Wargaming Social Media

Forums represent the best that social media has to offer the miniature wargamer.

I've been slowly accreting some solid wargaming bros on the Twitter, but the ephemeral nature of microblogging means that the pictures and tales and rule discussions held there vanish in to the void.  What the site gains in immediacy, it loses in functionality.  It also takes a long time to find worthy individuals to follow and communicate with on the regular.

All those tips, like tears in the rain.

Compare that to forums, like my favorite, LAF, where all your conversations are stored and archived and fairly easy to return to even after a hiatus of several years.  What you can't find through the site itself, you can usually dig up using your search engine of choice.  And you can instantly tap into hundreds of solid fellas slinging paint and figs, and jump right into the conversation.

It's a whole different, and far more thoughtful, world on the forums, and that's where I think I'll stay.

Oh, and here on the blog of course.

In the meantime, if you have a twitter handle or a recommendation for the best guys to follow, lemme know, would you?  It's hard to wade through the hordes of drama queens and 40K ONLY goofs to find the quirky sort of wargamers that really churn my butter.

Field Report: The Griffon

As a wee lad me dear old mam didn't have the money for fancy moving-picture shows or eateries with cloth napkins, so she would drag her brood of a half-dozen savage whelps through the streets of the local big town, exploring the river walk, the museums, and a little light window shopping.

On one of those excursions, she herded her children into a small used book store called, The Griffon.  Inside were the expected used books, many of the fantasy and sci-fi variety and many of the military history variety.  To one side sat a glass case with several dozen small gray toys, knights, dragons, wizards, and monsters.  Those little gray lumps captivated at least one of the long-suffering woman's sons, and he soon learned that they could be used in a new kind of game called Dungeons and Dragons.

In the back room, half a dozen slovenly 'old people' - the mists of memory now identify them as local university students - sat around a table.  One had set the scene of a car chase through a desert wasteland, and told another that the grenade hurled by an apocalyptic savage sat inches from his hands, caught in the groove between the hood of the car and the windshield wiper.

"Can I reach it?  Grab it and throw it away?" the young man asked.

"You can, but that will be your entire turn," the storyteller responded.

Instinctively, the little boy understood exactly what was going on.  This was one of those choose-your-own-adventure books played out in real time.  With dice and rules and complete freedom of operation and no wait, Mom, I want to see this.

That day played a pivotal role in the life of that little boy; by now you've all guessed is your old pal Warren.  That shop was my main reason for wanting a driver's license and job.  No more begging for rides, no more scrounging money for figures and paints, no more wondering how to find players.

Recently fortunate enough to be in town, I dropped in on the old game store.  It only moved location once decades ago, but it is now cleaner, brighter, and bigger than ever.  It has a full upstairs game room open full time now, rather than a dingy back room separated from the shop by beaded drapes.  Best of all, it is still run by Ken and Sarah, the two wonderful people who introduced toddler Warren to this great hobby of ours.  Over the years my gratitude has often been expressed financially, but not nearly to the extent that they deserve.  They are the epitome of what every FLGS owner should be - patient, knowledgeable, and completely cut-throat when they sit across the table from you.

They will be having a 40 year anniversary of the store opening party this coming October, and I regret immensely that I can't be there.  If you can, you should, it sounds like it will be a lot of fun.

Oh, and those little gray toys in a small downtown shop in the mid-1970s?  I still have the one that she bought me for the princely sum of sixty-five cents.  It was an 25mm Grenadier knight currently held in deep storage by a brother, along with a box of all the high-school painted figures we ever bought.

Field Report: Chico, California

This field update comes to you from the heart of the State of Jefferson.  (It's currently known as Northern California, but from the yard signs seen around the area that's subject to change as soon as the locals get a say in state politics...don't hold your breath, the big metroplexes that run California ain't giving up all that tax revenue or all those water sources any time soon.)

Chico is the big local city, about 100,000 people, located at the far northern tip of California's central valley.  Although not a huge city, it dwarfs the towns and villages that serve the largely agricultural area.  It is also home to two university's, so there's a large enough contingent of gaming's target market to support at least one game shop.  That would be 'Bat Comics and Games' located on the downtown strip.

Inside is mostly comics and general nerd paraphernalia, with one wall of gaming supplies.  No gaming space, which strikes me as odd, but this is primarily a comic store.  That may be a good sign, indicating more gaming groups doing their thing at home rather than the weekly mini-conventions that dominate gaming in my home town.   They had a couple of feet of older discounted products on the shelf, so there's some opportunity for finding that rare ouit of print gem, but nothing that caught my eye.The staff was friendly and helpful, and parking was easy even on a Saturday morning.  

They didn't have any of my preferred product in stock, but 15mm fantasy in one of those strange little niche products that make me feel like a hipster when asking about it.  ("I only drink craft beer and listen to bands you've never heard of, too.  *sniff* ")  One great little feature is a glass case full of the most random assortment of miniatures I've seen in person in a long time.  Old Partha true-25mm fantasy, plastic pre-paints, and a host of them I can't even identify.  They had these cute little guys that I couldn't pass up for just a buck each.  

They are a little cartoony, but that fits great with the pulpy feel I've been pushing in my sci-fi.  They should make great little unmanned drones and patrol bots in15mm sci-fi games. Only a buck each, and no shipping costs for once.

All in all, Bat Comics and Games is worth a quick stop if you're ever in the area.

Another Field Report

South of San Francisco, in the sleepy downtown San Bruno, you can find a loverly little game shop called Heretic Games. Warning to you mutants and chaos-tainted types, the store is watched over by one of the Emperor's  faithful.  Standing around six and half feet tall, he's more of a tabletop version than a fluff version.  Your humble editor was more interested in chatting with the lovely store staff than hanging with this grim watchman of the universe.

Apparently, my work computer can't rotate images 90-degrees.
I had to update this from a photo from my phone.  Absurd.

Wargaming Field Report

On the road this week means there's no chance to work on my little projects, but there is a chance to get out and see a bit of the wargaming wilderness in other parts of the country - the greater San Francisco metroplex, to be precise.  Up in Concord, CA, there's a lovely little shop called Black Diamond Games.

Clean, crowded with all sorts of gaming product, and with a staff that puts the F back in FLGS.  They also have a smallish, but oh-so-important to a cheap bastard like me, collection of discount and used stuff.

They even have a store van painted up like a boss.  Is this a regular mainland thing now?  Hope so, because it's pretty dang cool.

Much as I would have loved to pick up shrinkwrapped copies of the old Star Frontiers Volturnus titles...there were other things that called out to me more.  Like these Reaper Bones figures that should work great in 15mm.

If you are ever in the area, Black Diamond Games are well worth a side trek for a little exploration of your own.