Neutral Ground in NYC

[Flashman14]

Whoah! It had been about 3-4 months since I had been in there and I told a bunch of people what they can find there - it\'s one of three miniature game shops I know of in the city. (GW and Complete Strategists)

But have I got it all wrong! I guess it was about 3 months ago there was enough trouble with GW that they decided to DROP the line - all of it.

BUT they did have the knowledge to see that Rackham is HUGE and they bought accordingly - it looked like a DEFINITIVE assortment of Confrontation figures - and all in English as far as I could tell. (For those who know it - it was about the same quanitity that Brookhurst has only these are all in English instead of half)

Also Warmaster was there in abundance as was Reaper, some Chainmail and some random miscelanea (spelling?).
There\'s a bunch of Heroclix and all that too along with the standard RPG stuff, D&D etc.
Last, and certainly not least, they had Vallejo Game Colour line of paints. I\'ve had to wait for a convention to come along to get that stuff.

So. Now we can stroll in to ---- OH to heck with that - just go to the site:

http://www.neutralground.net/

I\'m scared to go in to Comp Strat - who knows what they have in there now - though Reaper has listed them as a stockist for almost 2 years and they have yet to get any . . . .

At any rate there seems to be a new renaissance in gaming in NYC - esp with NG\'s latest moves. My hat, gentlemen, I tip to you . . .

 

[Impernouncable]

I visited all three stores while I was in Manhattan. I must say that Neutral Ground is a great store, not necessarily because of its stock though. It has a great layout with a huge amount of space. I have no idea how they manage to afford it given the ludicrous state of NYC property values. Most of it is dedicated to game tables!
Complete Strategist is an interesting place. Frankly I was surprised by the massive amount of out of production stuff they have. If you are in the NYC area and looking for old Warzone stuff, they have it marked down to like a buck per blister (though with a ten pack minimum.) Like alot of places in New York CS is cramped and on security cameras. Claustrophobics you have been warned. Don\'t get me wrong though, it\'s a pretty good sized place, just full of products.
The GW store in the Villiage is one of the most pathetic excuses for a game store I have ever seen. The place is a tad bigger than a walk-in closet and most of that space is dedicated to the one game table. Yet somehow they managed to have three blackshirts on duty. The customer service also left a bit to be desired. The first thing said to me as I came in was, \"Do you play these games?\" Not hi, not hello, not how are you today sir. Now, I like to think that I look a bit more normal than your average otaku, but I don\'t expect to need my papers when crossing the border into GW territory.

Hadn\'t really intended to write a review of the NYC game stores, but there it is.
:duh:

 

[KatieG]

More info on NYC stores

There\'s actually a fourth store now, although I don\'t necessarily think they are worth visiting except for some supplies. But I am getting ahead of myself. I haven\'t been to NG in a while, glad to hear they carry Confrontation now though.

I did go to Compleat Strategist recently though, and they now do carry Reaper. In addition they also carry the Vallejo Game Color line, although last time I went it was sadly depleted (the Vallejo distributor is having TONS of problems filling orders, more demand than they expected).

The GW store didn\'t seem that bad to me, but then, I have never really been to another GW store so I have nothing for comparison. One thing I do appreciate in their staff though is the fact that they didn\'t pester me to buy stuff after I told them I don\'t play, only paint. There\'s also a rumor that there\'s two more GW stores coming to Manhattan, one one the upper east side and one on the upper west side. Would be nice as they aren\'t that close to me...

The fourth store is Jan\'s Hobby shop. It\'s at 93rd and Lex. Before they moved, they didn\'t carry any minis, but they\'re the only place in the city I found that carries Testor\'s dullcoate. They also have other goodies like files, milliput, glue, jeweler\'s saws etc. And they aren\'t as expensive as getting them from GW... Now they carry GW minis, more 40K than fantasy, and they didn\'t have the best selection (although, granted, I didn\'t bother looking through the box sets as they were poorly organized and I didn\'t feel like trying to find them). If you think Compleat Strategist is crowded/disorganized, they\'ve got NOTHING on Jan\'s...
--Katie G.

 

[Flashman14]

KatieG - good to know they have DullCoat. I just bought 4 cans at Historicon thinking it was going to have to last me until Fall In in November . . .!

What about Cybergames? Anyone been there? (They are listed as a GW carrier in the August White Dwarf)

 

[KatieG]

Cybergames, is that the one on like 100 something and Columbus? I\'ve never been there personally, but have heard from others that they still have a few of the old GW hex bottles... keep meaning to go check them out, but since Bobby told me he cleaned out most of the good ones already, maybe no point...

There\'s also a comic/manga/whatever you want to call it shop in the village that also supposedly carries some supplies, but I have never been there... don\'t know the village very well at all.
--Katie G.

P.S. Do you know about the NYC mini-painters group? There\'s a decent amount of us mini-painters here, and we meet from time to time to show each others minis and paint... and whatever else we feel like doing. Our next meeting is tentatively planned for Sunday August 17th.

 

[Flashman14]

hmm . . I knew there were some painters of quantity but I didn\'t know there was anything organized - is this the same group that met at Comp Strat a few weeks ago?

I didn\'t get to go to that but I was interested - where do I go to get more info?

 

[KatieG]

Originally posted by Flashman14
hmm . . I knew there were some painters of quantity but I didn\'t know there was anything organized - is this the same group that met at Comp Strat a few weeks ago?

I didn\'t get to go to that but I was interested - where do I go to get more info?

Some of us went to Compleate Strategist a while back (when both Bobby Wong and Victor Hardy were there showing off painting techniques). We tend to meet wherever we can find space Are you familiar with yahoogroups? We have a group there. Go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/NYC_mini-painters/

That\'s our main page, check out some of the recent messages for updates...

--Katie G.

 

[Kamui K]

Woohoo!
Finally a local place for confrontation!
And there\'s room for them all?

Now if only they get air conditioning...

^_^\'

 

[Kamui K]

Oh, BTW Flashman, if we ever do meet up. I\'d like to take a look at some of your historical minis. Some of them seem pretty hilarious.
:bouncy:

 

[Flashman14]

Definitely - I have a nice range of that Eureka stuff painted up . . . a lot I havent posted yet.

If that 8/17 thing works out I plan on bringing a small sampler of stuff I\'ve done as a means of introduction . . .

 

[KatieG]

Sounds good, I\'m going to be bringing a couple of my more recent pieces as well. And some stuff that I am working on too... and I found a use for the flowers you gave me K... well one little piece of them anyways
--Katie