GHQ Models Forums

For many wargaming is a niche hobby. It's sometimes hard to find others who share your interest. How do you find people who you game with? Are you a member of a local club? Do you have a store near you that has gaming space? Do you travel to large wargaming conventions? Which ones do you go to? Do you have smaller conventions near you that you attend? When you play games at conventions do you exchange contact information with other gamers? Are you a member of online forums/bulletin boards/blogs? Which ones? Do you use social media to connect with others? Which social media has been working for you? Facebook? Instagram? Twitter? any others that are good? Do you look at The Miniatures Page? Would you like to find other wargamers? Do you have any other ideas about finding opponents?

We regularly receive e-mails from customers who ask us how to find others who share their interest in wargaming. We usually suggest a lot of the things above, and we also tell them that we have heard from a lot of customers who have had great luck finding new members through our Club Finder on our website. Have you sent us your information? It's for clubs of 1 to 100+. If your name is Dave, you live in Omaha, and you can't find anyone to game with, then send us your information for Dave's Omaha Gaming Group. We will put it up on our Club Finder for free, and you may find that there are others near you to game with. We have had people tell us that they found other people who lived within a mile of them, and they didn't know that person!

This is sometimes a tough hobby to connect with others, please share your ideas to find opponents!

Thank you for your support,
GHQ

The last group I found by chance. Was bidding on some stuff and the person lived in the same town as I did. Found out they had 5 others playing every week so they invited me to join. Otherwise, go to a local hobby store and see if they have a bulletin board. If they do then put a card up saying what you are willing to play. Be open to somethings you have not done before. I never played WWII naval but I did I was hooked.

Easiest way to link to people has been the 6mm wargaming pages on facebook.

I have met a surprising number of Aussies through that - yes, we are all located hundreds or thousands of kilometres away from each other right now... but we're already starting the ball rolling for a "Game and greet" at CANCON 2018!

All of the above....

Join your local HMGS chapter. They often have a web site or newsletter with a list of gaming groups.

If you're lucky enough to have a game/hobby shop, ask around there.

Connect on various Facebook groups (6mm, Team Yankee, Tabletop Commanders etc)

Attend gaming conventions - Little Wars for me.

Network like crazy on TheMiniaturesPage, here, Yahoo groups etc.[/list][/list]

Hobby shop is how I was introduced to micro armor, which started the entire life 'on the dark side'.
I combed through the GHQ web site and noticed where people posting, where they were from. Those from FL, I send a PM to them. I met Paul in Gainesville, FL (now Orlando) that way. We have known each other over 10 years, gamed, traded, talked, etc.
.
I have now met some people through Facebook. A few Chris's Micro Armor page (that is me). Also through convention in Jacksonville, FL... Rapier which is in Feb. 2017. Also in Historicon in Fredricksburg, VA. Met Red Lief up there along with Channing, Gregory and a few others.
.
Long Live the Commonwealth, Long Live the King!

Glad you are wishing me long health Chris.

I live in the greater Phoenix area and have been fortunate in that there are at least 2 major game stores around here.

Since I live on the west side, there is Imperial Outpost games that is just over 30 minutes away and they are a large store and have a good customer base. While the historical side is not their main thing, they do support some of the more popular historical based games and carry historical boardgames as well.

Darren, the owner, has been very helpful in letting me run micro armor games at his store. My rules set of choice is Mein Panzer for this and I have managed to get some new players by hosting games at the store.

One of the things that attracts the casual onlooker is a good looking game. Basically, does the game have that eye candy appeal. To this end, I try to make attractive games that will at least have people stop and take a look, maybe ask questions, and maybe even be interested to try it in the future if not that day. I always try to be nice and answer any questions that they may have.

We also have a local gaming group of which I am a member. This is the North Phoenix Irregulars and they generally meet for games on Friday nights. This isn't really a club but more of a loose collection of historical gamers with various interests from ancients to moderns and no set scale. I have joined the group for a few Friday night games including Fist Full of Tows III and General Quarters. I have also played a Civil War game and some Napoleonics at the store as well.

I also own a bookstore at Luke Air Force base. I have hooked up with a some people that way as well. In this case, it is not through playing a demo game but just talking about history and then finding out some of them are gamers.

Pete

Do to deteriorating health over the last 5/6 years I only do some small solo gaming. I do Have several buddy's that I have gammed on and off with here in the KC area, I do have to supply rules terain and both side as they mainly do sci-fi/fantasy games. before I had a large group of gaming partners in the Burbank California area we would get together every several weeks for large games all historical.

I find it hard trying to find people in my area for gaming. All the gamers here are into Warmachine/Hordes...which is fun...or into GW which I don't do.
Although a couple of my gaming buddies know that I'm into other wargaming and have peaked some sort of interest in maybe trying out one of them. Time will tell.

I have often wondered how many people in my area dabble in miniature war gaming. According to the Club tab on this site, there are two groups for Washington. However, I have a feeling there is more than a few GDI's (God Dang independent).

With that said, is it possible that GHQ could increase the fidelity of the user list to make it possible to do a search on the state/city of a particular user? This way people could search for users in there area and contact them via this site's PM. I know it only works for those who put there location.

Judging from some of the latest discussions, all you have to do is join the UIN and you will find PLENTY of opponents.

I've made some connections at cons. They are a great way to test out a new game, and get the chance to get a feel for the other players. If there are any players who seem like good connections, I'll ask them to grab a beer afterwards. Even if they aren't from my area, it's nice to have a familiar face to see. I haven't been to a con in years, but they are great because everyone is usually in a fun mood, and things don't have to break up to get home and be at work the next day.

panzergator wrote:all you have to do is join the UIN and you will find PLENTY of opponents.

What's the UIN? It's always fun to get some new blood into the mix.

I've had some good experiences at conventions too. One nice thing about those games is that it's usually just a few hours...in case you have some unbearable players. As was previously mentioned, if you like some of the guys, grab something to eat, or a beer afterwards.

It's the United ImagiNations. Several have very well developed nations they run.

Steve

We have been following some of the posts about the United Imaginations too. Some of the forum members here have posted some things about their forces. What is it exactly? Where do you "join"? Do you get together with other people who are in it and game with your UIN army? It seems like a great thing for people who like "what if" Modern. Is it just Modern?

We have had a couple of people ask us about the imaginary armies that people are posting here, and we thought that it was just something that a few of you had put together. There may be others who are wondering the same.

Thanks,
GHQ