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There is a very real possibility that I'll be moving to Canada around the end of 2018. Don't know which city yet.

Despite the list of more urgent things to get ready and worry about; I can't help but wonder how the move will affect my gaming.

What is the "norm" in Canada? I'm used to clubs that have membership fees (to buy communal tables, terrain and pay for a venue if not hosted at a FLGS) and the closest GW store to me is on another continent.

I have daemons (both Warhammers and KoW), Malifaux, Infinity, loads of 15mm ancients and some 6mm Alexandrian.

Canada is massive. It really depends where you end up. There's a GW in most of the major cities, though. My city has ~300,000 people and there is two high quality FLGS, a GW and a university games club, all dues-free.

Tip: While all of Canada is great, the really best part is west of the Rockies.

 DarkBlack wrote:
There is a very real possibility that I'll be moving to Canada around the end of 2018. Don't know which city yet.

Despite the list of more urgent things to get ready and worry about; I can't help but wonder how the move will affect my gaming.

What is the "norm" in Canada? I'm used to clubs that have membership fees (to buy communal tables, terrain and pay for a venue if not hosted at a FLGS) and the closest GW store to me is on another continent.

I have daemons (both Warhammers and KoW), Malifaux, Infinity, loads of 15mm ancients and some 6mm Alexandrian.

Depends where you live. Most cities have gaming stores, and the local community often revolves around them for meet ups - particularly for GW games.

Home games are the main sort of gaming in Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan in my experience.

Facebook groups are the main way I find players and schedule games. There's a few general groups in my city and more specialized ones for different game systems.

As the others have said, Canada is a big place! Most cities will have at least one FLGS with gaming tables and an in-store game scene, but there are certainly areas where FLGS are absent. The size of the city does not necessarily correlate to the quality/size of the FLGS and some small towns can have a really active FLGS with plenty of tables (might be an issue of rent per square foot or something). A university or military base can generate a good-sized gaming community that is easy to find and access. I find that Magic and 40K are the two mainstays, but it can vary based on the tastes of the local scene. There are also "organized" gaming clubs where folks play at homes or community centres. These can be harder to find and access, but they are certainly out there! The clubs tend to have a more diverse range of gaming than the stores, but your mileage may vary!

All that to say, you should be able to find games of 40K if you move to Canada!

Really depends o where you are going. Depending on where you end up, the closest gaming store may be in another country. Or, you may end up within a half-hour of a dozen. Really depends on if you end up in a large centre or one of several tiny towns in the middle of nowhere.

 feeder wrote:
Canada is massive.

It all makes going to tournaments in other cities a pain in the butt. I live near Toronto, and used to go to Ottawa for conventions, but it's still a hell of a slog (4 hours by car, more by public transit). And that's close for Canada!

having lived in a handful of cities, the scene and general approach really varies from place to place. There's not really a norm and every larger city seems to have its mix of store based groups, informal clubs, more organized groups, home gaming and so on. Which approach will be the most common will change from place to place.

In Vancouver we have a GW store which I assume host GW games. There are a reasonable handful of FLGS with table set ups, which are generally free to play at.

There's a wargame convention annually, and I think it's put on by a society that has monthly meetings, but I think it's more focused on historicals. I believe there are some more focused tournaments as well, though that's not my scene.

There's also, I believe, a GW club (haven't checked recently, but I think it's still around), which does club like things like what you describe.

There's a fairly robust scene of homegames etc, probably best accessed by meeting people via the other venues. Depending on whether you work in a nerdy industry (say videogames), you may meet other players that way - nerdy stuff like board gaming etc is pretty popular right now on a broad level, so it shouldn't be that hard.

I expect you can probably find people online as well, via dedicated message boards, meetup type apps etc.

Gaming in Canada?

Make sure you move to an urban center. No one wants to say it but... Small town Canada isn't exactly the best place for wargaming or fair treatment.

 darkcloak wrote:
Gaming in Canada?

Make sure you move to an urban center. No one wants to say it but... Small town Canada isn't exactly the best place for wargaming or fair treatment.

Except for Petawawa - great gaming community for a small town.

Canadian gamers are some of the most patient and calm persons I've gamed with.

But they still buy milk in bags.

IN BAGS.

Or you could move to my small town and play warhammer with me!

I promise I'm not as big a jerk in real life...

And to be fair I haven't seen milk in bags since before the millennium.

We go through 12 bags of milk every week in my house.

 darkcloak wrote:

And to be fair I haven't seen milk in bags since before the millennium.

Somebody get this man some maple syrup, stat! He's losing his national identity!

At least it's milk in tetrapack boxes, right? Not those heathen plastic jugs?

There are plenty of gamers out here, but stay away from Quebec. Go to Ontario. Just my advice, as a Quebecer

 MajorTom11 wrote:
There are plenty of gamers out here, but stay away from Quebec. Go to Ontario. Just my advice, as a Quebecer

Yup unless you speak the lingo (aka French) or are just a tourist stay away from Quebec, some places are really bad if you don't speak french.

I live in just outside of Vancouver in Port Moody ( 15-20 min drive to Vancouver proper) and the gaming scene is huge here. There is the main GW store which use to be in the big mall but moved because of rent. Lots of FLGS's some facebook groups and clubs.

There is tons of gw and non-gw gaming around in Vancouver ( the lower mainland).