Day 34 of 362

Not much new to report. Got an update on our product from Wizards of the Coast. Probably a Monday or Tuesday arrival for product that's supposed to be here by today. Our other suppliers took the initiative to insure us this product would be here on time, so why can't a huge company like WotC?

Beyond that, life is as it ever goes. We have a Pathfinder RPG, some MtG players, and my Deathwatch game going on at the store tonight. Deathwatch will be simple as four of the seven players have to make new characters. The bulk of our time will be doing that. The plus side is that they get to integrate material from the new Deathwatch book, Rites of Battle. Rites of Battle contains some very tasty and some very overwhelming stuff within its pages, and I'm certain my players can't wait to use it.

I know I owe y'all a Monday Music for this week. I may have to do two next week, although my lovely wife, Loquacious just showed me how to schedule posts the other day. That means if I get on a roll, I might be able to do two or three reviews at a time and be good for a couple of weeks. Hmmmmmm...

Until later... GopherDave

Winter War 38 - 2011

Well, I've written about it a bit, but I figured I'd post some pictures from the convention we attended this past weekend, Winter War 38.

Some of the pictures are a touch blurry. As you've seen from some of the clothing pics, I'm NOT the best photographer. If it goes much beyond point and shoot, I'm about useless. Hand me a video camera, on the other hand...

BOARD GAMES & MINIATURES

Some games going on in the main room on Friday Afternoon.



More games, same day, with the added bonus of someone browsing at our booth!



Now, Friday night games have begun.

  

Another random Friday night shot from our booth.

Early stages of a game of Power Grid. The guy running this magnified the board and uses different colored touch lights to determine ownership of power rights. Way Cool!



Close-up of the same stage.



Later on, with more lights.

As the game plays on, the board gets both prettier AND more headache-inducing.

A shot of a *PARTIAL* layout of a big Space Hulk game.

A couple of Genestealers menacing some Space Marines.

A swarm of 'Nids looking for juicy, bio-engineered humans! We taste just like chicken to them! Honest!

Overview of the Blind Sniper map. The various pop can tabs are objectives. Sometimes, GMs get so "cheap" with the materials they use. (Guilty).

Robo-Rally... A great little game of spatial relationships and destruction.

Some of the Gophers playing Le Boomb on a Saturday night!

Some more Robo-Rally...

Looks a little different than before, hmmmm....

That's because they're playing it on a giant cube! How cool is that?

 

Not certain what game was going on here, but it looked neat!

One Tom Reed's always-enjoyable Desperado games.

This is Rockville, which was invaded by Zombies, Aliens, and Mutants all in the same day!

DEALER FRIENDS

These are some of the other dealers we see each year at our convention. For many of us, it's the only time we get together. Many times we trade customer stories and business strategies, but mostly, we just have a good time reconnecting.

This is Elaine Oldham, one of our local artist friends.

Paul Hassebrock from Mecca-Anime (Springfield, IL) at his booth. Great guy!

Scott Thorne from Castle Perilous (Carbondale, IL). Scott was my FLGS owner when I went to school at Southern Illinois University. He's still at it, and it's great to see him each year. I've learned a great deal from watching Scott and his operation grow over the years.

Sally Kinsinger from the Game Room (Washington, Illinois). Her husband, John, was off wandering. John's dad and stepmother owned the store before John and Sally took over. Dave and Sue are both missed by many long time Winter War attendees, but John and Sally are just as fun!

ROLEPLAYING

Pathfinders deep in thought... "Just how DO we kill this thing?"

LFR Players in the back of the CIRCA room.

More Pathfinding... More killing...

DIE DIE DIE!!! Foul creatures!

Different pathfinders... same basic results...

Although it looks like someone is getting flanked by mummies. Bad times... bad times, indeed...

...And this is how we spent our last weekend. Selling games and reconnecting with friends new and old. Jealous yet?

peace... GopherDave

Day 33 of 362

Okay... so "Snowmageddon" wasn't all it was hyped to be. It's still REALLY cold and makes me all the more glad of my adoption of the sweater vest as part of my store uniform.

Not much is going on today, and I expect not much will be going on at the store since all we have going on today is a couple of RPGs.

Right now, my largest worry is whether or not the shipment from Wizards of the Coast gets here in time for the release date of MtG: Mirrodin Besieged. My other distributors shipped early due to the weather. Not WotC... "Our shipping hub is down here in Texas and we're just fine, so all you Midwestern folks can just jump into one of your copious snowbanks... We'll ship as normal and y'all can HOPE it gets to you on time."

I love it how WotC gets all bent out of shape when a store breaks street date on product because doing so gives a store an "unfair advantage". However, shipping some stores said product late is perfectly okay because "they tried". Oh wait... no they didn't, and that's why the bulk of our MtG product might be late.

Sometimes,  I love this business... sometimes...

peace... GopherDave

Day 32 of 362

Well, this is what I wore to work at the store today. However, due to the blizzard/ice storm happening currently, I decided that I'd rather be safe than sorry. So while the store isn't open today, I still look good. =P

Take care, Midwest folks. Stay warm... Be safe...

- GopherDave

A Change of Plans...

It's been no secret that my wife and I have been looking for a new place to move our storefront. I've blogged about it enough, after all.

So, we have been traipsing about looking at various places. Some places we go alone, and some we've been taking a few Gophers with us for advice and a different set of eyes. We actually found a place that would be absolutely perfect. So perfect that the spouse and I were ready to set things into motion to secure it.We were so confident that we sent three of our most trusted friends to go look at it.

What they came back with surprised the hell out of us, and it hurt a little as well, but in the end, I had to admit that they were right.

They agreed with us that the spot is a great fit for where we want to be in the future. The location is good, the parking and bus access are more than acceptable, and as the first tenants into the (currently unfinished) spot, we could pretty much dictate the layout of the place. Then they told us that we were not ready for it. That was a gut shot.

To support their argument, they pointed out that the fixtures we currently have are pretty much the ones the original owners of the store started out the store with. We've added a couple of shelves and some other pieces, but they've been pretty much in line with what we already had. The fixtures themselves are generic, and in some cases, starting to fall apart. Thinking about it, the original owners started the place on a tax return, and some borrowed and scrounged up things to get them a bare bones start. Currently, we don't look like much more than a bare bones place that's had a little bit of success.

These friends also told us that we could be better within our current spot, then proceeded to lay out ideas on how to do that.I think the most surprising thing for me was that I listened to them. Frequently, I'm not even willing to listen to my wife, let alone anyone else. I considered and am still considering what they said to us. The wife and I are pretty much decided that we are enacting many things that they suggested.

Basically, what they are suggesting is a continuation of what has been going on with myself. There has been a slow, inner transformation within myself which has manifested in the outward transformation that I have been blogging about for the last month. We need to take the next step and give the store a face lift, so, we're going to put ducks in a row and make that happen...

...because the Gophers are worth it.

-- GopherDave

Day 31 of 362

With the convention over, now begins "convention recovery". Due to oversleeping, I'm running way behind today. My fantastic spouse and some of our friends are currently doing inventory at the store, and I'm about to leave to join them. Also, with it being Monday, she will send me home early to get out of her way while she blows folks up with her Black Templar army.

With the early evening, I'll probably come home and start posting convention photos. Monday Music will probably become Tuesday Tunes for this week. With another busy week and weekend coming up, things should be settling back to normal sometime next week.

I'll probably post some post-convention ruminations tonight, but for now, it's time to let an "open secret" just be open...

I'm GopherDave, and my wife and I own...



ARMORED GOPHER GAMES



Day 30 of 362/Winter War, Day 3

This was my first time experimenting with a collar bar...

...and cuff links. Like the picture above, I'm still a bit fuzzy on how I feel about them yet.

Day three of three-hour naps. Still stylin' and profilin'... and still very, VERY SLEEPY. Overall, it's been a good weekend with great friends.

We've had lots of help and encouragement from the Gophers (our friends and customers), and that has made things run a lot smoother. Now if they could only sleep for me, I might be okay.

I will expand this post later, as I am running late because I took a three-and-a-half-hour nap. Bad GopherDave... No biscuit. =P

Until Later... GD

It's later...

The convention is over. A good (and profitable time) was had by myself and the rest of the Gopher crew. I have a few pictures to go through before I post some of the better ones on the blog.

Overall reaction to my new look was positive. I received many compliments on the whole cuff links/collar bar look for today. After wearing the two items all day, the jury is still out on them. I feel like my arms are practically swimming in a french cuff shirt. I'll probably try it a few more times to really get a feel for it. As it goes, if I'm going to do this on a regular basis, I should get more than one pair of cuff links, just to keep things interesting and open up options.

The collar bar thing is actually pretty good, but I think I have to get the bar replaced. When they electroplated it one end was semi-fused closed. I managed to get it open, but there is a rough spot in the opening that will play hell with the shirts. We'll see what can be done.

Now... I'm exhausted... It's bed time...

-- GopherDave