Finding New Gamers

Another Friday gone, another night of no action for my Wolves. I was all geared up and ready to take on anyone in a battle to the death, only to have everyone from my gaming group of friends slowly drop out. How often does that happen to everyone else?

The night wasn't a total loss though as I went off to the cinema for the first time since watching Cloverfield a few years back. This time it was Green Lantern and in 3D! Sorry to make that sound like a surprise but it was my first experience of 3D and it was incredible. But that would be an entire different story/review for another day.

Anyway, I enjoy playing 40k and playing for fun as it allows me to explore the codices more fully, being able to try out fluffy as well as the hardcore competitive lists depending on what I fancy. Winning is nice, but having fun with the list I put out is the main aim. But what can you do when you have no one to even put your army out against?

This whole post has been inspired somewhat by this article over at From The Warp about how people react to knowing the hobby we are involved in. Cracking read and everything in it rings true for myself. So where can you go to find other people who will want to join your battles?

First and foremost you have your local gaming stores, where ever they may be. You know everyone in their has at the very least one thing in common with you - miniature wargaming. Whether that is 40k, fantasy or any of the many other different wargames out there, someone will play your game in that store and will be up for a game or two. Outside of the most obvious place though, where can you go? Where can you find other gamers? Who can you convert to playing 40k etc?

None of the answers to those questions can be easily found. The internet is a great source for displaying your finished models, army lists, battle reports, conversions but you would have to cast a very thorough and wide net across many sites to find people in your locality. I found the gaming group I play with through Bolter and Chainsword and its worked out fine.

Other gamers can literally be found anywhere, but as largely discussed in the FTW article above, not many of us shout out from the rooftops about the hobby, so discrete enquiries are generally shunned in preference of keeping quiet about it altogether. This also impacts on trying to convert people into playing the game. Family members can be a good target as even if they decide to mock you for a bit over it, they will generally forget about it quite quickly as well. I am currently working my wife up to playing some 40k with me. Unfortunately she won't come with her own army, so I'm having to set up a second army so she has a force to use, but then I can use that army any time I want when I'm out playing on my own. Swings and roundabouts.

I'd be interested to hear anyones thoughts on how they increase their pool of opponents and how they attract new people to the 40k universe, and how you find existing players to join your gaming groups.