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I probably won't ever play large games, even on tabletop simulator, as even normal (2k) games take up such a large portion of time between me and my friends. However, if you think you'd enjoy it, fun is subjective, so go ahead and try it if you have the points. But maybe try Epic as well to see if it better fits your taste?

I'd recommend starting with small/standard forces on the table and then gradually adding reinforcements to increase the scale of the battle. Only the last turns would commit everything and by then alot has been removed from table already.

 Overread wrote:
This might mean you get 2 turns in and its pizza time and then everyone sort of casually floats and the game falls apart etc... Basically take things as they come and expect someone to have to leave early (their army panic retreats) or arrive late (sudden reinforcements) or for people to be slower on their turn than ideal (although that sort if is the only time you might put some pressure on at least so that turns do cycle through at a decent rate).

This right here is why I hate giant games and why I do not understand how anyone can enjoy them. How are people happy with the possibility of spending all this time and energy on the logistics of arranging a game only to play 1-2 turns before everyone decides "nah, bored now" and calls it a day? Or for people to disrespect the organizer's efforts by showing up late and still expecting to play? It's one thing to have a casual attitude like this towards a normal game where worst case you're out a 30 minute drive to the store and 5-10 minutes of unpacking your models, I don't get it at all when you're talking about potentially hours of work, asking a store owner for a favor to let you reserve extra space, etc.

 Shas'O Ky'husa wrote:

 Overread wrote:
This might mean you get 2 turns in and its pizza time and then everyone sort of casually floats and the game falls apart etc... Basically take things as they come and expect someone to have to leave early (their army panic retreats) or arrive late (sudden reinforcements) or for people to be slower on their turn than ideal (although that sort if is the only time you might put some pressure on at least so that turns do cycle through at a decent rate).

This right here is why I hate giant games and why I do not understand how anyone can enjoy them. How are people happy with the possibility of spending all this time and energy on the logistics of arranging a game only to play 1-2 turns before everyone decides "nah, bored now" and calls it a day? Or for people to disrespect the organizer's efforts by showing up late and still expecting to play? It's one thing to have a casual attitude like this towards a normal game where worst case you're out a 30 minute drive to the store and 5-10 minutes of unpacking your models, I don't get it at all when you're talking about potentially hours of work, asking a store owner for a favor to let you reserve extra space, etc.

It's less about disrespect and more about practicalities. If you know in advance that Steve can't make it till half way through the day either you say "sorry steve you can come but not play" or "ok so at half way through steve's army appears from the east like Rohan over the fields" etc.... It's about being flexible with the organising. Most of the time everyone will turn up, play and settle in one big go and that's the ideal you aim for. Then you work around the issues that arise.

My point is more about not getting bent out of shape and agitated by setting yourself up for a fully serious day when, in the end, big games are much more about having a social time with the game.


But each group will be different. Some will be super serious and military in setup. Some will be super casual; some will be a mix. Again this isn't a one-size-fits-all situation.

Karol wrote:

nekooni 806264 11408661 wrote:

Then playing 4k games just isn't for you, so what? This is clearly a "you" problem.

And let people sort out their space issues on their own - I'm lucky as I'm part of a gaming club, we have a space of our own where I can just book 2 tables and then push them together, done. We don't hog the space like that every weekend, of course, so noone has any issue with it. Obviously not a solution for people in different situations, others might just use their garden and setup a temporary space to play, and some will just not have any way to make it work.

But it becomes a me problem, because the more people talk about stuff like that or crusade etc the higher the chance that the development team will use their time, which they are already not using very well, on those things instead of working on matched play. That is the me part. But other stuff is not a me thing. a 8-10 hour game where you get blazed off the table turn 1 , after a 2 hour trip to the store, is not very fun no matter how someone cuts it.

If you think that having a bit of rules (like Onslaught or Crusade) in the BRB that you don't want to use is a problem, I don't know what to tell you in that regard. You're correct, technically speaking, but if you consider that an issue big enough to complain about and to jump into threads despite not being interested in / capable of playing these games, I'd say you fit right into your local community.

The "get blazed off the table turn 1" will only happen if you ignore all the other things I've pointed out - like NOT treating it as a competitive match.
Matches this large have to be a somewhat narrative and cooperative event to work, regardless of how many participants. I was mostly commenting from a 1v1 perspective as ANY kind of multiplayer battle will come with the "has to sit out for a long time because they got focus fired T1" issue, having the match last longer due to more points just exarcerbates it. if everyone has 500pts and its 2k vs 2k, you'll have the exact same possible issue. Don't focus fire, that's the "solution".


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Shas'O Ky'husa wrote:

 Overread wrote:
This might mean you get 2 turns in and its pizza time and then everyone sort of casually floats and the game falls apart etc... Basically take things as they come and expect someone to have to leave early (their army panic retreats) or arrive late (sudden reinforcements) or for people to be slower on their turn than ideal (although that sort if is the only time you might put some pressure on at least so that turns do cycle through at a decent rate).

This right here is why I hate giant games and why I do not understand how anyone can enjoy them. How are people happy with the possibility of spending all this time and energy on the logistics of arranging a game only to play 1-2 turns before everyone decides "nah, bored now" and calls it a day? Or for people to disrespect the organizer's efforts by showing up late and still expecting to play? It's one thing to have a casual attitude like this towards a normal game where worst case you're out a 30 minute drive to the store and 5-10 minutes of unpacking your models, I don't get it at all when you're talking about potentially hours of work, asking a store owner for a favor to let you reserve extra space, etc.

a) Big games can be 1v1. That throws out half your issues right there, it's quite possible to play 4k in 4-5 hours. Adding extra players is always chaotic, a 2v2 with 2k points per player usually takes more effort than a 4k vs 4k.
b) Casual / narrative does not mean noncommittal. It just means that your primary goal is not to win, it's for everyone to have fun. Play with people that honor your time and investment. Like Overread said - if they let you know in advance so you can plan accordingly, that's fine - but if you just show up 2 hours late for such an event, then focus fire T1 someone that already lost half their army to another player in T1, don't expect an invite to the next event.
People being disrespectful / disruptive at events is mostly an issue with them being allowed to do that without consequences. Dropping the event entirely isn't the solution, dropping these players is.

For up to 3k you can just play 40k and allocate plenty of time for it. For larger 1 v 1 games consider using the 8th ed apocalypse rules.

For large multiplayer 40k games my group has generally done something along the following lines:
- Organise the players into teams in advance and have everyone bring a legal army of a fixed size (e.g. 2k points per player). If you want to be using lots of lords of war/big forgeworld toys and crazy stuff allocate a separate points pool for that and have each side take an equal amount to keep things balanced. So a game might look like 3 v 3, each player has 2k points and there are 2k more points of fun toys.
- You'll need plenty of space, both for the game board itself and ideally you should have some spare tables around for people to leave rulebooks on, get their armies out onto, store reserves on and shift their dead models to. You can only go so deep with the main board as people need to be able to reach the middle. You can just go for a long table or you can get creative with irregular play spaces (Ls or Us) or even have multiple tables connected via portals, connecting tables etc.
- You'll need plenty of time. Most large games end up running out of time before you run out of turns, so allocate plenty. You can't have too much time - players will be grateful for breaks and time to chat. If the game is going to run out of time the organiser needs to be keeping an eye on it and letting players know what turn the game is likely to end on so people can plan their strategy accordingly.
- It can be a good idea to limit how much can be set up on the first turn. Sometimes it is a good idea to say that half of each side sets up in reserve and doesn't come on until turn 2. This is also a good way to deal with late players - just say their entire army is in reserve and have the others start with more on the table. Also consider other methods of toning down the first turn like saying the first turn is night fighting and making up some rules for it.
- Objectives should be simple and to some extent scored progressively throughout the game, e.g. set up a number of objectives and each is worth 1vp per objective if held at the start of the turn and an additional 1 or 2vps if held at the end of the game.
- My group has done plenty of large 40k games but none in 9th. You'll likely need to have some sort of house ruling on stratagems since no one can be expected to keep track of everything in a massive game. Consider not using them or having a reduced CP pool or team wide pool and just use the standard rule book strats?

The main issues with large games are actually to do with time and social issues. Allocate plenty of time and have someone in charge of re-focusing people or hurrying things along if a side is taking to long or getting distracted. Players might need to delegate resolving saves if they are trying to handle multiple things at once. Finally, large games can be chaotic and stressful and sometimes tempers get a bit frayed, the organiser shouldn't be afraid to step in and break things up if they notice players getting frustrated with each other.

Personally I find large games quite stressful but they can also be a lot of fun if handled in the right spirit and the spectacle of a large game is undeniable. The key to organising them successfully is to reduce the stress and chaos as far as possible.

 Shas'O Ky'husa wrote:

 Blndmage wrote:
You have an an Imperium army, you can take any Imperium LOW.

Sure, just buy multiple LoW from an army you don't play (and may or may not have any interest in) and give up your faction purity rules. Spend a few hundred dollars and a lot of hours of painting time on something other than the faction you want to play. And for what? So you can meet some arbitrary game size goal?

This is not a reasonable solution.

are you that dense? Of course were not forcing Karol to buy knights if thats not his army, we're giving optiong. Most apocalypse games arent played with "guardmen only" and are usually a reason to bring out all the cool big models you own but never get to play


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Karol wrote:


But it becomes a me problem, because the more people talk about stuff like that or crusade etc the higher the chance that the development team will use their time, which they are already not using very well, on those things instead of working on matched play. That is the me part. But other stuff is not a me thing. a 8-10 hour game where you get blazed off the table turn 1 , after a 2 hour trip to the store, is not very fun no matter how someone cuts it.

holy feth , unironically shut the feth up please. And get a grip on reality.

I play Krieg and for me it sounds unappealing if it isn’t a big game with them. A normal 2K game won’t fit those earthshakers and other artillery pieces. But this is just me.