Board Game Prices

Silent Disapproval Robot · August 05, 2015, 05:05:29 PM

Yeah, wargames have become a niche within a niche. One of the local shops I play at also has a meetup.com group online so I posted that I was looking for opponents. I've had a few offers to play Axis & Allies and that's about it. There are only two others that regularly show up who are willing to play wargames at all. One of the Axis & Allies guys showed up so we decided to try out what we all thought was a relatively simple beer & pretzels type game,Command and Colours. The poor bugger's eyes just kind of glazed over. He left right after the game ended and posted a negative review of the store an hour later, claiming that it was for die hard history fanatics only.

I have games like Bomber Command, Empire of the Sun, Paths of Glory, Squad Leader, etc that I'd like to play but I rarely get a chance to as the most complex title the majority of the people who show up have been willing to try would be Twilight Struggle or Puerto Rico.

GJK · August 05, 2015, 06:18:56 PM

I guess I'm very fortunate here. Open tables and lots of wargamer's at the main LGS with Sundays being any type of miniatures day. You're not going to see a monster game being played though since obviously they can't be finished in a day nor left set up there so you'll see more C&C:A/N type stuff but I have played Up Front there a number of times as well as some small-medium sized ASL scenarios. There's a group of us that meet there regularly (well, them much more so than me) and they've now invaded a new location that used to be only CDG's/Euro's. They invaded that location because they serve beer. :) They convinced the owner that if they pay like a $5 cover, would it be ok to play whatever they like and the owner agreed. Now the group has grown as many onlookers have begun to sit at the wargamer's tables. That and I have my local ASL group that meets every month so I am quite fortunate.

bayonetbrant · August 05, 2015, 06:20:35 PM

What really helps here is that the store owner (Scott) is a wargamer himself. His wife has even been known to jump into some ASL games on occasion as well, and can competently tag in for him if he has to go deal with a customer issue.

edit: now that his son is old enough, he'll occasionally take the reins if the parents need to handle a business issue.

mirth · August 05, 2015, 06:21:23 PM

Quote from: bayonetbrant on August 05, 2015, 06:20:35 PM
His wife has even been known to jump into some ASL games on occasion as well, and can competently tag in for him if he has to go deal with a customer issue.

That's hawt.

LongBlade · August 05, 2015, 06:31:51 PM

Quote from: bayonetbrant on August 05, 2015, 06:20:35 PM
His wife has even been known to jump into some ASL games on occasion as well, and can competently tag in for him if he has to go deal with a customer issue.

Bison · August 05, 2015, 06:33:57 PM

Quote from: GJK on August 05, 2015, 06:18:56 PM
There's a group of us that meet there regularly (well, them much more so than me) and they've now invaded a new location that used to be only CDG's/Euro's. They invaded that location because they serve beer. :) They convinced the owner that if they pay like a $5 cover, would it be ok to play whatever they like and the owner agreed. Now the group has grown as many onlookers have begun to sit at the wargamer's tables.

I guess I'm confused why the owner would care what they played if they were buying drinks and not disturbing other gamers.

LongBlade · August 05, 2015, 06:38:48 PM

Quote from: Bison on August 05, 2015, 06:33:57 PM
Quote from: GJK on August 05, 2015, 06:18:56 PM
There's a group of us that meet there regularly (well, them much more so than me) and they've now invaded a new location that used to be only CDG's/Euro's. They invaded that location because they serve beer. :) They convinced the owner that if they pay like a $5 cover, would it be ok to play whatever they like and the owner agreed. Now the group has grown as many onlookers have begun to sit at the wargamer's tables.

I guess I'm confused why the owner would care what they played if they were buying drinks and not disturbing other gamers.

FLGS carries a decent line of wargames. Not everything, but I pinged him yesterday about Wing Leader. He checked his orders and told me two copies were due to arrive today. I'm headed there tonight for some gaming. Not sure I want to pay full retail, but he runs a kick-ass store. Word is he sells a lot of wargames, but I think all the wargamers actually play at home. Have met a couple of guys who claim to be wargamers but in the store all we (including me) play is other stuff.

Might have to change that if I get Wing Leader. It seems to be calling my name.

Bison · August 05, 2015, 06:39:51 PM

Do it LB! Bring in the wargaming love to the FLGS!

GJK · August 05, 2015, 07:42:04 PM

Quote from: Bison on August 05, 2015, 06:33:57 PM
Quote from: GJK on August 05, 2015, 06:18:56 PM
There's a group of us that meet there regularly (well, them much more so than me) and they've now invaded a new location that used to be only CDG's/Euro's. They invaded that location because they serve beer. :) They convinced the owner that if they pay like a $5 cover, would it be ok to play whatever they like and the owner agreed. Now the group has grown as many onlookers have begun to sit at the wargamer's tables.

I guess I'm confused why the owner would care what they played if they were buying drinks and not disturbing other gamers.

They wanted to play games (wargames) that they don't stock and wanted to just make sure it was cool so they've offered to cover table space rental.

Arctic Blast · August 05, 2015, 11:40:00 PM

Must be nice to have a FLGS. Not so much here...unless I feel like driving an hour to face double MSRP pricing and a 'delightfully' embittered work force! Huzzah!

On the other hand, there are now two pretty good board gaming cafes in the city, and one of them has a solid selection of newer games. O0

LongBlade · August 06, 2015, 09:00:09 AM

Quote from: Bison on August 05, 2015, 06:39:51 PM
Do it LB! Bring in the wargaming love to the FLGS!

Done. I'll post some pics in the Wing Leader thread sometime today.

MengJiao · August 06, 2015, 09:53:17 AM

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on August 05, 2015, 05:05:29 PM
Yeah, wargames have become a niche within a niche. One of the local shops I play at also has a meetup.com group online so I posted that I was looking for opponents. I've had a few offers to play Axis & Allies and that's about it. There are only two others that regularly show up who are willing to play wargames at all. One of the Axis & Allies guys showed up so we decided to try out what we all thought was a relatively simple beer & pretzels type game,Command and Colours. The poor bugger's eyes just kind of glazed over. He left right after the game ended and posted a negative review of the store an hour later, claiming that it was for die hard history fanatics only.

Wow! I actually laughed about that one.

I left the area of NC where they have nice LGS (the one in Cary had a preview game of the Grand tactical Gold, Juno, Sword game a few months ago!). Maybe there are stores in Boone or Ashville.

bayonetbrant · August 06, 2015, 10:07:35 AM

Meng - you should've pinged me! I'm at Gamer's Armory a lot :)

We also have 2 other good stores in town here, and another not far away in Durham. We're fortunate, I know.

TacticalWargames · August 06, 2015, 10:16:25 AM

When I look what I got in the box for The Great War which came at the similar price to a console game I think boardgames offer alot for the money. Considering digital games once made don't require much in the way of production costs I do think boardgames are pretty cheap.

LongBlade · August 06, 2015, 10:23:08 AM

Quote from: TacticalWargames on August 06, 2015, 10:16:25 AM
When I look what I got in the box for The Great War which came at the similar price to a console game I think boardgames offer alot for the money. Considering digital games once made don't require much in the way of production costs I do think boardgames are pretty cheap.

The cost of stamping out a DVD is minimal, but the lead time to get all the code written, tested, and working can be enormous. That's where the real costs lie.