Hey Rob, thanks for posting this. I look forward to you bringing your club down to show them the store.
I'll do my best to answer your questions and I would definitely appreciate and encourage anyone who plays in Plainville to chime in.
First, I want to stress that there is NOTHING more important to Battleground, Derek, and myself than the community we have built and always continue to build. It is our number one priority to make sure we have an awesome place and environment for people to come game. Historically, our definition of what awesome is tends to attract people that share that opinion. The community that springs up around that idea is great at making sure it's not compromised.
If there's ever a situation where people feel like the store has a "weird" relationship with any group of players or "makes things difficult" for any group of players, there is something seriously wrong and I *WILL* fix it. To my knowledge this has never been the case. I put a lot of effort in to making sure various groups for various games are getting what they want. You guys know what you want better than we do. If the players want something and it's feasible for us to do it, we'll make it happen (eventually
).
Anyways, the 40k crowd in Plainville is very diverse. Like Ben said, we've got players that range in age, experience, skill, and "idea" quite a bit. You can find some really stiff competition if you're looking for it. You can find all sorts of casual games if you're looking for it. The lists people take are usually built around the intent of the game about to be played. 2000 point tournament prep game? You'll see 2000 point tournament lists. etc.
The group is not very cliquey at all, although obviously many of them are friends. All of the players seem to be up for playing and meeting new people. The store is still very young and we see new people coming in all the time. Ben and the rest of the community are EXTREMELY good at making new players feel "at home."
I would imagine that you guys can find games at any point value you're looking for, although unlike in Abington, the average army size is probably in the 2000-3000 points. Games in Plainville typically range between 1500 and 2000 points for 1v1 and team games vary. Lately the crowd on Thursdays has been playing more 2000 point games preparing for our tournament on the 23rd of the month.
The group isn't full of whiners or argumentative types. We have some very rules savvy players and any rules issues that come up are typically handled by quickly consulting the books or FAQs in an effort to get things right. I would certainly say that most players are concerned with playing the game correctly instead of making things up on the fly. They certainly don't handle it in the "wrong" way though.
As far as the group of guys goes (at both stores, really) I really couldn't ask for a better group. They're cool and pretty mello overall. Some are casual players for life, some are competitive and travel all over the country for the game, and most are somewhere in between.
If you have a date in mind let me know and I'll try to organize something around it. A giant, "Casual 40k Night" or something like that.
