Games After Lockdowns

[techsoldaten]

Lockdowns recently relaxed in my area. A few things have changed, it's a little frustrating.

 

This is a minor rant, but am wondering about the experiences of other players.

 

A few external factors changed:

 

- We lost 4 FLGSes / hobby stores in the area. In the remaining ones, there are fewer tables to play on.

 

- The local colleges are doing a lot of online courses. Fewer students are coming out for games because they're not on campus.

 

- Many people are just hesitant to do anything indoors. This makes the pool of available players smaller, but will probably change over time.

 

- There's a group of players - small but significant - who have switched to Tabletop Simulator. They're not coming back anytime soon.

 

If I had to guess, the number of people actively seeking pickup games is about 33% of what it was. Which is not the end of the world, this gives everybody a chance to know each other a little better.

 

On the positive side, everyone who is coming out has put a lot of work into their armies. I used to see a fair amount of grey plastic, that's all gone and there are some masterpieces showing up on tabletops. Also, many people are playing new armies and learning the rules for them as they go. There's something refreshing about the idea we're all new to 9th and in this together.

 

On the other hand, a few things have me bummed.

 

- Everybody has a Drukhari army now (except me.) I've played 6 games of 9th, 1 against Orks and 5 against Drukhari. Beggars can't be choosers, but this feels like the wrong way to start a new edition.

 

-  Lining up a game takes a long time. Just got back from a game, took me 2 weeks to find a slot. I'm used to playing 2 or 3 times a week, now I'm lucky to do that in a month.

 

- Adjusting to the new mechanics screws me up, especially around charges. The possibility of failing a multicharge has me not doing it at all. Also, the Command Phase adds a lot to think about at the start of the turn (am playing Deathwatch, so part of this is my own fault.)

 

- We're still supposed to wear masks. Some guys are serious about it, some aren't. Either way - when they're on, the mumbling can really interfere with the game.

 

That's my rant. Would love to hear what other people are dealing with.

Edited November 12, 2021 by techsoldaten

[Lord_Ikka]

For me, lockdown/pandemic hasn't really effected my playing that much, as I wasn't much of a player to begin with- juggling a family, a fairly demanding job, and, at the time, two hobbies (40k and X-Wing) meant that before the pandemic I might have got a game in every other month. Now, I've recently pretty much given up on X-Wing (haven't seen anything in the last two years to excite me and it switched publishers) but picked back up DnD. I actually have managed to get a few more games in than I had previously, so that is nice. 

 

Aside from the cancellation of a bunch of tournaments that I wanted to go to during the pandemic, my local scene (Northern Colorado/Denver) seems to have survived fairly well and even gained some new players. We've got an active couple of Discords, a good Facebook Group, and some really nice local shops that want to encourage the gaming community.

 

As far as the downsides:

I get not wanting to continually fight against the same armies, but that is always going to be a constant as people decide to pick up the latest and greatest army. I just shrug and do my best to figure out the best way to have fun in the game, regardless of winning or the army I'm playing against. Whether that means trying out a new unit, getting better at synchronizing my army and strats, or just having a good conversation with my opponent, that's what I try to achieve. I'm there to enjoy myself, after all.

No real advice on the looking for game stuff, other than keep trying or looking up your local scene via social media.

[AenarIT]

If it’s any consolation, there’s a chance that the situation will improve.

I live in Italy and for the most part the last lockdown ended in May. Since then, starting from the mass vaccination campaign in May-June, people have been able to do indoor activities with very little restrictions (provided we are vaccinated and wear a mask).

While in June there was little activity in my gaming club (start of the Summer holiday season), activity picked up a lot in recent months.

We are not at pre-pandemic levels yet but the situation doesn’t seem so bad here.

There have been some events as well, with decent numbers of participants.

 

As for university cities with less students on campus, it will probably return to “normal” in the following months as more classes go back to frontal lectures requiring physical presence.

 

Hopefully quarterly balance patches by GW will inspire more players to return to the tables as well.

Edited November 12, 2021 by AenarIT

[Cpt.Danjou]

The lockdown has not affected me that much, I have played more games since the relaxing of the rules, My FLGS has survived, but on the other hand it is also one of the largest and cheapest internet sellers in the country, and they have increased their sales a lot during lockdown. The only things that are problematic are that some products are hard to get hold of, like certain paints, and the deliveries of products has been delayed a week or two. 

 

More armies are painted now, and I feel that it is easier to get pick up games, there has only been one tournament since the relaxation of the rules, and I was not there to see if the meta had changed. But i have seen a few new ork armies, and mechanicus. Also I see more new faces and an increases interest of the game.