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I've been a war miniatures gamer for about four years now, I played 'Nids extensively, then Marines, then DH, then CSM for a bit, and then switched over to Warmachine for a while. I'm getting back into 40k; most likely a Nidzilla/Stealershock list, but I've still got a good chunk of marines and CSM lying around so something may come of that.

The problem is there's only one really consistent public gaming group in my town, and they are really unpleasant to play with. Every list is hardcore minmaxed las/plas MEQ, the players of this group are really unpleasant to play with, in that they play only to win, and not have fun. When I first started playing(maybe three months of playing at the time), one of their oldest members played a game against me, and basically told me that my Marine command squad w/ Chaplain would continue to fall back because a scoring unit was in firing range of them. I've seen this same guy rip off the LGS that they played at at the time and steal literally hundreds of dollars of stuff right off the shelves. This is a 30 year old man.

This is the average quality of player in that group, and I've got absolutely zero desire to play with them, but they are the only gaming group in town. Has anyone ever faced similar circumstances, and what did you do? Would starting my own gaming group be a viable alternative? Am I stuck with the cheeto crusted fingers, squinty eyed "I haven't seen natural light" 30 year old virgin players, or is there really a laid back married with 3.5 kids gaming group that I can't find?

How big is your town? Any other towns within reach?

Try looking for players and groups on sites like The Miniatures Page.

You might find a historicals club to join that also does some SF gaming. You might be able to demo 40K to them.

Kilkrazy wrote:How big is your town? Any other towns within reach?
Try looking for players and groups on sites like The Miniatures Page.

I live in an area of about 600,000 people, and there are about five LGS in the area, the nicest of which is basically swarmed with this gaming group. There are four other gaming groups in the area according to the GW site, one of which only plays LoTR, and the other two are way the hell out away from me.

Where the hell do you live?

Have you considered moving?

Darrian

My guess is, that for those four publicized groups, in a city of 600k, there are lots of other little groups playing, if not in the stores, then people's basements, garages, etc.

Ah, but how to find them?

1. Check to see if any of the stores have forums with 'meet & play/schedule a game' sections. Try Dakka's as well.

2. Local University/College: find out if they have a gaming club that's open to non-students.

3. Talk to the Store owners: they may know of some store regulars who prefer to game at home, and are looking for another player.

4. Check with other games/companies' boards: Check the PP boards, the HMGS, because while they may not (or no longer) play 40k or Fantasy, they may play Necromunda or Blood Bowl, or know of others who do.

5. Go to RTTs. Yeah, it's competitive. It's min/max. It CAN be joyless lead pushing and dice rolling. But it can also be a great way to make connections, meet people (who may never play at the stores, or who play at the more distant stores but live nearby) etc.

Those aren't nerds... Those are....fill in expletive here.....

Here's what you do:

1. Bring Justice's wrath upon anyone that would steal from a gaming store. If this means the cops, Fine. If this means taking a lead pipe to his shins, Fine. Scum deserves what he gets.

2. Do what Syr8766 says. He is wise.

ender502

Perhaps hire a few prostitutes for the next gamer meeting - that might change their outlook on life and gaming a bit

Snag up new players and help them learn the game creating your own gaming group. You of course would need to patient and teach them but would earn thier respect.

I've had to walk away from a few games due to highly competitive gaming environments and people who only play to win are a PITA. I don't play Warmachine at one of the local game stores specifically because of the cut-throat nature of some of the players there.

syr8766 has some very good advice. My solution was to get my own table and terrain and run gaming nights at my house with some of friends and like-minded gamers.

That probably won't work for everyone but I think that checking out local gaming stores, message boards and even sites like Dakka for local gamers should turn up some people. Talk to store owners though as they usually have a good knowledge of who is or isn't playing specific games and that might be a good source of leads.

Are there any gaming clubs in the area?

I found the guys I play with in GW's club database, a long time ago. I dunno if they still have it though. I also wasn't a big fan of playing in a store, and I'm still not. Don't know why. I go there to buy all my stuff, but I don't want to just wander in with my army and hope to find a game, so I only play there if I set something up with someone I know ahead of time. The guys I play with now are all super laid back and fun to play with, and we just meet once a month since everyone in the club is a grown up with families and other obligations. So it works out well for me. It took me a while to find a really good group. You just have to do some searching.

There is a DakkaDakka forum dedicated to setting up games. Have you posted there?

I've seen the Dakka forum for setting up local games, but I know for a fact that some members of this group check the forums fairly often and I really don't want to hurt their feelings over something as simple as me not liking their gaming style.

Chances are that there are other gamers nearby that these clowns have driven away as well. A few bad seeds dominating a local store can ruin the atmosphere. I'd try some of the other stores to find a compatible group, even if it means longer drives.

Ungentle, if you simply declared your location on that forum and asked interested parties to PM you, no one would be any the wiser, right?

Good luck finding a group that's more to your liking.

Incidentally, I love the title of this thread. It could be an Onion headline (without the "need help" at the end).

Ungentle wrote:I've seen the Dakka forum for setting up local games, but I know for a fact that some members of this group check the forums fairly often and I really don't want to hurt their feelings over something as simple as me not liking their gaming style.

I fail to see why you should care if you hurt the feelings of a guy who steals and cheats. If you, an occasional player know about it. Then the regulars know about it. The fact that they haven't put a stop to it speaks volumes about their character.

Ungentle wrote:I've seen the Dakka forum for setting up local games, but I know for a fact that some members of this group check the forums fairly often and I really don't want to hurt their feelings over something as simple as me not liking their gaming style.

Apparently you need to think less about sparing the fealings of these guys and be more concerned about getting in some fun games. You don't have to insult them to not play with them anyway, just say you want some nice friendly games that are more low key than the ones they play. If they get bent out of shape because you don't want to play with them, that's their problem. Besides, who wants to play with theives anyway? I don't want to have to watch my army like a hawk for fear that my oppnenet might try to swipe my minitures.

Yes Ungentle, where are you based? I found really good gamers at some GW run events. If it's just Conflict(beginners style here in Aus) you get about 3 games in. However, there are a lot of Gamers walking around, so be ready to initiate some banter, and see where that takes you.

Also, I will go with thew others on this about posting here on 'Schedule a game'. Who gives a toss if you upset lying, cheating thieves?

So as weird as it sounds, I would look up some GW events, there are usually large/eclectic groups there, and you may be surprised, as sometimes the best games you may have are with people 3 minutes down the road, but you only ever walked past them at the shops for some milk!

akira5665 wrote:Yes Ungentle, where are you based? I found really good gamers at some GW run events. If it's just Conflict(beginners style here in Aus) you get about 3 games in. However, there are a lot of Gamers walking around, so be ready to initiate some banter, and see where that takes you.

Also, I will go with thew others on this about posting here on 'Schedule a game'. Who gives a toss if you upset lying, cheating thieves?

So as weird as it sounds, I would look up some GW events, there are usually large/eclectic groups there, and you may be surprised, as sometimes the best games you may have are with people 3 minutes down the road, but you only ever walked past them at the shops for some milk!

My friend used to carry a Crux Terminatus keychain. It's innocuous enough to non-gamers, but GW players will recognize it instantly. He found a half-dozen players at his telecom centre as a result of carrying it around.

Good call Asmodai.

A GW keyring.....Hmmm, you might find fellow gamers at swingers parties too...........

Don't even kid about that. There was a store owner I met who was into
that stuff.

i know what you mean about it being hard to find local gamers, you enjoy playing with... me and my gaming group ( 3 man strong ) drive 40 mins just to play at a store where we like the crowd....

also alot of times all it takes is to state ahead of time that you want to play a "friendly" game against and non min/max MEQ army...

as for people stealing from a local game shop ... they deserve many punches to the face

@ Malfred-Gak ( Means-Yuk/Gag) , the mental images I just had leave me somewhat....disturbed.

Sometimes it is VERY bad to have a good imagination.
If he wore a G-string (Or 'Thong' as you non-Aussies call it)....would it look like a rubber band around a soft-boiled egg?

PS, This is him?

legoburner wrote:Perhaps hire a few prostitutes for the next gamer meeting - that might change their outlook on life and gaming a bit

Nahhhh, they would fail their morale test......

To the OP:

Post up a sign or check out the notices on the bulletin board of the store. If there isn't one, suggest it to the owner.
Do you have any friends who game? Bring them to the store. I'm sure the owner would like some new customers too.

As for watching this guy rip off the store, tell the owner. Lost sales via stolen merchandise threaten his livlihood.
In the gaming store I used to frequent, myself and 3 others watched a guy lift some merchandise. He put the stuff into his figure case. I informed the owner who casually walked over to the gaming area, asked the guy if he could see his figs. The theif hemmed and hawed, but with some pressure from the group of us, he had to open the case. The owner retrieved his property, and told the guy he was no longer welcome in the store. And this was a 30 something y/o guy who could definately afford the stuff he was taking. He left and we didn't see him in there again.

A few months later, I was in another store, and there was the same asshat. I talked to the owner, filled him in and had him call the owner of the other store. He stomped on over, grabbed the guys stuff and threw it out the door and told him if he ever came into the store again, he'd kick his @ss.

Theft cannot be tolerated. Gaming and specialty stores have enough challenges as it is. That blister or box is food on someone's table. Crikey, even Abbie Hoffman (in "Steal This Book!") reminds you to leave the cover behind so the store can list it as 'damaged' and recoup their money.

Funny story about the CT keychain. I actually met people who play 40k at Michael's, buying up Lemax stuff for terrain after Xmas. The clerk looked at me and what I was buying (trees, hills, etc.) and said, "you play 40k, huh?" Tres Bizarre.

Ungentle: good on you for not wanting to offend others. If you can be circumspect about it, do so! You may also keep those 'types' away with your description of what you're looking for. If you say, "looking for casual games" or that you're looking for gamers who are interested in a low key experience etc. you'll probably weed out the TFGs and tournament toughguys. Not that there's anything wrong with tourneys, but it's nice to just throw some dice and push some dollies around on a Sunday afternoon. If you make that your clear objective, I imagine you should be fine. And you never know, perhaps some of those TFG regulars aren't such TFGs afterall, they just are in certain contexts...

My friend used to carry a Crux Terminatus keychain. It's innocuous enough to non-gamers, but GW players will recognize it instantly. He found a half-dozen players at his telecom centre as a result of carrying it around.

I can't believe I have never thought of that one before...its so..obvious yet I totally missed out on it. I'm going to buy myself a GW keyring for christmas and adopt this strategy immediately. It is sort of like early Christians who carried secret symbols, or people who wear armbands to indicate their interest in certain alternative sexual practices.

As for a 30 year old man who steals miniatures from a store...that is about the most pathetic, infantile thing I have ever heard.

I've come to realize the keychain method has one fatal flaw:

It doesn't work if the only people you ever hang out with not only already play 40k, but already have similar keychains themselves.

I have to join in with everyone else and say not to worry about hurting the feelings of a thief that's doing his level best to destroy someone's living. Let the owner of the store know about these clowns and maybe he'll give them the old heave ho and get in a better class of player that these guys are keeping away with their antics. There was a similar group of gamers in a store that I go to and a worker there finally got fed up with them and told them not to come back until they took showers. That was the last that they were seen there and things really improved at the store after that.

its true about the number of people who play but you don't Know for me . all my friend in the army couldn't believe i painted l
"little man" because I'm a large angry white male who owns many guns
but as a weapons teacher in the army you meet many people you'll see them reading a HH book or in one of my class i was teaching a group about the M240b or Mag 57 i think? and he said he wished he had a Vulcan mega bolter bam 40k player

Now as the 30 year old theif he needs his fingers smashed

skullspliter888 wrote:its true about the number of people who play but you don't Know for me . all my friend in the army couldn't believe i painted l
"little man" because I'm a large angry white male who owns many guns
but as a weapons teacher in the army you meet many people you'll see them reading a HH book or in one of my class i was teaching a group about the M240b or Mag 57 i think? and he said he wished he had a Vulcan mega bolter bam 40k player

Now as the 30 year old theif he needs his fingers smashed

" You can take the miniatures and the hammer, or you can get the F*** out of here. Tell your friends. "

Grignard wrote:

skullspliter888 wrote:its true about the number of people who play but you don't Know for me . all my friend in the army couldn't believe i painted l
"little man" because I'm a large angry white male who owns many guns
but as a weapons teacher in the army you meet many people you'll see them reading a HH book or in one of my class i was teaching a group about the M240b or Mag 57 i think? and he said he wished he had a Vulcan mega bolter bam 40k player

Now as the 30 year old theif he needs his fingers smashed

" You can take the miniatures and the hammer, or you can get the F*** out of here. Tell your friends. "

LMAO Thats a good idea