How to Grow a Local Scene

You can’t play without players.

Warhammer Underworlds is an amazing game but it can be difficult to play regularly when you have no one to play it with. For today I’ll be going over how you can get a local scene going to attract players and develop a regular player base. It won’t be easy but nothing ever is.

First, a little backstory. It’s been almost a year since my local London scene started. It began with me, my mate Jack (the founder) and 2 other players. Underworlds had been out for 3 months and rumours of the fabled Organised Play kit had been circulating about. Still London basically had no scene due to many stores not really promoting the game since late October. I had searched around for player bases but there was almost nothing.

Then in January Jack held an Underworlds tournament at the local gaming club called HATE (you might have heard of it) which got about 20 people! At the end of the day we all networked then I brought up a Thursday weekly Underworlds tournament and the rest was history.

Jack had already setup a London Underworlds Facebook page and quickly we had fixed weekly nights to play the game as well as what stores, clubs and tournaments were available. It took a while but what started with only a handful of people now has a group with 254 members and packed Monday gaming nights.

So why bring this up? Well it’s a good example of how hard work can payoff as well as basically showing all my upcoming points!

---

Getting Started

So you love the game, great! But you have little to no local scene and possibly even no one to play with. What to do?

1. Talk to friends and/or family who play
2. Search around for a local Games Workshop of Friendly Local Gaming Store (FLGS)
3. Find any local gaming clubs

1) A fairly straightforward step. The easiest route to success is with help. Finding friends and family who play can help you get something going while also being a stable basis for regular gaming.

2) If you’re lucky enough to have a nearby GW or FLGS then pop down and have a chat. They’ll usually be more than happy to help organise games for you. Who knows, they may even already have regular gaming days or events for Warhammer Underworlds already.

3) If no stores are about, usually there is a local gaming club. Once again they could already have established Underworlds players but even if not it’s still another venue to play games at.

Now if you lack all 3 then it’s going to be a super hard task and it’s understandable if you throw the towel in but don’t give up hope yet! You’ll have to work even harder by being the person that recruits players and sets up a local gaming spot wherever you can find an applicable place.

---

Networking

Communication is always important, especially when it comes to growing a scene. When finding your player base you’ll need a way to regularly stay in contact with each other as well as having a place people can easily chat with. My best suggestion is creating either a Facebook page dedicated to your group or a WhatsApp chat for those without social media.

Facebook would be my recommended choice. Nearly everyone has it and if you don’t you can just create one solely for the page. In it you’ll be able to easily organise gaming days, add new players, find local gaming store pages and share Facebook Underworld tournaments/events to the page. It can quickly grow into a stable hub that all players will be able to access. WhatsApp can fulfil a similar function but I feel Facebook is just far better.

---

Support

Now this applies more to people who want to help grow a fledgling scene. It’s quite simple really and your input helps a lot despite what it may generally seem.

1. Turn up to events and meet-ups
2. Be regularly active in gaming groups
3. Be proactive in organising games

1) The easiest and simplest form of support, just show up! Regularly turning up to events and meet-ups shows there’s activity and growth. While numbers may be small at first, with a regular group of players more people will be interested in joining as well as ensuring you have regular opponents.

2) Post now and again whether it be tactics, new purchases and paint schemes. It may come across as mundane but once again this shows there’s activity and interest.

3) Don’t wait for people to ask if anyone wants to play. If you want a game then just ask! Sometimes people can be too shy to set up games, especially if they’re a new player or new to the group and it also again shows active interest.

---

Even today I still do pretty much everything talked about in the article. For example I went down to Geek Retreat in Milton Keynes (check them out, it’s an amazing place to relax and play games) for their first Underworlds Event. We only got 4 players but had a blast. I knew the turnout would be low but still wanted to turn up despite the lack of a trophy as I try to support local scenes by simply attending events whenever possible (and distance within reason). After I told them to give us a bit more of a heads-up next time so I could promote the event on the local London page to which they loved as it really is a great place so hopefully it will become a stable Underworlds scene.

With all the points mentioned here you have the basis for starting and growing a local Warhammer Underworlds scene. It takes a lot of work and may sometimes seem like an impossible task but it usually works in the end like it did for my local London scene. Don’t give up hope and you’ll be blessed with the Crits of success.