Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Apocalyptic Kaissa Fair.

Some weeks ago (yes the Invulnerable have been that late) the Kaissa chain of stores held a games fair.
Kaissa has held games fairs repeatedly since their first ever back in ages past (it must have been 1991 or 1992) - I still remember it with us being boys back then enjoying a game of Battletech with my friends and several other players.

Kaissa has held a games fair every year since then and has been one of the two larger chain of shops that brought games of strategy and fantasy in our country, indeed Kaissa has been the first ever shop (the one in kalidromiou street) to ever bring the first fantasy game in Greece (if i am not mistaken).

This year's Kaissa Games fair hosted boardgames, card games (mostly that actually) and an apocalypse game between two teams of four players each with 5000 points (a total of 20.000 points each side, 40.000 points on the table) the Games fair has been hosted on the Stratos Vasilikos hotel (the same place where the first Independent club tournament was held and where the second also will be held).


Lets see some photos from the boardgames and the fair in General.


In a room next to the apocalypse event several boardgames were presented to players to test them, here we see the board game: Discworld. Check more about it on Boardgamegeek:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/91312/discworld-ankh-morpork


The Adventurers: Pyramid of Horus is enjoyed by this fine group of players, looks like an interesting game, i like pyramids and stories with mummies!.
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=162&enmi=The%20Adventurers:%20The%20Pyramid%20of%20Horus


The board game hall of the Games fair had also a shop filled with - what else - boardgames and several good looking players indeed. 


It was nice seeing Christos (left) from Kaissa Kalitheas on the Games fair too, i did played some warhammer 40k games with Christos in the past and he is a very good player and a dedicated wh40k fan.


 View of the board game hall.


Mr Liverios Thiseas owner of the Kaissa stores was also there.
You are looking to one of the persons responsible for us playing fantasy games in Greece.  



And that is the reason why, he is always attracted to a nice board game and its rules. A gamer is always a gamer.  



As the day progresses more boardgamers fill the tables. Each game a box filled with a different idea - what a game really is.



One of those ideas, the one Kaissa recently published: Souvlaki wars, a game where each player controls a souvlaki shop trying to serve customers with food to gain money and fame. 
 

 Souvlaki Wars has been the idea of game designer and good friend Vaggelis Bagiartakis. 

 

And what can be better than seeing a group of players playing the game you designed? players also reported that while they were playing the game they felt the urge to order souvlaki!


And for a closing photo of the boardgames part of the Games fair a photo of Vaggelis Baggiartakis with me (left) holding Souvlaki Wars, Vaggelis came up with the idea of the Game wrote the rules and managed the whole process of making the game while Dimitris Vasiadis handled the graphics, i had the privilege of making the illustrations for the game and Kaissa published it.

And now lets see some apocalyptic photos from the Warhammer 40.000 apocalypse game...
First, the two teams. 


The players who were fighting for the Imperium:
from left: Nontas Virvidakis - Grey Knights, Yiannis Kromidas - Imperial Guard, Aris Sillogidis  - Salamanders, Imperial fists and Raven guard, Yiannis Yaggos - Imperial guard.


The guys who were commanding the "evil" forces were:
from left: Kostantinos Kokkinis - Tyranids, Ilias Spirakos - Chaos Daemons, Tasos Grigoriadis - Orks and Harris Hrisafidis - also with Orks.

Lets see some photos from the battle itself and the wonderful converted and over sized vehicles the players were using in this event.


 Thunderhawk transporter "poops" a Land raider right below it.


 Big explosions everywhere!


Ork pilot to Ork control tower: i have three Leman Russ battle tanks to my sights!
Ork control tower to Ork Pilot: Great! crash to the middle one!


The course of the game was obvious from the start, the Imperium side of the big table is filled with nasty big gun stuff while the other side has construction vehicles.


 Now i want to place my big boom thingy there.


 What can be more awesome than a War hound Titan?


A Reaver Titan!


 Oh, i don't want to look!


Away from the flames! run away!!!


 Awesome creature, and it is flying too!


 Yellow laser cannon marines get surrounded by red daemons.


 Now, the smokes coming down from the evil looking tower look like hands, doesn't they? (imagination running wild)


 Imperial defenders are attacked by ork aircraft.


 The thunderhawk targets the big evil tower.


 No comment.


 Land raider duel.


 Big gun on Titan: whatever it hits - it destroys.
Stolen comment from Rocky 4 about Ivan Drago's punch.


On a once-land raider the orks device a "wrecking ball" to destroy enemy fortifications and tanks, they just have to get close for that, now they could just keep the usual multi melta the land raiders recently fit on their hulls.


 The Demon princes are SO evil they don't even join the fight with their other equally evil minions, they won't even rewind the tapes they rent from the video clubs.


 This is the most awesome looted wagon conversion i have ever seen.


 Nice conversion idea for a ork fighter, i think it needs a pilot thought...


 No comment.


 And out of the egg, two Zoanthrope appear. usual stuff to carry with the Tyranid flying egg.


Big looking Tyranid organism, draws the cameraman attention. (again)
I love its coloring, it looks a bit like a grasshopper. 


 Tasos zooms over the battlefield to engage the enemy with his air force.


 Come on! why doesn't it fly? i want a ride! i want a rideee!!!!


 With over half the Tyranid codex units in the table you will need the codex itself to remember all the rules and statistics.


 From the look of the imperial vehicle the ork Stompa must have caused enough damage to it with its weapons.


 Big game requires also big templates.


 Big creepy (well painted) Tyranid creature checks if there are pigeons outside the hotel so that it can (as it hopes) one day join in the fun. 


 Now if you were the thunderhawk pilot would you fly all over this place?


 The big evil tower emits Christmas snow trying to give a joyful look to the carnage below.


 Marines smoke something inside their vehicles and the stuff comes out from the ports as white smoke.



For the record, the game ended as a victory for the Imperium.

And on the end of the game the players deployed their armies for photos. lets look at the awesome collections fielded by the players.



  Giannis Kromidas Imperial forces. Tanks, guardsmen and Titans.


 Valkyries transporting elite guardsmen.


 From the top. a flight of Valkyries


The two Titans (again)



Another picture of the Gunships the Tanks and the guardsmen.


 Yaggos Yiannis Imperial guard force, and part of the floor too. 


 Yaggos brought also a super heavy tank.


 Chimera Troop transports and Leman Russ battle tanks, for some reason the tanks have camouflage, the APC's don't, another hint that the Imperium cares more about the tanks than the regular grunts.


 Special forces in the front ranks and guardsmen right behind them.


 Awesome detail in so many miniatures.


 Ogryns in the ranks of the Guardsmen.


Ursarkar E' Creed was in the command of the Cadians.


Nontas Virvidakis Grey knight forces. Yes i see a vehicle that has grey in its camouflage theme.


Here it is, it has brought its friend too. 


 Nice theme and look of the army, but the stormraven needs imediate attention! look to its engines.


 This is why Nontas always brings with him the Miniature First aid kit!


Imagine you were - a miniature - wouldn't you feel better if you KNEW that Nontas was near the vicinity with his Miniature first aid kit? 


Imagine this sand colored tank fighting on the desert, it would blend with the sand so much that it would be almost invisible...


Disasters don't just happen, there are a chain of critical events that lead to the final - seconds from disaster! (Stormraven flight TWA 820 - broken engine)


 Nice looking army.


Aris Sillogidis space marine force. The Thunderhawk was the piece that was stealing the attention in the table - and over it.


 All dressed yellow and going to the fight.


 How many dreadnoughts are too many dreadnoughts?


Another Captain Pac Man, the second i see, i got used to see Cadaver's captain Pac Man (Lysander) and now he haunts me - this guy here is a conversion. I got so much used to see Cadaver's work on Lysander that now every time i see a Lysander on a table i would compare him to Cadaver's work.

See Cadaver's Lysander in this link:
http://homeofcadaver.blogspot.com/2011/02/darnath-lysander.html

I like both of them, Cadaver made an impressive coloring of the miniature, Aris did a very good conversion and mix of miniature parts.


Vulkan He'Stan, green armored guy ready to cause damage.


 Ilias Spirakos Chaos forces.
 

 The evil tower, at first i thought that it was a big terrain piece, but it wasn't! it is actually a vehicle for the chaos forces!.


 Close up of the things that should not be.


And several of their minions.


Konstantinos Kokkinis Tyranid Swarm.


A group shot of the most of the big uglies.


I believe i can fly, i believe i can touch the skyyy....


One Tyranid creature is hidden below the table and has just punched the table with its talons.


Another talon of the creature below the table on the right side of the photo.


And the talon to the left.



More big uglies.


The other two players from the team who went against the Imperium brought Orks, the players were Tasos Grigoriadis and Harris Hrisafidis.


 Every ork stands behind the blast template.


 Several ork Nobz, those must belong to Harris.


  Deathkoptas, battlewagons...


 A huge Ork Stompa.


 And another one!


 And a third!


 And yet more Orks.


 This awesome conversion that we were seeing on a previous photo, well done Tasos!.


 Awesome conversions also, it took me a while to realize that the vehicles left and right are actually conversions from space marine land speeders!


 This vehicle actually serves as a Battlewagon.


And last but not least, the Ork Airforce.

Anyway, that is all, it was a great day being on the Kaissa Games fair and it was nice too seeing some old friends there as well both from Kaissa and the Boardgamegeek greek guild (try saying that fast ten times) i am pretty sure that it was a difficult effort for the Kaissa folks to run a Games Fair in our times but they sure did a splendit job.

In case you are interested to see more about the Kaissa shops their forthcoming events and their merchandise you can visit their online shop here: http://www.kaissagames.com or even better visit one of their shops in person.

For the Boardgamegeek greek guild you can follow this link, http://www.boardgamegeek.com/guild/119 the guys there are all amazing folks and they will surely help you in your board game activities, be they to find new players, games and most importantly friends.

See you all in the next report.

For the Invulnerable.
Panayiotis.


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