Advice on running demo games please.

By cynanbloodbane, in Star Wars: Armada

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A local FLGS, and one of the 2 local Gamer Bars has asked me to run Armada demo games. Both have almost nothing in the way of an Armada community. The owner of each has tried the game, but only the core set. Both are willing to advertise the demos as events on their calendars.

At this point I am thinking 200 pts, minimal upgrades and one kind of fighter per fleet. I have enough to run up to 6 players this way, but my plan is just a single table to start.

I do have another nood player who would be willing to at least assist me in running demos.

Any advice would be appreciated.

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I'm a fan of two methods.

-Run the L2P setup in the book. It's simple, and straight forward to understand. A bit on the boring side, but it covers the main things to know: Movement, firing, and the 4 commands.

-Take somebody to play with who's willing to step away to give a new player a shot. In this case, run more stuff, but keep it really simple. Avoid complex upgrades, keep it a 6 turn deathmatch. Maybe 200 per side?

Ultimately keep moving and playing. Heck, play against yourself to keep moving and draw attention. The best way to draw attention is to have a moving, in process game going on, no matter what you are demoing.

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I can tell you Three things,

First always try to let the person enjoying the game for the first time win. This cannot be understanded, because if someone has the best experience possible they will also go back to that when thinking about the game.

​Second Keep it very simple, No upgrade cards, and breathe a lot in between statements. (Visit the learning to play again book)

Last, if your not playing with people that Care about EU, recreate movie scenes. Let them know this is what could have happened at the end of ep 4 or 6. After watching star wars most people want to be Luke or Solo engage that point.

https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/ae/7c/ae7c3224-9ed0-4d72-b5dd-b95f51e9d68c/swm01_armada_learn_to_play.pdf

BEST OF LUCK being more people into this game.

Edited by Cubanboy
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I did two personal demo games recently - not for a store or anything, just to show the game to my friends. In both cases I used a similar set up:

Game 1:

IMPERIALS:

Raider-I

Gladiator-II

3 x TIE Fighters

REBELS:

CR90 A

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate

2 x A-Wings

Game 2:

IMPERIALS:
Raider-I
Gladiator-II
3 x TIE Fighters
REBELS:
CR90 B
MC30C Torpedo Frigate
2 x A-Wings
The points costs amount to roughly the same on both sides.
This steup has the following benefits:
  • No upgrades or commanders - instead, this setup focuses on manoeuvres, commands, attacks and activations, and gives the new player an idea of what works in which circumstance.
  • The A-Wings are a great match for the TIEs because of their counter-attack, rather than explaining that 'Escort' on X-Wings does nothing because there are no other fighters.
  • Both sides have two ships, both of different capabilities, different command values and different ranges and profiles. Gives a good flavour for the difference between ship types.
It's important that the demonstrator activates first so that the new player can see how the turns go before they make their own decisions.
In terms of play-style, I absolutely do not let the new player win, as has been suggested above. However, I do start off driving straight at them with my ships, so they can react and get a few attacks in. I then start flying as well as I can so that they can rise to the challenge. I actually lost both games, but not because I was intentionally making bad decisions.
Also, in both games we played until we reached elimination rather than turn limit. With just two small ships and no upgrades, the game flows really quickly, and it's more fun for the newbie to be able to blow more stuff up. One of the newbies figured out the value of intentional ramming, and used a suicide ram with his 1-hull-remaining CR90 to finish off my 1-hull-remaining Raider, finishing the game with his MC30C still up and going. Was a funny and interesting climax to the game.
Edited by jhox
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I have done a couple of Demo's and consider them to be a success because he rushed out and bought Armada and the other bought my 2nd hand 2nd box with victory only.

I actually kept it as simple as possible but stuck to 400pts as both guys were seasoned wargamers.

Motti and reekan with as many ship types as possible. A,B,Y,X wings as wll as adv, intcerceptor, tie and bomber

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I have always done the learn to play scenario with no obstacles. the goal is to just teach the core mechanics of the game (moving, shooting, squading) pregame stuff i describe the command dials and tokens. once the first attack is made, ill describe the defense tokens and after that it kinda runs itself.

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Yeah, I might mix up the ships. The core set intro game is so boring. The VSD is so clunky, and a lot of newer players won't turn aggressively enough to come right back at it, so the game just drags on longer than it should.

I'm almost tempted to pit an ISD against an MC80. Both players have one ship, they're very iconic, and you get to roll more dice.