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Hello all,

I just received contact from Saint Louis University asking me to apply for their law program and I may go there for schooling. All real factors of schooling aside I had a quick look on the GW site and noticed that there are no GWs in St. Louis, but there are many FLGS.

Is anyone on Dakka from St. Louis and knows about gaming in the area?

I used to live in Belleville, IL. Never saw any gaming community either there or in St. Louis. Great city, though.

Well that's rather sad. I thought that there might be a bit more there as it is a big city. In Vancouver here, we technically have 3 GWs.

Not the best info to go on but:

I live in Illinois and check out craiglists for warhammer stuff from time to time (nada in Illinois outside of Chicago) but if I click the St. Louis one it seems to be pretty active trading-wise. Also anectdotal but I have a cousin(in law) who lives in St. Charles (~10 mins from St. Louis) who plays, so there are at least some players in the area.

And a 1 min google search found this site:

http://gamestlouis.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=8&Itemid=37

I'm in Granite City, Il. It's about 10 minutes from the edge of STL. There are a few shops that I'm aware of. I go to Heroic Adventures in Edwardsville, IL. That one might be a bit of a drive for you, but on the other hand, there's also Fantasy Shop in St. Charles, which wouldn't be too bad. They both run mini-tournaments on a monthly basis for usually about a $10 buy in with prizes. They also keep quite a few open tables throughout the week. Other than that, I have three other people I regularly play with and we're always looking for more. Let me know if you wind up down here and we'll get a game together.

I am in North County about 30 mins drive from downtown. I play once a week at the Fantasy Shop (St. Charles) Tuesdays @ 6:00 PM 2000pts random matching or have picked up games at the Minauture Market in South St. louis county Thursdays starting at 5 ish most games less points with shorter store hours.

I prefer Fantasy Shop. Closer to me, starts later and open later. I like the random draw, no awkward " hello my name is _ do you want to play". It bites sometimes when you get a difficult player or an uneven army, but what comes around goes around. Both shops are very friendly and have regular tournaments. Anybody else know of a place I still have Wed to fill. Weekends belong to the home table.
If anyone is interested the Fantasy Shop St. Charles is having a 1500pt tourney 7/31. Register at 11:00 AM start 12 ish. Bring a extra 200pt unit for it (Search and rescue misson or something) I willl see you there.

Captain_Trips01 wrote: I used to live in Belleville, IL. Never saw any gaming community either there or in St. Louis. Great city, though.

Didn't look hard enough. Fantasy Games in O'Fallon is a great store. It's where I game. 6-10 tables and weekends are always Warhammer heavy. Great selection of terrain, friendly staff, mostly decent people who play. A few unsavory folks, but you'll find that anywhere.

It's roughly a 25-30 drive from downtown St. Louis on the Illinois side of the river. St. Louis had a GW up until a couple of years ago, but it bellied up. Horrible horrible staff from what I heard. Just drove customers away left and right.

I know of a club or two in St. Louis, but I've never played or met any of them. White Dragon, a member here, lives there as well.

There is another store about 20 miles north of O'Fallon thats got a decent set up as well Edit: Heroic Adventures, as mentioned above. I haven't played there, but i've been there. I'd still go to Fantasy Games though. Stores a lot less cramped, bigger model selection, and just easier to get to IMO.

Shoot me a PM if you take the offer up. I'll be back in the area sometime in late January.

Ok well this is better to hear. From what I gather, there are a few places in St Louis and a few other places across the boarder in IL.

If I go to SLU, it would be next year, but I just thought I'd throw it out to dakka to see what it is like there.

djones520 wrote:

Captain_Trips01 wrote: I used to live in Belleville, IL. Never saw any gaming community either there or in St. Louis. Great city, though.

Didn't look hard enough. Fantasy Games in O'Fallon is a great store. It's where I game. 6-10 tables and weekends are always Warhammer heavy. Great selection of terrain, friendly staff, mostly decent people who play. A few unsavory folks, but you'll find that anywhere.

It's roughly a 25-30 drive from downtown St. Louis on the Illinois side of the river. St. Louis had a GW up until a couple of years ago, but it bellied up. Horrible horrible staff from what I heard. Just drove customers away left and right.

I know of a club or two in St. Louis, but I've never played or met any of them. White Dragon, a member here, lives there as well.

There is another store about 20 miles north of O'Fallon thats got a decent set up as well Edit: Heroic Adventures, as mentioned above. I haven't played there, but i've been there. I'd still go to Fantasy Games though. Stores a lot less cramped, bigger model selection, and just easier to get to IMO.

Shoot me a PM if you take the offer up. I'll be back in the area sometime in late January.

Whoa....I've been invoked! Actually, I just saw this thread, and you're spot on. I've lived in this town my whole life, and have gamed just about everywhere there is to game, and even worked at the ill-fated GW store.

In St. Louis, the best places to go are The Fantasy Shop in St. Charles (Although the Florissant store has gaming too) and Miniature Market in South County area (Watson and Elm).

The Fantasy Shop in St. Charles has Warhammer 40k on Tuesdays starting at 6PM. I've only recently been going back to the Fantasy Shop, as it's a much easier commute from my new home. It was already described before, but you throw your die in a bucket at 6, and then whoever picks up your die is your opponent. Very easy, very care free, but they also do pick up games if you want.

Miniature Market does Warhammer 40k on Thursday nights, but I was never able to make it up there before 6, and it always seemed like everyone was already paired up and gaming by then. It's a good group down there as well, but you just gotta get there a little bit earlier. Miniature Market also has 20% off everything in the store all the time.

I've been to Heroic Adventures in Edwardsville, IL but I didn't look at the gaming space much, and I haven't had a chance to head out towards Belleville where djones plays.

Also, apparently there is a rather large Warmachine/Hordes following in STL, and they usually game on Wednesdays at any store, but having just recently gotten back into the game and only having time for one game night a week, I haven't been around on a Wednesday yet to see what it's all about. Everyone I see seems to have Warmachine figs in their cases, though, so it must be a good sign.

Whitedragon summed things up pretty well. MiniatureMarket is my chosen FLGS, when I head out to one.
The St. Charles shop is nearly 90 minutes from me (about 35 or so to Mini Market).
I'm quite stoked with Mini Market. They're always running wargames of all kinds, they're friendly almost to a fault, and they're about always willing to take time to sit aside and help you out (I learned Malifaux up there from one of the regulars).
I can't say enough good about them.

One thing I do want to point out:

St. Louis had a GW up until a couple of years ago, but it bellied up. Horrible horrible staff from what I heard. Just drove customers away left and right.

I never had any problems with any of the staff. Every one i ever encountered was friendly & knowledgeable... and NEVER pushy. The same group of guys seemed to be hanging out there a LOT.

The reason the St. Louis GW closed was NOT because of sales or poor staff. As I understand, their sales were stellar. They closed, like so many others, when GW realigned how they would be placing stored in cities.

Eric

Thats just what I heard from the folks at my store. I guess it closed down just before I moved to the area.

Miniature Market is definitely the place to go for GW games. The Warmachine crowd is spread out a bit, on the other hand (Miniature Market, Game Night @ the South County mall, and Fantasy Shop St. Charles being the biggest 3, although B&B in Pacific is starting to get its community off the ground, and Heroic Adventures has at least a few people going out there on Thursdays).

If you're looking for fellow St. Louisan gamers, I'd suggest checking out gamestlouis.com. It tends to slant towards the PP crowd a bit, but a lot of the local 40k players are on there as well.

MagickalMemories wrote:I never had any problems with any of the staff. Every one i ever encountered was friendly & knowledgeable... and NEVER pushy. The same group of guys seemed to be hanging out there a LOT.

The reason the St. Louis GW closed was NOT because of sales or poor staff. As I understand, their sales were stellar. They closed, like so many others, when GW realigned how they would be placing stored in cities.

Eric

That's a much more accurate assessment of what happened, although location played a large part as well. The St. Louis Mills Mall in general is not doing so well with the exception of Cabella's, and Mills properties have very high rent/lease rates. That mall was half the problem.

And the former GW crew usually hangs out at Miniature Market on thursdays if we can all make it, although like I said in my post, I've been trying to hit up St. Charles since it's an easier commute.

Laughing Man, where and what do you play? I didn't realize we had so many local Dakkaites!

Ok this is great stuff guys! Thanks for letting me know what the local scene is like.

Miniature Market is closer to the SLU campus and while I haven't played any games there yet, the staff are pretty decent people and the prices are great (Fantasy Shop sells at GW list ).

Turalon,
What games are you into? Solely GW fare, or do you branch out?

Eric

whitedragon wrote:

MagickalMemories wrote:I never had any problems with any of the staff. Every one i ever encountered was friendly & knowledgeable... and NEVER pushy. The same group of guys seemed to be hanging out there a LOT.

The reason the St. Louis GW closed was NOT because of sales or poor staff. As I understand, their sales were stellar. They closed, like so many others, when GW realigned how they would be placing stored in cities.

Eric

That's a much more accurate assessment of what happened, although location played a large part as well. The St. Louis Mills Mall in general is not doing so well with the exception of Cabella's, and Mills properties have very high rent/lease rates. That mall was half the problem.

And the former GW crew usually hangs out at Miniature Market on thursdays if we can all make it, although like I said in my post, I've been trying to hit up St. Charles since it's an easier commute.

Laughing Man, where and what do you play? I didn't realize we had so many local Dakkaites!

I primarly play WM/H up at Game Nite (their private gaming rooms are awesome, and being right next to South County Mall's food court is a nifty bonus), although I'm playing around a bit over at MM with Blood Angels and Warriors of Chaos on the GW side of things. Well, I will, once I finish the damned armies. :/

MagickalMemories wrote:I never had any problems with any of the staff. Every one i ever encountered was friendly & knowledgeable... and NEVER pushy. The same group of guys seemed to be hanging out there a LOT.

The reason the St. Louis GW closed was NOT because of sales or poor staff. As I understand, their sales were stellar. They closed, like so many others, when GW realigned how they would be placing stored in cities.

I have to +1 this statement. I really enjoyed the St. Louis GW while it was here. It was a little less convenient a location for me compared to the St. Charles Fantasy Shop, but had a good group of regulars there and a helpful staff. GW employees there would often even answer rules questions over the phone for my friend and I as we relearned the game after a ten year hiatus.

MagickalMemories wrote:Turalon,
What games are you into? Solely GW fare, or do you branch out?

Eric

Right now I only play GW games. Mainly because I do most of my gaming at the local GW (Surrey) and they don't like other companies games there.

If I do go down to St. Louis, I may branch out as other gaming community dictates. I've always thought flames of war was cool (and the reason why I wanted to start wargaming), but no one that I know plays that here. Lots of Fantasy and 40k players though.

miniature market is my store of choice and while im moving ou of st louis for my own college experience, i can't recommend it highly enough.

Most everyone is friendly, they have a great selection, and sell at 20% of GW prices. most ordered items are free shipping too. They have 8 tables, a great selection of terrain, and a guy named scott runs a tourny every month. You can get pick up games almost any day, 40k is mostly thurs-saturday

Heres something that might help you out, all of you who couldn't ever find stuff...
http://www.Gamestlouis.com

I'm actually going down to the fantasy shop for the first time on saturday for a tourny there, i'll let you know my impressions.

I know that there is a new shop in downtown Lebanon IL that does Warhammer called Odyssey Comics their # is 618-808-0233.

Hey, guys.
My AD&D 2e group is possibly looking for another player or 2. We meet once a month (arranged based on everyone's schedules) for 10-12 hours. Everyone provides something for snack and the wife & I povide dinner.

An adult with AD&D 2e experience is needed. Preferably should be very comfortable with actual ROLE playing.

Shoot me a PM if you're interested.

Eric

Hate to resurrect a kind of dead post but I've been looking around alot and it seems that when Miniatures Market moved alot of people lost their FLGS. I live out by Jefferson Barracks so the Fantasy Shop in St Chuck is a bit of a drive for me. Is anyone planning to game up at the Game Nite that is moving into the old Miniatures Market store? I'm still building my new army very slowly (college+work=fail) but I'd like to find a good location with some local gamers so once I'm finished with it I can hit the ground running again! And hell I'll probably just go somewhere to watch someone game and chat if there is a good location.

I'd be shocked if most people didn't stick with GN for as long as they remain gamer-friendly.
They have a history of board, card & RP games being played in their stores, so mini wargaming shouldn't be much of a stretch for them.

Eric

The watson MM location was the FLGS for a good cluster of us, but in the interim while Game Night moves in, most of us have either gone to Ogre Games or have gone "Underground" playing at each others' homes. I have yet to play at Ogre Games, but I hear that it's got an ok amount of space and is friendly enough. GN will open up next week, so I'm sure that most of the MM crowd will come back out to see what kind of wargaming support we'll find from our new plastic dealer.