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It's been my experience that one of the best things about GW and their games is that it's easy to find a GW store, club, FLGS, or loosely affiliated group of gamers to game with. It really is a great thing to know that when you dive into a GW game you are going to actually be able to regularly play the game. The same seems to be true for Privateer and Flames of War games, but I don't have the personal expereience to back that up.

For those of you who have a group of gamers who aren't only/primarily playing one of the big 3 (GW, Privateer, FoW) how did you find your group?

As for me, I've been really lucky. I found one group on Meetup.com. They were a really great long-established group of gamers mostly playing Historical and RPG's, but also playing everything else, including GW games and others. The drive was a bit further than I wanted and my schedule didn't workout that often and I drifted away when I found my current group. Still, if you're looking for good mature gamers on the Southside of Chicago, check out "Saturday night kill Zone" on meetup.com.

My current group started rather organically, meeting a guy on the Song Of Blades Yahoo group and then meeting various folks he'd met who were also interested in skirmish wargaming. We started meeting regularly at a FLGS and shortly thereafter formed the group in my sig.

Anywho, I've been pretty fortunate, but I hope that a thread like this could help other folks to find and start their own gaming groups.

Several ways. If your looking for a certain game, like D&D for instance, then search the numerous D&D forums and/or yahoo groups. Same for any other popular game. Specific game types can be searched on yahoo groups, google, etc.

I found several people in the semi-local area through boardgamegeek.com

Interesting... I'm trying out another of the "Big 3" (Privateer Press) but there's an independent store near here with a good group (Dream Wizards).

Meetup.com sounds like a good idea, I've heard of people using it for other interests with success.

The local FLGS was primarily a comic book store that hosted Star Wars CCG and Magic: The Gathering open gaming.

I played a little SW CCG in college and stopped by one evening. After a while, I was asked to join a small group that play-tested the new SW CCG sets from Decipher before they came out. From there, we got to be good friends and started playing D&D. Two of the guys had 40k armies so we demoed a few games. I got hooked and bought a bunch of Black Templar stuff.

We play a variety of games including D&D, Battletech, various board games (Cataan, Battle Star Galactica, Talisman, Roborally), and some card games (lunch money, some samurai game that I always lose, and Fluxx). Great group. They don't suck.

I'd usually suggested starting where there are tournments, from there you'll find people. GW and Privateer press both have forums attached to their main websites. From there you can find where people play, and meet up with others. Most people in the area i'm in play both GW & PP games, and flux back and forth. Many of the GW GT players known each other well, and most of the clubs have websites. In the age of the internet, its generally easy to find other gamers

Half of my 2nd edition AD&D group was found via meetup.com!


Eric

By not playing in a games store.
(My current one) They started as a Core-GW games club.
Then they branched out, becoming a GW/PP club, then FoW got some notice, then Infinity.

My other clubs prior to this were tabletop wargaming clubs first and foremost and GW didn't even have a store presence here yet. Yes, their stuff was sold, but only by third parties.

I snuck up on them in the dark. Really. They were talking about miniatures in the maze and I overheard.

Used to have a few mates around once or twice a week but when my other half started complaining that my son, who was nearly two at the time, wasn't settling for bed because he wanted to 'help his dad' I decided to sort out a local club in Exmouth for us and other gamers to meet up at. Got in contact with the local TUC club and persuaded them to let us have there hall for nothing on their quietest night (I had previously helped do the same in Luton many years before) as it would be bringing in extra trade which they liked the idea of...

After 10 years now the club is still going even though we've had to move three times due to places closing or changing hands...

Mick

Wow, there's some inspiring stuff here. Sound's like alot of you have either formed organically from a group of players or just taken the initiative and started something.

Still, it seems like long term gaming groups are possible, but not the norm. My current group has only been meeting for 4 months or so on a bi-weekly basis, but two guys (both of whom had been gaming for over a decade) commented last night that this was one of the most regularly meeting groups they'd ever had.

Mick,
What's a TUC?

Everyone,
How do you keep in touch with your group. Casual email, group forum, yahoo group, etc...
We started a Yahoo group, and that seems to be working well as it provides a place for discussion, club documents, rulesets and house rules and a calendar. We considered Meetup, but there was a monthly fee.

TUC- Trade Union Club, basically a working mens club.

The Exmouth club has a blog and a Yahoo site.

Mick

About 2 years ago I was walking to one of my classes, not really sure which, and I heard someone say "but tau suck in close combat." I did a complete 360 looking for who ever said that and saw 4 guys sitting next to a rickety old table looking at a box of minis.... long story short I missed my class and we have been playing ever since.

What is a non-GW specific gaming group?

*shivers and looks around in apprehension*

You mean there is gaming outside of GW? I have never actually seen anyone doing this even though I have heard of such things I better get out more.

Ed_Bodger wrote:
You mean there is gaming outside of GW? I have never actually seen anyone doing this even though I have heard of such things I better get out more.

Yes you should.

But seriously, it can be hard to find one. When I was looking for a club I found almost nothing but GW clubs with a couple of historical gaming clubs. For Generic Sci-FI and fantasy, there was nothing.

Eilif wrote:
Everyone,
How do you keep in touch with your group. Casual email, group forum, yahoo group, etc...

Primary means of communication: We play RPG's every Tuesday.
Secondary means of communication: We have our own forum through proboards.com
Tertiary means of communication: we go out for lunch and dinner and stuff.
4th means of communication: New Years Eve party.
E means of communication: Standing next to each other at church as groomsmen in yet another wedding...

Primary: Web. We have a club forum on wargamerau.com/forums
Secondary: Email
Tertiary: Telliing bone.

My club is in a town that is from 30 minutes to several hours away depending on holiday traffic.
My other club that I used to frequent folded due to liability insurance costs (and it was around an hour away).

TBH.... highschool. I've been playing D&D and other various RPG's with the same core of friends for nigh on 20 years now. It took starting to play WH40K to meet new people, lol.

DeJolly wrote:About 2 years ago I was walking to one of my classes, not really sure which, and I heard someone say "but tau suck in close combat." I did a complete 360 looking for who ever said that and saw 4 guys sitting next to a rickety old table looking at a box of minis.... long story short I missed my class and we have been playing ever since.

Damn if stories like this aren't why I love this hobby. Nothing beats being able to establish instant commonality over a shared interest with complete strangers.

One of the FLGS's where I live has Miniatures night on Tuesdays, RPG night on Wednesdays and CCG night on Thursdays. Every other day of the week is open gaming. Note that none of these categories are brand specific. That's because every night, almost every table is filled up with players playing any and every system you could imagine. Had I the desire, Im sure Id have no problems joining any of these groups for a game. So, I guess Im just lucky to be near an FLGS that has a very large community already.

Anyone who is interested in non GW games should give this a look. They have a listing of groups all over the US that play all sorts of systems. Not just historical either.

www.hmgs.org