So, you want to run a Firelock demo. Maybe you’re a new Quartermaster, or you’re just trying to get more people to playing your favorite game. Either way, learning to run an effective demo is a cornerstone to building community around a game.
I ran my first Firelock demos while helping out in the Phalanx Consortium booth at HMGS: Cold Wars in 2019. Since that time – whether it was between tournaments at Historicon or in the Firelock Booth at Adepticon – I have run demos at every convention that I’ve attended since then (plus a few FLGS events). Demoing these games to new faces is my favorite way to enjoy them.
What follows, is 5 years and easily 100+ demos worth of “what I’ve learned”
Demoing vs. Teaching
To start, we need to discuss the difference between demoing a game, and teaching it.
Teaching a game implies that someone has already decided that they want to play it, they just need to know how. If you’re teaching someone, you can run a full game and you’re going to focus on the game mechanics and getting everything just right.
Demos aren’t about all that.
Demos are about convincing someone to pick up the game in the first place. You become a spokesperson for the game. You’re really playing through the game’s elevator pitch.
Elevator Pitch?
Elevator Pitches are meant to be brief, generalized views of a proposal, short enough to be communicated in the span of an elevator ride. The game overviews posted on Firelock’s site and on the backs of the rulebooks are good starting places. When telling people about the game, I also add a sentence or two about the size of the playspace (3’x4′ fits on a kitchen table) and how quickly experienced players can get through a game (90 minutes or less).
That approach is also how your entire Demo game should operate. Show them only what they need to know in order to play the demo, and make sure you show them the unique mechanics that make the game stand out.
Show-Don’t-Tell
Show-don’t-tell means presenting information to your audience in a way that engages them in active learning, as opposed to passive learning. Reading this article, or being lectured to, are both passive learning. In contrast, active learning is to “learn by doing,” and it has been shown to improve the learning and retention of information.
A good demo relies on active learning as much as possible. It’s what the audience expects; they’re here to play a game, after all, and the most important part of any game is having fun. So you need to teach the game in a way that moves from passive to active as quickly as possible. The first, most immediate way to do this is to use player handouts that they can follow along with.
For Plunder, Crowns, and Oak & Iron, you can use the unit cards. For Valor and Steel you should create some sort of handout, or at least show them a sample unit from the rulebook.
After running so many demos, I’ve settled on a script for getting through the basic rules as quickly as possible. If you want, you can read through the script for Plunder point-by-point here. But to summarize:
- Stats – Skills/Saves, and always trying to roll higher, plus modifiers
- Training – the last part of the card, as it segues into…
- Activations – explain the game’s initiative bidding mechanics
- Sample Actions – very minimal. Moving 4″, Attacks, Reloading.
Don’t explain the effects of Fatigue, any Special Rules, or modifiers like Range. I can crash through that overview in about 3 minutes. I always finish by saying something like:
That is all you need to know to get playing. I find the best way to learn is by playing, so you tell me what you want your troops to do, and I will teach you the rules to make it happen.
That line is so important to a good demo, because it not only gets them playing, but it also leaves you as the arbiter of the game. It does not invite them to start asking questions about Special Rules, or Advanced Rules. It leaves you in the position of a Game Master.
The GM’s Guide
Games Masters usually preside over roleplaying games, telling players what they need to roll and what score they will need – but the most important role of the GM is to communicate the game-world to the players, mechanically. They are the arbiter of the entire game. When running a demo, this is the role that you want to occupy.
Reveal rules to the players as they happen naturally. When someone wants to shoot, only teach about the modifiers that apply. If someone is hit, teach them about rolling Saves and Resolve Tests. If they fail one, teach them about the effects of Fatigue.
Apply Special Rules sparingly. Especially when it’s the first time the players are seeing a mechanic. Many special rules override core mechanics, which can lead to confusion.
As experienced players, this abbreviated “teach-as-you-go” can feel strange. We’re used to having all of the available information when making decisions. But that amount of knowledge is outside the scope of a demo. Imagine listening to an audiobook of the game’s core rules. Would you learn from that, or would your eyes glass over? That is what it would be like for your players if you tried to condense all of the information into a demo. If they want to try again, but using all of the Special Rules this time – they can buy the game.
The Most Important Rule (& Etiquette)
There is one very important rule that you need to get right every time you demo: You make the rules. You should be very comfortable with a title before you volunteer to run demos of it, but nobody is perfect. You will miss or forget a rule here or there – but fight the temptation to lose momentum by checking the rulebook. Just make something on the fly. Does Throwing Grapples succeed on a 5+ or a 6+? Doesn’t matter, pick one and keep playing.
We’re not teaching rules – we’re only demoing the game. The players will need to buy the game and read the rulebook before they can play on their own – so they’ll correct anything that you got wrong, or the community will correct them.
This is also why it is good etiquette that if you see another person demoing the game, don’t gainsay or correct them. I am guilty of this myself, and I should know better. If you see someone running a demo and they miss a rule, correct them after the demo. Don’t interrupt the flow or undermine their authority by offering up a correction during play.
Here is a good, 11-minute YouTube video on how to hold your audience’s attention as a Game Master. These techniques were adapted from teaching, to Game Mastering, and you can easily adapt them to demos.
List Building
There is a lot to think about when building a good demo list. The primary aim is to keep the forces simple. This can even override legality and points balance. Consider: if you’re not going to teach the special rules right away, then having a unit which relies on multiple special rules to “earn their points” isn’t going to enjoy its full value.
I think of demo lists like a pair of dueling pistols – opposed, but made to match. I keep reusing them, tweaking and modifying them after each outing until they are as perfectly matched as the game allows.
- Keep Units to a Minimum – Lists with 3-4 units are more manageable
- Find ‘Passive’ Special Rules – The simplest special rules are “always on,” and don’t require player choice, or complicated triggers (like suit-activated abilities)
- Identify Archetypes – Units with reconizable battlefield roles make it easier for players to approach a demo. Roles include Melee/Ranged or Elites/Rabble.
- Play to the Narrative – These are historical wargames, and the historical setting is part of the appeal. Anzacs vs. Ottomans at Gallopoli, or English privateers raiding a Spanish port, make good example lists.
I am working on an article to follow this one, which includes easy sample lists for demoing each of the Firelock titles. I’ll also run up an article on the Raise the Black Starter forces specifically.
One final thing to consider is availability of the list. This is easy with Plunder, since that game has its own starter box. For Valor, the Phalanx nationality boxes are good demo lists. This makes for an easy “sales pitch” if they’re interested at the end (if you did your job right, they should be) because you can show them how to get the exact forces you just displayed as a package deal.
Scenarios
Just like the lists themselves, you want to keep your scenarios simple. Having the players fight to claim a central objective is usually the best method. When demoing Plunder at sea, I often have players strive to capture 1 deck of the enemy ship. For Valor, I have Ottomans and ANZACs fighting over a neutral slit-trench.
More important than the scenario itself, is the flow of the combat. Whatever scenario you choose (or invent) should encourage the players to explore the major mechanics of the game. Players should see ranged combat and melee combat. They should need to move, and go through various types of cover. This can be surprisingly difficult, but setting up the battle can help with this.
Set up the game as though it is already in progress, and start players at the most impactful turn – when the action is really heating up. The OnTableTop videos with Firelock do a great job of demonstrating this, as they usually start on turn 2 or turn 3 – right as the dice rolling kicks off. Melee units are already in position to charge, shooting units are in range, etc.
The Hobby Component
Mechanics and know-how are what make a good demo, but the hobby component is what elevates a good demo to a great one. Your demo is the “floor model” of the game, for better or worse.
A good-looking table and well painted models are both eye-catching and memorable. Eye-catching to draw players into your demo, and memorable once they’ve left it. For Plunder, there’s nothing more eye-catching than the large ships which feature in the game. Ships also add height to the demo, and in a hobby where everything is usually waist or belly height, getting your game into people’s eyeline is memorable in its own right.
Use official models where you can. With Firelock, that’s really only possible with Plunder and Oak & Iron. Not only does this game back to the “availability” aspect of list-building, but it also shows-off the high quality of Firelock’s products.
On the “or worse” side of that coin: People don’t always treat your minis as nicely as they’d treat their own. Don’t throw your favorite, limited-edition, best painted mini onto a demo table! If you foresee lots of demos in your future, it might even be worth it to invest in dedicated demo forces. I frequently joke that I am going to varnish my demo forces until they look like icicles.
Parting Thoughts
I was going to call this section “final considerations” – but it didn’t seem right. This isn’t even the end of my demo information, as there are a few more articles coming on sample demo lists, demoing with the RTB box, and on running “learn to play” event games.
I hope that as a reader, you also see this not as an end, but as a beginning. I was not exaggerating that running demos is my favorite way to engage with Firelock titles. It’s rewarding, it gives back to the community, and it supports the games that we all love playing. Hopefully, you’ll get out there and run some demos of your own. I know that it can seem daunting, but trust me: the best demo is the one that brings a new player into the game. You don’t have to run things exactly like I do. You just have to run things.
So get out there!
Dead Man's Chest 