Well, well, well! Back again after a long, well deserved vacation in the States. Some of it was amazing! And some of it was... well, less amazing, but all in all, a successful holiday visiting family and friends. I will say this, almost nothing in my life has been more stressful than hustling two very small children across an ocean all on my lonesome. Yikes! I do NOT recommend that. Definitely not for the faint of heart. Luckily for me, I am an Imperial Commissar, and not one to fail in my duties! Ergo, everyone made it there, and everyone made it back, all safe and sound. Success!!! All praise the Emperor. But before I get into what an amazing trip it was, a few things.
Working Hard or Hardly Working
What's a vacation without a little painting, am I right? Okay, no I did not bring my models with me all the way to the other continent, but I did do some for a stress relief after returning home... I give to you the last of my Paladins! With him out of the way, a single model stands between me and two fully painted lists in October... well, I guess a single character with two models. The Champion of the Order of the Wall is the last to go, with both his mounted and dismounted forms. And then we shall be complete!!!! Mua-hahahahaha!
Working Hard: Paladin of the Order of the Wall
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| A third Paladin? Don't mind if I do! |
Man, I love these models. This is hopefully the last one I'm going to have to paint though, since even with the Paladin theme force, three seems to be the limit. Add to that Dartan and the Champion, and my TOM list is simply lousy with Paladin strength!
WIP: Champion of the Order of the Wall
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| One model to go! |
There he is! The last of the models for this year! A few more painting sessions and he should be all finished!
Announcements:
This is it! October is literally right around the corner, and so it is time to start seriously turning our thoughts towards the upcoming 6th Annual Japan Open Team Championship! It'll be held October 7 in Fukuyama at the community center behind the castle! Spaces are starting to run out, so NOW is the time to register your team! After the tournament will be a nomikai (drinking party) and the 8th will be a free gaming day. And remember, if you couldn't find a teammate, let us know and we can help match you with a team, or you can be a stand-in in case we have a no show. And at the very least, you could get in some games during the free day! So hurry and register, it's going to be great!
In preparation, the Fukuyama Gaming Club will have it's last meeting before the tournament on September 9, so stop by if you want a game.
Right. Well, with that out of the way, it is time for trip details! I saw lots of good people... ate lots of good food... enjoyed being in my home country for a welcome change of pace... and got to hang out at some amazing places, two of which were our local gaming stores. The area I live in is called the Rogue Valley (I know, it's the best name for a place to grow up, right? Guess that explains my love of pirates, haha!) and in the valley are a collection of several smaller towns. The two biggest each have a gaming store... Fun Again Games in Ashland, which I visited with my dear Inquisitor, and Astral Games in Medford. So today, let's take an in depth look at one of our friendly neighborhood gaming stores, Astral Games.
Snap Inspection: Astral Games
Astral Games
125 S. Central Ave. Suite 110, Medford Oregon
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| Awww, I love to see that logo! |
Astral Games... if I still lived in town, they would be taking a whole lot more of my paychecks than they rightfully should. Since I don't, I make sure to drop a significant amount of cash there whenever I find myself in town.
Astral was opened years and years ago by this guy...
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| Imperial Selfie! |
Aaron. Aaron is one of my best friends from many many years ago. More years ago than I care to remember, to be honest, haha! We even were housemates for a while before I made the big move across the ocean. He opened Astral Games in it's original location in 2008. After doing amazingly, he relocated it to it's current location... near the local college. Oh man! What THAT a good decision. Since he moved there, he's doing so well that he was able to rent out the whole space NEXT TO THE SHOP, and doubled the size of the place, adding a video game corner, since, you know, college kids literally within walking distance! So here we are, years since the new location opened, and Astral is one of the strongest gaming shops I know! Allow me to show you around!
First off... introductions!
Astral Games is now staffed by a whopping 5 people. Here, you have almost the whole team. From the left, Sean (Board Game Specialist), Aaron (King of All He Purveys), Emily (Magic Specialist), and Crystal (Store Management). A delightful crew! Not seen here is Josh, the Warmachine Specialist... I just missed getting him in this shot! Too bad!
The shop is separated into several areas to ease your ability to find stuff! First up, as I already mentioned, the video game room!
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| So roomy! |
So, here we have the video game alley. You can hang out on these comfy couches for $5 for the whole day. The. Whole. Day. They have all kinds of systems and all kinds of games, so go nuts! On the right, we have rows of card/ board game tables, and way WAY in the back are a couple of Warmachine/ Hordes tables! But that's not all!
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| VR and Arcade Games and Wamachine tables, oh my! |
The room is topped off with a couple of arcade games, and two (that's right, TWO!!) virtual reality consols! Haha, I want to try it! These bad boys are $5 per hour, and they next time I'm in town, you can bet that I'm going to try it!
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| Southern Oregon Warmachine Group |
Warmachine tables! And a bunch of people to play with! It's like a dream come true! More on the Warma/Hordes community here in a minute!
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| Board games and card games take up the front of the store. |
Back in the main room, you are confronted with a veritable wall of board games! So, so many board games to look at. There's only about ten or so that I'm desperate to try, but it's a little too hard to carry them back to Japan, so I'm going to have to try resist the urge to buy them! Also in this corner are a couple of displays for magic, Monster Hunter, and a couple of other card based games and accessories for them, like card mats, carrying cases, and so on.
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| You need a plushie... and YOU need a plushie! |
Woot! Who doesn't like plushies! Also, comic boxes, and on the top shelf is art from local artists. This was a part of the store that I didn't know about before this trip back home, but Astral Games is doing a whole lot of partnerships with local artists, which is an amazing thing! Art prints, leather dice bags, and a whole bunch of other items are on sale, giving local artists a great stage to offer their goods to more people!
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| Mmmmmm, new comics! |
New comics! Once a week (Wednesday, I believe) the new comics are unbundled and rolled out onto the racks! It's been a long time since I liked any comics enough to collect them, but after an incredibly long hiatus, Neil Gaiman has restarted his Sandman series, and I'm back in the game! I managed to be just in time to snag the first one, but looks like I'm going to have to play catch up from here!
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| Guess how many characters there are! |
The center floor space is given to many many displays of Funzo Pop figures, and my mind is blown by how many there are! From comic book characters to cartoons, movies and games, any characters that you might be into are probably in Pop form. I even managed to score a Death Pop from the old Sandman comics (mostly due to the fact that Aaron and I and a group of friends went as the Endless in New Orleans one memorable Halloween).
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| Warhammer... my first love |
Ooooh, now we're getting closer to the good stuff! Warhammer from Games Workshop, the gate way drug to wargaming! Like most people, I'm sure, I began my wargaming life in the 40K universe when I was sold a Grey Knights army and my friends started teaching me how to play. Since then I've worked on several Warhammer armies... a Sisters of Battle army I got from the previously mentioned Inquisitor, a Lizardman army for the Fantasy game, an Escher gang for Necromunda, and a Norse Blood Bowl team. I turned away from Games Workshop for a couple of dubious business decisions they made, but now the company seems to be rectifying it's former mistakes, and the Nighthaunts from the Age of Sigmar game are calling my name! In a seperate room from the Warmachine tables, there are several Warhammer tables set up with some really spectacular terrain!
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| And finally the good stuff! |
Ahh, yes! There it is! The Warmachine/ Hordes wall! Woot! While I have dabbled in other games, Warmachine is where my heart lies! I was lucky on this trip to meet the Warma/Hordes group that meets here once a week, and man, am I jealous! Once a week! The Fukuyama Gaming Club only can get together once a month! I can't imagine how good we would get if we could meet more often. And not only that, but there seems to be a whole lot of events, like Caster Drafts, Tournaments, and possibly narrative leagues? Not to mention that they have a whole lot of members. I didn't manage to get a game in, but several of the players have multiple armies, and I was offered a loan of a Menoth army, but alas, due to timing I wasn't able to work it out. Now, thought, I have that most important of assets, contacts! Thus, when I come into town next, I'll be able to get in some games for sure!
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| Southern Oregon Warma/Hordes group |
Believe it or not, this isn't everyone! Jealous! I'm looking forward to having some good times with these guys next time!
Conclusion:
Since this is the first ever Commissarial Snap Inspection, let me explain the rating system. The spectrum ranges from "Warp-storm Spawned Disaster" to "Imperial Excellence" with several middling levels in the middle that include "Industrial Hive World" "Inquisitor Hang Out." And now, drumroll please...
Astral Games will receive the grade of .... "Imperial Excellence." Congratulations, Aaron! This store is amazing, roomy, friendly, full of goodness, and has a strong customer base of people that enjoy gaming and having fun. Until next time, Astral! I'll be back to spend all of my money next time!
If you want to check it out for yourself, you can find out more here!
www.Astralgamesonline.com
