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Just a little something I wanted to discuss with Dakka, as we seem to have a fairly decent cross section of the wider gaming community, but thankfully with minimal banality as featured on other Websites.

Big clue is in the title. One of the things that has always slightly mystified me about GW's (well, mine at least. Don't know about others or FLGS) is that they are there to engender the community, and give it a central hub, but never quite succeed when it comes to the transitionary phase from Core Gamer to Veterans Nights. And this is a real shame. Certainly my local Veterans night became really rather cliquey, and new comers, either rising up through the gamer programme, new to the area, or just jumping back in, could find it a not entirely welcoming environment. Now don't get me wrong, it could never be described as hostile towards newcomers, not at all. It's just we've been gaming together now for....6 or 7 years, and over that period of time bonds etc are formed.

So how would you combat this in store? The Veterans at my local store have now formed The Hydra Gaming Club (meeting Wednesdays from 7, Robin Hood Pub, Tunbridge Wells, fresh blood welcome!) so thats kind of one step taken. The store has also moved the meet night to a Friday. Not entirely advisable I have to say, given that Friday night is quite often Beer night for most Brits!

One idea I came up with was a challenge board in the store. The new gamers will be able to see the board, possibly with mugshots of the gamers, and be able to arrange a game there and then through the store, against the Gamers who have put themselves up for the challenge. This works as an ice breaker because there will be table kept available, and the existing gamers know to keep a slot free on their 'dance card' in case of NooB. No prizes on offer, just a more assured way of bagging a game. Could even be extended to challenging a specific army they collect?

Essentially, it would be a board of geek intel on the various Veteran gamers, which the newcomer can use to make the evening that little bit more accessible.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas? I mainly ask because I like to make suggestions to my local store. That, and the money I've spent on this hobby, I'm buggered if I'm letting the gaming genepool evaporate as people head for Uni, pastures new etc! Got to keep the blood flowing!

Well it sounds like you have made a good start. Although I have to say that if the group is welcoming generally the new guys tend to just fit in more. We have a very small store (Zark) with a very select clientele that actually play 40k. Most of the players come in very rarely, but I have recently undertaken the task of trying to get everyone who's interested to play on a regular night. So far we have 6 players (IG, Nids, BA, SW, Daemons and sisters) so even though the numbers are small we can get in some varied games.

So far we have all exchanged telephone numbers and I'm in charge of arranging a game night that is convenient for all. Email will probably be the next step...though I may steal your idea about the challenge board, I think it would really help give the newbloods a good reason to come in.

If I were you I would get contact information for all the guys, so everyone has everyone's email or something. That way info can be updated quickly and efficiently, games can be arranged and all the newcomers feel part of something bigger.

Another suggestion would be to start a small campaign (with all races able to take part). It would really help introduce everyone to everyone else. Nothing competitive, just playing to see who the eventual victor would be. Someone could write the fluff and every week after the games have finished the next piece of the storyline gets posted in store. The biggest problem I foresee would be someone getting stuck with the work of printing and updating all the stuff, but I think it could work really well.

Good luck

Something else you could do is try to arange a Verterans painting/converting night. Nothing helps people get to know each other like trying to teach some one something. Im sure you GW redshirts usally help the noobs out. But this gets your Vets intrested in them, more than just the normal grumbles about kids being underfoot and wanting to touch their stuff. Show a kid how much time and effort is spent on something and some actually learn to respect it.

Lukus83 wrote:The biggest problem I foresee would be someone getting stuck with the work of printing and updating all the stuff, but I think it could work really well.

That's why you wait until someone goes out for snacks and then elect them club president while they're gone.

We don't have a President. We instead have Princess Meganob in the form of Fitzeh.

But yar, I do concur a variety of armies can do more than a variety of players. For example, 6 players with 6 different armies gives more variety than 8 gamers, 4 of which play vanilla Marines (well, give or take).

Interesting idea about the Vets and NooBs night. Could even suggest making it into a paired up doubles tournament? Perhaps the discipline (shyeah) of the Vets might rub off onto the sprogs. Would need to have willing Vets though, and therein lies the tricky part. Convincing them to spend the day with a potential spoilt little arse. Mind you. Perhaps cajoling them with a free pint for he hardest done by??