[AT-43] Preppin for a Demo

The backstory: This week I ran a nice fun demo game of AT 43 down at Arkham Asylum that actually got some interest and notice.

(Oni vs Red Blok.  A classic duel of amoral corporate greed up against communism.  No matter who wins the common man LOSES.)

I used the super rad 2000 point starter boxes for it, and while it was called for time it was overall a really close match.  (I so need to do a review of the starters.  One of the best and smartest deals in minis gaming.  Which Games Workshop doesn't need to do since they have their own zombies.  Of the consumer and marketshare kind.)

So.. with more people wanting to possibly try its better that I prepare an easier to get into group demo game.

I decided to use the Oni 2000 point starter box for the first force.  People seemed to like the idea of exploding suicide zombies and zombie cyborgs whose guns make the dudes they shoot into more exploding zombies.

Well Oni is an amoral corporation whose mercs work for anyone.  (If the zombies didn't give the whole amoral thing away.  Oni is practically Resident Evil's Umbrella Corp!)

I choose to have Oni be in a siege situation against a slightly larger foe, the UNA.  I don't have the UNA starter which I don't think is even out yet, but I use pyAT43 army builder found at the AT 43 forum and build up a quick army.

As the Oni 2000 force has a medium and heavy AFV (armored fighting vehicle) in it, I choose to make the attackers more based around infantry with a trio of the lowest sized AFVs.  Oni has a 2 and 3 star tank.  The UNA forces will have a squad of 3 1 star tanks.  I throw in a bunch of infantry squads, though only half have anti tank capabilities.   Also the UNA have numbers but not quality officers or many special rules to keep things simple.

One important thing in demoing a game is to not overwhelm new players.  Leave some rules out, and others don't worry about unless it comes up in play.

(From back to front: Fire Toad squad with Sgt, Death Dealer Tacarms lead by Lt. Epstone, a squad of  Star Troopers with a Master Sgt and Volcano Cannon, a squad of Shock Troopers with 2 flamers and a Sgt, 2 squads of Steel Troopers, one with medic & mechanic, one without. M Sgt in one, Lt in the other, and a support squad of Steel Trooper Missile Launchers.)

I hadn't based these figures yet, so any models that weren't done now have a nice flocking.  Notice how there looks to be 2 different colors of flock?  Its not.  Its the base paint I slop on and dip into the flock tub.  The darker green ones were Goblin Green, the newer Camo Green.  I honestly have to say I like the Camo better.  In a fit of inspiration and laziness instead of painting the edges with the 2-3 coats it would take I leave them alone except for each squad's officer which got the Camo Green in 2 coats.  (Good old Vallejo paint.  Covers real nice.)  This way everyone can quickly see where the officers are which matter in AT-43 for the purposes of measuring range. The few models that had already gotten edge painting got a black paint pen.  I should go back and hit everything again sometime soon.

But for now, my models are all personalized.  In the unlikely event other AT-43 players show up ( I posted a mention of the game on Facebook and the AT-43 forums) it will be easy to know whose models are mine.  That's a handy tip for you prepainted minis game players.  A nice flocked base is super easy to do and makes it look that much nicer.

So now I have the minis needed packed up into a Plano type case outside of my 3 Fire Toads.  I pulled out my army cards, and the Oni force is just the one that comes in the box.

Now I just need to have a scenario completely set up for Wednesday.

Perhaps something with a number of random tunnel entrances on the board where some of those exploding zombies can pop out of?  Superior numbers only do so much in a siege situation when you can freely send random amounts of zombies with bombs attached to them to pop up out of the ground and then go kablooey...

(If this game had continued the Zombie Guns that turned casualties into zombies would then get to explode next turn and these warriors for the Proletariat were going to be dead.  Imagine the fear of these things popping up out of vents every turn to explode?  Add in Zombie Gun creating them and the UNA players are gonna be on serious edge!)