Organizing IA DEMO

By Ragnaras, in Imperial Assault Skirmish

Hello.

I need some help from you guys.

I try to promote IA in my area, so I will organize demo games for people, that show interest to this game.

Atm I have core set + 1 of each Wave 1 expansions.

I have played skirmish only 2 times, so I'm not so good at it yet.

Can you suggest lists, command decks, map and mission, what would be most suitable for demo purposes?

Keep in mind, that I have core set + 1 of each Wave 1 expansions.

Thanks for all suggestions.

I ran the IA demo at a Comic Con a few months ago. The very first mission where the imperials have to "hit the button" and sound the alarm works very well. Its quick (30 minutes or so, even while learning), and can handle many people (4 in addition to you running imperials). Its plenty to get the hang of the game and see if someone likes it or not, and I usually helped out the other people to destroy all the imperials by pointing out how they can better make use of their skills. I rarely won when doing demos, but did show people how easy it would be for the imperials to win the mission. People wanted to get in and destroy the Empire!

As for Skirmish, I also ran those demos. I put together about 20 point lists. Vader+officer, Trandoshans+ Nexu, Chewie+Gideon, etc. I created a map on the fly the day of, rather than use something already on a card with missions etc. I took out all the character specific command cards, created one deck, and if we used that had people draw off that deck. I ended up with one terminal in the middle to force the fight to end up there.

I found that most people want to play the iconic characters and get a taste for the game. A full skirmish with 40 point fleet wasn't going to be good because they're learning HOW to play as well, so 20 points was very good for that. One named elite, one smaller unit to have a couple. Command deck didn't really matter, that's more the finer points of skirmish.

I did keep everything visible on the table, the ATST really draws people over! Painted figures are always better than non painted ones. Especially Vader, even if you never use him. If anyone asked about it further I recommended a star wars game night (was Wednesday nights at the game store) and handed them a flyer. Some people went and bought the core set on the spot. September 4th would be a GREAT day to organize and promote a star wars game day at your FLGS!

Yes, I write here, because I want to do skirmish demo. To gather more people for tournaments.

Do 40pts lists are really too big for demos?

I don't think I can make good map and a mission on my own, so which mission would you recommend from those, already supplied with a game? Something from those, listed in official tournament rules?

Still waiting for the list suggestions, to avoid too strong or too weak units, to make demos balanced :)

I really like the "Get to the Ship" map for demo purposes. It does a good job of showcasing how objectives work, and since the objective is in the middle of the map, it gets everyone in there and fighting.

As long as you roughly balance the points, it should be fine. I would probably use less than 40 points if its just for a quick demo. Since it's Star Wars, people are going to want to see cool figures that they remember from the movies. I'd also include a few generics so people can see that it's not -just- about the heroes.

Here's a sample list:

Han
Luke
Rebel Troopers
(28 pts)

vs

Vader
Stormtroopers
Imperial Officer
(26 pts)

That way they get at least one iconic figure and at least one "generic" figure. And everyone loves a Vader vs Luke matchup!

If you don't want to think too hard about command cards, just use the generic ones that you get doubles of as well as the named cards for any unique heroes.