How to NEO

We interviewed one of the NEOs involved with Coalescence. He's also one of the masterminds behind the REALMS AT WAR which is running a second huge narrative event later this year, October 27-29, in Cambridge, U.K. And they still have a few spaces remaining! RAW17 How did you become a NEO? I played Warhammer 40k in my early teens but followed the usual trend by dropping out of the hobby around the age of 16 to play more sports and video games. Almost 20 years later, I wasn't playing as much sport as I had previously and I decided that I wanted to start a new hobby. I have always been a big fan of the sci-fi and fantasy genres so I thought I would have a go at Warhammer Fantasy Battle (WFB). That was around four and a half years ago and is one of the best decisions of my life! I was really lucky to meet a group of similarly aged local WFB players who called themselves EATBATS (East Anglian Tabletop Battle And Tournament Squad!) and after they took me to my first tournament, my interest in the hobby soared even more! I really enjoy playing with people I haven't played before so I find tournaments or events are so much fun. A short time before the release of Age of Sigmar (AoS), a narrative event called The Mingvitationals was held in Bristol by Ming Lee and a few of the EATBATS crew, including myself, managed to get places. It was my first experience at a narrative event and to date, it is still the most enjoyable weekend of hobbying I have ever had! Non-standard armies everywhere (do you remember the netlisting??), custom made scenarios with hidden secondary objectives and a mix of singles and doubles games! Awesome fun. When Age of Sigmar dropped, the majority of EATBATS jumped straight in and we immediately fell in love with it! The freedom to customise your army opened up so many possibilities to everyone. For me, this simple change meant that it really felt as though my army was now truly my own and I started to work up a background for it including stories for each of the characters and units. Another of the EATBATS crew, Mark 'Mitzy' Mitzman, had been in contact with Ming about putting on an AoS narrative event and in late spring in 2016, I joined with Ming, Mitzy and Steve Foote to become EATMingsFoote. Between us we created the Realms at War 'Legends' event (RAW16) which was held in Cambridge in November 2016. RAW16 was the first narrative event in the UK and our 40 attendees brought their armies plus an Aspirant who, over the course of the weekend, gained new attributes, equipment and skills to eventually become a Legend. All of the players created custom built minis for both their Aspirant and their Legend which was amazing! We also encouraged lots of customisation of armies, display boards and a background for each army. As part of our player pack, we had collated all of the background stories the players had submitted for their armies and bound them into a booklet which we designed as an ancient manuscript. - this was one of my favourite parts of the event, but I suspect that most people would talk about the RAW16 terrain. There is too much to describe but its safe to say that these were some of the most themed tables ever in the UK scene. If you'd like to have a look at the tables, please visit http://www.tga.community/forums/topic/6718-realms-at-war-legends-raw16/ It was definitely after RAW16 that I felt I could be called a Narrative Event Organiser (NEO). It was an awesome experience and even though I didn't get to play in the event, seeing all the attendees having such a fantastic time was incredible. We were really pleased with how the event went and we are currently planning RAW17 which is suffixed 'Leviathans'. Something big is coming soon!! After RAW16, EATMingsFoote and the Hobbyhammer team were invited by Games Workshop (GW) to spend a weekend at Warhammer World and discuss our hopes and visions for narrative gaming in AoS. It was another incredible experience and I can definitely say that the future of narrative gaming is safe in GW's hands! Can you tell us about your local group? While there are a couple of wargaming clubs in the local area, most of the EATSBATS have young families or other commitments which means that there is no guarantee of us getting to a regular club night. However, we are all lucky enough to have properties which are big enough to get a gaming table set up in, be it on the kitchen table or in a dedicated room, so we game round each others houses. During our games we often take photos and post them to our whatsapp group so everyone can get involved and enjoy the action. We also have irregular 'big' game nights where we put whatever we want on the table, roll dice and drink some beers (yes, we are all over eighteen!). These games are usually very lax on rules and high on laughs - usually for failed charges or whiffed attacks but the biggest guffaws are when one player decides to attack one of their teams mate! It's kind of like a game of Triumph and Treachery but with very little triumph and a lot of treachery!! We also occasionally skype whilst we are painting which is a great way of socialising plus you are getting your army or terrain finished at the same time! I do really enjoy building terrain so when I'm not painting or playing with my army, I'll be making some scenery whether it's for my table at home or for RAW. I find that mixing up the hobby is a great way of keeping interest high. There is nothing worse than having to paint twenty minis all from the same unit in one go! Being in the UK, there are a lot of events going on throughout the year and generally they're within a four hour drive. I can get to some awesome events in Norwich or Colchester in a little over an hour though plus central London is only an hour and half away! When we go to local events, we tend to go to those put on by small independent stores although I do enjoy SCGT each year (yes, I also enjoyed matched play events too!). I'm really looking forward to Hobbyhammer's narrative event in February next year and need to start thinking about what army I'm going to take - will we see some aelves soon??? Why is narrative gaming important to you? I've always been a fan of creative writing so seeing people produce background stories for their armies is the part of narrative play which I enjoy the most. It really brings an army to life to me and gives them a purpose for doing what they do. The ultimate aim is for a player to control the army to follow it's theme and make decisions based on what it 'would' do rather than what it 'should' do. What do I mean by this? Well, an easy example is a Bloodbound army would charge at an enemy to appease Khorne's desire for blood and skulls even if the alternative option of staying put to hold an objective would gain Victory Points. For me, when a player users their army in this manner, that's when narrative play comes into its element. My good friend Mitzy always likes to describe his games as 'directing a film' so he will play his army to make the most cinematic moments possible. This can create utterly incredible scenes as unlikely things seem to happen more often than not!! Another fantastic thing about RAW16 was seeing all of the effort that all of the attendees had put into their armies. Not only did each army have custom made Aspirants and Legends, but most players built and painted completely new armies just for the event often involving rarely seen units or using a single theme - Paul Buckler brought an all flying Order army which was based on clouds!! It looked superb! Hopefully, RAW16 inspired people (and not only those who attended) to try their hand at customising minis, creating back story for their armies, building some interesting terrain for their games or simply naming their General! What tips do you have to share with other NEOs? My top tip for new NEOs would be 'keep it simple'. Narrative play doesn't need to be complex; indeed if it is too complex, the game will suffer. A couple of custom rules can completely change how a game plays. In my opinion, the ultimate aim of narrative play is to change the mind set of the players from 'win-at-all-cost' to 'what would be most fun?'! Encouraging people to make those backstories for their armies also generates a stronger psychological bond between the player and their army and I think that when that happens, more narrative style decisions will be made during the game. It's also important to remember that not every player is going to enjoy narrative play. I feel that I'm really lucky because I very much enjoy all three styles of AoS play (narrative, open and matched) but I know that's not the same for everyone. The hobby has room for all different types of play so if there is a style that's not for you, that's fine! Play the game you enjoy and encourage others to play the game that they enjoy - there is no competition between the styles! I really hope that more people will try narrative play and if they try it, I think most would like it. I'll leave you with a quote from my friend Steve which I think truly sums up the narrative style succinctly and should be fully embraced in every narrative game - 'it's not how you win the game but how you lose the game'. Thanks, Jimbo! You can see more of the games he plays on Twitter @jimbo9jimbo And check out RAW17 and get your ticket before they're all gone! http://www.tga.community/forums/topic/5582-events-uk-raw17-realms-at-war-2-leviathans-5-places-opened-up/ https://wearetheneon.com/2017/09/17/neo-of-note-jimbo9jimbo/

We've started a new blog, and our first endeavor is to document various Coalescence events in both narrative and pictures. https://wearetheneon.wordpress.com/2017/07/01/a-coalescence-retrospective-part-i/ If you have photos and an overview of your local Coalescence event to share, please drop us a line, either here or by emailing wearetheneon@gmail.com Thanks!

Thanks to scores of NEOs and all their players for a day of Age of Sigmar narrative gaming around the globe! Don't forget to post results of the winning grand alliance at your event on the AoS NEON on Facebook, or share on Twitter with #CGNE17, or send by email to Coalescence.event@gmail.com ! Congratulations on running your own events and contributing to this truly community effort.

If you are unable to run a full day event, why not run a Skirmish event for Coalescence! Check out the link to the skirmish pack posted by Hobby Hammer: http://www.hobbyhammer.com/2017/05/coalescence-2017-skirmish-edition.html

You have a list of registered players, and you may have that list divided into teams, although you may want to wait on creating final team rosters and the pairings for the first round of games. Even a registered player may cancel the morning of the event, and you may have a drop-in player you can accommodate and add to the event. So we recommend you wait until your designated start time before you finalize your player list and start with pairings. Also, on the subject of organizing your players into teams and determining the pairings of players for the first round of games, give yourself at least 15 minutes between the start time of your event and the point when players begin picking table sides and deploying models. You probably know one of the unwritten rules for first round pairings-try not to match players that just spent hours in the car together driving to the event! Try to give everyone a chance to play someone new, possibly someone they've never played before. The first round is generally randomized, but there's no reason you can't use your discretion to create some dynamic matches. You may consider pairing two players that have similar preferences of style or hobby excellence, especially if they had never met before. The first round of an event is a good way to mix things up a bit and gets players socializing before the stakes for the day get too big. There are plenty of ways to determine random pairings, but in a team event like Coalescence you want players matched against players from other teams. Divide the players into their respective teams, either on paper or even just by having them stand together in separate groups. Giving colored stickers to players of the same team can help distinguish players from each team, but consider some simple name tags, especially if you're not expecting your usual group of players. Let the players in each team do the work for you-ask them to discuss among their teams to which players fall into specific catergories. Ask them to figure out which one drove the farthest, which player celebrated the most recent birthday, which player has the best painted army from among that team, which one stands the tallest or the shortest. After all the teams have selected members fitting each category (and if someone fits more than one, then ask them to pick one for each category), then you can just use the categories to match players across teams. Pair the tallest players in team green and red, blue and yellow. Then pair the players with the best painted armies in teams green and blue, red and yellow. Etc. Or you could just give playing cards or slips of numbered paper to each player and have players with matching cards or numbers pair up to play the first round. Be creative! This is a great opportunity for an ice breaking exercise and get your players talking with each other and working as a team. For subsequent rounds, you don't necessarily need to pair winners against winners and losers against losers, especially for a narrative event. Maybe two players had so much fun in their first game they want to fight a rematch, or maybe there has been some divisiveness in a team which has turned against itself. Trust your instincts as well as your wisdom. Or just make things completely random and trust in the luck of the draw. It's a narrative event, and the best way to create a story is by explaining how a twist of randomness led to an unveiled fate and the fulfillment (or disappointment) of destiny.

You have a date, venue, and way to track registration for players intending to play in your event. You probably have a start and end time as well. Now you want to figure out how to fit all the games into the time limit you have. Keeping in mind that you'll need a little time at the start to get everyone settled and ready for the first match (and we will publish a post on how to pair players for matches in on Tuesday), and you'll need a little time at the end for recognition of achievements and awards, and it also might be a good idea to have some time designated for lunch... you want to be sure enough time is scheduled for players to complete their games! One relatively easy way to adjust the time allowed for game rounds is by adjusting the size of the armies involved, and since Coalescence is using matched play points you can scale this up or down. The suggested point values are 1,500 matched points which can also be broken into 1,000 and 500 point forces with a hero in each component. Six hours should be enough time to accommodate the three rounds of games with about 15 minutes between rounds for you to calculate scores and pair players for the next round. Two hours for the first round, 90-minutes for the second, and two hours for the third (even at 500 points the third round is a multi-player Triumph & Treachery game so will take more time to resolve). Experienced players will likely complete games in less time than that. If you're aiming for an 8-hour event (including lunch), you could consider scaling up the point values to 2K, 1.5K, and 750 points respectively. One NEO, for example, only has 5 hours for the event and is limiting players to 1,000 points in the first round, 750 in the second, and 500 in the third. It is usually easier to schedule more time than actually needed (you can always grant a longer period for lunch and allow yourself a little more time for scoring), especially since this is a narrative event and many players may want to socialize more than a tournament and talk about the stories behind their armies and heroes. Not providing enough time for game rounds may rush players, although that looming deadline of "dice down" may add some pressure and feeling of action moving toward capturing the shard before the other teams can do so! Consider the players you know are attending, and keep their play styles in mind. If your group is experienced and enjoys the intensity of playing games within a tight time limit and aren't usually interested in talking about the finer points of narrative over a luxuriously drawn-out lunch hour, then consider shortening the the scheduled time for game rounds. There is at least one NEO's event which is featuring some skirmish action between rounds, so you could consider adding an additional round or a lightning skirmish round to fill the schedule. But make sure you provide enough time for your players to enjoy their games and enjoy the time to socialize between games. And give yourself enough time to manage the event so you don't feel rushed. With a wider schedule you may even have time to keep track of everything and play in some games yourself! The final part of the pack is being polished as this post is published and will be out in the next day. Look over the battleplans and determine how much time you have and whether you should modify the size of armies or number of game rounds. As always, you can write directly to the NEON team at coalescence.event@gmail.com Thanks!

Today we have a post from NEO Chuck Moore about planning to run his Coalescence event. Hey Everyone! Chuck from The Realm Gate Blog here. I was invited by the NEON Team to talk to you about all the preparation I have been doing for the one-day Age of Sigmar global Coalescence event! You can see my follow up post later this week. Ever since I was able to confirm dates and sign up to run the event it has been a whirlwind of activity! If you are looking to run the event in your area there is still plenty of time to get things in motion. The How to NEO posts on TGA are a great resource to check out. When I began preparing for the event, after I confirmed the dates at my local club, I started by writing out what I wanted from the event in my hobby journal. First, I wanted to promote beyond the local club with flyers and social media. Second, I wanted to ensure those visiting got to play on the best tables the club could produce and thankfully this was already on the club's mind. Lastly, I wanted to give out as many goodies as I could and thanks to my FLGS The Toy Soldier Gallery and Games Workshop was officially confirmed as of this past weekend. The How to Neo blog posted up a great blank flyer in order to use to promote your event and thankfully I had a bit of Photoshop background and got to work. I created a simple flyer based on another Neo's event flyer that seemed to work nicely. I had them printed on some heavy card stock and began hanging them in all the local stores. My local Warhammer store was also excited to help me promote the event. While word of mouth and guerrilla marketing can be effective it is the modern age and I headed over to social media to create the event and post it on all the local groups. I was delighted to see others began to share and comment on the event and some even shared it to their local pages before I had a chance. It was a good community feeling as people were getting excited about the upcoming event. After the excitement calmed in my head the realization that I had to ensure a great event began to set in and the daunting task truly began. Recently, my Club has looked at its current collection of terrain and tables and saw we were lacking in quality. We are dedicating out next Club Day to repairing and creating terrain for ourselves. The club is moving in a very positive direction and I couldn't ask for anything more as their recent efforts have been humbling. I looked at myself and my personal collection of terrain I have unpainted. I am working on painting it all to prepare for the event and have made good progress. If funds and time allow I plan to pick up one of the new FLG Mats from Frontline gaming to have a great Table 1 for the event. The last item in my mind to prepare for the event was prize support. I have commitments from players who will be driving in and possibly spending the night nearby to participate in the event and I wanted to ensure they all had a chance at some great prizes. My local club is and always has been a Free to Play club and it will remain so for the event as well. It may seem like a conundrum to have prize support without any kind of entry fee, but it isn't as hard as you might think. The first thing was to create awards to hand out. I will be printing and be framing these to hand out alongside the prize support. Our club plays in the basement of our local Public Library. They offer us this space for free and we have plenty of space for 30+ players at any one time. Plus being in the basement we do not have to be concerned with noise as much. Being an independent club we can go directly to Games Workshop to request support by emailing their community team, but we are very lucky to have a local FLGS that supports us within the town. They do not have space enough for us to play which is why we play at the Library, but they are a key part of our Club. Through them, as well as support from Games Workshop, the event will have a plethora of Games Workshop Kits to be passed out as awards. All I had to do was ask, it is really that simple! Okay, maybe not that simple. I have run the Age of Sigmar events for the club since the game was released. The owner of the FLGS knows my commitment and the effort I put into my events so he was very willing to help out alongside GW for the event. Creating that relationship with FLGS is important, but establishing yourself as an event leader in your Club is the key as not every club has an FLGS near. If your local Club doesn't have a clear leader for Age of Sigmar Events I cannot recommend running Coalescence enough. The NEON team has really made this easy and with the soon to be releasing event pack you have all the tools to succeed. There is still plenty of time to get the event ready. All you need is the ambition to do it! If you have any questions for me please feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or any of the NEO's out there as I know they would be happy to help. Please check out my follow up post about this topic on my usual Friday post on blog. Happy Hobbying!

Our post today about collecting terrain for your event was provided by @Mitzy, one of the NEOs behind the Realms at War event. Introduction: So, you’re putting on an event, what’s better, you’ve decided to take the plunge and use Coalescence as your means to do so. Well as always with us NEO’s we are here to help and guide you through this process. This post focuses on the battlefield and how you can populate it quickly and easily. After all, if there is one hugely improved feature of the Warhammer Age of Sigmar game, it’s that Terrain features heavily and is something to be celebrated! Terrain needn’t be a worry or a factor that should put you off however. But you do need to consider several factors, and in this post I will try to break down these factors and give you some tips on how to get over the hazards out there. Venue: Well, you have come this far and are organising an event so by now you have decided where you are going to play right? The first time my local gaming group (EATBATS) put on an event we deliberately picked a venue (in that instance a local rugby club) which had tables and chairs we could use. Gaming surface: We had tables, but we needed to cover them so that the battlefield looked inviting to play on. For our first event we actually bought 6’x4’ (183cm x 122cm) chipboard sheets and laid them on top of the rugby club tables. These were all painted green with regular emulsion paint from our local DIY store. Nowadays, of course, there are several manufacturers of battlements printed on soft rubberised mousemat material. This makes for a vastly superior gaming surface but comes at a cost. For your first event you really don’t need to worry about this as it is purely an optional extra. It is definitely worth talking to your friends and gaming colleagues to see if they would help you by loaning you their mats/gaming surfaces. Terrain: The starting point here is to document your own personal collection of terrain. For our first event we only had access to our own terrain (generally we all had roughly enough to cover one 6’x4’ tabletop) we then set about each buying a couple of pieces to add to our personal collections that could be used on the day. It is worth pointing out that a lot of the events run in the UK ask each player to bring a selection of terrain with them on the day along with their army (usually the request is for a minimum of 5 pieces). This way you can circumnavigate the need to have your own vast collection waiting for tournament use. However, for me personally the terrain is the thing that I get the most hobby enjoyment from, and each event I help to run is an opportunity for me to push myself to create bigger and better terrain pieces. For some examples of the types of extreme you can go to it is worth visiting the Realms at War (RAW) tables HERE. For RAW as you can see in the photos we really let our imaginations run wild and made bespoke tables for five of the Mortal Realms. Small scatter terrain can easily be built using everyday items leftover in the house as well as clipping every last item off those old unwanted model sprues. You never know when you might want to adorn a piece of terrain with spare weapons or cuts of meat etc (the Giant kit from Games Workshop is one of my all time favourites as it has a wealth of bits you can use in terrain building). You will see in the photos in the RAW blog that some of the simplest things were really very easy. The corn fields for example were simply a coir (coconut fibre) mat cut in to rough field shapes. Ruined temple pieces were made from offcuts of plasticard cut to look like flagstones with old plaster wedding cake pillars. The sky really is the limit Below are links to some of the great YouTube channels that I subscribe to, these guys and girls have all been sources of inspiration for me in my terrain adventure. I hope that this has taken some of the weight off your shoulders and you can see that whilst terrain is important for the success of your event it isn’t something to be scared of! If you want to ask me any questions please message me on Twitter @EATBATSmitzy Cheers @Mitzy Links: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTerrainTutor https://www.youtube.com/user/NYNHHkathy https://www.youtube.com/user/Terranscapes https://www.youtube.com/user/theDMsCraft

Hoping to help some of our NEOs with promotion of their event in non-English countries and make this truly a global narrative Age of Sigmar event, here is the flyer with only the Coalescence title. PDF link below, and followed by JPEG image. coal poster17_clean.pdf.pdf coal poster17_title only.psd

PM sent and email sent from Coalescence.event@gmail.com Apologies for not noticing your comment until now. Thanks!

If you're signed up to run your own Coalescence event on June 10th then you should have seen the first part of the event pack arrive in your inbox. The last page of that document included a graphic with some open space ready to be filled with details concerning the location, start and end times, and how to register for your own local Coalescence event! Opening the graphic in an editing program and adding some text can provide a great flyer personalized to your particular local event. @Bostian created one for the event he's running at his local public library to share on social media pages to promote and get players planning to attend.

HobbyHammer has been a significant part of developing and bringing the Coalescence event to the wider community, and we would like to share a recent blog post he published that explains narrative gaming in Age of Sigmar. A topic close to my heart, Narrative gaming has of course always been there, through previous editions it has been lost in the aether but has made a huge come back in Age of Sigmar. Games Workshop have really given us an infinite possibility of playing narrative games, campaigns and events and although the priority lately has been on Matched Play, I can really see the more open side of the game making a return... What is Narrative gaming? In a nutshell, narrative gaming is playing a game that unfolds to tell a story. How this done is completely down to the 2 people playing. From the beginning Games Workshop made it clear that Narrative and Open play was something they wanted to reintroduce, they made a huge leap of faith and released the game with no point values, changed the basing to either not matter, or to base on rounds. This opened Warhammer up to something people had probably not experienced unless they came from a Roleplaying background, or are old enough to remember 2nd edition. With the release of Age of Sigmar also came the campaign books. Huge (but pricey) books filled with Battleplans (not a new thing, but something that would become prevalent), Battalions - these are ways in building forces to fit a certain criteria and for doing so gave you extra bonuses to your armies, and also overflowing with progressing background. This was, in my opinion a genius idea. Some, well a lot, of people did not like this new direction but for me it freed me. Now, a small disclaimer, I was not a tournament goer, I was very much garage gamer and played previous editions mostly against my brother. We were both very casual and rarely played with points in 8th or before. With Age of Sigmar, we were free to field what we want with a core of rules that were simply and most of the time brutal on the battlefield. I was so pumped, I started this blog to get my thoughts and logs down for my armies and warbands I was pumping out. The NEO. A NEO is a narrative event organiser, similar to a TO but more focused on creating Events rather than tournaments. It was a term I jokingly put out on Twitter around 6 months ago when I was preparing for Realm Hoppers as I did not want to call myself a TO. It was adopted by the community rapidly and now is a stuck term, which is awesome. The first, in the UK, independent NEO team were the organisers of Realms at War, this along with its counterpart in America Holy Wars took an approach to gather like minded gamers to play a weekend of story building and campaigns for Age of Sigmar, Ming had also done this at the end of 8th at his Mingvitationals. More and more events are popping up now with a narrative feel and a lot of the 'proper tournaments' are also having some narrative feel overlaid on them. At the beginning of April 2017, a group of 6 of us in the UK were lucky enough to be invited up by Games Workshop to the Headquarters in Nottingham for 2 days to talk all things narrative and try new things for the future. It really opened our eyes to how Games Workshop want to promote the game. Although Matched Play is currently and probably always will be the default for AoS, narrative is slowly gaining speed, it is things like what Ming is doing for SCGT that could be the first step in more narrative play. The Narrative Hijack is a score sheet/ tick sheet where if you achieve certain objectives in your games, you tick a box. This is as simple as having your General achieving a certain feat or asking your opponent how his story has progressed. How to Play Narrative. This is so open. If you want to start playing narrative, then begin by just naming you General and recording his feats in your games. Then move on to coming up with a backstory for the army and the game you are about to play. Use some of the resources in the Generals Handbook or Campaign Books to add layers onto you games, this could be adding a battalion into your army, or playing a more flexible, story based battleplan. This could be adding some Times of War rules to the games or using some Path to Glory tables to choose a warband. Maybe group some battle plans together with a mate and play a small campaign. Next you could introduce a more immersive map campaign system (see Generals Handbook) or even playing a Tree campaign in which the result of one battle determines the next battleplan. There are now 2 main independent full on Narrative Events in the UK, Realm at War in Cambridge (End of October) and Rise of Empires in Margate (February), the hope is for more to emerge. If you get the chance to either or both, do it! It is such a buzz of excitement seeing a story unfold over 1 or 2 days. Coalescence. One great way to build the narrative in your scene is to join in on 10th June and either find or run a small narrative event in your area. If you have no idea what Coalescence is, see the blog here. In short, it is a global event that many NEO's around the world, new or veterans, will be running games from a single event pack created by a group of us. The scores in the games will effect an overall narrative for the day. Find out more at The Warhammer Community Page Games Workshop is also working hard to introduce more and more narrative ways of playing and the future is bright! How do you play narrative?

You have a date and time reserved at a venue for your event. You have decided if you're going to charge entry fees or not and have set up a system for players to register for your event. You're on your way to running an event. But an important part of planning between now and the date of your event is promotion. It's time to get the word out about your event to draw in players! Promotion is all about getting event details out to potential players. Telling all the players in your local gaming group is good, but consider the possibility of getting some players to drive in from another town for your event which will help expand the network of players and grow your local community. Some simple things often work without requiring any expensive advertising: Tell non-gaming friends and family about your event. Although they won't be interested in attending, they may know someone else that might want to participate. They might even know someone that used to play Warhammer years ago but doesn't know about Age of Sigmar or hasn't tried it yet. It's great to get an old player with an army to dust off and join an AoS event. Post on your social media networks. Of course, everyone posts on game forums and Facebook groups, but consider posting on your personal page. Again, you might know someone that knows someone else that you don't, and this is a great way to connect with a gamer that might not follow those same gaming groups. Hang flyers! Sure, hanging flyers at your game club or hobby store might seem old fashioned, but it's still a great way of getting the word out to folks that are interested in gaming. Also, check with local community bulletin boards, like in your public library. Remember to have a way for interested players to contact you to register or even just ask questions. Hand out cards. You don't need to have expensive business cards printed, but if you have a flyer then print some out at several sheets to a page and cut them apart to keep in your wallet or notebook so you can hand out to people you meet that might be interested. A flyer or card can be as simple as the date and time and location of the event. Pictures always make it more interesting but isn't required. You can always print out one of the Coalescence flyers and add the details about your specific event. The most effective (and inexpensive) means of promotion for an event is by word of mouth. Tell others about your event, giving them the basic details about what it is, where and when. People will ask you for more details if they're interested.

The Coalescence narrative:

Registration for a small event may seem to be more trouble than it’s worth. If you’re only expecting a few of your usual gaming friends to attend then why bother with formal registration? For an event like Coalescence, or any independent event with online promotion, it’s possible some players beyond your gaming group may decide to drive an hour or more to attend. And without any kind of formal registration you may have many more players than you expected. More players than you had planned for might sound like a good problem to have, but it can lead to problems like not having enough tables, frustrating players with a feeling of disorganization, or, even worse, violating fire code for exceeding the capacity of a venue. The best way to plan for attendance is with registration. You can manage registration by keeping a simple list of players. It doesn’t matter if they email you, private message, call you on the phone or tell you in person—if a player indicates an intention to attend then add the name to your list and reply directly with a confirmation of registration. But for players beyond your group that might read about your event online, like on TGA, provide a clear means for them to register for your event. Consider creating an email account for your club or event. Creating an event on Facebook, for example, might attract some players that click and indicate they are “interested” or “attending” but may not follow through, so having players register by emailing or using an electronic RSVP is more reliable. Use your club or event name in the email address, and then be sure to post on all future promotion (and on FB event pages) that players should email their registration to that email address. Specify if you want them to include an army list with their registration or if just submitting a name is enough. Using a dedicated email account keeps all the registered players in one place and won’t lead to the possibility of registration emails getting lost among all the other email messages in your normal inbox. This will make creating and maintaining your list of registered players easier, and it will also be easier to reply to them. The benefits of registering players before the event is it helps you keep track of how many players you can expect to attend, so you can plan for how many tables you will need along with terrain. Also, having even a basic registration system provides a sense of professionalism to your event. A player is more likely to drive 100 miles to your event, for example, if that player is confident there is a reserved space; there are few things worse for a player to be told, "Sure, just show up, there will be plenty of room,” and then arriving after a significant drive and a few minutes late to find the event at capacity already and no opportunity to play. Also, registered players should have priority to play over players that show up at the start of an event. Make sure you accommodate registered players first. Using registration also makes it easier to communicate with your players about any changes. If something happens an you need to change the venue or start time for some unforeseen emergency (store closing unexpectedly, for example), then you can use your registered player email list to make sure everyone is aware of the changes. Communication is important, and if you keep players connected up to the time of your event then they will feel more confident about attending future events and you will help strengthen your gaming community. If you reach your attendance limit with registered players then let people know there is a waiting list. Some players may drop out, and with registration they are likely to let you know they can't make it and allow you to contact players on the wait list that places have opened up to allow them to attend. Main points for how to manage registration: 1. Start a list of registered players. Set up an email account or folder to track players that indicate they plan to attend your event. 2. Be clear in all your promotion about how players can register. Include the email or preferred method for how they can register. Also mention if they should send a copy of an army list to you before the event. 3. Respond! Players want to know that you are expecting them. Sending out a friendly reminder a few days before the event can be helpful and appreciated. 4. Watch your attendance limit! Keep a waiting list if more players try to register. Remember, registration is a great way of keeping players informed and excited about your event. It will also help you avoid any headaches involving too many players showing up!

The NEO team is at work on putting together the final event pack for Coalescence 2017. But, in the meantime, we've asked Jimbo, one of the Narrative Event Organisers behind the Realms at War events and a member of the NEO Network, to share some of his thoughts on creating an Event Pack. Introduction: Whilst it may at first seem that an Event Pack (the ‘pack’) is a load of unnecessary effort that a Narrative Event Organiser (NEO) has to do in order to run an event, it is in fact one of the most vital cogs in the Kharadron mechanisms that make a Narrative Event work. Having emphasised how important the pack is, I’m going to temper that with another equally important statement; the Event Pack doesn’t have to be long or complicated or even pretty! The only thing that a pack needs to be is useful. So, what do I mean by this? Well, if we break down the components of a pack, we can see which bits are crucial, which are helpful and which are, quite frankly, window dressing. But before examining the separate components, it is important to understand the purpose of the pack. At its core, it is the document that advertises your event and lets potential attendees know what it is. The Essentials: When I’m writing a pack, I always start with The Three Rules of “W’s”; what, where and when. First of all, I need to tell the players what kind of event I am running. For example, this could be ‘A One Day three game Warhammer; Age of Sigmar Narrative Event’. I also need to include the address of the venue where the event will be held, as well as the time and date otherwise I’ll end up alone in an empty room surrounded by unused gaming tables and no one wants that! To be honest, the ‘What, Where and When’ written on a piece of paper or an email is sufficient information to be called a pack! However, in order to head off the inevitable questions that will arise, I recommend including how much the event will cost (if anything) and contact details in case of further queries. My personal preference is to provide my twitter handle but an email address is always handy for long winded questions too. At this stage, we have a fully operational Event Pack! The players know the ‘What, Where and When’, they know how much it will cost and how to contact me in case they need additional info. So what more can we include in the pack to flesh it out? The Optionals: In this section, I’m going to discuss, in no particular order, various different optional extras which can be included in a pack. None of them are essential but they all help to further inform the attendees about the event and also start creating some semblance of the narrative element. The simplest way to start creating a narrative setting is to give your event a name. Titles such as ‘Battle for the Ur-Gold Cache’ or ‘March of the Gargants’ immediately tell a mini story about your event. The reader will know that the event will be something along the lines of either searching for Ur-Gold or fighting off Gargants. If you want to take this a bit further, think about adding a background for the event. This should set the scene for the event. Perhaps a few short paragraphs describing the precursors to the first battle - think about why the armies may be fighting at all, why they may be in this particular location or time or even what significance the object(s) they are fighting over. You could even set the event as a small part of one of the battles described in the official Games Workshop Age of Sigmar novellas. Some NEO’s like to introduce some extra rules specific for their event. This can be because they want to try to bring some internal balance to certain warscrolls, to encourage certain styles of play or army selection or even to guide players along a storyline. These house rules are colloquially known as ’comp’ and if you decide to enforce some additional rules, it's always best to let the players know before the event so they fully understand how you expect them to play and how you will be judging any rules queries Wargaming is hard work and your attendees will need refreshment and sustenance! How can you plan your next move when you got an empty stomach or a dry mouth? Providing food and drink can be difficult to organise so is not normally expected however it is a good idea to let your attendees know what will or will not be provided and if they are allowed to bring their own. This is especially important in relation to alcohol - be mindful of any legal restrictions of the provision or consumption of alcoholic beverages. I mentioned letting the players know where the event is located but it's worth remembering that some attendees could be making quite a long journey to come to your awesome event and may not know the local area very well. This is why I always like to include a map showing where the venue is and also, to be extra helpful, where the nearest parking is located. Although the story should always be the winner in a narrative event, it's good to let the attendees know if there will be prizes and what they will be awarded for. The obvious first, second and third place can encourage a more competitive style of play so how about awarding best army, best sportsmanship, best dressed or Loudest Waaagh for example. The wording of the award should make it clear what it is for; Best Army usually includes theme, coherency and presentation not necessarily the best painted! The Unnecessary: Keep the pack concise and only include relevant information. Unless it's required to describe your ‘comp’ don’t include things like the main rules or FAQ’s; referencing them is sufficient. Summary: So hopefully I've provided a few pointers on how to put together a pack for your event. In reality, there are no hard and fast rules on what has to be included or excluded - all it actually needs to do is explain what your event is and make sure there are no unwelcome surprises or your attendees on the day If you have any pack (or non-pack) queries please hit me up on twitter @jimbo9jimbo . Good luck with your event and I look forward to hearing you bringing the stories to life! Jimbo @jimbo9jimbo

We intended the Coalescence event to be free, and it is not a traditional tournament with prize support awarded to players for their individual achievements. We hope to help you create a day of fun events that build community and draw new players into the hobby. But we understand that some organizers may need to spend money to secure rental for a venue, for example, so charging a registration fee makes sense to cover those event costs. If you have a local store willing to support your event there may be a tradition to charge fees for tournaments and then use those fees to directly support sales in the store, but then that creates the need to include prizes awarded for player achievements at the end of the event. Designating prizes for a narrative event is a bit trickier than at a competitive event, but it can be done. On the other hand, you may attract some new players without charging a fee, and that, in turn, may bring new customers into the store. Our suggestion is to talk about the event with the store owner and find out their expectations. Let them know that the Coalescence event is being promoted on a global scale, and providing the space on June 10 for you to run your own local event may be a good opportunity for them to attract some new local customers that may return again and again to purchase models and hobby products from their store. If you decide to use entry fees for prizes then we suggest you announce what achievements will earn prizes but not exactly what that prize will be. You can decide the full extent of the prizes once you've collected the entry fees. Most stores in the United States charge something like $15 for each player for a multi-round, single-day event. But estimate your expected attendance on the lower side so you can cover costs. If your event fills up to maximum capacity and you end up with extra cash after awarding prizes you can always offer to buy pizza for everyone!

Finding a venue is the most central task of planning for your event. The location where you run the games will determine how many players you can allow to register and if you need to charge an entry fee. If you already have a club space or a friendly local gaming store, the venue may be relatively easy, and you just need to reserve the space, confirm the schedule for you event, and then move onto other planning tasks. But here are some tips for finding an event venue. CLUB SPACE OR LOCAL HOBBY STORE Confirm date and times with the proprietor. You may have a couple tables in a local game store where you and some regular tabletop gamers gather every Saturday, but don't assume that space will be available for your event. There can be nothing worse than showing up and expecting to play all day only to realize the store is packed with MTG players on the weekend of a big release. Be kind to your local store proprietor and just make sure you schedule the space. Also, by getting the store involved they can help with promotion and you may find a few new players attracted to the event which will, in turn, build the community and create a larger pool of opponents. Confirm maximum limit for attendees. You might only expect the same handful of players you know to show up for your event, but considering wider promotion, especially for a global event like Coalescence, you should prepare to have more players show up, even unregistered players dropping in the day of the event. And nobody wants to risk a fire marshal showing up the day of the event in an overcrowded hall with gaming tables blocking fire exits. Determine rental costs and registration fees for players. Club spaces aren't free, and your club may already charge per head count for anyone using the space. If there is going to be a cost associated with playing in your event be sure you mention that to your players. If the club or store is going to charge you a flat rental fee for the space then divide it by the number of players you expect to participate to determine an entry fee. If you end up with more players paying the day of the event, then you can use the extra cash to order some pizza! Be careful about handing out extra cash to winners as prize money: in some locations this could be against the law. If a game store is hosting for free but wants to charge a fee that will be awarded as store credit to winners then make sure you understand how their procedure works, and even better if they will handle all the cash transactions so you can focus on running the event. Focus on promotion, etc. If you have everything arranged with your club or game store to host your event then you can focus your attention on attracting players and running an awesome event. COMMUNITY SPACE Keep your mind open and look for options. If you don't have a club or game store, not all is hopeless. Check with community organizations or public spaces which can be reserved, like a public library or even a restaurant. There are community clubs with halls they often rent out for weddings, group reunions, dances, or even gaming events. Rental costs for a space could be expensive, and you should talk with the other gamers in your community how much each of them is willing to pay as an entry fee to cover rental costs. You could also check with your public library: many libraries have meeting rooms which are used by community groups and for special events and are usually free but prohibit an organization charging entry fees. Some restaurants or food service establishments may be open to hosting an event at a nominal or no rental fee, expecting the purchase of food and beverage by gamers during a usually slow afternoon to generate revenue. Talk with the proprietor to set expectations, letting them know tables and terrain will be set up. This could be a good opportunity to establish a relationship between your gaming group and a venue where you can host future events or even a regular gaming night. Confirm maximum limit for attendees. Like the club or game store, every venue has a limit on space and you want to set limits for how many players will attend. Determine rental costs and registration fees for players. Try not to put up your own money to secure a venue, although it may be necessary to sign a contract. Make sure the number of players you expect to attend, each paying an entry fee to play, is enough to cover the costs of the rental cost. If you have cash leftover you can always order pizza for everyone! Be careful about handing out extra cash to winners as prize money: in some locations this could be against the law. Work on a plan for tables and terrain. The trickiest part of running an event in a library or food service establishment or even a community hall is setting up tables and terrain. All of these venues usually have tables, but they aren't likely the dimensions you need. Check with the proprietor about the feasibility of bringing in gaming tabletops to lay across the tables in the space; there may be a concern of scratching or damaging tables in the venue. Try to keep it easy: sometimes putting 2 folding tables next to each other and then spreading a tablecloth across it can make an adequate gaming space and won't require you to spend a great deal of time setting up before and taking down after the event. Finding and scheduling a venue for your event is one of the most important parts of running a successful gaming event. Give it some thought and some planning before the date so you can focus on running and enjoying the day of the event.

Welcome to the Coalescence Event blog which is dedicated to sharing experience and advice among Narrative Event Organizers through a series of periodic articles. Coalescence is a collaborative narrative event for Age of Sigmar with global reach but as individual as each NEO and player in every local event, all taking place on 10 June 2017. The Event Pack will be coming out soon, but many NEOs have already signed up to host events. You can join them by registering here: http://bit.ly/Coalescence2017 Look for upcoming articles written by experienced organizers on a variety of topics like charging fees for an event, creating schedules and event packs, collecting and building terrain, and even helping you decide whether or not you should play in the event you’re running.