Tabletop Gamers

I love all types of games, card games, board games and even video games. One type of game many have never heard about before are tabletop games. I myself have only heard about these types of games over the last year or so. They are usually played in either gaming stores or gaming clubs. Most of these places can be found by either word of mouth or through online forums. I have recently joined a gaming club in my area.

Tabletop players are just normal people. They range from Doctors to college kids, who all love to play games. There is no particular dress code to be a gamer, most wear jeans and t-shirts. Their age can range from ten to fifty years old. One thing they do all have in common is the love of the game. Some prefer to build and paint models rather than play and others would rather just play than worry about all the painting.

I went to the gaming club for the first time about six months ago. It is located in a mill in my city and is up on the fifth floor. To get to the fifth floor you can either climb up about twelve flights of stairs or take the freight elevator. Trust me though you would rather want to take the elevator than climb up all the stairs. I have never been on a freight elevator before and it was a little scary at first. After going up and down it a few times you get used to it. Once you get to the top floor, you go threw a door and then to your right there is a sign on another door for the gaming club. When you enter you walk into a very large room. It is longer than it is wide. There is a large table where most make there playing list as well as role playing, or play board games. Next to that is an area with a couch and a few chairs, this seems to be the area were most hang out and talk and enjoy their lunch. On the left you see a refrigerator as well as a shelf with candy and chips. Along the rest of the wall to the left there is a lot of shelving all filled with models and books. These shelves belong to the members of the club, and this is where they store all of there armies and supplies they need. As you walk farther in to the room you walk by an area that has about six tables. I was told this is the area most used for building as well as painting. The rest of the room has six by four tables spaced throughout the room. There are about nine tables and each table is different. They all have different scenes on them. There is a snow table, a canon table a few that are green, a city table and a chaos table. They all have moveable terrain.

I was invited to watch a few games and learn how to play the game. There are a few games played at the club, Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, War Machine, and Flames of War seem to be the popular ones. All these games require a set of six sided dice, a tape measure and an army to play. I decided to start with Warhammer 40k first. There are ten different armies you can play some have subgroups in them and most members own at least two. You can play Chaos Daemons, Chaos Space Marines, Eldar. Dark Eldar, Space Marines, Orks, Necrons, Imperial Guard, Tau Empire, and Tyrainds. All these armies have different characters, and are all played differently in some way.

During my first game it was Imperial Guard versus Orks. The Imperial Guard are figures that look like soldiers. First both plays will make a list from there Army Codex. Each Army has its own book explaining every character and unit you can use for that army as well as how much each will cost. Most games are about one thousand to three thousand points. Next both players roll off. This determines which side of the table they will start on as well as who goes first. Next both teams set up, these two armies are usually played with the most models so it can take a little while for them to be fully set up. Once both teams are all set up turn one begins. They start out with the movement phase, each unit can move a certain amount of inches each turn, example would be a troop moves six inches. Next is the shooting phase, some armies have more shooting than others. Each gun has a range it can shoot, shooting ranges from twelve to thirty-six inches. You must declare who you are shooting at before you measure and if you make it you are allowed to shoot. Next phase is the assault phase. This is where you can run into and enemy and fight hand to hand combat. Most troops have a six inch assault range, if you are not with in six inches of any enemy model you can not assault that turn. Each game has 5 turns, and in each turn you repeat all three phases. Some games can run anywhere from one to four hours. In some games there are missions you have to complete, you either have to hold a few objectives, such as a barrel, you must have a unit within three inches of that objective before the end of the game. Another game you can play would be total ellimonation; this is where you have to kill the enemy before they kill you.

Some of the club members play several games in one day, others may play one then hang out for a bit while watching others play. The atmosphere is awesome, everyone is nice to each other, and they are always happy to show new comers how to play. As I left that day I learned many new things. I found out what table top gaming is and how to play. It is a little tricky at first but once you know the rules it can be fun. I now belong to the club and go there weekly.