Back in December GW opened a new Warhammer store in my area, and the manager has had ideas going every which way to get people in; most of them successful. In all my years playing, I haven't seen these types of crowds at my LGS in many years.
The manager and I have gotten along really well since he first opened, and after I helped him relearn the rules for 40k he approached me about running an introductory event to teach people how to play them. It's something I am really looking forward to and it is taking place this Saturday.
I do have some ideas in mind as to how things will go, but I figured it can't hurt to ask for input from other people in case I missed a key aspect somewhere.
For the event, I wrote up four 1000pt lists that I will bring down from my collection that I feel cover the more important aspects of the game.
The first list is a Deathwing list:
Deathwing Strike Force
Terminator Librarian: Force stave, Mastery Level 2
3x 5 Deathwing Terminators: Sergeant w/ Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield; Lightning Claws w/ Cyclone Missile Launcher; 3x Storm Bolter & Power Fist.
Venerable Dreadnought: Multi-Melta / Heavy Flamer, Drop Pod.
With this list, I figured it would help to demonstrate the importance of wound allocation, deep striking, and tossing in some special rules.
Next, is the Ravenwing:
Ravenwing
Ravenwing Attack Squadron: 6 Bikes w/ 2 Plasma Guns; Land Speeder w/ Assault Cannon & Heavy Bolter.
Ravenwing Attack Squadron: 6 Bikes w/ 2 Melta Guns; Land Speeder w/ Multi-Melta & Typhoon Missile Launcher.
Ravenwing Attack Squadron: 3 Attack Bikes w/ Heavy Bolters; Land Speeder w/ Assault Cannon & Heavy Bolter
Ravenwing Support Squadron: 3 Land Speeders w/ Assault Cannon & Heavy Bolter; Ravenwing Darkshroud
This list can be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of Formations, as well as covering the flexibility of fast units and their relative fragility.
Third up is a Dark Angels "battle-company before they had rules for battle companies" list:
Gunline (Combined Arms)
Librarian: Mastery Level 2, Digital Weapons
10 Tactical Marines: Lascannon, Melta Gun, Drop Pod
10 Tactical Marines: Lascannon, Plasma Gun, Drop Pod
5 Devastator Marines: 4 Plasma Cannons
3 Vindicators
Again, the list teaches Deep Strike and the Psychic phase. But it goes further and gives a different taste of weaponry as well as teaching the rules for vehicle squadrons. This list, I think, may be a favourite for people once they find out about the massive blast the Vindicator squadron gets.
Finally, the Harlequins:
Harlequins (Serpent's Brood)
6 Troupes: 3 Caress, 2 Kiss; Master w/ Storied Sword; Starweaver
6 Troupes: 3 Caress, 2 Kiss; Master w/ Caress; Starweaver
6 Troupes: 2 Caress, 3 Kiss; Master w/ Caress; Starweaver
2x 2 Skyweavers: Zephyrglaives
Voidweaver: Haywire Cannon
I wanted to have something completely different from the other lists. It puts a real emphasis on the assault phase and transports. Mainly though, I wanted something different from another Marine list.
People coming in will also have the opportunity to use their own collection to play an instructional game. The manager has been really helpful in making sure this is going to run well by offering to lend people a store copy of any codex to ensure they have all of the rules that they need.
I will have a quick write up that takes all of the complicated looking charts and cuts them down to a simplified explanation; so instead of having a chart that shows the result needed for WS4 vs WS5 it more or less says "+1 hits on 3+ / = hits on 4+ / 2x+1 hits on 5+." What I have found when teaching any subject to someone is they learn it a lot better by asking them to find the information themselves rather than me constantly explaining.
So that is my general idea on how I am going to run the event and what I will be covering. Does anyone have any input they think will be beneficial, or ideas on other aspects of the game to go over?