Demo Day AAR

 So yesterday, March 8th, the game store I've begun visiting locally - Harlequin Hobby in Cheektowaga NY - held a big day-long event (literally, noon to midnight) for people to demonstrate games they love and stir up interest. I signed on to run quick demos of Wiley Games' Fistful of Lead - the only truly indie game there, everyone else was running games with global distribution networks and marketing budgets that the store already stocked. 

Since I didn't need as much space as something like Warhammer 40K, I got put in the upstairs gaming hall - something I didn't even know the store had until yesterday! I got set up alongside a guy running Marvel Dice Throne and another running Marvel Crisis Protocol. My demo scenario was pretty simple - small gangs of orcs squabbling over division of treasure after a battle. Scaled it down to a 2' x 2' board and created warbands of just 3 figures apiece using my Oldhammer Orcs. 

The first hour and a half were pretty quiet, but a couple people walked by and asked about my set-up and I gave my sales pitch of what the game is and why they should play it. A lot of people were wowed by my painted metal figures as well. 

From 1:30 to 4, I ran four 20-30 minute demo games in pretty quick succession, and gave my sales pitch to probably 10 additional people, including a couple of store employees who couldn't sit down and play for 30 minutes. I only remembered to take photos of the last demo game, unfortunately.

Everyone who sat down at my table had fun, and left with a smile on their face, which is more than I could say for some of the other games I witnessed. I didn't get a chance to wander the demo games downstairs in the main play space, but a bunch of Warhammer 40K players showed up and decided to take over some table space across from me for a pick-up game, to practice for an event next weekend. Those guys just looked miserable the entire time they were playing, and an argument over rules broke out between a pair of identical twins - imagine the Marx Brothers mirror gag with Harpo and Groucho pointing furiously at PDF files on an ipad and you've got an idea. 

At 4 o'clock, after my last game wrapped up (and I was only scheduled for noon to 4) and I was putting my things back in my bag, a guy who'd drifted by and glanced at my table a few times came up and asked if I was still running games because he wanted to play. I apologized, let him know I'd only been booked for noon to 4, but informed him I'd be back to run more in the coming weeks because it's a game I love and there's definite interest at the store for more.