Your first two weeks of miniatures wargaming nights

Day one

Start with one clear mission and honest terrain. Public lineage via Miniature wargaming, then skim our glossary.

Pick a scope

Date after-action notes: what terrain lied, which secondary stalled, what to fix next event. A guest TO inherits paper, not vibes.

Teach the table

If a phase adds twenty minutes and nobody likes it, house-rule or shelf it for the night. Fairness beats sacred errata mid-game.

After session one

Leave room for bold maneuvers. The best games often come from a line nobody practiced in the list.

Track turn time, secondary progress, and terrain coverage like victory points—those clocks decide whether the game breathes.

Table rulings on one page. If a call repeats, ink it so both players trust the process.

Prefer scenario essays, TO notes, and encyclopedias over anonymous “meta lists.”

Cite designers, sculptors, and TO crews when you share mission packets or player aids.

Wargame Crate writes in a scenario marshal register: concrete procedures first, lore tourism second, and zero invented prices. Next stops: Guides, Resources, Community, FAQ.

Keep notes short enough to reread before a session. Long wikis that nobody opens are not preparation; they are archaeology.

When in doubt, run the smaller scenario, teach one procedure well, and leave room for player ideas that were not in your outline.