DanTO hands over the keys of the Delorean! This time out he invites guest writer Chris Busuttil to go back to where something beyond a simple hobby moment, unfolded across the gaming table at an Arc40k weekend, to become the birth of something legendary… it’s over to you Chris.
In the lead up to the 2020 Arc40k event I’d been processing the idea of starting a YouTube channel as my love for the hobby since I began in 2018 had grown immensely.
I had fifteen plus years of filmmaking experience - all I needed was some equally enthused hobby people who could come on this crazy journey with me… Well, lucky for me I met two of those people on day One, Game #1 during Arc40k in 2020.
Little did we know that at the end of the game a friendship wouldn’t be the only result. And following on from that the forming of a group of like-minded hobbyists that would be the foundations to allow us to create Legends & Lore!
After the welcome speeches pumping everyone for a great weekend of gaming the pairings came in onto my phone via ArcScore. It was then that I saw myself paired up against this Jack Wilson guy.
Picking up my minis, I walked to our assigned table for that first round. I’m always a little anxious at this time because for the next two and half hours I’m going to be standing across the table from my assigned opponent.
In most cases you’re meeting this person for the first time - which was the case for this game. And hopefully you’re both going to have an enjoyable shared experience. I like to think we all approach the table with our fingers crossed - hoping that it’s going to be a good fun game.
Thankfully, meeting Jack at the table was an incredible experience!
I knew immediately after shaking his hand, introducing myself and throughout the pre-game chit-chat that we were in for a real treat. We played the Dangerous Cargo mission, which caused objectives to explode, it was a lot of mayhem and a lot of fun!
The positive chat continued throughout the game and maybe caused us to not be super focused on the pace we played. Anyway before we knew it Dan had come around and asked us to finish up and enter our scores. We really wanted to play through lunch because we were having so much fun. But alas we had to put in our scores and to our surprise it was a draw!
During the pack up our chat continued about the hobby, family and the fact that we discovered we lived so close to one another.
We were interrupted as another guy approached and shook hands with Jack. His name was Chris McKenna (Makka). Jack and Makka had known each other from a previous event. But Makka and I looked at each other and we both knew we had also met each other before.
We soon realised that just three weeks before, Makka and I had randomly organised a game of 40k at the Axes & Ales gaming club… and we too hit it off after an awesomely fun game.
So you guessed it - before long both Makka and I were added to a growing Warhammer 40k Facebook chat group organised by Jack.
We could chat 40k, organise games, and continue to grow our hobby centered friendships. In the months that followed I played Jack, Makka, and a few others in the Facebook group. I finally decided that it was time to pull the trigger and pitch my idea for Legends & Lore to them.
Their enthusiasm for the idea brought much joy… So we organised a time to run a pilot episode (which never came to air due to a technical issue… hahaha) in the end we had to reshoot the game the following week.
After launching that episode, all three of us knew we were onto something and decided to give this a proper go… And the rest is history as they say.
Arc40k is still the only event I sign up for every year.
It’s a testament to the the structure of the event and the amount of work that goes into the back end in order to maximise player experiences. Things like how missions are played to promote engagement from both players, or even how the scoring system as a whole is structured to encourage a balanced, fun game whether you’re ‘winning’ or ‘losing’.
But the next big collaboration with our favorite event will see Legends & Lore live streaming the 25th Anniversary of Arc40k in 2023. This is an amazing privilege and will be a piece of Arc40k history as we share the event live to the world.
Though part of me wishes I’d be walking with my minis to the assigned table after pairings again, anxiously anticipating who my opponent is and what incredible experiences will follow.
Everyone at Arc40k are excited that a random match up at this event has created the awesome Legends & Lore Youtube channel. Because of their support and inspiration to play games for fun and broadcast them we will see table top action, a load of insights and interviews from across the two days of the 25th Anniversary Arc40k beamed to the world.
You can see all of Legends & Lore battle reports on their YouTube channel Check out one of their latest:
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