There are many reasons I can think of why it is important to support local business, including your FLGS, or Friendly Local Gaming Store. Did you know that your relationship with your children is one of them?
I know we’ve all been there. I’ve described it before. Awful inventory, appalling customer service, poor quality goods and a seemingly complete lack of maintenance on the proprietor’s part. This isn’t just your local gaming store, this is every less than stellar experience you’ve ever had walking into a brick and mortar establishment of its ilk.
Just the other night my wife and I went out on a date to the theatre, continuing to nourish my involvement in the community theatre scene by seeing “Waiting for the Parade,” a small cast look at four women and how they cope during various stages of World War II back home in Canada. It was an interesting perspective told in vignettes both ensemble and solo, pushing the actors through their emotional range as it skipped quickly from the intensely dramatic to the warm intimacy of humans seeking solace in each other during trying times. We had a lovely evening.
First we decided to go to dinner. The restaurant we chose appeared well kept, if a bit “big box,” being part of some sort of road house-esque franchise. We walked in and stood, casually waiting for the host or hostess, seeing the clearly marked sign instructing us to wait to be seated. The establishment was humming, yet not overly full. We observed various staff going about their duties, and after a minute or two, we started to politely attempt to catch their eyes, indicating that we were here and ready to spend our money.
Neither waitress we encountered showed any interest in us, and the bartender almost seemed to be actively trying to avoid our gazes. We gave it a few minutes and then my wife informed me that if we weren’t seated in the next thirty seconds, we were moving on to another place. Fortunately at that moment, we finally got noticed. A server came over to greet us, but instead of a warm welcome, he grabbed two menus and said “You could have just sat anywhere.”
I was inclined to leave right then and there. No greeting, and he seemed inconvenienced at our mere presence. However time was against us if we wanted to make the play before the first act started. I informed him of the quite obvious sign and he barely acknowledged it as he took us to our table.
By the time our waitress came over we knew exactly what we were going to order as well as what drinks we wanted. It should never take that long to see a server.
She came over in a strolling gait and greeted us as if she had just gotten out of bed. No apology for her lack of attention after we were seated, just mild surprise that we knew what we wanted to order. After we received our drinks, we didn’t see her again until our food was delivered, after which we didn’t see her again. Nobody checked on us and the quality of our experience, which I suppose is just as well. The food was fine, safe, expected. When she finally came over, I requested the bill, for fear we might not ever see her again, and the clock was ticking down. When she brought it over I requested the payment device immediately as well. Strike while the iron is lucid.
I described our meal experience to illustrate my point that bad service is everywhere, not just at local gaming stores. Many people have had awful experiences at brick and mortar stores, and have taken their money elsewhere. Nobody can complain about the little guys going under if those owners are doing a bad job. Being a local shop owner doesn’t give you a free pass for bad service.
That’s my rant for the week, and I brought that up because in the same weekend as that poor experience, my son and I had a fantastic experience the very next day.
It can be hard to find the time to spend with your kids. As adults and providers, we parents have a constant and awful internal conflict about how to cover all of our bases. We need to work to provide for our families, and we need to spend time raising our children, which in many cases involves not being their friends. It also involves not actively choking them when they cannot seem to understand the basic concept of picking up after themselves and not leaving damage and chaos in their wake wherever they go.
The final broad category of parenting is when to spend quality time with them just hanging out. There are many ways to do this, from hunting and fishing, camping and other outdoor activities. Story time and dinner table talk, and of course, gaming.
A couple of weeks ago I was in for a haircut at my favourite salon TeaBeards. You may have heard me describe it in earlier articles as a tea cafe, barber/salon, and FLGS. Johnny and his wife Ahlissa are digging themselves a unique niche in the local economy, as well as getting involved in youth group programs and organising a dodgeball league. They are the polar opposite of bad service, and know how to make their customers happy.
Johnny and Ryan of Up North Games in Huntsville work together to keep both of their businesses alive and well. Johnny sells the things Ryan doesn’t, or he sells a smaller supply of the things he does. Johnny will order anything you want gaming-wise, while Ryan has it right there on the shelf. This is a great working relationship, as Johnny doesn’t primarily rely on gaming as his income, and Ryan does.
One of the areas that Johnny is delving into more so than Ryan is wargaming. As such, he carries the various painting and modelling supplies and accessories, as well as an inventory of War Machine and Hordes. He also carries a system called Bolt Action, from Warlord Games and Osprey Publishing.
As I sat in my chair chatting with Johnny and getting “mah herr did”, he asked if I would be interested in participating in a tournament of Bolt Action. We talked about the system and how it was far simpler than other war gaming systems, and he also described it as a World War Two platform. I asked about historical accuracy, and he spoke favourably about the differences between the various Axis and Allied forces.
One neat side effect he described was what I call sneaky or surreptitious learning. One of the things I have always enjoyed about role-playing games in general is their cause and effect learning. You have adventures in a high fantasy medieval world, and suddenly you want to know more about the technology and politics of the time. You actually pay attention to documentaries on the Roman empire and Robin Hood. There is a certain age and interest level in our hobby whereupon you have quietly become an active and sometimes voracious learner of things, all in the name of better enjoying your imaginary pastime.
Johnny was telling me about how the system sets up different battle scenarios set in different eras of the European conflict. Army requirements and game balance are tipped in favour of who had the upper hand in which era of the war you are playing in. What intrigued Johnny was how some of his younger local players were finding their feet by going home and researching their chosen armies (French, German, Russian, British, Italian, et al.), their strengths and weaknesses, significant figures, and learning more about some very important, world shaping events from our past. He thought it was so neat how the game could do that, where schooling often failed.
So I became intrigued. And I had a thought. I asked him if my son and I could come and play as a team. And this is where the whole article up to this point comes together. He asked me how old Alex was and I replied eleven. He asked if I thought he could handle the rules. I wasn’t sure but they sounded fairly straightforward. I told him Alex played X-Wing and had recently taken an interest in Magic. He immediately said that he was custom building beginner armies for other interested beginners and that he knew just what we could play. He said he would have an army from his collection ready for us on the big day. So I agreed and got a fantastic haircut, enjoyed my tea, and left.
Alex and I attended the tourney a couple of weeks later. We watched some tutorial videos on the system, and Alex was very excited to attend. Johnny was at the store late the previous evening setting up the battle maps, which are played on a four by four foot square surface, though you can do larger scale conflicts.
He and his referee partner Renaldo had chosen the Blitz era for the tournament and had set up a three game structure in which an even number of Allied and Axis armies faced off against each other. These were not just fight to the death games, as they are in X-Wing tournaments. For the first game, the Axis players had to assault and capture Allied objectives, and the overall performance of the group affected the next “mission” for the day. The Axis forces did not perform well, and so the Allied forces received a bit of an advantage in the next game by being given the ability to call one artillery bombardment on the opening turn.
Alex and I played a great little German army of custom painted miniatures. Two infantry platoons, two medium machine gun emplacements, and a Howitzer with a five man crew. I won’t get into the system, though I can say that while it is simpler than what I know of Warhammer and Hordes and the like, it is still not as simple as what I’m used to in X-Wing. Having said that, my son and I did our best and had a pretty good handle on it by the end of the day.
Between the three games, Johnny created a narrative for our performance overall, and sold raffle tickets for various T-shirts and Bolt Action products. As a store owner, he offered ten percent off all Bolt Action purchases that day, and in general, we had a great experience.
As the end of the day rolled around, the Allies won overall. Alex and I enjoyed a first place standing in overall points destroyed, while Jacob was the first place winner of games won. We won two infantry units in the raffles, going home with a German unit and a British one.
My son and I spent the whole day together, working hard on tactics and strategy, taking turns rolling the dice and laughing with each other as we shared our victories and failures. We had no idea what was happening, and that was great. Usually I know all the ins and outs of a game and my kids have to catch up. It was nice to learn together for once, under Johnny’s supervision. For us, spending that time together was very important indeed, and Johnny was integral to that time. Whether he meant to be or not.
He hosted his tournament in the best possible way, and the amount of work and dedication he put into the whole event was obvious throughout the day, and telling at the end of it. Alex and I were tired, Johnny was spent and exhausted. Yet everyone left there smiling and satisfied.
While he is not a dedicated gaming store, Johnny is an example of how many businesses should be run if they want to not only keep their doors open, but grow and succeed in a world of big box corporate behemoths and online e-commerce mega giants.