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Hi all, I'm in CA for the Summer and i would like to visit the Los Angeles Battle Bunker. How are the experiences that you guys had there? Was it friendly? A lot of people that would want to play pick up games?

Thanks all.

Lucarikx

I have only been there once and it was just to look around but the table space is damn impressive. They have some amazing terrain set up on the tables and the variety of tables is enough to satisfy even the most exotic gaming desires (there is an imperial city table that made my jaw drop).

When I went in it was on a weekday and so there were only a half dozen or so people playing/painting, so I can't comment on the ease of finding pick-up games. The female staff member running the retail side was annoying and pushy, fitting all of the negative GW store employee stereotypes, but the guy tending to the gaming tables was very cool and laid back. Overall, I really enjoyed the time I spent there and actually have plans to return tomorrow.

I really doubt you would have trouble finding a pick up game if you go during the weekend or even later on a Thursday or Friday night.

I was just there a few weeks ago and if you go on a weekend or a friday you will have no problem finding a game. Most of the staff currently working there are pretty nice and will help you out if you need anything. Overall it is a great place to get a game in.

DarkTraveler- Do you remember what the girl's name was who you thought was pushy?

DarkTraveler777 wrote:I have only been there once and it was just to look around but the table space is damn impressive. They have some amazing terrain set up on the tables and the variety of tables is enough to satisfy even the most exotic gaming desires (there is an imperial city table that made my jaw drop).

When I went in it was on a weekday and so there were only a half dozen or so people playing/painting, so I can't comment on the ease of finding pick-up games. The female staff member running the retail side was annoying and pushy, fitting all of the negative GW store employee stereotypes, but the guy tending to the gaming tables was very cool and laid back. Overall, I really enjoyed the time I spent there and actually have plans to return tomorrow.

I really doubt you would have trouble finding a pick up game if you go during the weekend or even later on a Thursday or Friday night.

to be fair, you walked into a retail establishment...you should expect to be "sold" things. If you are there to play for free on their tables and not make a purchase at this place of business, you kind of have to endure a little amount of "selling" in return for using their stuff for no cost.

when I lived in cali I went to the Bunker monthly. Nice place. I don't know about the current staff, as I haven't been there for about a year now...but tables are cool, you have to be mostly painted to play and the regulars are pretty cool..although they do have a sense of "we are the bunker regulars, we are the experts" type of thing.

definately a cool place to game and tons of hobby space, just be warned...if you walk into a retail establishment and expect to hang out there for free and use their stuff, for free, be a little patient with the folks who work there and make their living off of selling stuff.

G

I was there last week and I have to agree, the table space is ridiculous. The display cases alone are worth a visit themselves, but the store is great.

The GW staff are GW staff, so you get what you get in that sense.

PM sent about it. I'm there pretty often.

The bunker has a pretty impressive table set up and its pretty chill. Staff is a little pushy but if you just go to the gaming area they won't bother you. People there are okay at times, gamers form groups and sometimes its very hard and awkward to get a game with someone if your alone. Oh and they only allow painted armies on their "good" tables.

Guarder22 wrote:
DarkTraveler- Do you remember what the girl's name was who you thought was pushy?

I remember her name was fairly uncommon (or at least spelled uncommonly). I think it was in the neighborhood of Riley, or something. She was very short in stature, about 5'0", thin, and had an extremely peppy personality that reminded me of what an anime cat-girl would be like hopped up on pixie-sticks. Don't get me wrong, she was nice enough but was doggedly following me through the sales area trying to suggest multiple kits for armies I told her I did not play. This was right before 6th's release mind you, so she wasn't even using the new Allies system as a guise for making these suggestions.

deggreg@yahoo.com wrote:

to be fair, you walked into a retail establishment...you should expect to be "sold" things. If you are there to play for free on their tables and not make a purchase at this place of business, you kind of have to endure a little amount of "selling" in return for using their stuff for no cost.

deggreg@yahoo.com wrote:definately a cool place to game and tons of hobby space, just be warned...if you walk into a retail establishment and expect to hang out there for free and use their stuff, for free, be a little patient with the folks who work there and make their living off of selling stuff.

Thank you Captain Condescension for the lesson on how retail establishments work.

When I posted that I went to the LA Bunker to just look around what made you think it was to play and use their stuff for free? Has the definition of "look around" changed when I wasn't, ahem, looking, or were you just fighting the good fight against anyone who would begin to disparage the hallowed name of Games Workshop?

Since you are a giant of business I need not explain to you that there are varying degrees of salesmanship, and the gulf between helpful sales person and pain-in-the ass is a wide and treacherous one. A good sales person can read a customer and acknowledge when they are throwing out cues, both verbal and non-verbal, that they do not need help. A bad sales person ignores those cues and follows the customer throughout the store offering suggestions for purchases that are both inane and insulting, forcing the customer into repeating a mantra of "No, thank you. No, thank you. No, thank you!" So, which side of the gulf do you think the diminutive woman whom I encountered on my visit to the LA Bunker was closer to?

Of course I expect to be given a pitch when I walk into a store, but when I explain to the sales person which projects I am working on and what the purpose of my visit is, I do not expect to be hounded for 10 minutes as I browse the store.

And, to be fair, I was not badmouthing the LA Bunker. The place is great fun, but in my assessment one particular employee was too aggressive with her sales approach. So, please, back off the dogged defense of what amounted to either inexperienced or out right bad salesmanship.

So...did you buy something?

Don't feed the trolls DarkTraveler777.

MightyGodzilla wrote:Don't feed the trolls DarkTraveler777.

Yes, instead keep fanning the flames of righteous indignation!

Lucarikx wrote:Hi all, I'm in CA for the Summer and i would like to visit the Los Angeles Battle Bunker. How are the experiences that you guys had there? Was it friendly? A lot of people that would want to play pick up games?

Thanks all.

Lucarikx

I haven't been there in a while, but it's an interesting place, they've got a lot of very cool stuff on display and lots of very nice tables, some staff will act like used car salesman, others are cool.

This seems to be the general opinion of others it seems.

DarkTraveller- Oh that was probably Yuki (she is the only person I can think of who that short and with that attitude who works there) you'll have to forgive her she does that to people she doesn't recognise when she gets really bored. She is usually pretty cool person but she can be quite persistant especially when it comes to signing up for tournements.

And you can't really blame GW imployees for trying to sell products because if they don't have good enough sales they tend to get fired so when you went in it was probably a really bad sales week so they were trying to make up some numbers.

Guarder22 wrote:DarkTraveller- Oh that was probably Yuki (she is the only person I can think of who that short and with that attitude who works there) you'll have to forgive her she does that to people she doesn't recognise when she gets really bored. She is usually pretty cool person but she can be quite persistant especially when it comes to signing up for tournements.

And you can't really blame GW imployees for trying to sell products because if they don't have good enough sales they tend to get fired so when you went in it was probably a really bad sales week so they were trying to make up some numbers.

Yuki, yes that was definitely the name of the employee. If that is how she behaves when she is bored then that makes sense because me and my friends were the only people in the retail side of the shop when she pulled her antics.

Nowhere did I criticize Yuki for trying to sell me anything. I was critical of her method of selling. I understand how retail works, having been a member of a retail team for a number of years in a mall I understand sales plans, and UPTs, and all of the other crazy numbers and goals that corporate dictates from above. I also understand how GW's internal policies go in terms of "encouraging" their employees to push product having had friends who wore red shirts at the local GW shop. Still, that doesn't change pushy, annoying, and outright bad behavior from a sales person from being anything other than pushy, annoying and bad. All I mentioned in my original post is that I found a particular sales team member to be annoying. That wasn't the main thrust of my post about the LA Bunker, just one guy's opinion about one employee and one piece of an overall impression of the location. The acute reader of my post (not deggreg) would have noticed that I also complemented another employee in the shop for being laid back. He was. As he showed me and my friends around the table room he worked in a sales pitch or two, offering to paint a Ream of Battle Board for free if we bought one and supplied the paint, but it wasn't an aggressive pitch, or delivered in a fake anime voice like Yuki's incessant badgering.

I take umbrage with comments like deggreg's because its a "no gak, Sherlock" sort of statement to make and comes off as insulting. Especially when assumptions are made about what I was doing at the shop (playing for free, expecting not to be sold something, ect. ect.) when I wasn't disparaging the shop in the first place.

So, am I the donkey-cave here because someone half-read one of my posts and decided to give a lesson over the internet on how retail works? Or does the other guy have his head up his musty old donkey because he decided to act the role of internet tough guy and settle my hash over a perceived slight to a retail outlet that I never actually made?

Anyway, I went to the Bunker again last night and played a game and helped my friend buy a starter batch of paint supplies and we all had a grand old time. So obviously my hatred for all things Yuki has really scarred me because I went back to the store that I said was neat in the first place and generated a sale for said store.

What a horrible person am I.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

whitedragon wrote:

MightyGodzilla wrote:Don't feed the trolls DarkTraveler777.

Yes, instead keep fanning the flames of righteous indignation!

Oh look, a whitedragon to help protect GW's white knight. How cute!

DarkTraveller- my last sentence wasn't really aimed at you in particular it was more towards those people who aren't great fans of GW retail staff, I was only stating that some employees are a lil more aggressive than others because their jobs really are on the line. But like I said she was probably just bored so she was more persistant than she is most of the time she is usually okay but it doesn't help that she is extremely hyper, and that fake anime voice that you mentioned really is how she talks some people find it annoying others don't seem to mind it as much it all comes down to the individual.
But if you find her too bad to deal with simply throw a candy bar into a corner to distract her and go talk to Yvonne (the manager) or Charles they are really nice and pretty chill and they will only sell you stuff you need and they do take no for an answer

And once again a post gets sidetracked.

I've never once had my local GW manager try to sell me anything. As a result, I buy things there every now and then even though I know I can get it cheaper online. The day he pushes something on me is the day I stop buying.
And he's never once made a comment about people using the tables without buying stuff, because he's not a child and he understands his business.

Thank God there are no red shirts at my store.

Sorry if you were insulted by my post traveler. No harm intended, it just seemed a little silly that you complained about an employee of a retail establishment doing their job when you walked into THEIR store.

I also think it was a bit out of line when you classified her as "diminuative", there was no need to try to belittle her personal appearance to make your point.

Either way, glad you had a better 2nd experience...hopefully the guy manning the tables who doesn't try to sell you stuff is still around in the future, as being "kick back" and watching the gaming tables (what a job, right?) is probably not what GW wants him to do.

So yeah, I still stand by my post...but didn't think you'd get legit offended by it. Apologies.

So the p.c. way of calling people short is no longer p.c.?

Calling someone "diminutive" is not belittling someone, except perhaps for the pun part of it.

deggreg@yahoo.com wrote:
I also think it was a bit out of line when you classified her as "diminuative", there was no need to try to belittle her personal appearance to make your point.

Dude "diminutive" is just another word for short and last time I checked 4'10" is short so does it really matter what word he used as long as the description is true?

Other great stores are aerohobbies on the westside and warhouse in long beach. Aero has a younger crowd but a much more laid back atmosphere at both.

Guarder22 wrote:

deggreg@yahoo.com wrote:
I also think it was a bit out of line when you classified her as "diminuative", there was no need to try to belittle her personal appearance to make your point.

Dude "diminutive" is just another word for short and last time I checked 4'10" is short so does it really matter what word he used as long as the description is true?

Agreed. If he had said 'midget' or similar, that could be construed as insensitive or rude, but diminutive is fine.