15 minutes walking, talking and ordering of your precious one hour break from the game. And when you eat too fast, you become sluggish and your capacity to envoke the Emperor’s wrath is null and void. Food coma is a fact.
- Game time will be lost: If the burgerjoint isn’t in the next room, you will spend at least 45 minutes just walking, talking, ordering, eating, talking, groaning, walking, sitting, talking. Lunch break suddenly became 2 hours.
So now you are thinking, what do you suggest mister goodie-two-shoes? Well, normally I do above stated things, but this time we had home made lasagna, fresh salad at home. So like I usually do for work, I packed my lunch. Not only did this food taste better, I could heat it up in the venue kitchen and eat it from the tupperware in a matter of five minutes. I was done with my lunch in 25 minutes. I even had time to walk the dog. And best part was there was no food coma. This was basically the deal breaker for me. I will henceforth to my best efforts always pack my lunch for Apocs and tournaments. It tasted delicious as well!
And one thing you should never… ever forget….
Never forget to drink. Bring water. No matter how much soda, coffee or anything else of the like there is, always hydrate with regular H20.
So now you have a neatly packed army, lunch and all your literature is neatly placed into your tablet for easy carrying. If there is room left, treat yourself to some snacks, this should be a fun day after all, so your lunch should be tasty too. Here in our house the fiancé and I always cook with the intention to have left overs, thus you don’t need to cook in the morning to bring food. Of course before you leave the house eat a proper breakfast. I am an eggs and bacon guy myself.
You are almost there, stay focused!
While playing your game of Apocalypse or tournament, don’t just spread all your stuff everywhere, you will just be kicking yourself when it is time for packing. If you have the possibility to have your cases in an organized manner somewhere near the table you should place it there and keep them ready. When a full squad for some reason dies (we all know it is either them cheating, or you being a shitty tactitian), pack it down. Another thing I picked up at the latest apocalypse. I had my army packed in the manner of 10 minutes when we were done.
So you should now be prepared for any battle of any magnitude. Emperor’s light shines on you! But no matter how much you organize, precook and minimize, never ever forget to enjoy your day. We do this because we love this.
Stay awesome fanatics.
Happy Hobbying.
/Battesai
About the Author: Bartosz "Battesai" Koc
