FARMINGDALE -- Saturday was a beautiful sunny day to be beside the Kennebec River with a group of friends, except for a major Ork problem inside War Zone Games on Maine Avenue.

No real worries, though, at the end of the day -- a day of playing the popular strategic war game Warhammer 40,000 -- Scott Haskell could just pack up his green-skinned army of miniature Orks back into the large blue fishing tackle box he brought them in, and head home to Hallowell.

Haskell, 45, and 13 other men and boys competed in a Warhammer 40,000 tournament at the Farmingdale gaming store, which sits next to both the Kennebec River Rail Trail and the river itself.

Little attention, however, was being paid to the flow of the river or walkers and bikers on the trail.

Inside it was war between armies of hand-painted miniature alien races.

As many as four different wars took place at the same time in the tournament, pitting Dark Eldars against Space Marines, Necrons against Daemonhunters, and other unspeakable battles between fellow gamers.

"I come here quite a bit, I just like coming and playing the game," said Chris Fyfe, 16, of Pittston, while waiting for his next game after losing his first-round game Saturday morning. "It's a good chance to talk to people and hang out. When I started I played just once in a while. But you get into it more and more. I'm still putting together stuff for my army."

Participants generally buy their miniature fighters and a wide variety of vehicles such as tanks and aircraft for them as kits, and assemble and paint them themselves.

"I like building and converting all the models. I like all mine to be a bit different," said Erik Gustafson, 23, of Bristol.

Players setup their opposing armies on tabletops, and then take turns, usually attacking each other. Rolls of dice determine who wins the battles. Tape measures are used to determine which fighters are within striking distance of each other. The winner of a game is determined by adding up the points scored at the end.

Gustafson described the idea of the game as somewhat like the board game Risk, but more involved and with more rules. Games can be one-on-one or involve multiple players.

A basic Warhammer 40,000 kit can be had for about $90, but there are always upgrades available. Fyfe figures he's spent about $200 on his army.

While it was a competitive tournament, players chatted amicably as they played Saturday, making jokes at their own expense and, occasionally, slinging some trash talk at an opposing player.

"Oh, there's a lot of that," Gustafson said of trash-talking among players. "Not so much in a tournament, more with my friends."

Keith Robbins, owner of War Zone Games, said the store hosts tournaments every few months. For relatively large tournaments like Saturday's, he charges an entrance fee of $20. Robbins kept track of each army's progress in the tournament, and planned to award trophies at the end.

He anticipated gameplay could continue all day, into the night, and maybe even into the first few hours of the next morning.

"Sorry," Haskell apologized as he lined up several of his Orks, nearly all toting weapons such as battle axes and guns, some riding menacing-looking motorcycles and unicycles, against the Dark Eldars forces placed on the table by Jared Farnum, 26, of Waldoboro.

"That's OK. That's what you've got to do. Orks don't know any better," Farnum replied.

Later, while his army was back on the offensive against Haskell's Ork army, Farnum said: "So many Orks, so little time."

Keith Edwards -- 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com