Some Random Thoughts and Ideas

Some of this might be a bit OT, but I do need to get it off my chest somewhere I suppose.

First, I am being published as a sci-fi author! Granted, it's a short story in an anthology, but I am being published for a work of fiction!

Taken from Canon Publishing

Yeah, I know, not at all on-topic, but please forgive the indulgence. It's a big deal and I do hope many of you go out and grab a copy come April 1. No, it's not a joke.

Also, I wanted to pass this bit of news to local folks:

https://thegamestavern.com/blogs/news/important-announcement-we-are-closing-shop-to-reconfigure-the-business?fbclid=IwAR1KqhYbk06NOGImpUC7M7BjiZ9oYHhhtQvQJGS9AQ-oK4km225Pqm8eoBI

Important Announcement: We are closing shop to reconfigure the business.

by John Denton

 March 04, 2019

Today the team at The Games Tavern has made the challenging decision to close the doors to the shop to reconfigure the business in a way to continue to support you all – the most amazing gamer patrons in the world!


Without you none of this adventure would have been possible, and with your continued support we hope to provide continued content and service. We care about all of you and want to see the community grow and flourish.


If you have miniatures/models in the cases, or personal items in the shop please stop by to retrieve them. We want to make sure everyone gets a chance to pick their things up before we start the work over here moving things around. Please call over the shop to schedule and we will gladly help you secure your items.


If you have special orders we have contacted you about please come pick them up this week! We have some items which we have called, emailed, or more to put them into your hands for at least a week now. Those items want to go home with you.


For any special orders we were unable to acquire because our suppliers were out of stock, which were pre-paid we will be issuing refunds shortly because we will be unable to make the orders while we reconfigure and do not want you to have to wait to receive your items.


I want to thank the amazing team and staff at The Games Tavern for the amazing job they do every day.


Keylon’s management of the shop has been outstanding and I cannot think of a better person to continue to work with in the future as we chart a new path. Thanks to Keylon we have grown far better than we expected. His ability to help each and every customer has been wonderful.


Ed’s general management and straight talk is legendary, and his ability to step in and offer the right guidance to the The Games Tavern as we grow continues to astound me, and I thank him for our chats.


To all staff past and present I am thankful because each of you add something to the mix, and continue to enrich our knowledge of the hobby.


For specific requests related to picking up your items or reserved orders which arrived, refunds of pre-orders mentioned above email: john@thegamestavern.com


Sincerely,


-John

I am really unsure as to what it means for the ultimate fate of The Games Tavern. I know I appreciated having them around and they were a quality shop. Let's hope this is temporary and they come back bigger and better than ever! Not much else to report, but we'll see where this goes!

The Games Tavern, Chronicle of a Visit...and it's POST # 75!!!

Hello all, welcome to another thrilling installment of "500 Miles.." I wanted to get into letting you all know that I recently visited a new game store in the Washington DC area, a store I've mentioned previously in this blog. We here at "500 Miles..." want to support our local FLGS, and we encourage our readers to do so as well! 

So, how is it? Games Tavern has some real promise folks. It's only been open two weeks, and I did like what I saw. The paint selection was well, impressive, to say the least...AK, MiG, Vallejo. The first two you really cannot get anywhere else in the area, and the third, well, how many stores do you know that carry the ENTIRE Vallejo Panzer Aces line?

What I also liked is that they have room for expansion. During discussions with John, the shop owner, he told me they will be carrying a selection of 20mm from Covert Intervention Games, as well as Fantasy Flight Games and a variety of other lines to be named. In short, they have a plan, and they are executing it. 

A Nice View of the Gaming tables

The store in total is 2500 square feet, and has even private gaming rooms of what looked to be ample size to rent (I didn't get details on rates for that). I was rather impressed by the amount of natural light to be had in the place, in addition to the other lights. A well lit hobby shop is a good thing. I've been in too many where "Dark Dungeon" wasn't just a name, it was a description of the lighting conditions. Kudos to the Game Tavern for this alone. It was clean, the employees were engaged and customer oriented. There were Flames of War demos set up for people to try. And the entire FRONT of the store was tables for people to play at or paint at. Yes folks, this store has a good plan, a plan I cannot wait to see where it goes.

They have quite the internet presence on Facebook, and they are advertising events all the time, as well as a website which can be found at: www.thegamestavern.com. 

In short, pay Games Tavern a visit. I give them 4 out of 5 Mushroom clouds, and we'll be back in the near future to see where it goes from here.

I also want to let folks know, the Iran-Iraq war books are being read and digested, and an interview is coming. They're a bit harder of a read than anticipated, and to be honest, for reasons I wish they were not. I also will have that review of PSC's T-55s in 20mm. My capsule statement: They're good, but there are some niggling concerns I have with them, but we'll address that in the near future. I also promise more Twilight:2000 focused content soon, as I intend to do a review soon on the Cold War Battlegroup effort on the Cold War Hot Hot Hot Blog. Short word? I like it enough that I am working on a Twilight: 2000 variant for a variant, eh?

There is one other thing I wanted to mention! This is the 75th blog post here at "500 Miles..." That's right, 75 posts, 40,000+ visits, and 46 of you are following this little blog of mine. I hope you're enjoying what you are reading. I really am happy that you, the reader continue to enjoy what is posted here, and as long as you keep reading, I will keep writing.

Yay, we hit 75!!!

UPDATE: I have been remiss, dear readers, in that I forgot to mention a new Cold War-era wargaming focused blog. The Red Storm Rising blog is fairly new and looking for contributors, so far, I rather like what I see, and I would love for folks to post more.

More News Coming About!

A New Game Store in Chantilly, VA!

There's a new game store in Northern VA! And yes, Virginia, color me excited. Chantilly isn't TOO far from me, right down 66, and I am excited to know people who love 20mm have a storefront for me to hop down and pick up stuff to fill my gaming needs.

 Where in Chantilly is it, you ask?

4124 Walney Road, Suite H
Chantilly, Virginia 20151

(Do us a favor, tell them "500 Miles..." says hi when you visit!)

The store, from photos on their Facebook page, looks well stocked and has pretty much any gaming needs filled you might want. And yes, dear reader, we will be paying a visit soon to do a proper review, but one could not let something like this go without letting folks know. We have quite the readership in VA, and yes, we want this store to do well! And their grand opening is THIS weekend! So, go on down, and say hello!

Images taken from Wargaming and Terrain Website

And there's more. A new book is out, called "Setting the Scene: Winter Wargaming" and we'll be doing a review on it as well, as soon as I can manage it. On first blush, it looks gorgeous, and hey, winters and Twilight: 2000 go together like nuclear explosions and gamma rays! We'll have a review shortly for you, but the book looks very useful indeed.

We also should have a review of the new PSC T-55s that were finally released, and I put some together and I will have my thoughts on the assembly and details.

So, lots to come in the coming days.