Getting Warmachine players into Riot Quest

So you play Riot Quest and love it and want to share that love with your Warmachine buddies?
Hopefully I can give you some tips to help you out with that diabolical objective!

Just a quick note that this article subject was picked by my supporters over on Patreon so a big thanks to them!

First off its quite likely that your Warmachine playing friend already owns some Riot Quest minis! Find out which ones they own and ask them to bring them along when you meet up.

Bring your Riot Quest stuff to tournaments and game nights, and should your game finish really early offer to play it with them! 

You could also get a game in over lunch if the tournament timings allow for it! 

And if your game night game finishes a bit early but not enough time for a second game of Warmachine, that is the prefect time for some Riot Quest!

Intro game being played at Wayland games in Essex during the last tournament held there.

Or you could always go with some old fashioned home games!

What heroes to use

I recommend doing a draft.
Collect together everything you and they have and sort them into classes.
Let them use the ones they already own and make sure you pick heroes of the same class to balance it slightly.
Them using their own minis helps build a connection with those heroes they already have making them perhaps more likely to value them.

Then let them pick which models they want based on how cool they look - try not to worry them with picking heroes by reading their rules as this will take a lot longer and add to the initial complexity of getting the game started, you want them rolling dice and wrecking face as soon as possible!

Action dice

Unless you bought two starter sets (I know I didn't) you don't really have enough dice to mark your activations with the action dice.
I suggest using some sort of token. You can use almost anything, but I find focus tokens or normal D6 dice work well.

You might find that you run out of loot tokens as well. If you do then again I suggest using another token to represent them once you run out of normal loot tokens

Riot Gear.

With a player who has never played before picking their own Riot Gear would take a long time and, again you want to get to rolling dice quickly. Gather up all the Riot Gear cards you own, shuffle them then deal the appropriate amount to each player (1 per hero).

Only briefly explain the rules

You don't have to explain every little rule there is. A brief explanation of how actions work and how attacks work is enough to get a game going.
You can add on more of the rules such as moving through obstacle spaces organically by making your own heroes do those things and explaining while you do it.

Don't push it!

If they are really against the game for whatever reason don't force them to play it! People don't tend to ever like things they are forced into, so best not even try. Just enjoy playing the game and perhaps they will see that fun and want to give it a try at some point, but maybe not!

Paint your models! 

They game looks a lot better with all the heroes painted up. If you can, add a base colour to show what class the hero is to make it easier for a new player to remember the extra rules and interactions the class has, such as opening chests for free or interacting with certain bounties.

Don't be a "try hard"!

When doing an intro of a game I personally think its important not to "throw" the game, as most players aren't stupid and might feel a little patronised. Give them a good game but do try to use the extra knowledge you have of the "most powerful" interactions between Heroes and their Riot Gear.

Its also a good idea to play heroes you wouldn't normally pick! Your unfamiliarity with them will reduce whatever "edge" you might have over a new player and give you a interesting time getting out of your comfort bubble of using the same heroes all the time! (For the longest time my crutch hero who I took all the time was Widget!)

A brief interview with one of the Warmachine players I've introduced to Riot Quest.

What did you think of the game before playing it?

I thought it would be more Warmachiney, like company of iron but with hexes for easier movement

What did you think of the game after playing it?

Much better than I thought it would be, because it wasn't Warmachiney. Not that I don't like Warmachine but you could easily get non Warmachine players to play it and they won't be overwhelmed. My partner could sit and learn it.

How easy did you find the rules?

The first game was fine, the second game was really easy. It literally takes one game to learn it and was easy to learn the rules as we played rather than sitting and reading the rules first.

Did you enjoy it?

I'll definitely play it again, I'm even gonna order Boomhowler2 very soon!

Could you see yourself picking the game up?

Yeah, how much was the boxed set? (about £40) Yeah I would. Lovely models as well.

Was there anything you didn't like?

Some of the really random stuff. Like when one of my heroes spawned all the way on its own and didn't get to do much.

(This player has since picked up a crew of their own!)

Riot Quest Wintertime Wasteland (the second season of Riot Quest) is currently on Kickstarter you can check it out here!

If you want to support my content consider taking a look at my Patreon which you can find here. I don't put any content behind a paywall but I do offer rewards to people who support me in ways like getting to vote on what content I work on in the future or outright just picking the next subject of an article.

See you all next time!