I’ve notice numerous complaints on various threads here about the problems many of us have encountered while playing at the GW store. First off you guys have to remember that it’s a store! The staff is there to sell you stuff and you’re there to buy it, period. If you just want a nice friendly game, you guys should be playing somewhere else. Yes that’s right I said it don’t play at the store. We must rise up and form gaming clubs of our own!

Just image a place where people can learn the proper rules, play with painted armies and where you can try out all these great supplementary rules posted here! And now image various clubs getting together and throwing their own “games day”.

You say: It’s hard. Well so is painting 1,000 Orcs or constructing an 8’ by 4’ replica of the Mines of Moria. We do these crazy projects be we love it, why wouldn’t we put in the effort to foster a group with whom you can share your projects. I mean what good is your homemade modular terrain board if you can’t use it? You can’t take it to the store. What about all these first age projects? You can’t try out your house rules at the store. We can make this happen. We can do it guys!

Painting 1,000 Orcs is hard. Finding people that you actually enjoy playing the game with and are dedicated to the hobby is even harder... and often out of your control.

I think a gaming club is a good idea and I am slowly trying to form one but there really are not very many good candidates for this club at my local store. I outright dislike several of the "regular" LotR players and the rest are either very young or more focused on the other game systems.

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And now… perfected. My fighting Uruk-hai!

Everyone has their complaints about the store, but it's by no means a bad gaming environment. I don't get upset when they do their jobs and try to sell me things; I only get mad when they get rude about it (Which is usually rare) or when they interrupt a game (Uncommon).

They definitely generate a lot more people, and thus, more opponents, than most gaming clubs, at least in my experience/area. I like that variety. Their tables are free, and we can use their paints free of charge during down-time or if we just want to. The free tables are probably necessary for them to stay in business, but the paint bar is a very nice service they provide. They hold tournaments and special events often, usually with prizes (Yay free stuff!) and are very friendly and helpful to players with questions. Not all of them may be up on the LoTR rules but instead of bailing on them why not help them out so they can help more people in turn?

As for trying out house rules at the store, yes, you can. You just need to have your opponent agree to it. And personally, my store loves seeing homemade terrain being used.

Yes, a lot of these things can be achieved with a gaming club of our own, but it's a bit more than a "crazy project." I don't find the staff so unbearable that I need to go and find another place to game. They're doing their jobs- listen to their pitch for five or ten minutes and go off on your business.

I'm basing all these opinions on my store and experience, obviously. We have a good sized paint bar, interested LoTR staff players, many people, and about 8 tables. Some of them are getting pushy lately with WoTR, and I don't like that, but I'm making my stance clear to them. But it's only a minor irritation.

But hey, if you want to start a gaming club, that's awesome if you have the means to do it. Which means space, time, money, and potential interest. But I'm not putting down that idea- I'm just saying that I personally have many more good things to say than bad about GW's environment, and will continue to go there.

Hi Angrok I’m glad you responded to this thread. Yes it is hard but the worst you can do is fail. Personality issues can be a problem, but consider that the store is not the best environment for a friendly game and people might loosen up in a more relaxed environment. I wouldn’t discount someone just because they’re younger. Though the store is the most logical choice, it’s not the only one. You can search the web both OR and TLA for people; you can talk some friends to try it out.

You can set a simple goal for yourself; find two people to play with, find a place to play and meet a few times. These things are all about momentum.

I'm more with General Haar on this one. The staff at the store are not bad and I am on very good terms with all of them. Sure, they can be annoying at times with pushing sales and their knowledge of LotR rules is... lacking but both are irritants that I can deal with.

The bigger problem is the selection of opponents and that is something that I really can not blame the store for it. There are really only three players that I enjoy having games against. My solution has been to try and have us come in to the store at the same time on days when LotR events are not scheduled (and, therefore, we can just do our own thing). However, one has rarely come in due to college while another comes in infrequently and spends more time with 40k/WHFB than LotR. This leaves just one and his lack of a drivers license has made it difficult to get him to show up on X evening for an hour or two.

Anyway, I'm still trying. I think both of you should move to where I live (and bring your friends too!)

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And now… perfected. My fighting Uruk-hai!

Hello General
Yes you have the best store I’ve ever heard off. Only three games can be played at a time at the store I frequent. And that’s only if they take the display off the first 4x4 panel. There is only one day a week that the table is open for SBG, right now a lot of WH is going on. I’ve been playing GW games since 2nd edition WH and I’ve never played a game in a GW store. I’ve always played with friends and some years ago when I was more active a sort of unofficial club. I’ve always got along fine without them.

I would head there, Angrok, but Orthanc is just so far away, and it's rather hard to drive there.

Obviously you guys need to live within driving distance of Shorewood, Illinois. Get packing.

See, now in that situation, where the store is small, I could see trying to find or start a different gaming club. That would require more resources than I have, though (Namely time). I suppose you would need to go wherever best suits your needs. The only gaming clubs I know other than GW or the Bunker near me is a place with one table, and more geared towards other mini games, like the WWII ones. So here, GW is a better choice for me. For you, well, obviously the clubs are working. Great!

And as you said, Angrok, opponent choice isn't their fault. It would be rough to start a club with little outside interest. And it seems to be that way with multi-system gamers; I know I've been playing a lot more WHFB than LoTR (Don't flog me!) lately because I'm just in the mood for it more. Glad to see my friend quit WH40k more or less, since I corrupted him into playing only LoTR and WHFB.

But sometimes situations are just... bleh. Hopefully there will be more interest around your area.

I'll start driving Haar.

The funny thing is that a few years ago my region was renowned for the large number of LotR SBG players. Then they suddenly vanished or abandoned the game for the other systems. There are literally only a handful of "dedicated" LotR players left where I live.

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And now… perfected. My fighting Uruk-hai!

I just play with friends at my place. Though i could see a problem angrok-


"mommy can i go over to this older persons house for a few hours this evening"

Not so sure that would go down well!!!

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"Ride now!... Ride now!... Ride! Ride to ruin and the world's ending!"

But I have candy!

Yeah, that can most certainly create some issues.

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And now… perfected. My fighting Uruk-hai!

One of the problems I see with playing at GW stores is, simply, the fact that they only play GW games there.

I love all things to do with WWII and I am getting right into Weird War II stuff too - Nazi zombies, Allied robots, walkers, UFOs - it's just great fun. And wars of the 19th century - Napoleonic Wars, Zululand, ACW, Crimea, Franco-Prussian war - all of these capture my imagination too. And of course there's no way GW would ever let anyone play those kinds of games in their store.

The LOTR SBG is great and I love the minis and whatever, but I am thinking along Kidterminal's lines and contemplating starting my own gaming club, just so I can finally have someone to play these non-mainstream games with. There are a couple of guys I know who live nearby who might be tempted to join up, plus my son has some friends who are into WH40K (they just need to complete their training and unlearn what they have learned).

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Dagster

kidterminal: why don't you recruit people via the branching method.

you pick 2 people, those 2 people ask 2 more friends, they tell 2 more etc etc, and eventualy you should have people raking in - theoretically at least!

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[url=http://one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=50&p=298502#p298502]Corsair's WIP Thread - 03 Dec 12 Update[/url]

Pyramid scheme gaming! Good idea.

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"Any sufficiently analyzed Magic is indistinguishable from Science!" – Agatha

Yes Angrok that’s what a gaming club is really all about; finding people you enjoy playing with and being able to “do your own thing”.


If you get another location to play you can invite people over for a specific night of SBG. Most gamers just like playing games; if one game is easier to play they’ll play just to get that gaming fix. Even if they may like on system more than the other. Don’t be hard on them just make it easier for them to play SBG.


Thanks for the thought Corsair, but I'm ok with my situation right now. I play with my friend and the two of us are sucking his teenage son and his friends into it. Fortunately they don't hang around the GW store so they don't have to "unlearn" anything. I set this thread up for Angrok and anyone else struggling to have a fun time with SBG.

Let's face it SBG is the stepchild of Games Workshop its not promoted at the same level as WH & WH40K. Its often crowed out of smaller GW stores so the staff can play with the latest army book releases. This in turn dampens down enthusiasm, causing players who've only ever played in a store to move on to other things. If we want to see more SBG players we'll have to pick up GW's slack. We need to promote the game and this means providing a place for them to play.



Hey Dagorlad now you’re getting it! We play Legends of the Highs Seas (which is really SBG with a cool campaign system) and some day we’ll play one of these new zombie games. Cheerleaders bashing zombies with cricket bats who wouldn’t play that!