Just over a week ago I had the pleasure of running the fourth annual Twilight Day!
We had a great bunch of participants this year, with a few new faces and a good crowd of more familiar ones (although I was sad a few of the regulars couldn’t make it). The quality of the painting was another step up and I was very pleased to see so many new forces! Gary ‘Moody Git’ Lewis’ fantastic looking Yartain won him the painting contest, but it was a remarkably difficult decision to make! The variety and size of the forces was amazing, so next year I might have to be more strict about 300pt painted forces to make the judging a bit easier…
Gill Marshal won her first ever painting prize when her name was drawn out of the hat, so hopefully this will inspire her to paint more for next year!
This event is of course all about the games and this year the events took us into the depths of the Naralon Forests, where the mysterious Kedashi Queens hold council. We spent the morning playing lots of small games to introduce the newcomers to the game and to try out new or random combinations. Tak Sirahn and his Yartain had an epic battle against ekim’s Knights of Orel, eventually claiming themselves a hard-earned victory and Hannah’s pet preepree sadly ended up as a tasty snack for the Devanu…
It was also very gratifying to see Lexie (my eldest daughter) getting involved! I gather she had about nine games of the wandering engineer. I think she would have kept playing but by that stage she had tired out Tom and Gill who had been helping her out! I think she’ll be a useful playtester for future releases
In the afternoon we had several larger themed games with the Empire and the Delgon battling it out in the forests.
The Delgon had lost one of their priests to a vicious Kelahn, but it was vital that the information he was carrying didn’t fall into enemy hands! The brave KalMalog rushed into the den of the beast and retrieved the canister, but having expended all his fuel he was cut down as he fled by the winged devils that flew forth from the forest. His Dhogu allies eventually managed to recover the information before the Empire’s finest could close on the body.
Meanwhile, an Delgon-enlisted engu logging crew came under attack by a combined force of Kedashi, Casanii and a rather indecisive Noble (who after previous experience had decided not to bring his pet preepree along – instead leaving one of his personal guards back at camp to look after it). The bold Casanii spent most of the game watching the Kedashi swarm bog down the entire Delgon army before deciding to try and get involved. As the sun set the forces were still engaged in battle, so it seems very likely that he beasts of the forest ate well that night…
A few miles away a rather hapless KalGush managed to fall foul of some passing Trebarnii. Unfortunately, the ensuing fireball laid waste to the nearby trees and set off a wall of flames that drove through the forest. The nearby Empire forces spotted a small potential respite from the flames, but sadly they weren’t the only ones… With four forces and very little space available the fighting was bitter. Once the Nobility and the Knights of Orel formed an uneasy alliance the Dhogu and Delgon perished to the flames…
The afternoon ended with a grand finale, in which the Dekgon forces closed in on a Kedashi Nest Tree, intent on destroying the source of their recent troubles. The Casanii and the Empire decided to try and protect the locals, although the Kedashi did muster a terrifying swarm under the leadership of queen fikster!
Dehran himself led a large force of Dhogu and Delgon while the well trained KalMalog did sterling work pulling the BelDerak mortars into position (leaving the poor yirnak with very little to do…)
One of the mortars fell to a well coordinated strike by the Casanii but the other two were eventually moved into position to start assaulting the tree. Sadly most if the shells seemed to be attracted to Dehran, who was busily trying it take the tree down single-handedly. We can only assume that the ensuing concussion didn’t help his ability to hit the giant tree…
It all came to a head in the final round as Dehran’s axes finally brought the tree down while mortar shells crashed into the remains of the ancient tree. As night drew in the survivors of the attack fled back into the jungle to tell the ancients of the sins of the outsiders. I think the Delgon might have just prodded a rather large hornets nest!
Thanks again to everybody who came and helped to make this such a fun event. I have to thank Guildford Games Club for hosting (especially Eddie for organising and Fred for bullying me into running an event in June), Paul for once again providing his fantastic collection and letting people use them and everybody else who helped running the day.
Do any of you have good photos or stories from the day?
I had a lot of fun preparing for the day, particularly playing with the kedashi… I’m looking forward to expanding them more over the next few months, so watch this space!
Mike
