What do you see in 10 years?

First, this is nothing about your personal career or social development but concerning the general wargaming community in Malaysia.

I can't help but think that it's growth is too little to make much of a presence to bystanders. For the past 2 years since I joined the community (maybe that is still a little short), everything still felt pretty much the same. Something I've always imagined was that our community here could become something as big as in the UK or US.

People might think things are good as they are but I'm always hoping more people will appreciate the hobby and as it is now, I'll see the same or less people for 10 years.

I believe I've posted this topic before in the old forum and I talked about how our community was at its stage. Well now I'd like to know if we could take steps or a leap to expand our community.

I'd like to hear people's suggestion on improving the following points that's likely to attract a wider audience, anything that you think is relevant. Additionally, I want to hear opinions on the past events/activities having been able to or not help grow the community.

However more importantly, no finger pointing whatsoever please.

1. Wargames.
Promote the most played or all of them? Easiest or complex?

2. Distributors, retailers.
Promotional discounts? sponsorship on events? Focus age group? Store placement? PR? Cooperation?

3. Events.
Trophies or Monetary Prizes? Attractions? Type of wargame? Bystander participation?

4. Community.
Volunteering? Spreading the word?

My 2 cents.

1. Promote the most played.
2. Discounts in the form of store credit to encourage repeat purchase. Focus on building young hobbyists by involving their parents (source of income for minis). Once parents understand that this is a rewarding and fulfilling hobby with a wide player base and human interaction, rather than have their kids hang out all the time at cybercafes.
3. I've never believed in giving out money as prizes. A simple trophy or some form of acknowledgement of achievement is usually better, otherwise it just becomes a case of "I can spend more money on my minis, therefore my army is more awesome"
4. I believe we have an awesome gamers community - we just have to pool our talents and resources more effectively. Engaging on this and similar forums is a good start.

Believe it or not, but the wargames hobby in Malaysia is actually undergoing some kind of renaissance right now, from my point of view. 30 years ago, there were actually some schools with fairly active wargames clubs. I was not part of any formal club then, and was into ww2 stuff w a couple of cousins and school friends. Mostly WW 2 period stuff. The hobby kinda died in the 80s. The 90s saw a rebirth, with the birth of GC and some other stores. I was into Napoleonics at the time and the GC in the old Atria was the first time I saw citadel minis. By the mid to late 90s there were actually several wargames groups around. In KL, I know of the dominantly GW oriented GC crowd, a couple of ww2 groups using 20mm plastics and the group I was with, the IX coalition (which later became Balau Sector) which was heavily into Napoleonics, ww2 and sometimes wild west stuff. Things really started picking up again in 2000 and in 2005 we saw the biggest ever 40k tournament, held in 1 Utama. Anyways, things yo yoed again, but look at it right now. It's pretty amazing really. I know of at least 4-5 hobby stores in the klang valley alone, and there are some great places in penang and stuff. We see multiple bands of wargamers doing their thing. It's actually pretty cool to see. I would like to see more Napoleonics happening again, but I guess that would be partly up to me.

My take on the next 10 years - the hobby will soldier on. I'm a firm believer of laissez faire in this thing. You just got to do what you got to do because you believe in it and you enjoy it, and things will happen. Or not. Don't sweat it. Just do it. Of course, if you're actually in the business of selling toy soldiers then you do need to think of some kind market expansion strategy (hint: keep it simple). But if you're like me, just buy, build and paint the models and a armies you like, find a couple of friends you enjoy hobbling with, and roll some dice!

From my experience

1. PPL here are fairly factional, you wont see two groups grouping to make an event together cause majority of the game groups are store based groups. Legio does not suffer that problem which is why they have their own pool of regulars which even then are made up of HF players as a majority. This faction issue does hamper trying to get things organized in a large scale.

2. The hobby has grown a lot bro i started in 1996 it was like a handful of people then... now its a fairly large community. There are 5 stores now in the klang valley and a wider varity of games being played, std banner is playing DBM! Wolfs place is on a lot of indie games from mig alley to various ww2 games, you got dust, SW xwing league starting, etc... you also have cross overs from the boom is board gaming which is very popular nowdays. So in away it is growing very well.... you gotta realize wargaming is pretty niche you will never make it mainstream. It is also very young hobby in malaysia compared it to uk is miles apart interms of maturity and organization.

3. Tourney scene is doing ok. You get a choice of events now not just 40k anymore. Expanding it into a GT with exhibitions and promos, will need the help of various groups which will take some political manuvering, ive seen just too many guns blazing to do something great to fall at the first issue which is the factionalizing of groups you end up just with a selected entries from one particular store/game groups it was easier bfr when youn got only one real store, now with 5 gl man.. It will eventually happen tho but like all things will take its own time.... its a hobby not a job for most of us

The problem I have with is the general public not noticing the community at all and especially the younger generation.

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Focus on building young hobbyists by involving their parents (source of income for minis).

Now the first problem here is, where do we find this parents? To my understanding the problem is to actually let parents know, miniature gaming exist, and not only that but we are friendly social people. What I'm getting at is, shops that actually sell miniatures are mostly somewhere people don't actually know how to get to or want to go for that fact. For a good example, the train shop in Paradigm Mall, not something you always hear but it attracts a lot of attention just because of where it is and how it's presented.

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I've never believed in giving out money as prizes. A simple trophy or some form of acknowledgement of achievement is usually better, otherwise it just becomes a case of "I can spend more money on my minis, therefore my army is more awesome"

I would certainly like either or better, having both money and trophies. The thing people usually don't see is that not everyone enter a competition just because you can get a nice looking statue or plaque, but because the grand prize could potential help you in your hobby. I don't understand what you're trying to say on the 'more money = more awesome army', if I had won the money, I'd continue entering the competition and support local shops by buying hobby supplies, not just miniatures.

Likewise, people who don't find trophies as fascinating can aim for the prizes to grab.

Which is why I also mentioned sponsorship from retailers or distributors, not only do they get the market and shops recognised to either the people participated or spectators but also supporting larger and more frequent competitions too.

I only knew tabletop gaming through some interest in the 40k PC games and was eventually introduced by a friend. The only drive for me to enter the hobby was because I liked the whole concept and background of it. Other people might not be as enthusiastic as me and actually requires some benefit and attraction to the hobby.

@Spunkybass, Paxter

About local stores, the number of stores isn't really what I'm concern but how they are fairing, not mentioning which ones, the issues I see is the pricing of products, general stock and the attention that is given to it. The pricing and stocks just for stores in KL varies a lot from each other, if fellow hobbyists compared them, it's a definite which they'll put their money to. Any store that can't compete will eventually just give up on trying to sell them or obtain the motivation to sell more of it.

Which leads me to consider why aren't there as much buzz as should have to generate more sales. It's clear that most of the shops aren't just selling wargame miniatures to sustain their business. What comes to my mind first is Magic - The Gathering, the hobby is comparably bigger in Malaysia, why is that? Surely it's not because it's cheaper; I have friends that pay thousands on it, yet we generally see a wider audience for it. Additionally its community was established not too long before miniature gaming, yet grew faster in same span of time.

It's very much possible to make it big, 'Rome is not built in one day'. Like any other hobby, there needs to be good marketing strategy for the public to get wind of it. Why do more people collect gundams? competitions for painting them gives out tons of money as prizes. If we could learn from how other hobbies are growing, we probably could make quite a change for better too.

Since it's already closed down, Game Castle, used to be a shop that a number of people knew and went for their hobby needs. Why didn't the business flourish? I only went there like twice and I can obviously see what the problem was. The opening hours, the hygiene, the store placement itself and the customer service were terribad. It's no wonder why the shop wasn't doing well.

But overall, what I like to see done better is store placement and the focus of what was sold, really. I'm in the opinion that promoting too many wargames at once stresses on the newcomers' interest, since there are problems promoting one that already has foundations built on. I don't if I may comment on this but the '25th Anniversary GW event thing?' at Bangsar didn't seem to work at all. Please confirm this but I heard there were people actually playing Warmachine at the promotional event and a single girl was working at the booth.

The second problem was, the store that actually sold GW miniatures was at another shopping mall. I was one of the people that went to the wrong one. There's definitely something going wrong here, right?

I've always thought about opening a miniature wargaming shop or at least help support it since I joined but I haven't seen a prime example of it and a profitable path for me because of all this 'stagnation'. You may see that the community is thriving better but I think it's only finally coming out of it shell.

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its a hobby not a job for most of us

I'm not advocating to have us wargamers to directly promote them but at least be understanding of the situation we are in and how we may support the cause for a better and larger community. Regardless, it is the top guys that need to give a proper direction as to where we should go, all the while getting support and feedback from us.

It is as you say, we are separated by the games we play and because of that, we see each other different.

It's ridiculous really, we effectively do the same thing as hobbyists; we built, paint and play miniatures. Why is not possible for us to make mutual event for each other? etc. a painting competition with little or no restriction on what game system of model can be painted. Prizes or trophies can be generalised, nothing specific for a system.

I use to think the same jake,

But honestly end of the day its just a hobby bro, wargaming will never meet some critical mass, you compared it to magic or pokemon but you have to factor in the other side hobby that makes a wargamer - painting, assembling, play time, play level, and commitment... its actually quite mah fan to most people. And its not the "cool" people saying it, its the boardgamers, TCG players, strategy PC gamers etc... it isnt to me or the peeps in the forum but thats us..

Take paintball in malaysia its barely 10yrs old here yet within that short time they have 2 world wide reconized leagues, a ref association, a international world cup event every year, pro teams sponsored by american companies, televised, got reconized by the ministry as a sport, got the cops to grey out paint ball marker ownership (which is big cause its considered a gun here) they even are assisting singapore, indonesia, and thailand to set up their own league.. to play in division 3 league gear wise cost you easily 8k and there is about 1.5k registered players.... now compare that to wargaming it can never measure up not bcs i dont want it too, but the plain reality it is as a percieved by others as a mahfan geeky hobby.

Store owners can only do as much bro, there is cost incured to anything and all the store owners i know their store isnt their career its more like a hobby taken to another level... doing it as a job rather than a lifestyle is two different things. For my example paintball started as a hobby lifestyle its now - to a lot of people turned into a hobby job and quite close in becoming an industry it self... for your example the older wiser guys should take the lead... some are but most even for me ...wont take some helm to lead... put bluntly i got other more important things to do... if you make an event and if i can help why not... but more than that not really bro...

In some ways i would love to be proven wrong. But as I see it, wargaming is always going to be a very niche hobby not really ever going to hit anything close to "mainstream"

i like some others, particularly my brother, started around the games castle era as well. considering from that moment up till now, our hobby did manage to grow well under the circumstances. i reckon at that time i was 16 and after 14 years there has been a lot of progress no doubt.

my thoughts on how we could further make the next 10 years a bigger improvements may be cynical but im only parting with my opinions

1. Wargames.
Promoting games does work. i think we had a few new faces since the introduction of a few big events; MAGACON certainly gave the opportunity for HF to rope in some new hobbyist. promoting the hobby to parents however will be harder due to the price cost of the hobby. as much as we hate to admit it, our hobby is a very privileged hobby in Malaysia, stuffs are expensive. in most western countries teens decide whether to get a mcD meal or a blister while over here a blister can feed you for a week.

i believe the best target group to promote the hobby are those who attends so-called gaming conventions similar to MAGACON and 40k imo is the best roping system. getting people who reads black library books would be another avenue worth trying. ive had a few good chats in MPH with strangerss who were checking out BL books.

2. Distributors, retailers.
Store in shopping malls are always good. im sure CM, WGS, DD, etc had a good deal of walk-ins who were interested. furthermore im dead sure they managed to catch their interest. however we have to go back to the price issue, its one thing getting people interested in the awesome universe of our hobby but to tell someone that 5 unpainted plastic dudes are 100+ bucks and you have to buy the paints as well and paint them yourself is quite hard. Only the truly interested and vested into any sort of art hobby would budge, most of the current generation kids/teen who were raised on video games would find it harder to be invested.

i reckon a bundle package would look more enticing than selling boxes individually. 299 for 3 boxes would feel slightly better than 100 for 1 box for example. throw in 2 or 3 paint bottles in the 299 bundle could also work but yea, im not a distributor who needs the maximum profit heh.

3. Events.
one thing i found out from my many cousins whom ive tried to rope in into the hobby is that our community; when gathered for events, are quite intimidating. to be fair most of us are geeks and tend to be shy to strangers but when we're surrounded by people of the same nature/interest, sometimes it just doesnt look pretty. overseas you gotta admit there are a larger group of cool looking dudes playing the hobby, and they tend to be friendlier because they're more invested in the hobby perspective as oppose to the gaming aspect. a full blown geekfest event might look awesome to us but to others it can look totally different.

i think there needs to me more non-competitive event for our hobby. a good example is the standard bearer, even though ive never been there myself but from what ive read and the pictures i saw, they promote the hobby aspect much more than the gaming aspect. i remember when i found myself in a GW shop during a gaming event but the GW dudes sold me into the hobby by selling 40k as a hobby as oppose to a game. when you're invested into the hobby first, the gaming aspect becomes less intimidating.


4. Community.
oh my...we sure are divided and there's no doubting that. personally im guilty too but for me it has much more to do with location than purposely being a douche. like the saying goes, it's always nice when everyone knows your name. i have to bring back the point on our hobby being a privileged hobby in Malaysia and there's a fairly good chance that is why our community is factional. if the hobby is very accessible like chess or football, the community could be way nicer and bigger. its just human nature i guess and how Malaysia's culture is.

ill be blunt by saying that in Malaysia there are a lot more of those who are invested in the gaming aspect than the hobby aspect. they would rather play and win shit and feel good about winning shit whereby most of the successful hobby community overseas just want to expand the hobby as a whole while making friends in the process. winning a game is probably somewhere so down in their list of priorities. so if the dont prioritize gaming what do they do? they have more friendlier meet-ups and organize more stuffs together but when they do have a competition most of them tend to be casual about it. some people are just born hardcore and if you took the time to read all this i would like to say thank you and God bless.

Arzmi last point is very true, its sorta to some degree the humor of being factionalized... you got an elitist jerks (wow refrence here) basically people who play to win, you got a group who does not care about winning just the historical / fluff accuracy, you got the painters who couldnt give two shitz about gaming, you got the gamers who couldnt give two shitz about painting, you got wargamers who go by the book, you got wargamers who coudnt really follow the rules right and go with the flow, put them under a roof, it will be a funny prospect... made even greater task by the egos that comes with being a wargamer

Everything i said above is a reflection of peoples preception of the various stores and game groups... hence why legio events are legios, Standard banner events are theirs, etc etc..

Its silly but its silly fun in a way

So like i said to organized all that.. that person better be a damn good politician... or be like me play with all avoid the HIV

yea man i agree to a point. but it is also possible to look at it this way. correct me if im wrong btw

hobby aspect
-you got a group who does not care about winning just the historical / fluff accuracy
-you got the painters who couldnt give two shitz about gaming
-you got wargamers who coudnt really follow the rules right and go with the flow

gaming aspect
-people who play to win
-you got the gamers who couldnt give two shitz about painting
-you got wargamers who go by the book

im not proving/pointing out anyone/anything here, but each group brings different items to the table for the hobby as a whole. most of our community can go into both groups as well. but i agree with your call on our hobby being niche; if it was as accessible as paintball for example, im sure we would have reached a level, close to if not similar, to where paintball is today in Malaysia.

also man city are losing and arsenal won. good day for football !!

alright football ended and im full of caffeine. back to improving the hobby. as i said in my previous post that different groups contributes differently. i'll name a few excellent examples why i think the hobby has managed to grow and you can try to figure out which group they come from.

in order of whom i met
Richard Ng from GC. the dude to me is a malaysian legend in terms of our hobby. he sold 40k to me as a hobby first; awesome fluff/reading materials, collection of models and painting. up to this day i have never seen him play a game, ive only seen him paint, make terrains and tables and organize events. to me he played a big part in the hobby growth in malaysia as having a shop helps too heh

Francis Wolf. i've only seen him play 1 game of warhammer fantasy. other than that i've only seen him paint, make terrains and tables and organize events. he brings his love for the hobby to another level by giving kids painting lessons; something i can never see myself doing. a very good move considering if these kids get invested into the hobby at an early age, 10-20 years later they'll be the one contributing towards the growth of the hobby.

Azlan & the Balau gang. when i went to balau i was truly amazed because the gaming room was a proper non-business related gaming room. a superb man-cave. i was pretty sure them Balau guys really loved the hobby to have done so much [tables/terrains/titans!!] just out of sheer love for the hobby. furthermore he organizes great campaigns too

Jeff Brooks. yeap i've seen him game a few times but ive seen his love for the hobby and to me it is the maximum level i can imagine of someone being invested in the hobby. the contributions he has landed to our hobby in Malaysia is quite obvious. terrains, tables, events, etc.

Alvin Taikor. you cant deny Alvin and HF has contributed a large deal in the growth of the hobby as well. dude invest more time painting his terrain than i do on my models heh. Upcoming legend imo.

ive mentioned these people because i think they are our best bet for our hobby because they bring so much and some of the time they dont get enough recognition. is it only fair for me to state that one group contributes more than the other group towards the growth of our hobby? hence why i reckon promoting the hobby more towards the hobby aspect would yield more growth. even the guys at toybox have great gaming tables; albeit leaning more towards FoW and you can see how passionate they are about that system.

and now to bring it down a notch i'll give myself up for a bad example. in all honestly i am not totally invested in this hobby, i love video-gaming and books more than the hobby. however what i love most about the hobby is the social interactions; one huge aspect i dont get from my love of video-gaming and books. and when im with good friends, anything just feels fun and enjoyable to do, just so happens it had to be this hobby.

before knowing these giants of our hobby, i would not even dream of making terrains/tables/organizing events. one reason is because i'm really not into the hobby and the other reason is because i wasnt 'surrounded' by people who did; i can only imagine the fun the balau gang had when making terrains/tables. but now because i am socially invested, the hobby aspects is very enjoyable to me. slowly but surely im beginning to care about the hobby. but if suddenly i am not able to hobby/play 40k anymore i would feel absolutely nothing as long as the friends are still there. but take away my video-games and books and i'll get a panic attack. i am definitely not one of the giants but i would so love to contribute as little as i can. again this is me being a bad example. hate me for that but im just being honest.

so yea TLDR: you cant go wrong by promoting/ushering new peoples towards the hobby aspect in order to insure the growth of the hobby. just imagine if none of those people i mentioned were here in Malaysia.

That's the thing, everyone is treating the hobby as some kind of privileged hobby and annoying as hell to start. If it is, then why are we still playing and still getting more models to build and paint? Reinforcing that fact to onlookers from even ourselves aren't going to help the community to grow at all.

Comparing paintball is like comparing sports to hobbies, dude. I certainly wouldn't buy paintball gears just to display them in my glass shelf.
'Geeky mafan' isn't exclusive for wargaming, i would say other hobbies have it to some extent but it is a subjective matter; I'd think buying tons of booster packs just to get that ultra rare card is a hassle.

We're also asserting that we should only accept people who really wants to invest in it. Not everyone starts off immediately loving the hobby, it takes time to nurture that interest for it to last. Encouraging people instead of discouraging them from the start.

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Store owners can only do as much bro, there is cost incured to anything and all the store owners i know their store isnt their career its more like a hobby taken to another level...

Good point, but then you have to ask why aren't there store owners pursuing it as a legitimate career. Wouldn't it be lovely that someone actually tried to sell their goods as much as possible and expand their business further? More opening days = more likely customers and gamers.

We're just hoping and depending people's generosity, etc. opening shops and creating events for the sake of the community. Well, what if these people, let's just say were too weak to do it anymore, wouldn't we be in trouble?

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however we have to go back to the price issue, its one thing getting people interested in the awesome universe of our hobby but to tell someone that 5 unpainted plastic dudes are 100+ bucks and you have to buy the paints as well and paint them yourself is quite hard. Only the truly interested and vested into any sort of art hobby would budge, most of the current generation kids/teen who were raised on video games would find it harder to be invested.

Money is irrelevant, if there are so many people who can buy Apple products every year, they can buy this. It's only a matter of giving different priorities to something or someone. Also if people actually entered this stores, it's very likely they have the dough to pay.

We seem to be missing the point of the topic is that we're suggesting on how we can MAKE people interested. Maybe not totally interested, but pique enough interest to a number of people so that amongst them, someone will take the step forward.

AznJake wrote:

Money is irrelevant

owh man, if our hobby is cheap, there will be a bigger community no doubt. you may be lucky having the cash to spend on the hobby but not all are as lucky as you. i cant get my cousin to buy a blister because he said '80 bucks for 1 guy? and how many do i need?. if it was 10 ringgit, i'll buy him a whole new army just to get him started. price is relevant, like i said earlier, make the prices more enticing.

You're misunderstanding, I'm not saying our hobby is cheap, I'm saying if someone is truly interested, money is their second consideration. That's why I stated why people can spend so much money on things they don't need or could get better one for a lower price. Although not related to hobbies, I'm just illustrating how people can use their money differently in their lives.

If money is truly a concern in the end. Buy a box for each couple of months.

As the saying 'if there is a will, there is a way'

Before this hobby, my whole life has been nothing but trying to save as much as I can, be the best cheapo as I can and still am.

I, for very very certain, am not rich. A contributing factor to how I can still spend money on my hobby is I'm generally an introvert, I have very little social life outside of my family. Other than eating, sleeping and studying; I spend proportionately very low on everything else.

Like I said, I'm not saying miniatures are cheap. So that's why I'm suggesting prices could be lower to actually increase demand while still being able to profit. The problem here is that there doesn't seem to be a need to increase customers. As far as I know, I've seen a couple of people who could afford a boat load of miniatures in one go. Probably that's why businesses are still running. For the average person, like me, a 1750 points list takes me at least a year to finish buying them all.

But in the end, these customers won't buy forever, as for some reason GW keeps on increasing prices each year and soon too this coming spring. It has driven me to the fact that I only buy stuff from online shops or Ebay, even though I'm in UK right now.

Hey everyone. I just started this hobby last year and I really love the beauty and feeling you get when finishing an unpainted model. Not much experience so I hope this doesn't sound crappy and immature (in terms of wargaming years).

1. Well, I hear of more W40k players in Malaysia. In fact, I've only seen W40k players here. Maybe a promotion of a W40k month where new players get to learn about that in that month and another Warhammer Fantasy month? I talking about learning about gameplay and painting in a course of 4 weekends? I think the question of easiest or complex doesn't really matter cuz as I know it, both basics are relatively the same. I also see more W40k miniatures in shops which brings us to...

2. Location, location location!!! Have i dreamed of a hobby shop opening up in Subang? YES. I only know of shops which are in KL and Pj and kota Damansara. I understand that most of the hobbyists are there but we wanna spread out don't we? Don't get me wrong, I don't mind at all to drive a bit to these areas but that's the thing, I can't drive. My parents (bless their souls) are the ones who ferry me all around. A shop has to have the proper standards for them to come back. I know quite a few shops which don't feel like shops and feel more like private clubs/ residences and that kind of thing puts parents off. So what I'm saying is, location should be in a nice comfortable place which can be found easily, clean and hygienic. Also, there should be people around to talk to parents and convince them that the price they pay for this hobby is well worth it.

3. Hmmm, events? Painting competitions? Wargaming competitions? Maybe do an award for new players? Best newbie? Prizes could be a shiny trophy but what is better than another box of miniatures??? Or, if people will take the time, a miniature trophy! Not a really small trophy, I mean a trophy in the form of a miniature. Specially painted and modified a little? Legio sounds very good but maybe try doing one in a smaller scale? Like a small force that consists of 1 HQ, 2 troops and an elite?

4. Community. From what I hear, the community of wargaming is a nice one and the people are friendly. i see people playing games and maybe some should just turn around, ask a few guys if they would like to learn and just hand out a few tips. That would make people feel more comfortable and a participant rather than a bystander. It's nice to feel like you're participating even when you're not.

It's pretty clear your hardcore bout the hobby. And rightly so, I am very passionate bout this hobby but I think you gotta be a bit grounded on those plans n ideas.

When you say wargaming are you just referring to 40k or other systems too? Cause from what I see there is a wide amount of systems being played. Which is a great thing to see. Have you actually drop by warp space games, Spartan games, wolf, toy box, or standard bearer ? It has a very healthy wargaming community... Some times what we think is good isnt what others think is good too...

If you want to expand the passion prob start small say get a few ppl together n maybe a store/game group to support you and have some exhibition matches at public places like the market at jaya 1, or some mall that offer free spaces to hobbies n arts (publika).

Happy chinese new year to you jake ^^ may the year of the snake gift you many awesome plastic models ^^

Right now I'm all for Games Workshop and mainly W40k. I like their other products in painting terms la. I don't drive so it's a little hard for me to get around. Problem wwith my friends is they can't appreciate it la. They don't see the point of paying money for miniatures. I've been to wolf games shop but my parents don't approve of it. I'll try to do some research on the other shops. My dad used to be a miniature painter and he had quite a few tanks and soldiers so he can appreciate this hobby. Thanks, paxter.

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Paxter wrote:

When you say wargaming are you just referring to 40k or other systems too? Cause from what I see there is a wide amount of systems being played. Which is a great thing to see. Have you actually drop by warp space games, Spartan games, wolf, toy box, or standard bearer ?

I'm referring to the general community which involves us building toy soldiers, painting toy soldiers and pushing toy soldiers.

I haven't been to most of the shops, the things I've basically mentioned are mixture what've seen and what other more experience hobbyists have been through. I believe both Spartan Games and Standard Bearer opened while I'm in UK? So I guess I can't say much. I've been to Toy Box twice to check out Dust miniatures, all the way from Rawang, and what do you know I keep missing their opening times, calling seems to be pointless too. I've only heard about Wolf Game Shop and their rumours. I went to Times Book Shop when the 25th Annivesary thing was going, it was simply just a side of a shelf with very limited stock, the staff had absolutely no idea how do deal with my requests for ordering stuff. I see more Magic players in CM than actual wargamers during the couple times I visit it when I shopped there.

Well, this got me into thinking, maybe when I get back, I might do a interviewing trip to all these places. Sounds really fun and can be very informative to do so.

Happy CNY to you too, Pax.

Ooops. Terribly sorry guys. Thought paxter was referring to me. So, really no shop in Subang Jaya? Nearest is Battlefront miniatures if I'm not mistaken.

Well you have Hobby Forge at Kota Damansara which you need to use the highway which is a tiny bit more expensive but takes like 10 minutes and is at least opened on both weekends.

Hobby forge for sure if you are into 40k they have the best stock in town.

Hobby Forge ftw!!! Tried going there but got lost cuz I wrote down the wrong address. I'm pretty familiar with the area though. Will definitely go there soon.

@Beobot, I got lost when I first went there too, I was thinking there would big sign saying 'Hobby Forge' but it was more inconspicuous.

A thought has come to my mind but could one of the barriers from joining the community be people's grasp of the English language?

It may be biased experience but I studied in SMK Seri Garing, one of the schools with a very large number of students and 'dangerous' place to study. Students generally don't like the English subject very much and would be much more comfortable speaking in their native language. Wargames although require a level of commitment to invest, also needs us to have a sufficient understanding of the language used.

It might be silly to suggest, but could wargamers actually teach the English subject to students in some manner related to the games we play?

Haha! Yes, I thought so too! The place was very...interesting...

I agree, some people who don't like English won't want to read a few hundred pages worth of English rules. I think it'd be good to evaluate a new hobbyist and see what language they use most when they're talking. Even if they don't want to read the entire rulebook, the basic rules need to be understood well enough.

The english issue isnt really that big of an issue tbh. I have played against ppl with a very bad command of english, the rules can be taught without the rule book believe it or not.. I did not read nor own the BRB (big rule book) till 4th ed... I learn via playing with people and them teaching me...

Teaching english? Lol urm stick to small steps first la starting off with exhibition matches in public areas is a good start.