Battle Quest 2018 – epilogue
The dust have settled, there’re no vultures above the battlefield anymore, and the Prussian forts in Nysa returned to their everyday look. Battle Quest 2018 is history. Now it’s time for some summaries and reflections.
Battle Quest was never as huge as it was this year. And we don’t only mean the number of participants (but we’ll mention that below), but the scale of preparations that accompanied this event. The participants and organizes were able to create a wonderful world in which every character had her own story and goals to aim into. Not only pompous ones (like fighting and the final win of their side of the conflict) but also some closer to earth – after all Battle Quest is created by people portraying simple people – working as seamstress, traders or singers. Thanks to them this world is alive and exciting. It’s because of the stories and plots created long before the game started the participants could feel like being a part of the full simulation. It’s thanks to the hard work of the unit commanders and people who helped them those groups had their own unique atmosphere, that could be observed by the bare eye.
On the organizational side I have to mention that work on Battle Quest started in the fall of 2017 and its intensity depended on our staff workload. Battle Squad had close to 50 people this year – they worked on the story, logistics, safety, legal issues, location building, clean-up and many more. Two thirds of the squad arrived at the venue on Monday before the game, and some of them stayed there until Friday – six days after the event ended. We still haven’t finished tidying up our warehouse. And you know what, Dear Readers? It was worth it, because Battle Quest became an epic event that could find its regular spot in the Polish larp calendar.
This year 660 people showed up at Battle Quest. 202 of them lived in the Neutral City of Zwergburg, 268 fought for the holy Empire and 190 participants represented the forces of Norsca and Chaos. In Zwergburg (located in the “Twierdza Herman” fort) food and drinks were served by the Shepherd’s Inn, which offered (among other things) craft beer, and some famous crafters were selling their products inside of its walls. The splendid atmosphere of BQ can be found in the paintings from our friendly painters – you can find them below.
The technical part of the game was focused on keeping the balance between quests and battle operations. New ideas were tested – some of them worked fine, others… not so great But we couldn’t know that before implementing them first. Each of the battle quests resulted in capturing “victory points”, and the faction which gathered more of them could decide if they will be defending or attacking during the final battle. I can openly say that the Empire collected 13 of them, while Norsca ended with 11. That meant that the Empire could choose their position – and they decided to defend. The two-phase battle on Saturday was very fierce and spectacular. The Empire couldn’t protect their flag during the field battle, but managed to secure the position in the Old Zwergburg (“Prusy” fort) and the overall victory.
I think that BQ is one of this games in which everyone wins, because everyone lives through an unforgettable adventure. Do you agree with me Dear Readers? If so – keep on supporting the event, talk about it and convince your friends to come. Be happy about the things that we created together, leave a like on our fanpages:
www.facebook.com/battlequestlarp/
www.facebook.com/5zywiolow
or maybe even leave a positive review on the 5 Elements profile:
Our staff takes on other autumn projects right now. BQ is still waiting for a final summary and a reflection on what could be done better and faster. The decision on if BQ 2019 will happen depends on many factors, but I keep my fingers crossed that the positives will prevail and I’ll could happily inform you officially that you can already prepare for next year’s adventure
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