BLKOUT Meet-up 5/17
On Sunday, May 17th I hosted another BLKOUT meet-up at Griffonest Games in Woodstock, IL. The group has doubled in size over the last year and there seems to be a lot of growing interest in the game in the Chicagoland area. We had twelve in attendance, and each played a series of three missions, tallying cumulative Victory Points for bragging rights.
I outfitted six, 2'x2' tables: three shanty towns, a space port, a shipping yard, and a largely interior board. I wrote all the game material and provided players with a packet including the missions and - of course - the cheat sheet/flow chart for Blast.
The first mission, "Security," had a pair of wandering NPC security drones that would attack the nearest target. Destroyed drones would respawn at the hard points, which could also be destroyed. Players also had the option of using data attacks to hack and move the drones.
The second mission was entitled "Squall." A magnetite dust storm covered the play space and severely inhibited line of sight and all electronics. Players could use hard points to temporarily shield the surrounding area from the storm's effects. Models that were exposed and up on terrain were at risk of lightning strikes.
The final mission was called "Hazmat." Prior to the deployment phase, each player would place a set amount of explosive barrel terrain on their opponent's side of the board. When damaged, the barrels initiate a Blast attack, then leave a special smoke marker denoting "toxic fumes."
Overall, it was a huge success! Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun and it was great to support the developing game community. We will definitely be doing it again.
If you're in the Chicago suburbs, keep an eye out on the Discord for future events.