Hardliners Outpost: Alexandria, VA

To no surprise to the wife, we absolutely DID stop by the closest GW store within days of arriving to Virgina. After our very first day of (unsuccessful) home shopping, we stopped in to visit the Springfield Plaza store. What the store lacked in size, it made up for in enthusiasm. There were three staff members attending to player/customers at all times and there was activity everywhere. As you can see from the picture, all three gaming tables were being used while I was in the store. The first two tables were hosting, what looked to be, an "introduction to 40k" game for some younger players. There was a staff member walking 4-5 players through the rules and game mechanics. The back table was hosting a pickup game of 40k. Finally, an older gentleman in jewler-goggles was focused intently on the model he was painting (seen in the foreground of the picture) but it was not clear if he was part of the staff or not. The models on the game tables did not have a noteworthy paint job and I didn't make an effort to examine the gentleman's efforts. Nevertheless, I'll get a great opportunity to see the local talent on 28 June, when the store will be hosting a painting contest; which I am already signed up for :-). Tina, the staff member at the counter, told me that the only requirement was that my submission had to be painted by me and not have been entered at this store before. The category is "single miniature" and the prize is a blister pack worth up to $25 with the option of having it painted by one of the staff members. Since we have yet to find a new home, I find it very unlikely that I'll be able to paint up a new model for this contest, therefore, I'll be using one of my recently painted Eldar models--perhaps the Fire Dragon Exarc (since he was the most recent model I finished).