It's Growing ... Gamer's Gauntlet Demo Nights

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Malifaux – The turn-out for demo nights seems to be growing steadily. Which is pretty inpressive since the store still doesn't stock the game. (Soon I hope, let them know you'd like Malifaux and MERCS stock by emailing them here). I had about seven players on Tuesday with several people interested in demos. 

This week I brought out the desert board for a change and it seemed to catch the attention of most of the people who came into the store. With an odd number of players I had a group that played a three-way encounter. Collette vs. Zoraida vs. Perdita. They played shared treasure hunt and Zoraida came away with the win (8 points), Collette was a clse second with 4 points.

Some of the guys that tried out MERCS a few weeks ago came back with full crews, the battle maps and token sets this week as well. I'm glad to see that game is catching on as well as it's my favorite way to round out a night of gaming. Although watching them play on a 2D mat was a little odd looking it seemed to work out fine and made it much easier to transport then my boxes of terrain and tables.

Setting up your own demo night:

• Talk to the store owner and see what night they have space available. 

• Explain the system you want to demo, if the store doesn't stock it currently ask if they do special orders. Also ask if they'll start stocking the game if you can generate interest. 

• Prepare a demo table, if the store doesn't have terrain available or the terrain they have isn't appropriate or impressive. 

• Have several crews/models painted up for use

• Bring enough supplies (measuring devices, stones, cards, dice, markers, tokens) for several people

• Have other experienced players on hand to assist with longer demos

• Talk to every person that comes by looking, be friendly and ask general questions to gauge their interest. essentially you become a salesman for the game, your commission is a good community.

• When someone expresses an interest in learning more, do a quick demo of mechanics, then offer a longer demo if they want to learn more. (if you have a crowd it's helpful to pass them off to an experienced player for a "full" game.

• Promote the night, posters/flyers posted in the store, post on forums, join web groups and post there. If you don't get the word out people won't know to come in. 

• Stick with it, the first few nights you might have a weak turnout, but stick with it and eventually more players will show up.

Throwing Down the Gauntlet

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Store Review – Gamer's Gauntlet, Clinton Twp. MI 

Gamer's Gauntlet opened earlier this year and it's great to have a game store on Metro Detroit's East Side that has a decent amount of space for gaming. The last few years have been pretty rough with several stores closing up shop, so I'm hoping this signals a change for the area. The last few years of gaming drought in the area have been painful and I've been forced to go to the GW store more times then I care to remember to pick up emergency washes or paints. (Of course 2 out of 3 times they'll be out of Devlan Mud or some other basic color of wash ... really your name's on the product and you can't keep it in stock? Instead you want to try and sell me on some overpriced plastic that I told you six times I have no interest in or get me to pay $10 for a catalog of new releases. Oh wait I'm ranting, back to the point)

The store is located near the corner of M-59 and Heydenreich, this location is ideal for holding events as it's about dead center for players from Flint and Livonia to be able to make the trek out to play in tournaments. 

Currently they have a thriving Magic and Warmachine community as well as a pretty decent turn out for Warhammer events. I'm hoping to developed the Malifaux community at this location, as I know there are lots of players in the area that don't want to make the drive to some of the stores on the West Side. 

They've recently installed several large 4x6 gaming table with a nice set of terrain and there are multiple 4x4 tables for skirmish games. As expected there are also tons of folding tables to accommodate most any type of gaming needs you may have.

As this is a newer store, they are a little light on some games. They have a nice selection of resin terrain, boardgames and comic books. They stock the majority of the Warmachine line and have a good selection of Warhammer products. The owner is also happy to order in anything you might need.

Each time I've been in the store they staff has been extremely helpful and pleasant. (Which honestly isn't something you get at most games stores, where the staff is more then happy to bash each purchase you make). If you're in the area I encourage you to swing by and check them out.