Ok, so...I'm a nerd. And?

Hey, folks. SinSynn here.

Man....I've missed you guys! As a result, I may have gotten carried away, and this is kinda long.
I'm sorta sorry 'bout that. But hey, grab a cup (or glass) of whatever and read on!




As many of you know, The Crazy Lady I Live With had a lil' surgery. After a bit o' nonsense back-n-forth with the Doctor types, turns out she's gonna be fine. Sadly, they were not able to remove the part of her brain responsible for nagging, as firstly they claim not to know where such a thing is located (Lies! Lies I tell you!), and secondly they weren't cutting anywhere near her head, so...yeah. Not gonna happen.
When I suggested just scooping out her entire brain (There can't be a lot of it, I maintain. Take two seconds, I figger), they just turned around and walked away after sharing some kinda secret eye-roll with The Crazy Lady's sister. Her face was all, 'See? I told you. This is what we deal with. Every day. Constantly.'
Blah.

So, when all is said and done, I missed six days of work (eesh), I've had The Crazy Lady's sister here for a week ('You still building your little toys?' Why yes. Yes I am), and despite how friggin' annoying she is I was actually happy to see her this time, cuz her showing up meant I could return to work full time.
Which is important, cuz ya need money to live in this world, know what I mean? I think you do.

Ok, now...if only she'd leave.
-_-
She was supposed to leave today, but somehow the whole 'leaving' thing got pushed back to Tuesday. 'Probably Tuesday,' in her words.
-_-
Vegas is giving two-to-one odds on her actually leaving Thursday, from what I understand.
I offered to kick-start her broom for her, and I suggested we just take her, and the broom, up to the roof and toss 'em off together, but so far my suggestions have been dismissed immediately, or ignored altogether.
Sigh.

Anyway...guess who's playing April O'Neil in the upcoming re-boot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie franchise?
Yep, you guessed it- the future Mrs. Synn herself, Megan Fox.

*OMG I'm so happy! I'm gonna see it like 90 times! I'm gonna....whoops. I'm gonna need more paper towels...*

Yeah, so I'm not like, a big TMNT fan or nuthin.' I have a friend with all the turtles tattooed on one of his arms. Now that's a fan. Me? Well, I love Megan Fox, so I'll put up with a buncha silly green-screen effects, or dudes in rubber outfits, or animatronic Turtles, or whatever digital kinda nonsense they put up on the screen to see me some Megan Fox...
...I mean, it can't possibly be worse than Transformers 1 and 2, can it?
0_o

I'll hafta pull out my special trench coat. The one with the hole in the pocket my tentacle can fit through...I wore it to all the Underworld movies (Except Rise of the Lycans. That one does not exist in my world. It never happened, and we shall never speak of it. Are we clear? Good), and Transformers 1 and 2 (The third one does not exist in my world. It never happened, and we shall never, ever speak of it. Clear? Good), and of course I wore it the sixty-three times I saw Jennifer's Body that one week.

It totally woulda been sixty-four, but apparently the movie theater security people are all connected somehow, and apparently there was some dude bearing an entirely coincidental likeness to yours truly doing some freaky stuffs during showings of Jennifer's Body that week (I know, right? What are the odds?), and some flyers were distributed, bearing the entirely coincidental likeness of this fool and mentioning his penchant of bringing rolls of paper towels to see Jennifer's Body for 6 or 8 straight showings.
.
Ushers were ordered to confiscate rolls of paper towels from patrons, and even though I warned 'em...even though I told 'em that taking my roll of paper towels was a really, really bad idea on that sixty-third viewing, they took 'em anyway.

Now somehow I'm responsible for some sorta 'Hazardous Material' cleaning service, and they can't seem to remove the residue of several hundred gallons of...well, nevermind. Some of the customers in front of me were stuck to their seats for several hours, as well, and are filing all kindsa lawsuits for everything from head and neck injuries (apparently due to the impact of being hit by several hundred gallons of...well, y'know), to 'emotional trauma and distress' (at first I thought these cases were unrelated, and these were just dudes who had their paper towels taken too), and even one lady who claims she's blind now, due to being hit in the face with several hundred gallons of...*ahem*
I told her not to turn around. I told her to mind her business and watch the movie. I told her to ignore the grunting, and that I had no idea why the seats in this section were all shaking...did she listen? No. And now somehow the whole thing is my fault.

I know what yer thinking. Yer thinking, 'SinSynn, this is clearly another example of Xenos Discrimination and an obvious setup.'
You couldn't be more right, my friend. I saw Matt Ward totally doing the same thing when I accidentally wandered into a screening of Thor (I was looking for the bathroom, and judging by the smell...), and no one took his paper towels.
Granted, he was the only one in the theater. His presence probably explains the smell, too.

*I heard a male voice muttering something  that sounded like, 'You're a dirty, dirty girl, aren't you? Yes you are. ALL GUNS PREPARE TO FIRE!' Then the seats started shaking really badly. I turned around to ask whoever it was to stop, and all I saw was wildly thrashing tentacles. I was trying to make sense of what I was seeing when there was this...this...the only words that can describe it are 'massive discharge.'*

The Hamster That Lives In My Head has agreed to handle my case(s) pro-bono, even though I told him I wasn't a U2 fan. The only actual witness in the case is like, blind now, and her statement is clearly questionable (Tentacles? What? Pffft! That's crazy!), he thinks I should get off, and speaking of getting off, he says I should DEFINITELY not see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie in the theaters.
Pfffft! As if.
Oh, no. I'm hopin' I get to see Megan in Super-IMax 3-D glory.
And, y'know...turtles, or whatever.
:P

So, speaking of being freaky, I had an interesting conversation this week.
I was wandering around my neighborhood, doing nothing in particular except enjoying the lovely spring weather; the trees along the block are all flowering and whatnot. It's quite nice.
I bump into a friend o' mine, and he suggests we get a beer. So we hit the nearest lil' shady joint, shoulder up to the bar with our drinks and begin BS'ing. We pound back a couple, and I can't help but notice the whole time I'm there, this chick is eyeballing me. I'm looking at her, too, cuz I kinda think I know her from somewhere, but I can't remember where.
Whatevs, me and my friend prepare to bounce. As I'm heading towards the door, the chick approaches me.
She's all like hey, you don't remember me, do you? And I'm all like, no, I'm sorry. I mean, I'm pretty sure I know you from somewhere, but I'm just dumb sometimes...
So my friend bounces, cuz he's gotta go, and I stay to talk to this lady. Turns out she remembers me from way back in the day when I was a mess. She's all like, wow, you look good now. What are you up to?
So I explain everything, and I mean everything, cuz she asks a lot of questions (as women are prone to do sometimes), and when I'm done she says, 'Huh, so you're kind of a nerd now, huh?'
Naturally, I was all like, 'Ummm...exsqueeze me? My mother what now?'
She looks me dead in the eye and says: You wear glasses. All the time now.
I'm all like, well they make me look nicer. I look like a neo-nazi gang member without 'em. And contacts mess with my eyes when, ummm...they're all dry and red and irritated and whatnot (shush, you, and don't you judge me).

She holds up a bunch of fingers, and begins ticking them off: You build models. And paint them. And play games with them.
Yeah, well...I told you it helped me cope when I was in addiction recovery. It gave me something to do with my time, instead of what I would've been doing, could've been doing- maybe bad things- I was building, painting models and playing games with models. Yes.
She tics off another finger: You write a- lemme get this straight- a 'hobby blog,' where you talk about models and games and all of this? Oh god! Do you play f*cking Dungeons and Dragons?
Sigh. Yes, I actually do write a hobby blog. You should check it out. It's pretty friggin' cool. And no, I don't personally play Dungeons and Dragons, but I know people that do. And they're cool with me, so you should prolly chill...
Oh, I'm not making fun of yer  friends, she waves me off. Lemme see the book in yer pocket.
Book?
Yeah, the one in yer back pocket, jackass. You think I didn't look at yer butt? You actually have a butt now. You were all skin and bones back then...
Well, I do have a nice butt, if I do say so myself (and I do), but I still pull the book out reluctantly, because...
'Storm of Iron? A Warhammer 40,000 novel'? Weren't you just telling me about this? Isn't this one of those games you play?
Played. I don't play 40k anymore...and that book is a classic. I was reading it in the park earlier, that's all. I don't really like the game so much nowadays.
Aha! she points at me now. See? It's true! You're a big giant nerd now! I bet you watched all of Battlestar Galactica, too. Like twice! She's playing 'keepaway' with my book as I try to grab it from her.

Dammit, she's got me on that one. She's got me on all of 'em, actually. I have one of those rare, speechless SinSynn moments (believe you me, those are rare indeed). I stop fighting her for the book.

Hmph, I say. Well waddayaknow? I guess yer right. I'm a nerd. Now, is that supposed to like, hurt my feelings or sumpthin'? Am I supposed to be ashamed of where I'm at, compared to what I could be, or rather, what I was?

*Cuz I could be in one of these. Except mine probably wouldn't be all cool and Black Sabbath-y like these*

She hands me back my book, and gives me one of those Terran Female looks that means something along the lines of 'you understand nothing.'
She's mostly right, even if she doesn't know it.
Of course not, you idiot. It's just nice to see you doing something with yourself, that's all. I would've thought maybe you were in jail, or dead like so many of the others (we had been over the names. There were a lot of 'em), but you look like you're doing all right. It was good to see you. Enjoy your book, nerd.
'Yeah, you too,' I stammered out like, the lamest comeback/parting line ever, 'You enjoy yer...thing, too. Whatever that may be.'
And then she was out...she was laughing as she left.

So I sat there at the bar for a few minutes. I woulda left with her, but that woulda been awkward. And you don't wanna leave a few seconds after, and seem like yer on some stalker sh*t, so I sat. I sat and I thought...
Yes, I'm well aware that me thinking is not a good thing, knuckleheads. Thank you all for reminding me.
-_-

So...like, what? I'm a nerd?
Hmmm...ok, well, how to take this?
I mean, I do a whole bunch of what could technically be considered 'nerd stuffs,' but the real kicker is the hobby thing, I suppose. Blogging isn't entirely geeky cuz jocks write blogs about their muscles an' stuffs, right?
Yeah, that's right. I went there. Nyah.

*I saw this on HotJocks.Com. It's like, sign language for numbers an' stuffs. I'm giving you my phone number, ok? Ok. So the first number is like 7, got it? Cuz I'm holding up like 7 fingers. Oh man, this is like genius!...Ummm...wait. Sh*t! What's the number sign language sign for zero? HotJocks.Com didn't show me how to make a zero! Justin, quick! Fetch me a nerd!*

Since I am honestly-truly not one of those people who gives a damn what total strangers think of me, I am unconcerned in that regard. Funnily enough, I do care what kind of impression I make on people nowadays, because in my Real-Life Occupation, it helps to appear professional.

Like this knucklehead, pictured here:

*Yep, this is me at work. Tool pouch on hip, and walkie-talkie in hand. I'm ready fer da jokes in da comments*

So, there ya go. You all know what my Terran disguise looks like now. I trust you all to keep my identity from the governments of your planet until such time as...well, it won't much matter then.

:)

That guy in the hardhat there? He's a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union #3, Division H.

In my Real-Life Occupation, I'm an electrical technician who specializes in life safety systems (fire alarms, specifically). Life safety systems are taken very seriously in New York City, where there are a lot of tall buildings holding a lot of people. I am required, by law, to hold a stack of certifications, go through a lengthy apprenticeship, receive various OSHA and NYC Fire Department training, and so forth. I am a tradesman, and a trained professional in my line of work. I have over twenty years of practical experience in the field. I run large crews of workers, often times a dozen or more. I am responsible for them, and for everything they do. I am also responsible for getting the job done on time and hopefully on or under budget.

The thing about life safety systems is that, if something goes wrong with them, people could get hurt or killed. I've been to buildings immediately after a fire occurs, and I've stepped over the stains left by melted body fat burnt corpses leave behind. It ain't pretty.

My Real-Life Occupation requires a great deal of responsibility from me. So, I find it helps if I look like someone who knows what they're doing.

But, from what I understand, in my personal life, I'm a nerd.

Sigh. What does that even mean anymore? I'm not the only construction worker I know that's into what some would consider 'geeky sh*t.' Construction is a physically demanding, constantly stressful job. The quiet, contemplative nature of painting a model at my hobby desk is wonderful to me for simply lacking the sound of fuck*ng jackhammers in the background.

*'I don't care what anyone says, the Heldrake is OP'*

While I, personally, don't understand why everyone, everywhere isn't playing Infinity (cuz it's like, so awesome), for whatever reason there are people out there wondering why anyone, anywhere would ever spend time playing any miniatures game, never mind Infinity.

I, personally, wonder why people watch reality shows like 'the Real Housewives of Whatever,' but hey, there ya go. Different strokes, different folks an' alla dat.

As I sat there at the bar, contemplating my newly pronounced status, I knew I wasn't upset or insulted  at the potential of being called 'nerd' on the street of anything like that. I walk around all the time in the 'Gopher Mafia' hoodie that Loquacious hooked me up with, and that thing is pretty geeky. regardless, I gotta be the only New Yorker rockin' the Gopher Mafia hoodie, so that's what's up.

I do get a lotta compliments on it from the Hipsters, though....that kinda worries me... 

In my case, I will forever be grateful to our 'community' because it accepted the lost, broken thing I was. I kinda just wandered onto the scene, trailing behind The Ultimate Rival, not knowing what the hell anyone was talking about cuz I was n00b.

To be perfectly honest, I was looking around wondering why no one was stealing all the stuff that, to my mind at the time, looked ripe for stealing. Pretty soon, someone started talking to me.

Here's a funny thing about me- I am very mistrustful of people. Or at least I was. I'm better now, pretty much. But even now, when people are like, nice to me, or express interest or -worst of all- try to be my friend, I get very weirded out. Sometimes it gets perceived as hostility, and whoever it is will be like, 'whoa, man I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...did I say something to...'

Sigh.

It's cuz in my head I think I'm worthless, and there's no way they could be interested in me, they're only acting this way because they want something from me...

I'm not worthless, I know this now. Took me a while, though.

So when that random dude at the hobby store asked me a question, I thought about it for a second, came to the conclusion that giving him the information he asked for didn't represent a threat to me, and decided to answer.

'I play Tau. What's it to ya?'
(I used to have a whole 'I don't know you so why are you talking to me' routine that was super helpful when it came to making friends)

He started in on the whole 'whoa, buddy' routine and The Ultimate Rival gave me a look and jumped in, 'This is his first trip to the store. He's only been playing a couple of months.'

The guy was setting up a table while The Ultimate Rival jabbered, so he didn't see The Ultimate Rival look at me and gave me the tiniest shake of the head, as if to say, 'not here, not now,' or my shrug back that said 'I'm sorry, I dunno.'

*I just hand out cards that have this printed on them now. Saves time*

Nowadays, now that the stupid part of my life is over, I try to return the favor. To pay the hobby backwards, if you will. The hobby has given me what I call 'Safety and Solace.'

Safety, because I've been accepted as a peer everywhere I go and by everyone I meet. Even with the odd dude that I bump into once in a while that...well, we don't really like each other, I've still stayed after the tournament was over and broke down tables with him.

Solace, because when I'm here, with you guys, I know without a doubt, that yer here cuz you like me, and I'm here cuz I like you. No one's lookin' to scam anyone, or some ghetto nonsense that I've had enough of in my RL.

I used to talk about 'the Normals,' and how I don't understand them, and how that used to vex me. Now I don't care. I'm not a Normal and I never will be, and I'm cool with that. Oh, and I'm a nerd.

Ummm...ok, sure, why not? What difference does any of it make?

I suppose this means I'll hafta prepare comebacks for the inevitable 'get a life' and/or 'have sex sometime' cracks, huh?

Sigh.

Ironically, I had a life, and it nearly killed me. Now, I'm perfectly happy to go work hard everyday to earn my paycheck, and to come home to be with my family (as weird and dysfunctional as they may be), and build, paint and play with my lil' models.

As for the sex crack...Well, I've had sex, thanks. In fact, I threw my back out bangin' yer mom last night.

JOKE!

Ok, sure, I'm a grownup and yeah, I've had sex so this is unlikely to bother me. Still, there are some young bucks out there reading this, and that crack might hit them in the head.

Listen, don't worry about it, kid. It'll happen. Trust me.

To all the young hobbyists out there, who maybe feel outta place, who maybe get picked on, and to who every day is some fresh new torture seemingly devised by a God who hates them personally- hang tough. F*ck the haters and do yer thing. I'm not gonna BS you and say, 'Oh, life gets better as you get older,' cuz it doesn't. It just gets different, and at times I'm still convinced there's a God who's only job it is is to make me miserable, but f*ck him too.

My happiness comes from within, and the things I create because of my hobby, the friendships I've made playing these games, and the experiences I've had doing all of this. If someone wants to think I'm some kinda weirdo, or whatever, then...ok, fine- let 'em. I doubt there's anything I can do to change that initial impression.

But if ya get to know me...you definitely realize I'm a weirdo...

And I'm cool with that.

:)

Until next time, folks- Exit with Catchphrase!

- SinSynn

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Community Announcement: 2nd Annual Headshots from the Heart Charity Drive

Hey folks, Lauby here to offer a friendly helping hand to the fine human beings over at Wargaming Tradecraft.  Dave G is back for another 24 hours of Borderlands (2)... for charity!  The team is, again, doing this for Child's Play - which is just a fantastic organization.  I don't normally editorialize when someone is asking you to give them money, but I can't help it this time.

Sadly, there are no custom painted miniatures this time around, so the link with table top gaming is a bit tenuous.  But Dave is in our network and helping our members is what we do.  There are, however, a number of items that will be up for grabs via auctions just as last year.  The loot table is pretty cool so far and Dave has even managed to expand participation with an attached LAN party for those luck ducks who live in Canada.

Last year, Dave raised about $2,700 with his efforts and if you're the kind of caring person who wants to help sick kids, you can go here for details on how to help Dave set a new record.  As with last year, 100% of the proceeds to to Child's Play.  So none of that Kony 2012 bullshit here.

I encourage you to at least check this out.  I managed to watch a bit of the stream from last year and it was a bunch of fun.

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[Musings of a Game Store Owner] Art of Building Pt 2- What IS Community

Building community is a long scale endeavor, without any real defined end point. You can't just open your doors and expect things to happen, and you are never "done", either.  You have to have some kind of plan.  I talked about general aspects of the process in my last post (sorry for the two week RL interruption, folks) and sketched out some things I intend to discuss further. 

First among the thoughts and premises I brought up was the meaning of community overall.

This?

Or this?

What is community?

For this one, I'm going back to my trusty dictionary. I love words enough that figuring out what they are supposed to mean is fun. I love comparing the "facts" to reality and figuring out where the discrepancies lie.

Community is defined as-




: a unified body of individuals: as
a : state, commonwealth
b : the people with common interests living in a particular area; broadly : the area itself <the problems of a large community>
c : an interacting population of various kinds of individuals (as species) in a common location
d : a group of people with a common characteristic or interest living together within a larger society <a community of retired persons>
e : a group linked by a common policy
f : a body of persons or nations having a common history or common social, economic, and political interests <the international community>
g : a body of persons of common and especially professional interests scattered through a larger society <the academic community>

Even within the definition of community, there are different layers and levels of description, intent and effectiveness in describing what we mention as "community".  Not all of the definitions are appropriate for our purposes- and that's ok. That's the point of the discussion, and I enjoy the deeper looks very much.

Out of all of the choices here, I like the definition given in G the most. While our interests aren't professional, you could easily insert "hobby", "crafting", "sporting", "equine" or any number of various past times into the sentence and get a definition that fits what we're discussing.

So now we know that there's a large group of persons with common and especially hobby interests scattered through the larger society- but those people aren't necessarily unified.

It's my belief that you build a community through finding all the people who share a similar interest and finding a way to bring them together; to unify them. This concept is easier discussed than done. It's been alluded to several times in the comment section here, it comes up in personal conversations, and I've talked to other FLGS owners about it in round about ways off and on many times. It all comes down to finding something-anything- that gives our wacky lot a semblance of unity.

At first blush, that's not so hard. We all love games, right? What else do we need?

Our love of games and gaming is our common interest, but it's something else that unifies us. We have to have something more than just a love of games that brings us together. Because for real, how else are a librarian, pet store manager, electrician, engineer,  banker, academic lecturer and a tax dude all going to hang out together and feel comfortable?

It's the people that identify with and enjoy a particular place, setting or environment that make up the community. It's the folks that are engaged and active that help shape it, and those that are invested that help build it beyond "just a place".

So how do you get them to show up? How do you get the people you're actively seeking to appear inside your virtual/real walls? what makes someone pick up their stuff and head to your place?

1) Have A Definition

Know what community you intend to house. Whether it's competitive Magic: the Gathering or "Fluff Bunnies FTW", know you are hoping to attract to your business. Your stock, staff and events should reflect those that are welcome and encouraged to attend.

If you are a miniatures oriented store, make sure you have staffers that are on point in at least two minis games- maybe three. You could possibly have a person with more knowledge of WarMachine and then a Wyrd specialist, if that's your preference- but have depth and wisdom. Make sure the folks you are hoping to attract have similarly minded people to talk to when they finally show up.

2) Fake It Till You Make It

This is entirely language oriented; but tell folks what they want to hear. If you are growing your WarMachines/Hordes community, tell customers that while your community is still small, it's vibrant and passionate. Having events for the community you intend to draw on a regular basis gives people the chance to come check you out and possibly bring friends. By talking positively and passionately about the environment and scope of your community, you can attract people that want something like what you want to build.

Make sure that you're encouraging what you want in your community in words and in action, even when you're just starting out.  Just because you haven't built your community fully yet doesn't mean you won't.

3) Keep Talking/Advertising 

Don't stop talking about your X community/environment. Mention it - a lot. To everyone, in a casual and non-obnoxious way. you are your own best advertising. you are building a brand and you can't afford NOT to talk to folks about what you offer. Make sure you have a two sentence elevator pitch that is welcoming to your intended audience and offers an invitation.  Put this in the hands of anyone that can help you build your business- your staff, your customers, your website, your Facebook page, anywhere and everywhere.

4) Self Correct

Sometimes things go sideways. You end up with something that isn't quite what you anticipated. You look at your community and see something isn't working. Fix it. Don't let things stagnate too long or you wind up with a community that doesn't care and isn't interested in helping you.

For a viable community to grow, standards, expectations and limits need to be in place (and enforced), or your individual members won't feel valued and "check out". The buy in process happens more than once, and if you want people to value what you offer, you have to value it enough to fix it when it's broken/not working/headed in the wrong direction.

These points are generic- while I have used these and will continue to do so, they are not specific. They don't talk about how MY store works and why the things I am doing are working (or aren't). They don't address my local community and don't help me solve problems endemic to my situation.

I hope to talk a little about what I'm doing at my store, how and why- but not so much that other people in other stores/communities and locales can't use my knowledge to help their own environments thrive.  See you next week!

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[Musings of a Game Store Owner] The Art of Building Pt 1

I've been talking about the 'community building' post as something in the works for a while. I spent a lot of time considering how to address the multitude of concepts and concerns in a way that's engaging and effective, and come to the conclusion that what I've promised is a little too vague.

It's well and good to talk about how to build a community. Everyone wants to hear about it and I have something to say- but I suspected I wasn't being clear enough and my trip to the trade show (see last week's post) only lead to confirm that suspicion.

I like to make sure we're all talking about the same things using the same language, whenever possible. (Maybe someday I'll talk about the difference between dudespeak and ladytalk; but not today.) I'll be talking about several different subjects, possibly over a few weeks. It's very helpful to put our conversations on the same playing field and make the topic and terminology easily understood by all.

Uncomplicated. That's what we need. 

What do we mean by community? That's a critical question we need to ask. my idea of community is vastly different from the community that the folks at Mox Mania want to build, and is just as separate from the community enjoyed by the folks at The Fantasy Shop. None of them are wrong, but they are different, and it's important to know that up front.




My case is probably vastly different from many others. There was already a store in town when mine was created, and the other store vastly influenced the attitude and culture at my store from day one. Without disparaging or disrespecting the other store, it was a place many folks didn't feel comfortable, and the original owners of my store wanted their community to be "NOT THAT". That was the entire idea behind their community and culture- simply not to be like the other guy in town.

The original "motto". It's very different now.

Since that time, the idea of community and what our store is about has been refined quite a lot, and TheDude and I have a very serious vision for what we want our place to be. But that's NOW. We didn't always have that vision, and it's easy to overlook when you're just trying to keep the doors open.

If you are a new FLGS or club owner, or person in charge of building stuff, you should probably ask yourself: what do you want it (thing you are building) to DO?

I have no idea what this is. Why would I use it?

What do you want your store to DO in terms of community? Do you want to be a competitive Magic: the Gathering environment? Do you want to foster the tabletop miniature hobby? Do you want to be a place to buy stuff? Examining your end goal and purpose is a pretty crucial part of the design process if you want to be successful.

To think of this in terms most of us might understand, an apartment/flat does something vastly different than a Tudor home. You use different materials and building processes to create these things. Different kinds of people live in them, and they are maintained in very distinct ways.

And ideally, you have PLANS. I mean, you don't just hand tools and lumber to some dude you know and pray for the best, right?

Because the wrong person with these can lead to disaster...

Well, you CAN. But it sure better be someone you trust, and someone that knows how to build what you WANT- or you end up with a big mess and you have to start over again.

"Well yes, technically that IS shelter. No, it is NOT what I wanted."

Just because you have plans doesn't mean there won't be mistakes now and then. My professional sources tell me "sometime plans are wrong", and the guys on the job have to talk to the boss and tell/ask them "hey, what's up?". I mean, you can't build a skyscraper and only put sprinklers on the bottom floor. 

This is a bad thing. You don't want this. 

It's also important to note that your vision is yours. As long as you have ownership of it, you can revise it and mold it to fit your culture and environment. You might discover that certain issues or concerns change over time, and your community reflects those changes without doing anything about it. You might also discover that your community doesn't appreciate anything and complains incessantly. Either way, the community and the vision for it are yours, and YOU get to decide how and what you want to build them into a future you will enjoy. 

This idea is similar to the one regarding plans, but different in execution- it's a lot more like a building inspector visiting your site. If the inspector tells you your two story house is busted, you can check your plans against what you have to know if he is right. If you have a one story house; you know he's on point and you need to fix it. If you have a two story house and you meet code, but he's saying it's busted because it doesn't have a fence, you know he's trying to hijack your vision and can set him straight. 

My dad spent most of his life as a guy that applied the ideas of theoretical physicists. He built colliders for Fermi and Hadron. He tested the cold fusion idea with a ridiculous machine the lab dubbed "Mr. Fusion". All my life, I've been surrounded by the art of building things just to see if they work and then examining how they do it.

It's only now as an adult that I understand the implication of examining how things are made, and can utilize that  information in a way that's helpful. I'll be looking at each aspect of building community over the next few posts so that we can tell if they work, and if so- how. Questions are always encouraged. 

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[Musings of a Game Store Owner] A Word from Our Sponsors

Being a FLGS owner means I have to listen to a lot of information about available items and decide what to carry, and why. It just so happens one of the best ways to get information on products and what's going on in the hobby is to go straight to the source. But hey, I'm just one little store, and I can't afford a trip to Seattle to talk to WotC, or to England to talk to GW.

Wouldn't it be awesome if there was a way to talk to the various companies that I do business with in one place? A place designed for businesses, rather than consumers? I would totally dig that, and go to that. It might be a giant commercial, but it'd be cool to check out what the companies are trying to sell me in person rather than in a magazine or over the phone. I'd really love to do something like that.



I just got back from such an event. A major distributor hosted an open house for FLGS owners at a hotel/convention center in their home city. They held seminars and discussion panels as well as had an exhibit hall and a demo day where owners could talk to reps for various companies in the flesh as well as check out games up close to see how they worked. These hands on experiences are great ways to determine if a game is right for a specific store's environment, as well as gives owners a great tool for selling games.

This event is a pretty big deal for most FLGS in the Midwest region, with most stores attending or sending a rep; if not sending a large number of staff (I saw three stores that sent multiple reps/staff members). There were some stores from out of the area (NJ and SC, along with Florida). All of these folks were FLGS owners, managers or staff, and they were all attending this event to learn new things and better their store and community.

The distributor does a great job of gathering reps from a large number of players to attend the show and put on seminars and demos. Reps from WotC, Fantasy Flight, Looney, Chessex, Privateer Press and many others were on hand to show off their product, show us how their games worked, and to give us helpful information on sales and how to improve them.

Despite knowing in advance that the reps are all going to give the "company line", it's a good environment for getting a feel for the corporate attitude of a specific publisher. It's also an easy way to see how a company partners with the FLGS types and whether owners are a valued part of their business plan.

As an attendee of this event, I noticed a very interesting and obvious dynamic almost immediately. There was a meet & greet with a buffet and booze the first night there (cash bar, but still, there was liquor) and there were quite a few reps from assorted companies on the floor mingling and socializing as we all ate, drank and mellowed out. These reps were friendly, outgoing, interested in our businesses, and visible. They made a point to invite attendees to their seminars and to check out their display booths, as well as to come and play their games during demo night. They were definitely selling, but in a way that was approachable, and I noticed.

Most of the seminars that were offered were pretty good. They offered at least a passing nod to store involvement in building and growing customers for the products they were trying to push- a specific example includes Privateer Press; whose seminar was overflowing and had several examples from the audience on how PressGangers can promote games in store effectively as well as how to build brand awareness past the model games they offer, which often leads to better sales results and higher profits for small stores.

There was a particular company that acted completely differently. Their reps were non-existent at the meet and greet. The seminar they held was labeled as a way to increase sales in store; but was in actuality an aggressive sales pitch for their new revised (again) direct sales program and a "painting tutorial". The painting tutorial didn't involve any actual painting instruction- they handed out a model and five little dabs of basic colors and left the seminar attendees to their own devices. The premise behind the painting session was that if you can paint, you can sell more of their product; but they didn't offer any cues on how to make that leap. In short, the seminar totally ignored the needs of the FLGS owner.

Even before this event, the contrary company had raised our ire with the sales of its newest release. We had spoken to our sales rep the week prior to a highly anticipated new release and mentioned the numbers of items for the line we wanted. We believed this conversation entailed a pre-order and reserved copies of the items in question, and had no worries about supply. Orders opened on Monday, and when we spoke to our rep on wednesday, we were suddenly not getting the items we had "pre-ordered" the week prior and nothing was available to us as the company had sold through their very limited print run on the first day.

It's been a very long time since I have seen TheDude lose his temper in such a vitriolic and abusive way. I do feel bad for the rep, who is very green and hasn't dealt with TheDude and his fits of pique before this encounter. However, the entire issue was over the way this company treats the FLGS operators in comparison to the way they treat regular consumers. We simply don't appear to be part of their business model at first blush. It's frustrating to operate as the third tier (or even lower than that) of their customer building operation when every other company in the industry treats owners as the first rung of their growth strategy.

When it came time to hit the exhibition hall, TheDude and I took a "divide and conquer" approach. We went our separate ways, and I looked at a lot of games I had almost no experience with. I checked out Level 7 [Escape] from Privateer Press (a game that has a lot of potential for fun, but is just a little bit fiddly), talked to reps from Fantasy Flight (core rulebook for Star Wars Edge of the Empire RPG coming "soon", and guys in the factory figuring out ways to produce X-Wing faster), played a fantastically fun game called Attraction (check it out- you won't regret it!) and saw a lot of games that were interesting, but not right for our store or culture.

The expo hall was an interesting dynamic. There are two "big" companies that work as both publishers and distributors, and their displays could not have been more different. One company had a MASSIVE display (at least 5 tables, taking up a corner at the ENTRY of the exhibit hall) with several staff members, including a VP on hand to discuss releases, products and services. The other had one table that was set up in such a way that it was easy to miss, and only one staffer.

The big company with a huge display? WotC.

The folks from Seattle are genuinely interested in building a working relationship with store owners, and do incredible amounts of work to make buying from and dealing with them as easy as possible. One of their seminars talked about how getting more games into stores will increase sales, and the shortened version of the talk was "more play = more $". WotC WANTS owners to know what's going on with their products and services so they can effectively sell all of their offerings. They gave information on much anticipated releases and has an announced schedule for upcoming product all the way into SEPTEMBER. They are giving owners a six month window to prepare for new product, to talk up different formats and options, and INVEST in developing new customers.

The company with the one table display was also the company that gave the seminar with the "painting demonstration" and whose reps were barely visible throughout the event. The company that effectively gave a giant finger to owners?

Games Workshop.

I walked past the GW display at the exhibit hall multiple times. Every time I did, the rep was busy trying to fend off angry owners (TheDude was among them) who wanted SOMEONE- ANYONE to listen to the frustration and aggravation they felt at dealing with GW, especially in light of the "great Tau shortage", combined with new terms and conditions that limit purchases and purchase amounts, how owners can sell and how many shipments a store can get.  (Just an FYI, if your local store doesn't have any Tau to sell to you; it's not because they didn't want them. It's most likely because GW sold them on the internet before they sold them to FLGS owners.)

The vast difference in how GW operates and treats owners compared to WotC, PP, Fantasy Flight or even Wyrd was impossible to miss or ignore. I've always been somewhat aware that to GW, the FLGS owner is something of the ugly stepchild in priority and balance, but I'd never seen it so blatantly or obviously shown. The very limited contact I had with this company at this event made me realize that they don't want or need our business. They deal with us because they HAVE to, and effectively make doing business with them as distasteful as possible because they CAN.

TheDude and I happened to be in the elevator with a gentleman who over heard us talking about a seminar that was mediocre. He asked which one, and why we felt that way. When he discovered the seminar was one that his company ran, he THANKED us for our opinions and invited us to leave notes or even drop by his booth later. The gentleman was a VP for WotC. In comparison, the GW rep was stuck with repeating that there wasn't anything he could do about our concerns, but he would pass them along.

The difference is staggering.

The problem as an owner is that GW offers a product our customers want. The company has a lock on a profitable line, and no matter how difficult or unpleasant they are to do business with, they make us money- and lots of it. Simply not carrying their product is not a smart business move, no matter how infuriating it is do be stuck in that position.

They not only offer a product that is in demand, but the discount for dealing directly with them is large enough that it's pretty stupid not to do so. It might be different if the discount was just a few points and I could get all of the product line through a distributor. But the discount is HUGE and they throttle what I can buy through the company that put on this shin dig. So I deal directly with GW, even though it aggravates me to no end.

Stores continue to carry GW because customers continue to buy. The tournament scene, 'Ardboys, the Riders program and many other community building events and ideas are gone because GW does not want to build community- they want to build customers. It's up to the FLGS to develop a consumer from a wet haired kid into a smart and considerate adult player.

I'll address whether and how to take that on in the weeks to come with my community building series. I hope you'll join in, and let me know what you're interested in hearing.

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[Musings of a Game Store Owner] Ack!

For the past few weeks, I've been answering questions from readers (thanks SnaleKing and Bushcraft!). I've also been talking about things that "work" for FLGS type places- in business parlance, these things are called "best practices".

What they are in reality is tips one guy found, tried and discovered that they worked. So the dude tells his buddy, and these things work for the buddy. The buddy passes these tips on to another store operator, who finds the ideas have merit and so on.

Despite any ideas to the contrary, FLGS owners and operators are usually very friendly and willing to share ideas with each other. I know pretty much every owner of a FLGS in the state at least by name, and some are pretty close friends. I'm friendly with quite a few owners outside my area- either by email or Facebook. We try to do right by each other, while still making money as much as possible. For the most part, there's very little animosity or serious contentiousness. (There are some notable exceptions, but those people are jerks all around. It has nothing to do with owning a store.)

Don't be that person!

There comes a time when a store operator has to decide to break from the pack and do something outside of the best practices his friends and colleagues have passed on. Sometimes, you have to take a risk.

That's what we are about to do at the Gopher. I talked in the past about possibly expanding, and every time we looked before, something wasn't quite right. Either the space was too junky, or too nice; or the space was great but the location was terrible, or the location was fabulous and the space was ridiculously overpriced. In short, we never found the right mix for us and our needs. 

That changed very recently. We were approached by our current landlord (who is absolutely awesome in every way) recently because a space in our complex was coming open. He knew we were looking for a bigger space, so he wanted to see if we were interested in the opportunity to move. It took us less than 10 seconds to reply- absolutely YES. 

The new space is in the same complex we are in. We won't have to change our marquis sign. We won't have to get a truck to haul stuff. We won't have to change very much in terms of our address - one number will change, and we will have a different suite number. Our customers will continue to have TONS of free parking. We will continue to be easily accessible by the nearby highway exit (literally two stop lights north of us), and we will still offer great bus access. We will actually be closer to the bus drop off- a huge plus in many regards, as customers have to cross our ENORMOUS parking lot currently, but with the new location they will almost be dropped off at our door. We will continue to have the same fantastic landlord. Our space will be larger and will allow us to offer more product lines, more seating and more events. 

The long awaited "open play" tables will be a reality! At the moment there are many nights where every table is full due to league or tournament play, and we desperately want to change that. So we told the landlord yes. We signed the lease and initially gave ourselves a full month to move to the new space. 

And then we changed our minds. 

We are moving into our new space effective April 1, and it is NOT a joke.

We're also doing it with 24 hours from the close at the old location and the open at the new one. (HINT: THIS IS NOT A BEST PRACTICE.)

Better hope you can make that!

TheDude and I looked over all the things that need to be done, and most of it is administrative. I've already changed phone and trash, insurance and gotten a press release written. Power, water and post office will be later this week. TheDude has started the process of transferring the distributor accounts, new business cards, letting the bank know and has worked out a nice deal with the current tenant to purchase some helpful fixtures. 

I'm arranging the moving crew- yet again, it is made up of awesome customers who are more like family than people that buy stuff from us. The people that we hawk shiny things to are so excited to buy stuff from us, they are taking time out of their lives on a holiday weekend (yeah, Easter Sunday is when we are doing a lot of moving stuff) and helping us for FREE. 

A move of any sort is usually something you announce MONTHS in advance. Most often, you want some lead time to train your customers about the change and why it's a plus. When we made the announcement, our customers quite literally applauded- and offers of help and congratulations started rolling in faster than we could reply. 

We're beyond thrilled, but equally terrified. Our continual attitude of not really ever being ready for the changes upcoming has suited us well in this situation, and we're doing our best not to freak out, and trust that everything will get done in time. 

ACK. 

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[Musing of a Game Store Owner] Tips and other Tidbits

As the voice for the FLGS Owners hanging around, I have been talking about the realities of owning and running a store for the past couple weeks. I got some great comments and questions, and I have really enjoyed writing the posts to answer them.

Porky's comment last week is the subject for today:


I enjoyed reading that. I have a question, but it's a big one. What's the one thing, possibly the few things, that you think would do most to stimulate game store creation and/or help existing game stores thrive? It could be anything. I'd love to know where the pressure needs to be exerted.


He's right. That is a big question. He was right to assume the possibility that there wasn't ONE answer, but there might be several things that would apply here. There's no "magic answer" to helping FLGS be more successful  It's a combination of things that we'll talk about. Even if a store has or does all the things I will mention, it's possible that they won't flourish, because retail is a funny thing. There are a lot of variables that go into making a business work, and there are no promises, just a lot of hopes. 



Opening a FLGS takes a lot more than a location and a small amount of stock. I've alluded to some of the things I'll mention over the years I've been writing at the House, but today I'll spell them out to the best of my ability. 

The first and most important thing for a potential FLGS owner to know is: 

you can't be "nobody". 

Any person can get a storefront, slap a sign on it and open their doors. The problem comes in customers. Who does this "anybody" know that will shop there? And not just shop ONCE, but become a regular, if not a loyal customer? 

You need a large personal network- friends, family, coworkers, and gaming community that know you, trust you, and are willing to refer you to THEIR friends, family, coworkers and gaming community. The need for a personal network is pretty serious in order to stay open over the course of several years. 

Being a FLGS owner is something like being a real estate agent, an insurance salesperson, or a drug dealer. You're effectively becoming an independent contractor and you are solely responsible for bringing in customers, sales and profit. You have to START out with a reputation based on YOU as a person and some kind of "cushion" (people you can depend on to purchase from you while you get your feet under you) and then BUILD from it through being reliable and easy to do business with. Being easy to do business with can be any number of things- it includes having set hours, offering hassle free special orders, being pleasant to customers, having a nice location; and much more. 

But none of those things matter if no one knows who you are. Sure, you'll get customers who will check you out due to curiosity, but without a personal connection of "hey, I played D&D with that guy" or something similar, there's very little reason for them to co come back. 

The next factor for a starting FLGS owner to know is that it's a BUSINESS. It can't be your personal clubhouse if you want anything resembling success down the road. The store has to be a place where people OTHER than your network are welcome and even encouraged to come in, shop, check out games and otherwise feel like they are valued. 

This particular factor is probably the hardest one for owners to get into their heads. Changing minds, hearts and attitudes on this front is exceptionally difficult and it's a huge part of why so many stores have failed in the past. There comes a time when the owner looks at the receipts at the end of the day, week, month or whatever, and says "hey, I'm paying the bills with just my buddies. I'm doing ok, I don't need to do any more". 

It's an unfortunate and discouraging reality, but the "buddies" flake. They lose jobs. They move. They get married. They find a new hobby. They get pissed at the owner over something dumb. They get pissed at each other. Any number of things can happen, and then the customer base is dwindled or gone, and your shop is out of business. 

It's also tough because it means being social and meeting people outside your comfort zone, which is a talent most gamers don't have or want. Being an extrovert and wanting to meet new people, loving the thrill of finding new friends and being willing to put yourself "out there" all the time are things most gamers find more terrifying than a beholder. 

The fact that you're a BUSINESS is essential when it comes to discounts. In short: DON'T GIVE THEM. Every discount you give is money out of your pocket, and when you're paying yourself (see above), that isn't smart. Discounts are a large part of why so many little stores go belly up so fast. By giving a discount to customers, owners are effectively giving away the rent, the power, the water bill or the next order of ships that go "vroom". evenif you are "making it" with on the backs of the orders your buddies make and you have no reason to think that will change anytime soon, if you give discounts; you don't have 'EXTRA'.

It's 'extra' that helps buy terrain. New tables. More stock. It's extra that allows you to (eventually) hire employees. Extra helps you rough the lean months a lot more easily, and extra gives you the ability to try new things. It's all the stuff that extra helps pay for that leads to the next tip.

Have a community.

Have an environment that is welcoming to ALL gamers, that fosters friendships and hanging out, and that grows a community. The community is very likely going to be based off your personal network at first, but make sure you are welcoming to people outside of it, too. You want to make sure your business isn't an elitist clubhouse -because it's a business, and everyone should like shopping at your place, and hanging out there too,

An important point to mention on community: it's one thing to say you are welcoming, and another entirely to BE welcoming. it's not just what you do or say, it's how your customers act. Make sure your customers know that they don't get to decide who is or isn't welcome, who is or isn't "inner circle", or who is or isn't "cool enough". YOU, as the owner, are the arbiter of who you want in your store. If you want to be successful; it should be as many people as possible.

The community aspect of your store will help lead into this next point, but for the most part, this is all on you- your personality, your ability with names or faces, your drive, your hustle, your sourcing abilities; whatever makes you special.

Give your customers a reason to be loyal.

Whether it's a great community, an owner that remembers your name after just one meeting, a fantastic special order program, awesome minuatures tables and terrain, a painting club, or something else; give your customers a reason to come back over and over again.

Be something more than "a place to buy stuff"; be a place that will engender regulars and loyal shoppers. You want your personal network to flourish and find new people to add to it so that it can continue to sustain you and your business.

Lastly, you need to love games.

Having knowledge of, passion for and interest in games is huge. Being a vital part of the community and encouraging others to enjoy their passion is going to be a major portion of your success and accomplishments. Be enthusiastic! Smile! HAVE FUN. Let peopleknow that your heart is right along with theirs, and give people a reason to enjoy what you're doing.

These are just some of the ideas I came up with. I'm sure there are more, but that's a good start.  I'd love to answer more questions!

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Competitive Gamers- GW HATES YOU

Hey, folks. SinSynn here.

It actually took longer than I figured for the majority of the 'competitive 40k community' to stand up and say, 'Holy CRAP, 6th Edition SUCKS!'
I mean, I thought it sucked in a 'competitive sense,' since the rumors of Random Charge Length were confirmed. The word 'random,' used in relation with any rule applicable in a miniature tabletop game, will make me instantly suspicious of the quality of the system it's being used in.
In the case of 6th Edition 40k, that word is used so liberally that it pervades almost every aspect of the game. From deployment until the final turn (neither of which you can count on going as planned, naturally), the game is packed to the rim with random stuffs that can occur.
Pretty sure the Daemon 'Warp Storm' table is going a lil' too far, though. That thing is off the chain.

*Games Workshop's new corporate logo* 

The thing is, the vast majority of competitive types have a lot invested in 40k. That includes money, time and effort. In all honesty, it seems to me that they did their best to try to live with the new edition. The Allies Matrix gave them just enough hope that somehow, someway, skill would still remain the determining factor for winning games.
Somewhere, deep in the bowels of GW's evil headquarters, the dev team were gleefully singing the Troll-o-lol song.



Can someone please explain to me how random elements benefit a game? Make it moar funz? Cuz I fail to see it.
When I say 'random elements,' I'm not referring to things like the Wandering Monsters Chart in Dungeons and Dragons, which is there to ensure that some 'action' happens occasionally. I'm referring to things like the Random Charge Length.

So...lemme see if I've got this straight- my 'regular movement,' which takes place during the movement phase, natch, is six inches (as an example). Then, during my Assault Phase, I may suddenly be incapable of moving that far?
Or rather- I might, or I might not, depending on a roll of the dice?
My lil' dudes are here, yer lil' dudes are there...but somehow, all my lil' dudes can...what? Stumble, trip an' fall?
Really?
-_-
How does that even begin to make sense? And, more importantly, how does that make the game fun?

On the opposite end of the random spectrum we have Mathammer. And no, I don't exactly approve of this one, either. I feel it sucks a lot of fun out of any game it's applied to. Don't get it twisted- I play mini games to have fun and to hang out with my friends and fellow hobbyists. My only reaction to the WAAC mentality is to laugh, actually.
'Dude, I'll totally own you at 40k.'
...Ummm, ok, sure...
Wait...you're bragging? About being good at a miniatures game? So, uh...who are you trying to impress with that lil' factoid, exactly?

*You took first at the GT? Ermahgerd! Take me! Take me now!*

I'm sure Kate Upton would be mightily impressed with the length and girth of my tentacles, but far less so with my collection of toy soldiers.
:P

I have, every once in a blue moon, bumped into an opponent at a tournament that can only be called a stereotypical 'gamer dude.' Y'know- the cats that get mentioned in the odd blog post now and then, and pretty much any time the general media discusses gaming. The kinda dudes that had their lunch money taken from them every day in high school, the kinda dudes that, now they've survived that trial by fire, have found solace and safety and comfort in our shared community.
You know what I do? I let them roll with theirs.
So that means yes- I have deliberately thrown a handful of games. You know why? Cuz I'm there to have fun, and not to rain on anyone's parade, and definitely not to mess up what might be some poor cats bestest day ever. And for me, seeing this person have fun is fun for me.
I know life can be tough for some folks. My own life has been tough on me from time to time, so I will absolutely prioritize 'happy fun good times' over 'winning.'

But when dudes start running at the mouth, and take actual pride in 'stomping noobs' in 40k, I feel obligated to remind them that, well...if that's the highlight of yer life, if that's the thing that you're best at, then...wow, that borders on sad.
Did they forget that they were noobs once too? Do they not realize that Mr. Noob over there might have lovingly painted his army over the course of several months, and has looked forward to this day since he cracked his first pot o' paint open?
...and yer all happy that yer messing it up for him?
Sheesh...where did it all go wrong for you, to be so malevolent?

So, no- I do not approve of the WAAC mentality, either.

The truth of the matter is, in 5th Edition, games could be won or lost before any models were even put on the table. A good list would just ROFL-stomp a bad list, simple as that. Going one step further, someone that was good at 40k, who spent time Mathammering out his list and maybe had a gift for judging distances by eye, would likely pound the noob into bloody paste every single time.

That begs the question- did GW put a bunch of random in 6th edition in an attempt to level the playing field? Did they look upon the competitive community that sprang up around 5th edition and feel nothing but loathing for what they'd given birth to?
Actually, I sort of believe they did.
But really, 6th edition seems to be somewhat of a drastic over-reaction.

*What...the...fuuuuuuuuu-*

It kinda boggles my mind, though, that GW would not seek to sort out this issue through...oh, let's say balancing their system, or tightening up their ruleset, or by doing anything to clean up the absolute mess that 40k is.
They did the absolute opposite of that, in fact. They took the easy route.
They could have done any of a thousand things to 'fix' 40k- any number of competent, well-known 40k tourney-types and competitive advocates would have gladly helped them playtest, re-write and FAQ all the old and new Codexes, which could have then been posted up for free.
Cuz let's be honest, Games Workshop doesn't really seem to be good at lil' things like, oh I dunno, writing rules an' stuffs.
So, hey- why not have the community help you out?
..
...
....
Bwahahahahahahaha!
*wipes tear from multi-lensed, stalked ocular appendage*

Yeah, we all know GW ain't doing anything like that. They do things their own way, which seems to involve trained mice pushing models around a table as playtesters. Oh, wait- what am I saying? GW's mice can't possibly be trained.

No, I think 6th edition was a deliberate middle finger to the competitive community. What I really don't understand is that since GW is a publicly traded company, who has to answer to shareholders who want profits, why they would scorn the competitive community so?
Who's rushing out to buy the latest and greatest thing every time a new book drops?
How does 'spamming' expensive models hurt GW's bottom line?
Really, now- who's lining GW's collective pockets with greenbacks?
Competitive gamers, that's who.

Was there really no happy medium to be achieved? I know it's possible, because Flames of War and Infinity handle game balance, fluff and manufacture lovely models seemingly without difficulty.
Well, Flames of War did, but in a fit of jealous nerdrage over GW's market share, decided to do their best impression of 40k's 'arms race' stylings with their Late War period.
Hey, guess what? I'll never play Late War again, Battlefront. Nice work.
-_-

Cuz I want balance, and somewhat predictable results when my in-game tactics manufacture a situation that should produce them (hey, it could happen). Not some herp-a-derp nonsense like the 'Warp Storm' table.
Blah.

The end result of GW's shenanigans is that there are now large swathes of the 40k community who feel screwed, and every 40k player everywhere is stuck with an edition that requires the spending of an extra 35 bucks for what basically amounts to a FAQ for their flyers.
Really, GW...Really? This is your plan?

Sigh, so I guess somebody's gonna hafta pay for the loss they're taking on that Hobbit game, huh? Pretty sure that thing is just as big a hit as Dread(ful) Fleet was.
Blah.


Until next time, folks- Exit with catchphrase!

- SinSynn

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