Question on Miniature gaming club management

It hasn't happened in any of the clubs I've been in yet, but I'm pretty sure we have a "you break it, you bought it" policy and remunerations towards the repair/replacement being a thing.

*That's if it's an accidental breakage. More often than not, if the damage isn't severe, the perp will apologise and the owner will repair it and keep going.
I try to ensure my terrain is as close to ham-fisted-unco-gamer proof as is possible. This generally means giving it to a 4 year old and seeing if they can break it.

**Deliberate breakage tends to result in expulsion from the club. We don't need that kind of attitude here.

 

@chromedog

Edit: on topic.

For club stuff, you kinda have to accept a 'fair wear and tear' approach. Club membership fees should account for this. But it helps to try to build an attitude where the club's stuff is everyone's possession to avoid a tragedy of the commons: 'terrain building / mending' days/evenings can help with this, people tend to be more careful of terrain they've had a hand in putting together.

For individual's stuff, mostly I think it's 'at the owner's risk' for accidental damage, usually an apology and assistance with finding all the pieces is all that's warranted (ie. when someone accidentally bumps a table and sends a model off the edge). That being said, if someone does something seriously dumb and breaks something suggesting that he replace it is reasonable.

Deliberate damage is grounds for expulsion (context of course matters, but the circumstances would need to be exceptional to account for deliberate damage).

 

Agreed that club stuff should come with a 'reasonable wear and tear' expectation. Club dues, and/or terrain building days, really help with the ownership issue(s).

Accidental breakage? Accidents happen. We all drop minis. Apologize, offer to help fix, move on.

Deliberate breakage? Yeah, you just bought it, and get the fuck out of the club after you have paid me, never to return. At cost of replacement, which includes whatever my time is worth to me to account for build&paint (I start with friends&family at $10 an hour, others get billed $15 an hour. Infinity minis therefore would run at least $50).

 

But where to buy the 4 year old without breaking the bank account?

Have you ever encountered people damaging stuff with intention?
I did that only once in around 20 years of wargaming.
Personly i would do it as my local Nerdstore. A part of the fees for tourneys or store organized games go into a fond where the store owner buys new terrain, tables, etc. like everything you need for nice gaming experience.
And as most regulars are involved with that stuff they tend to be carefull and watch for others too.

 

I've only seen it happen the once with any deliberation and that was in a GW store. One of the regular throng of under-18s pushed another guy's FW resin revenant knight off the table when the dice weren't going his way.

Kid may have had other issues, but he was still given a substantial "cooling off" period before he was allowed back in on "game nights" and only when the other person (whose stuff was broken) wasn't in store.

 

Table flip.

Yeah, that guy dang near got arrested. Not to mention nearly started a brawl in the store.

 

What the ????
Please tell that story in the WTF-Thread ^^

 

I don't really remember much more than that. Was a recent convert from card games, I think, where a table flip is just messy. This was more than 20 years ago!

 

The 40k players at our local shop have a history of being particularly unkind to our infinity terrain (ripping off all the verandas for several buildings, gluing the removable roofs onto others, throwing containers as a joke for "scatter terrain" etc.) It got to the point that those with nice terrain take it away with them when they leave.

The store owner has taken steps to fix this, mainly putting infinity terrain in a separate bin, but there really isn't much else that can be done, considering he is fairly busy and there are dozens of 40k players and only about 10 infinity players.

 

What's the 40k players problem with infinity? Or is it just general problem of being a dick?

 

Sounds like a problem of some people just not having any broughtupsy rather than a 40k specific issue.

 

Tragedy of the Commons.

Since 'nobody' is responsible for the terrain, nobody cares about it.

 

The day when 40k damaged our terrain was day when 40k lost permission to use it ;)

 

Sort of on topic. But what is the difference between the game store and club? I'm in the states where we don't have clubs, and for a while I thought they were the same

 

They treat their own terrain like shit and use things like cups and boxes as terrain, so when they see ours they don't really have any respect for it

I imagine a club's main source of income is not the sale of minis/games themselves but maybe some sort of membership/table fee? maybe some serve food and drinks as well

 

I'm sure there are game clubs in the US. I imagine they would mostly exist in places where a game store is not available. Unless I'm wrong, I'm pretty sure the differences shake out in the following:

A store is a store. With a cash register and an employee on hand, that happens to have tables available for open/payed play.

A club is a group of people that organize gaming at venues or provide a venue for play. It's a step up from a group of friends who play together in that they accept new members and generally have a membership fee to help cover for the venue, communal snacks and terrain. They might rent a small event hall, the basement of a place of worship, just reserve tables at a bar or have it at someone's house.

 

Yep, it's pretty common in the UK. Memberships are usually pretty cheap, £3-6 per week, which covers rental of the space, terrain, etc. Common venues are community centres, church/village halls, pub function rooms, etc.

 

It gets a touch confusing when your club runs out of a store. ;)