Tips for A Successful DBA Demonstration
By Stephen Conway
I've been running weekly DBA demos for over two years now in
Indianapolis. We play every Thrusday night from 6-9pm at The Game
Preserve, a local game store. We have a core of at least 4-6 players
that I have taught during the course of the two years who are now
regular participants on Thursdays. In fact, most of the guys own more
armies than I do! In my opinion, some keys to sucessfully demonstrating
DBA are:
Show how fast it is to play compared to other miniatures wargames: You can teach anyone (even 12 year old girls; I've done it) the basics of the game in 10 minutes. Get them playing and then begin to fill in
the situational rules as they apply. Show how inexpensive it is compared to other miniatures wargames: $9 for rules, $18-$30 on average for an army and you're ready to play! You can't even buy the basic set or a pared down army for most other
wargames for that price! Show how, while the rules may be simple to grasp, the strategies that
develop during a game are quite challenging. Show how the broad scope of the game allows you to pick armies from
virtually any era in history you're interested in. Lastly, and possibly most importantly, if you're going to do a demo,
don't make it a one shot deal. If you're going to build interest in the
game, people need to know that at x time and on x day there will be
someone with a table and two armies ready to do battle. The first few
weeks were kind of grim when I started out, but now I have cultivated a
loyal, if small, group of new gamers devoted to the game. I think this
is in large part due to the fact that they know there will be someone
ready to play every Thursday. Put simply, its easier to get into a game
if you're able to play it on a consistent basis.
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Last Updated: Oct. 7, 1999
Questions, comments, suggestions welcome. Send them to Chris Brantley at brant@erols.com.
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