Post by nalathani on Sept 4, 2015 17:49:51 GMT
So here's a little history of 40k in my town to give a back drop to why I'm feeling happy and successful at the moment.
I live in Ithaca, NY, home of Cornell University. It's a small town, but with an Ivy League school in our backyard there's plenty going on. Anyway, I had a friend who got me into 40k by buying me a Tyranid Battleforce since he knew how much I loved Aliens(Giger ones) and Lovecraft stuff. There was a small hobby shop that sold model airplanes and cars and junk that hosted some 40k games. He had 2 tables. We'd play on Saturdays, usually with 4 or 5 people there. Eventually the owner of the shop decided to take a big risk and buy a larger shop. He had enough space for 4 tables at a time. There were days when all 4 would be in use, and it was the most fun I had gaming in a very long time. However, 4 of our "regular" players graduated from grad school and moved at the end of the same semester, and the shop closed up because the owner just didn't put enough effort into running the business. Too busy watching Battlestar: Galactica instead of ordering stock and marketing.
Anyway, pretty much overnight the 40k community fell apart. There were 3 of us (myself included) who still played at each other's homes, but we didn't have much terrain or decent tables, and it eventually fell apart. I went about a year with no games at all, and maybe one or two games in 18 months. I thought my 40k days were over.
Last year I decided if I really wanted to play I needed to take things into my own hands. A new dedicated game store opened up right after the hobby shop closed, but they were too small to host 40k. I bought/made a bunch of terrain, got a board together, made a facebook group, and eventually made a poster to put into the new store to try and find others who played.
Yesterday, we just had our 10th person join up and play with us. We've had 6 people at once crowded around 2 tables in my little 1200sq foot home (I have 2 kids, a girlfriend and no basement!) rolling dice and murdering things. It's been wonderful.
Anyway, I guess I wanted to share because I'm sure there are other people in my position who don't live in a big enough city to have an easy gaming community already established for them. With a bit of advertising and some internet presence I managed to go from 2 other players to 9 other players. We've even managed to get someone to start playing the game from scratch just from talking with them and letting them come watch games.
I live in Ithaca, NY, home of Cornell University. It's a small town, but with an Ivy League school in our backyard there's plenty going on. Anyway, I had a friend who got me into 40k by buying me a Tyranid Battleforce since he knew how much I loved Aliens(Giger ones) and Lovecraft stuff. There was a small hobby shop that sold model airplanes and cars and junk that hosted some 40k games. He had 2 tables. We'd play on Saturdays, usually with 4 or 5 people there. Eventually the owner of the shop decided to take a big risk and buy a larger shop. He had enough space for 4 tables at a time. There were days when all 4 would be in use, and it was the most fun I had gaming in a very long time. However, 4 of our "regular" players graduated from grad school and moved at the end of the same semester, and the shop closed up because the owner just didn't put enough effort into running the business. Too busy watching Battlestar: Galactica instead of ordering stock and marketing.
Anyway, pretty much overnight the 40k community fell apart. There were 3 of us (myself included) who still played at each other's homes, but we didn't have much terrain or decent tables, and it eventually fell apart. I went about a year with no games at all, and maybe one or two games in 18 months. I thought my 40k days were over.
Last year I decided if I really wanted to play I needed to take things into my own hands. A new dedicated game store opened up right after the hobby shop closed, but they were too small to host 40k. I bought/made a bunch of terrain, got a board together, made a facebook group, and eventually made a poster to put into the new store to try and find others who played.
Yesterday, we just had our 10th person join up and play with us. We've had 6 people at once crowded around 2 tables in my little 1200sq foot home (I have 2 kids, a girlfriend and no basement!) rolling dice and murdering things. It's been wonderful.
Anyway, I guess I wanted to share because I'm sure there are other people in my position who don't live in a big enough city to have an easy gaming community already established for them. With a bit of advertising and some internet presence I managed to go from 2 other players to 9 other players. We've even managed to get someone to start playing the game from scratch just from talking with them and letting them come watch games.
