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.

So I got back into 40k last year.

The 40K community at the FLGS seems, well dead. In the last year I have played the same 2 people over and over, only 3 games in the last year have been new opponents. There are a handful of regulars that have all seemed to give up on 40K and shelved their armies. Some play warmachine, some play fantasy, there are even smaller pockets of other niche games like dystopian wars.

The store has sporadic tournaments, and attendance from what I have been told is never more than 10 guys.

The store mostly supports the M:TG community, because that is his money maker. The FLGS website is lacking and the facebook page has a sub-group for 40K that nobody has joined.

So, to the 40K players, event organizers and even store owners, what are some things I could do to help drum up interest or help grow the community.

Painting competitions, and a sign in the window? Sadly, in the true north strong and free there aren't as many players and therefore opportunities to play, which is one of the reasons I held of on 40k till I moved to San Jose, which is a very busy place for the game, apparently!

It doesn't sound like there's a problem with the community at all.
In my experience of clubs/shops wargaming systems tend to cycle round every 6/8 months or so. Interspersed with all sorts of board/card game and smaller specialist games and skirmish systems.
Your best bet would be to join in with a few of the games that the other guys are playing and i'm sure they'll indulge you in the odd game of 40K until it comes back en vogue.

Free Beer?

Will the store let you put up flyers?

I recommend working to put together a community that -even if it plays at the store- is not dependent on the store for all it's communications. I also heartily recommend a regularly scheduled gaming night.

We built our gaming group (see the links in my sig) starting with a couple guys that I met online. We started keeping in touch via email and set a regular meeting day every other week. We found a few more folks started a yahoo group and have been meeting every other week for 3 years now.

To review, you need.

1) To make contact with as many local 40k'ers as possible
2) Find a means of contact to keep everyone informed. Email, yahoo group, whatever.
3) Pick a regular meeting day. Probably bi-weekly at first unless you get a ton of interest.

Once you get started, things that might keep your group fun could include:
1) Painting or hobby/Terrain building get togethers
2) Swap meets
3) Putting on a scenario game at a local convention.
4) Running a Campaign.
We've done all the above several times with good success.

Lastly, at a certain point it might be worth meeting in member's homes. I recommend this if you have member's with enough gaming space and terrain and member's that you trust. The beneifts of gaming at home are that you can drink, not worry about table availability or store hours, and be more selective about who you are gaming with or near. We've made the switch from FLGS to member's homes (we still game at a FLGS once every two months) over a year ago and haven't looked back.

It takes a bit of effort, but the benefits of organizing your own group, rather than relying on a naturally occurring community at your FLGS are worth it.

It never hurts to see if your friends are interested in picking up the hobby. It can be tricky though - right off the bat I know that 95% of my friends would have zero interest, but recently one has seemed somewhat intrigued.

Demo games at your store. Participate in a slow grow, escalation, or 500 points league. Offer a campaign or tournament after you have players, sure... but if you set up a designated 40k day, talk to your store managers/owners and get them to relay information to the 40k customers as they come thru, you will slowly grow.