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I have the fortune of living in a metro area with three game stores within a ~35mi radius. However, each of these stores seem to be their own little clique so there's no inter-store communication or collaboration; people basically take sides with their favorite store and that's it. For simplicity I'll refer to these stores as A, B and C with the following profiles:

A: Closest to me by a couple of minutes, also the smallest and newest store. Has a small Warmachine following and some ex-Warmachine people who stopped for some unknown reason to play WHFB. This is my preferred store as the people are really friendly and it's a very nice drive.

B: Largest store, almost entirely 40k pickup games and tournaments; there's supposed to be other miniature games going on but I've never seen them. Feels extremely cliquish and seems to have a rivalry with Store A for some reason. I went here a few times when I was looking at getting back into 40k but it never felt welcoming.

C: Furthest store (about an hour's drive) away, has a largely competitive Warmachine following and is usually the recommendation for finding Warmachine in the area. I've never been to this store as an hour is a bit more than I'm willing to drive on a regular basis, especially during the workweek.

Now, I recently picked up Warmachine and play at Store A, but the interest has slowly dwindled. We went from like 10 or so people to about 4 (the others come in from time to time but as mentioned above play WHFB) and as the store is relatively new I don't think it's well known. Store B only has 40k and has a Facebook group for coordinating games, but it's mostly used like an open forum and games are almost 100% random pickup games. Store C has a Facebook group as well that I'm part of but I haven't made a post yet as I don't go to that store due to distance.

My dilemma is that I'm trying to think of ways to get more interest at Store A for Warmachine. As I said a couple of months ago (ironically before I found out about them) they had a small but healthy league going on with around 10 people. Since I've joined, interest seems to have gone away. On Wednesday (their miniatures night) there's maybe 2-3 of us that play Warmachine, and a couple of people playing Fantasy that I've been told were part of the Warmachine league a couple of months ago, but gave up interest. I don't need to state how disappointing it is to show up and have only one person to play a game against. The store has even talked about trying to do something small with 40k to get some more interest (most of them are ex-40k people anyways) while at the same time if I wanted 40k then Store B is a better option (but even in that regard I don't care for pickup games in 40k).

So basically I am at a loss how to help get more interest going. All of the stores have Facebook groups for organizing games but I think it would be insanely rude if I were to post on Store C's Facebook group "Hey for anyone up in this area, Store A has Warmachine on Wednesday nights", and Store B has a dislike for Store A so I certainly would not post anything on their group. Ideally I would want to benefit Store A as that's my preferred place, but I find it insanely odd that there isn't more collaboration between the stores as I would think it's very rare to have a metro area with three gaming stores in such a small area.

My brother suggested that I try to set up a Meetup group for miniatures gaming in general in the area (there isn't one for war-games) without being affiliated with any particular store (basically trying to form an actual wargames club) and that way I can advertise that on each Facebook group without coming off as trying to steal business or promote a different store as the purpose of the Meetup would be to coordinate games across the area, not necessarily at a particular store. However the issue with that is I only go to one store really so even if it's not for that purpose, if people don't coordinate at the store I prefer, I (and the store) don't get anything out of it, and each store already has their Facebook group so they might not care about the larger area.

I'd rather not go to the furthest store just for my Warmachine fix, but it seems like the store I like isn't as well known (which isn't up to me to fix, but still). I've suggested to staff that they get in touch with the Press Gangers (there are two in the area), who presumably go to Store C, and let them know that Store A exists and has Warmachine as well since I'd have to imagine there are Warmachine players on my side that Store A would be closer than Store C, but other than that or the Meetup idea I don't know what else to do. I can turn up every Wednesday with my force to play, but it'd be very depressing to do that and every week it's just my one opponent and nobody else is playing. I think that if people saw more Warmachine games going on every week that the ex-Warmachine people would play again, but if they go there on Wednesday to play Fantasy instead it seems like there'd have to be a second day set aside to not conflict.

I don't know, I'm just trying to brainstorm ways to get more people interested at the store I prefer without causing more inter-store conflicts between cliques. For an area with 3 game stores, it's basically Warmachine/Fantasy (Store A), 40k (Store B) or Warmachine (Store C) and any other game is unknown, nobody plays and nobody cares about learning things like Malifaux, Infinity, Flames of War, Dropzone Commander, etc. The stores seem very set in their ways and resistant to change.

For getting new games going, I think your best bet is to talk to the manager about stocking new product lines (assuming you get on well with him/her), as stores are less likely to promote a game they don't sell. If you can get them into a game like Malifaux or Deadzone and prove there is interest in new systems among the players (nothing too formal, just chat at game nights) then there's more chance the store will start promoting and stocking the game, which will lead to more players with any luck.

As for trying to get collaboration between the stores, one way (again, if you know people at multiple stores) to get some more players on both sides is to have some kind of inter-store competition (probably won't work with the ones that actively dislike each other, but an A vs C Warmachine league, for instance, might be worth trying). Don't make it over-competitive, but it might be a good way to get some collaboration and communication between the groups, and hopefully break down barriers.

Have you considered trying to get a club set up? I think you've posted recently about it being a mostly UK thing (mainly as we don't have many gaming stores over here) but there's no reason it won't work over there, and as you're not providing any product there won't be the issue of store loyalty to contend with. You'll need somewhere to host it, so I'd recommend looking at schools, community centres and other public buildings (maybe even a pub event room if it's only adults playing) and see if you can hire something cheap-ish.

Well, the Meetup idea was meant to represent something like a club, with the idea being that you can tap into the gamers in the area rather than stay with your clique at the game shop you frequent. The concept would be that it would be store independent, so you can meet at any game store in the area depending on where people arrange it.

Why don't you talk to the owner at store A about hosting an event/league?

Have you asked the ex-WM players why they went back to Fantasy? You might find they only joined Warmachine for the league and went back to Fantasy when it finished, but would play WM again if something was being run.

I'll have to do that, we had talked about having a second league, but I think the idea fizzled when they set a date for their first WM tournament and like only one person showed up; they went and had an ice sculpture made of the trophy (and it was cool to watch lol) but nobody bothered to show.

I thought of suggesting just advertising a league no matter what, to see what happens. Even if its not an official Journeyman League or whatever, just having a "League Night" or something could at least drum up interest. I wonder if I'd get flack for saying on Store C's group if anyone is up in this neck of the woods that Store A is going to be having a Warmachine league; I mean I'd almost bet there are people closer to Store A who don't know it exists or think there's no interest there.

If there used to be 10 people playing Warmachine how about doing a campaign?

One or two people have to be the coordinators and umpires.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
If there used to be 10 people playing Warmachine how about doing a campaign?

One or two people have to be the coordinators and umpires.

Honestly I didn't think that Warmachine was conducive to campaigns due to its nature Might have to look at that too.

(Meetup idea canned for now because I'm not paying monthly to start a group that might not work)

I'm definitely going to suggest the store advertise a league starting up; I'll run the risk of getting kicked out of the other groups and post there saying it, as realistically you'd expect groups to be aware of that and that way any members on this side know there's another place to play than just the regular shop they go to. I always find it odd how gamers tend to be the most cliquish when it comes to where they play, to where outside of conventions they aren't likely to play in a new locale.

Ladder campaigns are a great way to get the game off the ground. Get a few casters/ Jack units, and then add in a couple of poker chips on the board, play over territory off of the Warmachine/ Hordes map, and coincidently- They have an RPG that transfers over to gameplay fairly well.

Start with small base forces, as the game progresses, have the casters build up armies, or depending on the missions, you can direct the flow, based on the ground situations, and after battle shenanigans.

Seriously though, You are over thinking it. Go put your paperwork in to be a Press Ganger and you will get access to a gak load of stuff to help you out, along with getting in contact with other Press Gangers in your area.

Base thing to do is figure out How many players you have to begin with, and cultivate your base group. Between you all, the strike on the iron will be in your enthusiasm for play.
People go to a shop, see a few mates having a good time, they honestly want in. What they do not want in on is TFG page 5 antics that Warmachine started out with in the past. Good groups gain more people, based on being accommodating, not to the point of being condescending, but to the point where a kid rolls in, sees the board, and asks some questions, gets some good info, and WANTS in.

Then you add in the obvious question- How far are we going to go with this group, then you can go for Terrain making days, RPG days, etc.... But then your only going to get into a single thought process. What about other games? are you going to neglect the rest of the people just for 1 game? Are you going to get 1 night a week for Warmahordes, and then wait around?

Sounds like you're turning away from meetup, but I'll share my experience anyway.

It wasn't a group organized around one specific wargame, but I had good luck expanding my gaming group through Meetup. There may already be a larger "umbrella" group for gamers on meetup that you can post your stuff to.

For example We originally paid for our own group, but eventually switched to just using the "Chicago Game Lovers" group calendar which is kind of a joint space for lots of game meetups.

Also, Meetup is a great tool for group organization, but it doesn't have to be permanent. We always has our own blog and yahoo grooup so eventually the group grew as large as we wanted and we stopped using Meetup altogether.

Additionally, as other's have said, have you considered becoming a "Press Ganger" or whatever it is that PP calls their demo teams? I don't know the specifics, but it might go a long way toward getting you prize support, credibility and visibility in your quest to promote Warmachine.

Whatever you decide, be aware that it's going to take time, but if you bring in the right people, the results can sometimes be lasting. Our club has been going strong for over 4 years now with a core group that is mostly unchanged.

I might still go with Meetup, it was just apprehension at the fact that they're charging you to start one (last time I used it it was free, shows how long it's been), and it's not exactly cheap either for something that might not even take off. I've looked at some alternatives but I really like how to get you started Meetup will notify people with similar interests that the group was created; none of the other ones I looked at did any such thing, and with a fractured community something that says "Hey a new group was formed!" might get people's attention rather than going to each group and trying to sell them on joining.

It's crazy how much this sounds like what I went through when I got into warmachine. I have one store down the road from me, then 4 within 45 minutes. They all play warmachine except the local store, which is very entrenched in 40k.

I would suggest building a few battle box lists and having a press ganger come to store A for a demo day. You would probably end up getting some of the store C people showing up too, cuz them press gangers are like rock stars.

Also, paying for meetup sounds like a bad idea.

 melkorthetonedeaf wrote:
It's crazy how much this sounds like what I went through when I got into warmachine. I have one store down the road from me, then 4 within 45 minutes. They all play warmachine except the local store, which is very entrenched in 40k.

I would suggest building a few battle box lists and having a press ganger come to store A for a demo day. You would probably end up getting some of the store C people showing up too, cuz them press gangers are like rock stars.

Also, paying for meetup sounds like a bad idea.

Yeah I'm not really fond of the idea of paying for a meetup that won't get used or, worse, just fracture into the same cliques we have now. Although the more I think about it, I don't think it's so much people don't know, as people don't care. At the one store I frequent for example, there's consistently the same one or two guys there every week to play Warmachine, then later a group of people who used to play Warmachine will come in, ignore the WM/H game and play WHFB.

So it's not that they don't know, since they used to play it, just they don't care about playing it and would rather play WHFB weekly instead. They'll even make comments about WM if it's brought up, just nobody asks why they are playing WHFB instead (which I guess could come off confrontational), and like I said above I think any idea at organized play died out when they advertised a tournament and nobody bothered to show up.