Welcome to a new column where we interview a Narrative Event Organizer. We want to give these individuals a moment in the spotlight and allow them to share some of their experience with the community.
Today we feature Chuck Moore, an organizer near Pittsburgh, PA, interviewed by one of his players, Matt.
NEON: When did you start playing Warhammer Fantasy / Age of Sigmar? And when did you start playing narrative games?
Chuck: I started back in 8th ed fantasy. My first game was the day of the new High Aelf Release (army books, phoenix, etc.). I had painted up all my models from my battalion and Swordmaster box over the previous months. My FLGS owner let me buy the army book and phoenix model the Friday before the event which was on Saturday. I built, primed, and painted the phoenix throughout the night as I was too excited to sleep! It was great and I put story into my army from that day and never stopped; no matter how competitive I got with my lists their was a story.
NEON: What armies do you have? And which one is your favorite for narrative events?
Chuck: I have 3 High Aelf Armies, Dark Aelfs, Wood Aelfs, Dispossessed, and Stomrcast. [I am] working on Sylvaneth, Blades of Khorne and waiting on the first set of Aelves to start! Right now Stormcast are my favorite for narrative as they work well as a force no matter what I take and their narrative is easy to craft and put into any event.
NEON: Do you have a story behind your narrative army?
Chuck: I do! They are descendants from a few brave members of the Reiksguard Eternals who were pulled into the Realm of Chaos during the End Times and fought their way out (a small bit of fluff I read in the first AoS book of small bands who accomplished this). They settled in the Realm of Beasts and began to develop and became a growing culture in their own right. As Sigmar’s Pantheon ruled, they looked to where they came from as it was lost over the millennia. They found red and white heraldry, floppy hats with feathers and other Reiksguard-esque things and adopted it into the style and colors into their culture. When Chaos began to take over the realms Sigmar saved the populace who remained defiant as they reminded him of those who held fast against Nurgle at the fall of Altdorf. So my Stormcast have kept a Reiksguard flair to them with minor conversions and head swaps and a red/white scheme.
NEON: What do you think the General’s Handbook 2017 has in store for narrative games? What would you like to see?
Chuck: I am excited they separated out Path to glory in its own supplement, as I think that could have a bigger impact on narrative gaming, but I would love to see a set of six narrative missions to play in the same way we have six matched play missions. If this doesn’t happen I can’t say much, but some great people in the community have expressed the thought to create that ourselves.
NEON: How did you become a NEO?
Chuck: I saw what the NEON team was doing and I have been inspired by Ming, Mitzy, Jimbo and the Steve Foote (not to mention many others) from the narrative aspect, and I thought I would take my love of the fluff to run the event. While I will gladly participate and run NEO events I don’t consider myself a NEO as I find narrative to be one part of the total hobby. I enjoy painting, Community Building, Competitive, Narrative, and Open, and consider myself a total hobbyist as opposed to focusing on a sole aspect.
NEON: Can you tell us about your local group?
Chuck: My local group (Ligonier Legions) had been suffering, but by having town meetings, trying new and bold things (with the trust and backing of the local FLGS), it has begun to develop once again with club members reaching out, tables being updated and a better unity among the members to be one of the best clubs in the local scene. We meet at least twice monthly in our local town for open gaming, tournaments, and hobby days.
NEON: Why is narrative gaming important to you?
Chuck: The game is great, but the story around why my army is there and what it wants to accomplish gives it so much more meaning. What area is my army from, what quirks do they have that make them better or worse. Even my competitive list will have a story and a named character and a reason for the battle. I try to stick to to it throughout the event. I remember a one day tournament back in 8th where I was running Teclis, but had come up against Lizardmen (Seraphon for you new kids!). In my mind Teclis would never fight them due to his relationship with them and what they had taught him. So I set him aside and played without him. I can’t recall if I won or lost, but I stayed true to my story despite it being a competitive event.
NEON: What tips do you have to share with other NEOs?
Chuck: Put your whole heart into it and do it. When I joined up to run Coalescence I didn’t just want to run the event from the pack I wanted it to be the story of my event. I saw the pack as the foundation to build on. My event was run in a library which to me put us in the Realm of Light and with High Aelves being my first love I used Tyrion and Teclis in my story and created small bits of narrative released leading up to the event and wrote a small narrative conclusion with them after the global results were put out. Even my ringer army had those two in it! So my advice: Jump in and do it, but put twice as much effort as you think you need into it to succeed.
If you want to get more of Chuck, he writes a blog called The Realm Gate Wars over on blogspot (http://therealmgate.blogspot.com/), and on Twitter (@odiamh). That’s all for this time! Thank you for reading, and see you again soon!
Narrative Event Organizer Network 