Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

New to the hobby, and before I start getting screwed by bad online retailors, wanted to know what are some crowd favorites. I'm currently using thewarstore (http://www.thewarstore.com/), which I've been able to gather is generally the go-to place for most people.

What else is a good place to shop if your FLGS isn't a current option?

Are you planning on playing at a store?

Shop there.

If not, the War Store is as good as any other online retailer as far as discounts. They're probably better in terms of customer service.

TheWarstore is great. I use it to grab those exotic items that my FLGS doesn't carry.

Either way, supporting your FLGS is great. Even better, find out what distributor they use and order all your stuff via them. You don't have to pay shipping and they don't have to pay for holding this item on their shelves.

FLGS is my first stop for everything. There are some things they cannot carry (Forgeworld, custom foam), but for everything else I place a call or FB message or txt and it's handled. As far as online, warstore.com is my go-to, even though it's been forever since I placed an order (I just don't buy much anymore after I sat down and pointed out my inventories). Welcome, and good luck!

When ordering online I tend to use either The War Store or Miniature Market. They both have much better stock than I can find locally, fairly hard to find items, and I love that Miniature Market sells individual Warmachine cards.

Dicebucket, hands down.

Edit - Anything they don't carry I'll generally get it from my FLGS.

My FLGS is first. I can usually get them to order stuff for me from GW, so I can get stuff even The Warstore doesn't have. After them, The Warstore or eBay. A lot of people forget that Amazon has 20% off GW stuff too, although their selection is hit or miss.

Before my FLGS opened up, warstore. Now I go to the FLGS first, and if necessary thewarstore.

Sadly I'll be doing mostly online shopping.

My FLGS sold out ever since they opened a new location, and sells everything at MSRP.

So I can go warstore and get 20% off, or go to them, and not.

Sanon wrote:Sadly I'll be doing mostly online shopping.

My FLGS sold out ever since they opened a new location, and sells everything at MSRP.

So I can go warstore and get 20% off, or go to them, and not.

Do you play at your FLGS? If you do your doing it in very bad taste.

Anywhere BUT my local games store (which is only a GW).

I don't play in stores, so that factor is irrelevant - so I shop where my $$ buys me the most.

Whether that is here or OS, whatever works.

I'll show GW some loyalty when I get some in return.

The 2 FLGS within 1 hour drive for me have so far been worthless for in store gaming. I hope they improve as far as in store gaming goes, and if they do I'll spend more money there. One store seems to be trying to build a population. Unfortunately they sell at GW price + Tax, so most online prices absolutely blow their prices out of the water. If they even tried to do 10% less than MSRP that would help. I talked to the owner about it and he said he expects people to pay full price to support the local store. I told him I'd be happy to support him if he put in some effort to get a player base active at his store. I then had him place an order for some items for me and I paid full price to demonstrate my "good faith". That will probably be all he gets out of me at full price until an actual game takes place at his store.

Until then I'm ordering stuff from warstore mostly. I also just found a place called Urban Vikings that does 25% off and they even sell finecast at 25% off which I have not been able to find anywhere else. I placed an order on Monday, so fingers crossed that they are worth it. Their website is bad though and orders should be placed over the phone. I'm also eyeing dicebucket for some of those battleforce breakdown packs!

I am probably 50/50 between the Warstore and my FLGS (stores actually).

One of my FLGS plays a lot of Warmahordes and Flames of War, and the other one plays mostly GW as well as some Skirmish games.

The store that has the good GW crowd is one of those "not a GW but sells all the GW stuff" type stores (I think there are different levels of indies when it comes to GW). So the selection there is pretty good. So unless it is a really weird blister, I can usually get everything I need there. This store doesn't have any PP stuff though, since Warmahordes is not played there very much ( or it is not played there very much because they don't sell much, chicken/egg).

The other store has an OK selection of GW stuff, but a really good selection of FoW and PP stuff.

I usually always buy "something" whenever I am playing at the stores (maybe once a week). At the very least some paints, but usually I always end up buying a box of something. We should all just admit to ourselves that no army is ever finished....and another army is always around the corner.

The FLGS for my GW needs sells just a hair below MSRP, but they do give a frequent customer discount which roughly equals the sales tax.

I also try to hit up each stores snack machine and pop machine when I am there. Purely for support purposes of course...

While I was in connecticut I purchased at Gaming Etc in stratford. Now that Im back in michigan its all at Pandemonium. Occassionally there are odds and ends they can't get. For those few items its coolminiornot or redfrog hobbies.

I get almost all my major purchases as my FLGS or the one owned by a friend a couple states away. For bits or odds and ends I usually use either ebay or scrounge from friends.

Well the two FLGS's near me are bitter rivals, so being faithful to one or the other is hard as it may start a brawl.
I play at one store and buy from the other as a basic law, one store has a great selection of GW stuff and the other does not. But the store that caused much of my problems went out of buisiness due to they way they treat customers. So I put my loyalties to the remaining store were I buy all my paints, brushes and general hobby stuff there, the owner laughs at me for scratch building my own buildings and vehicles. Its cheaper and they look great, my newest army is a Ork Blood Axe mech force thats looking real nice an orky, a battle wagon and 4-5 looted vehicles scratch builted cost me $6, savin me loads of money, the hurt comes from havin to buy all those figures lol.

For my 40K minis I usually buy at my FLGS, which is Games Workshop.

My local FLGSs don't have gaming space, even if I wanted to play there. They only offer 10% (which is OK for BnM stores).
So, without the store loyalty to stick to, I generally go online to Maelstrom and Wayland Games.
But, If I want something, I ALWAYS check the manufacturer's site first. If they're only a quid or two more, I'll buy direct. Scribor and Dave's models being two I can think of just now.

I buy most of my GW stuff at the local GW since I play there.
as they say, "dance with the one that brung ya"
Few things annoy me more about gaming than people who buy from deep discounters on the internet and then expect to play for free at a games store (where they spend little or no money)
They then wonder why the store shuts down...
As I get it shipped to where I live, I get 20% off (No tax).
My non GW stuff, I mainly get off the internet.
I don't have any particular store, although all my Dystopian Wars stuff I'll be getting direct from Spartan.
This stuff I play either at home or at a club.

Chromedog wrote:

...I shop where my $$ buys me the most.

+1.

Since I have learned how to maneuver around the embargo, I'm back to buying at a discount. I don't shop at GW, but I have absolutely no reservations playing in one. When I buy any GW product, I buy with the knowledge that the price includes the right to use that miniature in any GW store worldwide.

GW has been the go-to for ordering, but after giving thewarstore a shot with an order of magnets I'll likely be buying from them for a little bit. That is, unless a friend and I decide to go out of our way to make a not-so-local game shop our new 'home' in which case I'll buy from them.

The notion that you should help out your friendly local game shop by buying things from it if you play games at that shop is a fairly strong theme on this discussion board. I do support it. But that being said. Here are places that I've shopped and like.

TheWarStore.com
Frpgames.com
MiniatureMarket.com

I currently like the last the best. Right now MiniatureMarket gives a standard 25% off of all GW stuff they sell with free shipping over $90 USD. As they're not in California (my state) I don't pay sales tax. This is the best deal I've seen on the web. As you probably know buying GW you always hit that $90 for the free shipping. Their only problem is that GW enforces them not to put up pictures/have a shopping cart so you have to call them up. But if you're dealing with the Warstore, you're probably already doing that.

biccat wrote:Are you planning on playing at a store?

Shop there.

If not, the War Store is as good as any other online retailer as far as discounts. They're probably better in terms of customer service.

I agree. If you're playing at a FLGS on a regular basis, it is a good idea to encourage the availability of such gaming spaces by purchasing through the local store. You generally also save on shipping costs, even if the owner has to order the item, which can add up if you make sporatic purchases.

However, for online shopping, I have had good experiences with the War Store. Generally speaking, you're looking at approximately a 20% disciount via online retailers. That's usually what you can get through the War Store and in my ecperience the shipping and handling costs are reasonable.

Although it has already been said, I will say it again. Buy from the store you are going to play at the most. Otherwise, the only online site I have purchased from is eBay.

Sanon wrote:Sadly I'll be doing mostly online shopping.

My FLGS sold out ever since they opened a new location, and sells everything at MSRP.

So I can go warstore and get 20% off, or go to them, and not.

I'll preface this with acknowledging that this is an extreme position. That being said:

If you don't spend money at your FLGS, you have no business expecting to be able to play there.

I go out on the road a lot and usually end up going through Cleveland, Ohio. There is an awesome game store there called Gamers Haven. The owner is friendly, knowledgeable and has good deals from time to time. I just bought 2 Rock Lobbas for $25 each from there, and a box of 20 black orcs for $40. For those of you tallying it up, that's about 47-50% off. I stop in when I can, and I always spend a bunch. He also carries pretty much EVERY warhammer model he can get his hands on-he even has Azhag the Slaughterer and Harry the Hammer there. Great store, if you are ever in Cleveland. Other than that, I go to random game stores, and occasionally shop on Amazon.

While I don't really disagree with the fact that if you play at a FLGS you really should spend some money there, I don't think you are necessarily useless to them if you don't depending on the store. Even people that don't shop at a store can still help to maintain or more importantly build a player base. Like I said, I think if you play you should also support. If a store is struggling to even get a population then they shouldn't turn their noses up at anyone., I think getting a population started any way they can, even being friendly to people who haven't dropped coin there yet is a necessary first step. Without a population, there are no sales.

Fantasywelt.de provides 14% discount and free shipping (>= 49 Euro).

FLGS for specific "exactly this one, right now!" models, and most peripherals (paint, GS, brushes, misc "infrequent" purchases like file set, hobby saw, etc).

eBay for mass miniature acquisition. Rescuing completely trashed / abused models and turning them into something that fits the role it needs to fill is something I am good at. With the armies I play I can convert almost anything into anything, and eBay is frequently *much* less expensive for me.

haendas wrote:While I don't really disagree with the fact that if you play at a FLGS you really should spend some money there, I don't think you are necessarily useless to them if you don't depending on the store. Even people that don't shop at a store can still help to maintain or more importantly build a player base. Like I said, I think if you play you should also support. If a store is struggling to even get a population then they shouldn't turn their noses up at anyone., I think getting a population started any way they can, even being friendly to people who haven't dropped coin there yet is a necessary first step. Without a population, there are no sales.

Disagree. Strongly.

Yes, stores should be friendly. No reason not to be. And I don't kick people out of the store for using the tables. But lets kill the idea that guys playing in your store are a benefit even if they don't buy anything. I've had many such customers in my stores. Most become customers because we have what they want. The ones that adamantly don't buy anything also seem quite vocal about where they do buy, and why other people should go there. This doesn't help the store at all.

They aren't a resource for the store, they take up resources. It might seem to be convenient to have them around for a bit, but in the short and long run, it's better for the store to develop it's own player and customer base.

The idea that non-customers coming in to play somehow helps make the store better is one of those myths very popular with people that want to play at the stores that support gamers and hobbies, but don't actually want to support them.