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I've run into an interesting...quagmire, and I wonder if its unique to my area or not.

I live in eastern north carolina. There's no gaming store where I live, and I drive an hour east or west to get to the nearest FLGS. Since distance negates the ability to pop in with a "Anyone wanna game?" I generally am restricted to formal events (IE, tournaments) for my 40k addiction.

I have three FLGS within 1.5 hours to the west, and two FLGS within 1 hour to the east of where I live. None of them are running any Warhammer 40k tournaments for the next month. I'm going to a GT on February 27th, and I desperately want to get in some practice with the army I'm taking to the GT, which I haven't actually played in months.

I've been searching for stores withing 5-6 hours of me (SC, VA, other parts of NC) looking for FLGS who might be hosting any kind of action that justifies a trip for some gaming, but it seems like the next event anywhere is 'Ard Boyz in May, which is very discouraging. I've been collecting cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses at every tournament I go to so that I can get games outside of tournaments - I've got a GT winner coming to my house this Saturday to school me on the new nids, and I'm headed to FL next weekend to get in some gaming with some friends in Jacksonville, but I feel frustrated that there's not more going on.

I wonder if I'm unique in this, or if other people with a burning fire to play 40k and experience good, competitive evnets suffer from similar problems?

I think it happens to a lot of us from time to time. Luckily, now, I seem to be in a good place with several good players who have competitive lists, solid table skills, and good demeanors, so it makes gaming challenging and fun. But when last played, back in 3rd Ed., it was like pulling teeth to get a good game outside my core group of friends, only a handful of which played 40K. Players were either douchebags, ran beardy lists, douchebags with beardy lists, or idiots where it didn't matter what they put out there. None of which was much fun or particularly instructive.

So, I feel for you. Tough to have the itch without having to jump through hoops to scratch it.

I'm going to be in a similar situation in about 2 months. All I can say is that you might have luck with calling those FLGS about 1.5 hours away and see if they have scheduled league or club nights/days. Other than that, take the downtime as an opportunity to improve your painting for future tournaments and save cash to travel to some of the Cons/GTs.

Try to get some friends in on the game. Even though they won't likely be very good players right off the bat, they may be in the future. This means that whenever you're starved for tournaments again you can at least have someone else to play with. I feel for you with the FLGS thing though. I used to go to Pandemonium here in Boston, which was about an hour on the train just to get to the store and have nobody to play with. I think that has as much to do with the distance as it does with the elitist playerbase there though.

Oddly, a lot of people I know are moving to NC right now, must be the place to go for work.

My buddy who got me into 40k just moved there and found a gaming group at a FLGS within a week.

I'm personally still starting out and don't feel good enough to try the tournament thing yet. But I'm lucky enough to be near two Gamesworkshop stores in Michigan so getting in casual pick up games hasn't been a problem.

Move to western NC instead, and I can hook you up with an instant gaming group

How long does it take you to get to Chattanooga or Cleveland? How about Atlanta? Both have quality tournament scenes.

In particular, Atlanta throws down. You want to get some games in for those Orks, we'll treat ya right. Hop on a plane and come to some of our tourneys.

There is always Vassal 40k o.O

didn't vassal get shut down 6 months ago?

The official Vassal40k website yes, but Vassal's main servers are still running so all you need is the 40k module + main vassal program. There's about 10 games going and 30 or something people online at the moment.

Google it, I don't know how the mods here feel about linking to the module

Come to Atlanta. It's on the edge of your drive range and you can get a good solid weekend of gaming at no less than 4 different local stores with solid A game 40K players.

I used to drive about 45 Minute to my local GW to play. It was very large and I could always get a game there. Then it moved to a smaller shop that has a game event I can get to about 3 times a year.

As far as I know, there isn't a Game Club anywhere near me and so now the only games I get is with my friends that come down to stay every two months, and the occasional game with my younger brother, which can get a bit boring after a while.

Arrange your own, if you have all these people's numbers. Rent out your local town hall, and have the DashofPepper Uber Tournie 2010!

Atlanta, GA is a 7 hour drive from Wilson, NC. 14 hours of driving for less than a GT is not really open for scheduling.

Found my first 40k FLGS, about an hour away. Closed 2 weeks later.
Found a quite nice hidden little FLGS 15 minutes away. Closed 3 months later.
Found a general gaming store that does 40k stuff and some events ~45 minutes away... it seems to be in a bit of financial trouble.

Apparently I kill LGS's just by finding them and spending money there.

Gorkamorka wrote:Apparently I kill LGS's just by finding them and spending money there.

Don't take it personally. Most small businesses fail and game stores are such a niche market, I imagine their failure rate is higher than average.

LeperMessiah wrote:

Gorkamorka wrote:Apparently I kill LGS's just by finding them and spending money there.

Don't take it personally. Most small businesses fail and game stores are such a niche market, I imagine their failure rate is higher than average.

Also, he could just smell bad and drive customers away.

I 2nd the proposal to getting your friends into 40k. I also recommend making friends, as you may make friends with other 40k players, and its best if they're friends first and 40k opponents 2nd. Seriously, there's a ton of people (like me) who don't go into LFGS or GW stores, or go to tournaments, and who you're only going to meet by going out and meeting people (rather than prospecting the same old LFGS or tournaments or whatnot).

Dashofpepper wrote:Atlanta, GA is a 7 hour drive from Wilson, NC. 14 hours of driving for less than a GT is not really open for scheduling.

You want practice... we got very active local stores. You could come down on a Friday and game all day Saturday and half of Sunday.

Just saying.

What GT are you attending on Feb 17th? Also, Columbia has Heroes and Dragons, where I game, with a fairly active 40k scene. You'd be hardpressed to come in there and not get a game. In the least the game manager will play a game of 40k with you if you ask him nicely.

Sarge wrote:What GT are you attending on Feb 17th? Also, Columbia has Heroes and Dragons, where I game, with a fairly active 40k scene. You'd be hardpressed to come in there and not get a game. In the least the game manager will play a game of 40k with you if you ask him nicely.

That's the 27th, not the 17th. And its the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre in Philly.

Columbia is 4 hours away....that's kind of pushing it. Seriously pushing it. =p Does your store have any tournies coming up? I might drive 4 hours for a tournament, but not for a Saturday pickup game.

*EDIT* I called your store and checked their website. No calendar, and the store said that there's no 40k events planned, and that the manager doesn't forecast events in advance, but that there's an open Saturday in two weekends, so I should call back then. Bleh.

You should have said something sooner. I was in the area over the holiday break and got in four really great games. I'm sure my daemonic horde could have given you a run for the money. There are some very good gamers in the triangle area so you should be able to schedule games. You can use my Yahoo! Group to ask around. If you want to send me a PM with contact information I'll let my friends know you are looking to get in some competitive games. On a friendly note you do promote yourself as a very competitive player so keep in mind that will affect people when they consider playing. There is nothing wrong with be very competitive but I think it's important to let people know it's going to be a fun experience if they decide to set aside the time to play. I'd love to get in a game with you eventually to see just what you can bring to the table.

I live in central Florida and never have any problems getting in a game. This area is a 40k haven in my opinion and I can practically play in a tournament every weekend if I want. The one thing I distinctly remember about the triangle area in general when I lived there was the lack of tournaments. Leagues are fun but I prefer tournaments. As you are probably aware there is a group there that runs some excellent campaigns. Good luck with it.

G

Yeah....there are campaigns up here, and every FLGS runs them on the same night, so you get to pick a store. I've picked none.

I *do* miss Jacksonville; there was always something 40k going on during a weekend somewhere.

You probably should have stayed in Florida. Hee!

G

Yeah, but when a West Point graduate who's a decorated veteran can't get a job in a military town (albeit Navy) doing ANYTHING (I even applied to McDonalds as a manager), and the unemployment rate is tremendously high compares to the rest of the country (not to mention being the murder capital of the United States), its time to leave Jacksonville.

My wife and I moved there to pursue her career, but it was disastrous for me. Now I have a fantastic job, although the gaming community and events around me are lacking.

Dashofpepper wrote:Yeah, but when a West Point graduate who's a decorated veteran can't get a job in a military town (albeit Navy) doing ANYTHING (I even applied to McDonalds as a manager), and the unemployment rate is tremendously high compares to the rest of the country (not to mention being the murder capital of the United States), its time to leave Jacksonville.
.

Funny most of that happen since you have been gone. Maybe try to start a gaming club in your local area, I know it will not help you right now but you never know.

Jacksonville employment seems to be based on call center, banking, and construction. Well two of those are not doing so well. lol

I support my FLGS and have since 1994, because there is only one other in the whole Kansas City metro area. If they ever closed, I would have to scramble for games.

a little late to the party but how far is WV from where you are at?
Lost Legion has two three stores in the state. One right on the border of virginia and wv. All three stores run atleast one tournament a month, all on different saturdays.

Uh....NC --> WV = 5+ hours. Not really an option. =p




Automatically Appended Next Post:
And I've since then discovered Vassal.

I game whenever I want now!

I live in Italy, it's really bad out here. I don't speak enough Italian to really game with the locals. Because of time differences, anytime I want to game, it's close to 8AM stateside and people are going off to work. I'm teaching the base kids how to play, but it is slow going and playing against newbies.

*sigh*