"An American Wargame Center?" Topic

A "wargame center" or "wargame holiday center" is a venue which offers the opportunity to play miniature wargames with other gamers in a vacation-type setting. There are several such centers in Europe, but none that we know of in the U.S.

Would you be interested in a U.S. wargame center?

yes

No.
Put it in Wilkes Barre or Scranton, I might be interested. But Chicago or Vegas? Not likely.

Maybe,leaning to yes
Clif

yes

Several have been tried over the past 30 years but none have worked.

Yes

I'm interested, but must be reasonably local, like say within a 2 hour drive.

Might have been a good idea back before the Atlantic opened.

No – I'm not even interested enough to make it to the HMGS cons 2 hours (3 going through Philly) away.

No

Yes. In fact there is a building, an older motel, in the Outer Banks town of rodanthe, NC that would be perfect for it. It provides a beach setting for the spouses, a pub/restaurant next door, and a hall for the games. There's also room for a small shop attached to the center. If I had the money I would set it up myself and name it "Knights on Rodanthe."

Sounds nice but I probably would not go.

I get that the US is a little less closely packed than Europe. Might it not work better here to have a traveling center, perhaps tied to some of our battlefields? A couple sessions in Sheridan, Wyoming, doing some of the 1876 campaign battles, or Albuquerque for Valverde and Glorieta Pass. Fredericksburg for some of the northern Virginia battles, like Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania Courthouse, the Wilderness, etc. OK, the logistics would be demanding, but that, to a certain degree, is playing to one of our strengths.

Grelber

yes

No.

In the US, if you're in/near a metropolitan area, you have commercial places and social networks to game already. If you're in an area not populated enough to support those things, it's unlikely such a place would be viable for a wargaming center.

Especially when you consider the US economy being optimized for service provision and distributed work execution. It would be challenging to start up a new business in a new field that required people to physically come to a place to do something.

We already have a lot of conventions. I don't see what this idea adds.

Me and a friend have kicked the idea around but were planning to do it in the Caribbean. Maybe a week vacation with three days of gaming. The family spends the week poolside/beach and you game for the days. Other days and evenings you spend with family. We provide rooms, all the terrain and figs. The games would be announced in advance to tailor to your liking. About 10 players max

Some place warm in the winter time would work nicely!

European concepts of normal amounts of vacation time are radically different than American! Also concepts of rail travel.

No thanks, I will play at my local club and conventions.

I'd be interested depending on expense and ease of access, but they are right who point out that the low US population density would make it tricky.

I think many of us would have less trouble writing a $1,000 USD check than with changing planes twice.

Geography may prohibit success in such a venture here in the U.S.