The Battle Barn

This past week I drove out to Cobblestone Hobbies in Holland to talk to Bob (the owner) about the possibility of them hosting any future tournaments we may want to run. The hall we have held the last few at has been adequate but provides a logistical nightmare for Brian or whoever else would step up to the plate to run it. As such we will no longer be using as a venue.

Bobs initial response was that he would not be interested in hosting the occasional one-off tournament as he feels there would be little to no return on his investment. However, as we got to talking it turns out that he would be interested if these tournaments were something that went hand-in_hand with a regular gaming club/gaming day.

Currently he has other games scheduled for Fridays and Sundays, but does not have anything going on Saturdays. He would be willing to set up a Wargames day for Saturdays if we can show that there would be enough interest. From that point if the interest was there he would then be much more willing to host tournaments. This is actually fairly significant. As a premier retailer he gets prize support from Games Workshop. Combined with some modest entry fees we wwould really be able to havee some nice prize support at our events.

Some of the other benefits would be things like climate control (AC in summer as well as heat in winter!), indoor plumbing, and easy/instant access to new models and hobby supplies.

The major downside would of course be that its in Holland which is a bit of extra driving for most of us. Also (at least at first) the hours would be fairly limited. He is only open till 5 on Saturday and is not currently interested in extending his hours. This might be able to change in the future, but at least at first gaming hours woould be from 11:00 to 5:00.

Anyways I've rambled on long enough. So, please post here what your interst level would be in this. I would ask that you post either way so I can have as accurate a guage as possible when I talk to Bob next.

Thanks,

Interest is eh kinda there, but not a whole lot. I hate driving to Holland anymore than I already do thanks to work eating up gas money. Additional trips out there without it being over time will be low on my priorities.

Keep in mind that carpooling is always an option. That helps to cut down on the required gas needed to go out there. When Jeff and I first started 40k, we carpooled to Cobblestone for 3 years straight pretty much.

I would certainly enjoy trying to get a monthly Saturday gaming day out there. As Eric said, all of the benefits are quite nice. While I wouldn't be able to make every Saturday due to work, I'd certainly head out there whenever possible.

I live in Holland so obviously I'm very interested in getting a monthly gaming day out here.

I don't think I like the idea. Maybe things have changed, but I got the impression previously at Cobblestone that Bob wasn't any more friendly to the gaming side of his business than he had to be. This could be just my perception, or it could be accurate and his reasons perfectly valid since he has to focus his effort on what makes the money, but there is another problem. We now have Brian acting as our local store and source of gaming gear, so it seems Bob is unlikely to get much increased business from us beyond little things like junk food, or table fees. This won't make it worthwhile for him for the extra traffic. I don't want to be put in the position where I feel obligated to buy my stuff from Bob as well as Brian for providing a place to play, and I'm not sure what to think of Brian supporting a business that is in direct competition with his own!

Could it work on a monthly basis? Maybe, but I see more problems than advantages to trying it.