On Saturday February 15th Draxtar Games (Batavia, Illinois, 30 miles west of Chicago) held their Games Day and there was an amazing amount of games being demonstrated. Available to play were the following games:-

Warhammer 40K, Warhamer Fantasy, Infinity, Battletech, Dreadball, Ogre, Warmachine/Hordes, Flames of War, Wreck-age, X-Wing, Attack Wing, Deadzone, Magic the Gathering with 'Deck Tech', UFS - Ultimate Fighting System, Netrunner, Vanguard, Star Wars Card Game, Pathfinder, Ronin and an airbrush tutorial by TAG Team Hobbies, along with terrain & bases by Fire Bucket (T5 Terrain).

Having just watched Warren and James play the demo game of Deadzone, I jumped at the chance to get in on a demo game. I sat down with the Mantic Games Representative (sorry his name escapes me!) and played a quick game. I thought it was fun and the mechanic was easy to pick up. What amazed me was the amount of miniatures and terrain that you got in the starter box. I enjoyed it so much I bought the very first box set that the store had for sale and it had not even arrived yet! The DreadBall table was seeing a lot of business and I was unable to get in a game during my time there.

I then met with Matt Sears from Hyacinth Games and he walked me through a game of Wreck – Age. As he explained it the game is set in the future post-apocalyptic and the different factions are battling for the remaining resources and land. The game is a skirmish game and we only played a few miniatures each (I had 3 (Drifters) and Matt had 2 (Stakers)) and we ran through a quick scenario. This also was an easy flowing game and the miniatures were very nice. It was nice to talk to another local game manufacturing company and talk about their project.

As always there was a lot of activity around the Warhammer tables and while this is always a fan favourite. I was more interested in learning more about the newer games and accessories coming out.

I also got to look over the T5 terrain by Fire Bucket Games, another local gaming company, and I have to say it looks terrific. The laser cutting makes for crisp edges and will make any table look amazing. Along with this terrain, they were playing a demo game of Infinity on it and it sure enhanced the feel of the game.

And of course a Games Day report would not be complete without a mention of Flames of War. The Batavia Battalion a local FoW club was running a demo table and they were telling me how they are getting ready for the Nationals coming up in April at Adepticon.

I also got to try my hand at the new airbrushes by Iwata and the company representatives were extremely helpful. I made me remember why I used to love using an airbrush, as a matter of fact they were so nice, I ordered a new airbrush and hobby compressor (my pocket book is hurting after today!) It sure will help with the huge backlog of minis sitting on my paint table.

So of course in all of this I spoke to many people about Beasts of War and received many a warm response. I also told them what a great resource it is for anyone who loves games. I stressed the advantages of becoming a Backstager, so hopefully we will see many new members soon!

All in all it was great to see the large turnout they had throughout the day and seeing all the people getting to try new games.

If you have a local gaming store that is holding an event or indeed you just want to show off what you're friendly local gaming store has to offer then consider writing up a little report like this for us and we'll post it on the website!

We love to hear about different games, new companies, old companies, underground games, awesome campaigns people are running and pretty much anything that is community driven.

So, if like Gianna you have an event to talk about we would love to see some coverage of it with plenty of pictures and a little description of what went down! - BoW Ben

So what will be your new games for 2014?

Gianna Lomax

If you would like to write for us about a local store or event then please get in contact with me at [email protected]!