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Don't know if this is the right area but I'm new so..here goes I'm rather new to wargaming outside of my group of friends and was wandering what are the benefits to a club, and how do you join one? I know of a few in my area.

Just find out when they meet up and show up one night, that's how I do it. They namely allow you to find new games and have a wider diversity of opponents, plus you've got the chance for another night of the week involving drinking if your social enough. ^^

The benefits:

A larger pool of potential opponents.
More games against different people.
A bigger social circle.

In my case, my clubs all meet in licensed premises.
The advantages for me:
Cheaper beer.
Air-con.
And the above three benefits.

Going to events together and hanging out. My club likes to pick GT's we can all go to together at least once or twice a year.

Doing hobby stuff together. Encourage each other to finish armies, plan new armies, etc.

Basically, you join a club to interact with more like minded people.

Benefits: Gaming experience, new friends, learning new painting techniques, learning new and exciting ways to play your army, tournments, learning about new armies, and most of all HAVING A GOOD TIME!!

Most FLGS that have play space try to organize a day for people who play a certain game to come in and play. Just check with the store owner/employee if they have one. If not I'm sure Boston MA (go Sox! my AL team!) is large enough that you have a local gaming club that meets at a hall or convention center. I would check online and see if their are gaming forms for the Boston area I know we have one for STL.

Our club (the Lords of Egypt out of Carbondale Illinois) offers a nifty T-Shirt, as well as a reward program, where attendance and participation result in accruing points which can be traded in for advantages during club sponsored events. We have first right of play at our local games store, and a supportive atmosphere for new players. If you (or anyone else) happens to be playing around here, you should totally come check us out!

Other clubs offer different advantages. Another club near us, Team Snake Eyes, (out of Cape Girardeau, MO) has their own independent gaming site. I've never attended one of their events, but I understand that it is pretty sweet, since it's a private location owned by one of the group members!

There are two gaming clubs that operate out of the local colleges (John A Logan and SIU, repectively) which grant, as I understand it, special access to their gaming sites (on campus) that wouldn't normally be available to the general public.

Other clubs would offer similar benefits. I hope this helps!


And by the way, Chromedog, are you meaning to tell me you have alcoholic beverages available at your gaming store? You know that scene in the South Park episode where they parody 'Heavy Metal,' and Kenny is just staring off into the distance with a glazed expression murmuring "titties..." and no one knows what he's talking about? That's totally happening to me right now...

Jimsolo wrote:

There are two gaming clubs that operate out of the local colleges (John A Logan and SIU, repectively) which grant, as I understand it, special access to their gaming sites (on campus) that wouldn't normally be available to the general public.

I re-enact Logans Brigade hahahahaha

any who!!! Colleges are excellent places to find gaming clubs!!! At Washington-U and UMSL they have (or use to have) a "cross campus" battle that anyone could join in. It was in the days before there were solid Apolo. rules, but it was fun non the less. The battlefield was set up over a gym floor.

Jimsolo wrote:Our club (the Lords of Egypt out of Carbondale Illinois)
And by the way, Chromedog, are you meaning to tell me you have alcoholic beverages available at your gaming store? You know that scene in the South Park episode where they parody 'Heavy Metal,' and Kenny is just staring off into the distance with a glazed expression murmuring "titties..." and no one knows what he's talking about? That's totally happening to me right now...

I wouldn't know about South park. It's one of those shows I just will not watch. I don't find it funny or entertaining. It is just crass and crude for the sake of itself.

My clubs are located in licensed premises, NOT gaming stores. We hire the "function" rooms in local clubs as a "private function" and the venue's licence covers us for the consumption of booze.

The majority of Aussie gaming clubs are NOT based in stores, but other venues (church/community halls, sports clubs, etc). This gets us away from the store atmosphere and puts us into a more relaxed "man time"/"man space". Indeed, I'd even wager that there are more back-yard/garage/basement "man cave" clubs than store clubs.

With the price of the average liquor sales licence (on premises, as opposed to off-licence or 'take away') being around $50,000 - it's outside the reach of a games store. If they are caught either supplying or allowing the consumption of alcohol on the premises without a licence the penalties can be severe (and several members of my clubs are police officers.) - up to $200,000 (and that's a 'per offence' fine), so most of the games stores tend to be 'dry'.

I would belong to a club, but no-one within a 50 mile radius plays 40K.

I see, Chromedog. When you said "licensed premises" I took it to mean "licensed [supplier of the game we are playing] premises" as opposed to "we have special license to play here." I getcha now. And, yes, being able to play on private property or in an adult-friendly atmosphere is definitely a huge perk.

The South Park reference was just supposed to convey the notion that I am in awe of the wondrous and heavenly picture I thought you were painting for me. Now I'm back down in dark and gritty reality. Nonetheless, sounds like a fun place to play. Do you allow any 40k gamers in the area to play with you guys, or do people have to be dues-paying members of your gaming club?

Our club is open to anyone old enough to walk in the door (Licensed premises generally means no <18s (legal drinking age) - however, certain areas can have them in it they just have to be chaperoned into and out of the area).

You neither have to be a member of our games club nor of the venue (although membership of the club venue ($5 a year) is what gives you the cheap beer and food) in order to play at our club. Membership means you no longer have to sign in at the front desk as a "guest", also.

We have several non-locals who drop in one meeting a month to play with people outside of their clubs. Occasionally, we send reps down to the other clubs and we also have an annual "grudge" meet between local clubs (we call it "duelling banjos" where rivalries are exchanged, BS is swapped and much fun is had - and copious beer is swilled).

All players get their first meeting free.
After this, we charge them the same cover as we charge our regulars ($10 for the day). This covers our hiring costs, and any extras goes into the club account which is used to pay for terrain, general maintenance of it, and to underwrite our tournaments.

So it runs you guys $10 per day? Even for club members? That's pretty steep, but the benefits you get at that point are likewise pretty bangin.' All the clubs I know of only charge a one time fee (or a yearly recurring one for the university clubs) but they lack some of the awesomeness you've described. Since the terrain and boards would, I guess, have to be something you're transporting and providing, do you have good quality or mediocre terrain? Do your venues rent/allow you space to store your materials on-site, or do you have to haul it in every week?

Yeah, if we could have a child-free environment with alcohol and a relaxed environment for only $10 apiece, I'd be in like Flynn. That sounds so-o-o-o nice.

$10 isn't that steep.
It's less than even our juniors are paid per hour for work.
It's less than a movie ticket (around $20).
We are open from 9am until (latest) 9pm but usually wrap around 7pm.

We are allowed two lock up cupboards (metal, the sort used by stationery the world over. Common as muck in an office) for our terrain, much of which is purchased at great expense (GW) - the rest was made by club-members over several months. The 40k terrain is mostly CoD stuff.

We keep around 6 boards on the premises - which we keep behind the cupboards. In addition we have 3-4 blood bowl boards and terrain for the tables, as well as the club's library (all current rulebooks and army book/codex for 40k/WHFB and our WD subscription - all of which any member is free to borrow. You put your name down in the book, what item and you sign off when you return it.).

Most of our terrain and boards (19 tables and terrain) is kept in a self-storage lockup that we pay for by the year. We only need this stuff 3-4 times a year all at once (two fantasy and two 40k tourneys), but we also rotate the terrain at the club around.

So the cover pays to keep it all in good nick, secure, and allows access to a substantial gaming library. Juniors (when we get them) pay half-rate (which is still cheaper than a baby sitter).

Jimsolo wrote:I see, Chromedog. When you said "licensed premises" I took it to mean "licensed [supplier of the game we are playing] premises" as opposed to "we have special license to play here." I getcha now. And, yes, being able to play on private property or in an adult-friendly atmosphere is definitely a huge perk.

"Licensed premises" in the UK and Australia usually refers to a place which has a licence to sell alcohol on the premises. So, pubs, bars, etc.

^Yup.

We used to be in the local community youth centre but when it became impractical to continue (you HAD to join the PCYC in order to use the facilities - and then you supposedly got cheaper hiring rates for "external" events. Except we never did, whilst other local groups who were not members got free 'hiring' of the same areas) we looked around for an alternate location.

The local sports supporter's club had a boardroom that wasn't used on sundays. It was upstairs (didn't comply with state or council guidelines on easy access for mobility impaired patrons) at the back of the club. It was also cheaper than what we were paying.

The downside is that we mainly operate on Sundays when a lot of the grown-up (lapsed) members have family time with children or other commitments (like uni classes) or work. At our peak we were getting 15 members a week, Now we average 6-8 with the monthly spurt to 12 or so.

To summarise everything...

Advantages of clubs

Meet new people

Try out new games

Lots of space for big games and campaigns

Club events (trips to shows, Christmas dinner, etc)

Inter-club rivalries

Possibility of licensed premises serving food and alcohol

Communal resources of terrain and stuff may be available

Thanks guys, this was informative, going to join a club based on these sweet reasons. Thanks