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So, my wife has finally gotten a confirmed job out at UC Berkeley, and I'll be moving out there in a few months. What's going on in the east bay area?

My limited internet research has pulled up references to Games of Berkeley, but I am a little concerned about their tagline's dedication to 40k strategy and the fact that they hold a tournament once a month. If that particular place is filled with people who believe that 40k is another version of chess, then I probably won't fit in very well there. Is that the actual case?

Otherwise, does anyone else know of 40k that's going on within a reasonable drive from Berkeley?


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edit: confirmed location of our new place is actually in Vallejo, CA.

I've heard lots of good things about End Game in Oakland

http://www.endgameoakland.com/

I'm from the Southbay (San Jose). Here we've got Game Kastle in Fremont and in Santa Clara.

A little north from you are the Frontlinegaming crew in Martinez.

jy2 wrote:I'm from the Southbay (San Jose). Here we've got Game Kastle in Fremont and in Santa Clara.

Oh right, I'd forgotten you were from the bay area. I suppose lots of people who participate in the BAO are going to be from the region.

The problem, of course, is that the bay area is a big area. I don't know if I'd be able to make the four hour round trip on all that frequent of an occasion.

jy2 wrote:A little north from you are the Frontlinegaming crew in Martinez.

This I didn't know, and it's certainly closer than san jose. I might be able to make it out there a few times, but it still is a little bit of a drive for a weekly get-together.

fursphere wrote:http://www.endgameoakland.com/

Thanks for the link! That place seems huge.

 Ailaros wrote:

jy2 wrote:I'm from the Southbay (San Jose). Here we've got Game Kastle in Fremont and in Santa Clara.

Oh right, I'd forgotten you were from the bay area. I suppose lots of people who participate in the BAO are going to be from the region.

The problem, of course, is that the bay area is a big area. I don't know if I'd be able to make the four hour round trip on all that frequent of an occasion.

jy2 wrote:A little north from you are the Frontlinegaming crew in Martinez.

This I didn't know, and it's certainly closer than san jose. I might be able to make it out there a few times, but it still is a little bit of a drive for a weekly get-together.

fursphere wrote:http://www.endgameoakland.com/

Thanks for the link! That place seems huge.

No worries. San Jose is actually only about 45min away from Oakland 1-way (and about 35-min to Fremont), though with traffic, it could take 1 hour+ to get there.

There's also Black Diamond Games in Concord.

jy2 wrote:No worries. San Jose is actually only about 45min away from Oakland 1-way (and about 35-min to Fremont), though with traffic, it could take 1 hour+ to get there.

Strange, google maps seems to think it takes at least twice as long. How is traffic like on that side of the bay?

I suppose part of the problem might wind up being where in Berkeley we wind up living. How much of there I'd have to drive through might make a big difference.

jy2 wrote:There's also Black Diamond Games in Concord.

Thanks for the link!

Ronin games in Castro valley. 40k on Sunday and tournaments. Ed the owner is really a laid back guy. Also union city have the dreaded games workshop one man store. Josh the manager, and players there are casual. However, they don't remeber the rules and faqs all the time.

I went to school at Cal, and at the time (graduated spring 2011) the crowd at Games of Berkeley didn't at all seem like the competitive crowd if that's what you're worried about. The monthly tournaments struck me as more of a way of ensuring people had opponents on the day the game in question was featured (they did the same for Fantasy, and probably Warmachine too).

Then again, I didn't play there that much, so it's only the impression I got, and it's a while ago anyway. There was a guy working there, though, Nick I think it was, who was a really nice guy, so you should definitely stop by and ask for him to find out the lay of the land. And it's only a couple blocks from campus, so it's not like it's a massive endeavor.

So, just as an update, it's confirmed that I'm going to wind up living in Vallejo, CA. My missus and I just spent the last few days out there, and we got the keys and paperwork signed and everything.

While we were out, we spent part of a day in Napa and did manage to swing by the Loose Caboose (I saw the bulletin board and everything), and it's interesting that they seem to have terrain, but no active gaming community outside of, well, a bit of cork board that you can try and fish for a game on. Is there any kind of proper regular, organized play there?

While there, it was sort of hard to miss that a new game store (Hall of Gamerz) had sprouted up next door. That place seems to be a proper gaming store, rather than a model train seller who has a couple 40k tables in the back. The problem, though, is that the store is the size of a closet and isn't set up to do anything but MTG yet. The owner seemed really nice, and like the place might expand into a bunch of other stuff, but is it true that there's a $10 surcharge just for walking through the door?

And it seemed really vague what the working relationship was between the train store and the game store. Was there going to be one community set up between the two of them, or are they new rivals?

I also took a trip through the golden hills of California along highway 4, which was staggeringly beautiful (at least, until I drove on highway 1 the next day. I will not miss Illinois in the slightest) down to Black Diamond in Concord. This is the kind of place I think of when I think of a gaming store, really. Merch, place to play, big board with a calender of the weekly events. Really, the only problem is that it's further away from where I live than Napa... and I have to cross a toll bridge to get there.

Anyways, my interaction with these places was pretty brief as we were really busy going off and doing stuff. If anyone can tell me more about the culture of these places that would be great.

I'm also not just interested in 40k/tabletop mini games, but I'm also thinking of getting back into a proper RPG of some sort. Does anyone know if that's going on around here?