Dreamers Vault in Minneapolis is now the location of Wednesday night Flames of War in the Minneapolis/Twin Cities area. Last night was the first get together and effectively the trial run.
So in the future if you live there, or happen to be in the area it’s Dreamers Vault, 4701 Hiawatha Av, Minneapolis. Things generally start as people arrive or put another way about 6:00pm-6:30pm.
So how did all this happen you ask? How do you get something like this off the ground in your own area?
Well, it takes a little leg work and it’s completely worth it. First is the small matter of finding a store. We’d looked at various stores in the cities, but it was actually through Battlefront that we were connected up with a store who was super interested in having regular games but also hosting future tournaments. Keith Gilmour deserves all the credit for making it happen.
Next, you’ve gotta connect with local players. This can be a bit harder to do but patience and persistence over time wins. Advertising is part of it. Places like Facebook have FoW groups and posting in there letting everyone know regular games at a particular location is one easy thing to do that isn’t a huge investment of your time. Next, posting on the flamesofwar.com fora as well as wwpd.net is another quick and easy thing to do. At the store the games are going to happen, if they have a calendar, make sure you’re on it. Put together a poster and work with the store so that can go somewhere where people will see it!
Last and most important, play games and be regular about it! If you say it’s a regular game on such and such a night at such and such a time, be there. Nothing worse than showing up for something and that something isn’t there.
You’ll find that your group with grow by ones and twos. People will stop by and check things out and then dive in. People will walk up and wonder what you’re playing. Be ready to have that “here is how you get started” discussion with them not to mention walking them over to where in the store everything is and make some recommendations.
Logistics, and communicating with your growing band of gamers about what this weeks number of points and time period will help keep things organized and active. You might have to coordinate terrain depending on what the store has on hand.
Here is a couple of pictures from last night. Keith setup one table and I set the other.
Patrick and I rolled up surrounded and it was my Germans vs his Finns. Fun time!
Yes, it was a fun time!
A number of people approached us to see what we were playing and Tom and Kieth did a marvelous job explaining the game and the different periods/versions. Tournaments are great, but the nice thing about casual game night is being able to pause the game and talk to other players/gamers about the system you are playing that night and peaking their interest.
Plus, when the game is casual, there’s no pressure to win…so why not charge a dug in enemy infantry platoon supported by a heavy machine-gun, artillery, and tank destroyers just to see what happens! (as pictured above, left to right) 🙂
-Patrick
Nice to see, can’t have too many options for a game! But how do you know what to bring? Blue on blue actions are okay, but if I show up with 1500 early war and everyone else is late war?
Wish I lived closer.
I visit the Twin Cities a few times a year. I will defefinitely bring some minis and check this out the first chance I get.