I should have included it in my list of potential venues as that's totally a very good possibility as well.
It's pretty much the norm for Australian and New Zealand clubs, too (although the "store club" model is becoming more of a thing here, too). I've been involved in 7 or 8 clubs in the last 30ish years that were all along that model. Which is an outgrowth of the "garage club" where mates would play (usually because one had the garage, tables and terrain). The non-store clubs here tends to be a little more relaxed, no "sales pressure" ad also usually has access to alcohol. Some will put on bbqs for the members (paid for out of meeting fees/memberships) - Aussie style bbqs, not the 3-day slow-cooked US thing.
Ah yes. @chromedog . We've got that for our warmahordes club over in Western Sydney. My mates and I all have our man caves so we take turns at each other's places to play. We'll typically get the beers out and BBQ or a proper lunch spread. (Usually if I'm the one that ends up cooking.) And we just chill and game. Each of us contribute something to the food/ alcohol bill and we all contribute terrain. Although I mostly contribute food and the cooking as carrying terrain on a motorcycle isn't advisable.
Here in Brazil, at least the club I'm part of, we charge 100 bucks a month to club members. However, this money is used to constantly purchase and renew our models and terrain. As in, the club actually has fully painted and built armies for the members to play with if they want to learn a new game or complement their own stuff. Since people see their money coming back to them, the monthly fee doesn't feel very heavy, and most people think it's totally understandable we charge for something when they see us spending that money to keep the club equipment looking and feeling fresh.
100 in our money, of course. It's not cheap, but not expensive, really... It's basically what one person over here pays if they go to the cinema two or three times in a month (Yeah, stuff isn't cheap over here)
That works out at just over 25USD or £21, so not bad at all. The club I frequented back in Leeds was IIRC £5 a week for working members, £3 for non-working, so about the same for those with a job.
ahh, that's not so bad then. I would pay that for a nice gaming club. sadly there are no clubs close to me
Damn, that's about $40-60 a month, relative. Don't think I've been to the movies for less than $20 in the last decade. But $25 a month (actual exchange rate) isn't too bad. More than I was paying when I was buying terrain for the store, but not unreasonable. Especially for having painted club models!
Considering average wages in Brazil, that look pretty expensive to me, but considering you have club terrains and models, it's not that expensive.
Definitely cheaper than everyone having all* the factions individually like a lot of clubs. * Slight hyperbole for comic effect. [emoji14]
There are about 5.4 trillion* games clubs in the Sheffield area, both as self sufficient entities and as part of stores the general theme is that subs cover repair and damage of terrain. It's slightly easier with a store as then there is a clear onus on who fixes it and performs general maintainance which is included in the charge for gaming (my local is £4), with a non affiliated club there's usually a guy as designated maintainance or it's a 'you break it you fix it' policy and your subs go on club supplies to do that or to replace and expand after room hire is paid for. Clubs generally have a designated maintainance period every couple of months to half a year. Club models I've never really had that much experience with as it's not that common (although I did know a few people who timeshared WHFB armies before the end), for a store it'd be demo armies so the onus is once again on them to maintain and repair the inevitable breakage, for a non affiliated club it gets to more of a grey area, maybe you put a deposit on them but really you should be expecting some wear and tear. As a note, neoprene (mouse pat) mats have really taken off in the last few years and they drastically reduce the amount of damage models (particularly metal infinity ones) take from falls etc and are well worth the investment. Deliberate damage should not be tolerated. *somewhere between 20-40
In regards to club models and terrain, this is what we do: Any club member can request the purchase of models or terrain using the club money. This purchase is then voted by everyone in the club, and then one person, usually the person who requested the purchase, but not always, is responsible for buying, then assembling and painting everything. It takes anywhere from one to six months to get the stuff ready to play at the club; People can also donate models or terrain if they feel like it. We have many people who enjoy scratch-building terrain so every now and then we get gifted a complete table set from one of the members; Maintenance is handled by volunteers, nowadays we have 2 guys solely dedicated to maintenance, but everyone pitches in every once in a while. Last year I spent a whole Saturday just helping build and repair some IG models for the club; Because everything is "Club Property" and thus everyone is paying for the stuff they are using, most people try not to damage the terrain and models, and when they do (by accident, of course) they either repair the damage themselves or ask someone to do it. This way we create an environment where everyone takes responsibility. And miniature wargaming in Brazil is bugfuck expensive. So it's not like these people don't have the maturity necessary to handle simple tasks, as almost every member of the club is a working adult. The average age is somewhere around 28-32 here.
It's a pretty cool way of managing a game club ! We use to do like that in the RPG club i belonged to decades ago. Everybody felt responsible for the condition of the rulebooks we bought, so they stayed in very good shape for quite some years.
