Gathering in the Desert Coverage - The Tables

Gathering in the Desert got going on Friday February 19, 2010 around 11:30am with me hauling all the stuff out to Empire Games. One of the suggestions from last years GitD, was to have some sort of banner outside for the folks to see that were not from around the store. So I had printed a small (6'x3') banner for the event.



The fun part was trying to get this thing hung up! One thing I forgot was rope or twine, so my wife headed to Walmart for some rope. Now, when we arrived at Empire Games, there was no wind and the weather report was calling for some chance of rain over the weekend. So I was not worried about the banner being up since there was only 30% chance for bad weather.


Well no sooner did we get the banner hung up was when the wind decided to start blowing. The banner made it thru most of the night with it only having to be re-hung once (Thanks Brandon for doing that). But by Saturday morning the 30% chance of rain turned into 100% and it started to pour, so we took the banner down and brought it inside.

Anyway, here are the tables for the event this weekend, table #1 had this stream running across it with only one bridge (that I built last week) that was just wide enough for a 40mm base to fit on. This layout reminded me of something from Bree in Middle Earth.

Table #2 was made with a Realm of Battle table and a few GW trees that Rob Brightwell painted up in a fall color scheme. Added a few ruins and fences and we had a nice looking table.

Here is table #3 which had just a few GW hills on it as well as a few ruins and tree bases. It was another generic Middle Earth looking table.

I did not get a shot of table #4, but it had a GW arcane ruin in the middle of it along with two sets of Battlefronts new rocky hills. We called it a Mordor table and most folks enjoyed playing on it.

Table #5 was the dreaded Osgilith table built by Tom Opalka which made an appearance last year at GitD. Although Tom had toned it down and made it more player friendly by not adding as much terrain as last year. It was still a hard fight for folks and it captured the feel of Osgilith pretty well.

Table #6 was another Mordor table that I had put together for the GitD Primer but forgot to set up. The Temple of Skulls in the center is the same piece that I had on the blog with the lift off GW tower. Once again another nice looking table that fit the Mordor theme pretty well.

Table #7 was from Tom Opalka again and was to represent Rohan. Tom used Jr Minis rivers & roads on this with a few buildings from the Old Glory line for the Rohan buildings. This was another river table and you can't see it but there is a bridge just behind the trees on the center left of the board. A few inches away was a ford for crossing as well. Most folks who played on the table enjoyed it and it provided to be a very tactical table to play on.

Table #8 was a Harad table that I used last year. The buildings are from Crescent Root Studios and the Palm trees are from Pegasus Hobbies, from their museum line. Once again it seemed to capture the feel of a Harad table.

Table #9 was another Harad table that used some of Empire games terrain. it was more of an arid looking table and it felt like being in the desert.

Table #10 was my Fangorn table from last year. It used a few GW trees and hills and after I took this picture I noticed that there was a long line of trees creating a sort of avenue through the forest, so I moved them around to break up the table.

Table #11 came all the way from Massachusetts from Jeremy Williams. Jeremy wanted a huge line of sight blocker and came up with this ruined gatehouse and wall. From what I heard, some players hated being on this table. Nothing like coming around the corner to find a whole army waiting to pounce on you! Once again another great table for GitD.

Table #12 was Weather Top which was made by using a Realm of Battle board and a Castle Kits "Not Weather Top" kit. I got to play on this board Friday night and it is just so cool, it really fits the LotR theme.



Table #13 was Amon Hen or the Seeing Seat. I built the Seeing seat last year and the board was made up with another set of Realm of Battle boards. This was another great board and folks seemed to like this board as well.

So there you go, that was the tables for GitD 2010. Now you can see what I have been doing with my time since the lack of picture posts on the blog.

in the next update I will have some pictures of the games going on themselves as well as the Red Dragon painting competition entries and winners. So stay tuned for more GitD coverage!

TK