The Fair Oaks store shared much of the same enthusiasm and quaintness as the Spring Field store, but had many more curious bystanders--due to its location in the middle of the Fair Oaks mall's food court. Consequently, the front table was dedicated to instruction gaming and had terrain and miniatures representing the three main game systems: Lord of the Rings, Warhammer, and Warhammer 40k. We visited the store on a Friday evening and the instruction table saw three different visitors during our 30-minute evaluation.
As expected, the walls were overflowing with merchandise. A table in the middle of the store had five stools and two racks of paints to host the several painting and assembly instructions they provide throughout the month. Nevertheless, nobody was using this table during our visit. The remaining two tables in the back of the store were each hosting a game of 40k. The first game was an annihilation mission between an orange and black-themed Space Marine army and a tank-heavy Eldar troop. Both players were friendly and the models were fully painted. The back table was just getting started between two learning space marine players. Both armies were in various stages of painting completeness but neither player had completely set up by the time we left.
In a nutshell: this store seems like a nice place to visit and meet similiary-minded gamers. I have every reason to believe that GW's multitude of gaming and painting instruction has created a huge community of friendly hobby-ists and perhaps future Hard Liners. Unfortunately, I found the store a little too crowded for me to play at regularly.
Tonight we visit the grand opening of the Sugarland store and soon....the Battle Bunker in Glen Burnie, MD.
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