Frontline Games Open House 

Hey folks, 

Since the Open House we have had events every weekend until now (whew!) so time for some much needed rest and then to get back into it. Here is a brief write-up concerning our event – The Open House.

First of all I would like to say thank you for all of the overwhelming support from our friends out there, Jon & Bryan of Warlord Games came down Friday night and joined in our festivities! These are some awesome guys and fun to have a tankard or two with! Steve & Sylvia of Firelock Games also came in to support, awesome people! The prize support from Warlord Games (Che is awesome!), Black Tree Design, Trenchworx and Studio Miniatures for getting our orders to us quickly. And of course our good friends at Reaper Miniatures (saw Matt Clark & family on Sunday – they played Alien Attack and it was awesome!) To my family for the many days/weeks of prep and enduring the very hot triple-digit days to make this happen.

We had to prep some 8000sqft for our Open House, converting all of our office spaces (save the "Command helm" - CEO's & Operations Manager's work stations) to gaming space. Most of our product was moved into the warehouse spaces for display so people could browse/shop through it.

We held a Bolt Action tournament in our main office space. We provided tables with terrain gaming mats (which are great - BTW) and placed on the shelves many terrain items so that the tournament master (Lee Brennan) & participants could use as they wished. We also sent Lee a lot of terrain so that he could build/paint it to theme out a table as he wished. The battles took place on desert, urban, and countryside settings. The tournament had about half of the participants as we wanted but they all had a lot of fun and more prizes for everyone who did play. Young Colton Swanson (14) pulled out the win for the weekend - congratulations Colton!!

In the next office spaces we had our registration area where folks first made the way into our world for the weekend. There they were met by Melinda, Brittany, Ashley and the Boss Baby – Luke the Duke – our Grandson who let out a squeal every once in a while to say hello to many of the patrons. They were issued their badge and began their journey into the world of Frontline Games.

The first set of demo games was American Gangster ran by Tyler & Matt, where players are set in the late 19th & early 20th century as Mobsters and Texas Rangers. The gritty game begins with the rangers going out to the farmhouse to arrest the mobsters. They are not going peacefully, so the gun battle begins with “bullets” flying throughout the weekend. Sometimes they won and sometimes they lost - lots of fun!

The next table over Brittany & Ashley were running the game of Alien Attack! Scouts were peacefully camping when the Alien evasion begins. They watch in horror as a deer is lifted into the air and pulled into a space craft by the invaders. The Scouts also notice several Aliens on foot zapping everything moving, however as one steps into a puddle of water and quickly melts it shows a weakness that the scouts quickly exploit. So with this new information the Scouts/Scout-Master arm themselves with water guns, sling shots, soda cans as grenades, and set out to get past the invaders and warn the town of the impending invasion. On a cow-occupied field the Scouts and Aliens battle it out throughout the weekend with a lot of laughter and taunting! Lots of fun and enjoyment to be had all around.

In the next room over we had Jon Russell with Warlord Games immersing players into the worlds of Blood Red Skies as WWII fighter pilots, Samurai Warriors in Test of Honor, Some Sci-Fi action with Dr. Who, and the new Strontium Dog games with mutants and the like fighting it out on a scorched planet! Again, lots of enjoyment with players throughout the weekend engaging in various genres and having a blast.

On the other table we had Lance and Garrett running demos of the Post Apocalyptic world of Zombie Daze. Survivors had just arrived at an abandoned factory and began to search and locate supplies when suddenly zombies began to arrive. It was time to leave but the guy with the keys was missing and had to be found - so the fun begins! All throughout the weekend you could hear cheers and jeers from that table as some survivors got away and some became dinner for the undead and mutants alike.

The back room saw the 3D dungeon featuring Stones Dungeon Tiles where players throughout the weekend explored various dungeon creations set up by Christopher and Jordan - lots of fun to be had and enjoyed!

In the next room was the game of Uber Soldat. A large table was set up to show the mansion of the mad doctor or the German paranormal division - Von Kleist! The allied soldiers had just got in and eliminated the dark doctor to rid the world of his morbid experiments; however, now they had to get past his creations, the Nazi Zombies and other mutants who were bent on revenge! U.S. Frog Suits were fighting to survive the onslaught. Players played either side and throughout the weekend it went back and forth as darkness and light battled across the courtyard of the mansion.

Next was the beautiful table of Blood & Plunder with Steve and Sylvia Smith. Beautiful ships and beaches with wonderfully painted pirates from many different nations battle it out for plunder. This is one I did not get a chance to play but wanted to very much. But that did not stop me from picking up many a ship and crew for future plans.

The next table saw the actions of an ancient battle between marauding groups of Barbarians/Vikings. Frontline Command World War II was also to be demoed there which is the FLG game of World War II in 28mm.

Thousands of packs/boxes of 28mm WWII miniatures/armor lined the walls in this room as folks shopped. Going through the sliding door you entered the warehouse which was brimming with product from Frontline Games’ terrain line such as scenic basing material, Blood & Plunder items by Firelock Games, thousands of miniatures from various manufactures. Paints galore and the Warlord booth with all of their games could be acquired.

On Sunday we had our Flea Market with buyers/sellers cutting deals throughout the day, and there were MANY deals being made. I picked up quite a few items myself that I hope to get on a table soon, and at some great prices!

We learned a lot from the experience. Much of what we had planned we did not get to do because of the things that went wrong at the last minute which demanded our time & attention. Our goal, however, was that whoever showed up had a great time regardless, and I believe that was accomplished.

We really enjoyed all of the participants and look forward to the next one. Thank you again to all who attended and thank you for bearing with us as we learn/grow with this event. You all are very much appreciated, thank you to everyone who helped. We truly look forward to seeing everyone again!