The Bulwark

About a year ago I got an idea for a self-sufficient gaming club here in Chico. Members would enjoy discounted product special ordered for them, a place to game, and a network of like minded individuals located in our beautiful college town. The club would meet a need in Chico that wasn’t really met except in a few circles, a place for gamers to buy product, play the games they wanted to play, and just hang out for pickup games.

By January of this year a lease was signed, and we were moving in. Jared Gilmore and Andy Able built tables, the Flickers donated a cash box and fans, Don Boucher and James Stremel donated their prodigious collection of books and games while the doors slowly opened up. The Bulwark was born, and it truly was a community effort. We were able to get a site online (thanks Drew) and integrated it into our Facebook account. We quickly moved in and started gaming, meeting new people, and discovering new games. Meanwhile as coordinator the budget was balanced and the shop was running smoothly.

The collective “we” as gamers were able to create a place for us that was service oriented, was able to get you the products you needed, and really made you feel at home. There are few places in Chico that can boast a sort of atmosphere like that. There were some bumps in the road, a few ants at the picnic (literal and metaphorical), a few cars caught fire, but nothing we couldn’t overcome as a group who thoroughly enjoy the hobby.

It’s because of all this goodness going around that the St. George Ln location will be closing, and we will no longer be taking orders. On a personal level managing all the utilities, collecting dues, and dealing with distributors is sort of a full time job in itself and not really a part of the job that I enjoy.  The club needs a place to meet, and we certainly need the tools to play the games we enjoy.

In its stead Kettil’s Keep will be opening up October 28^th, a full stock gaming store with a community first outlook. I have spoken with the owner Shane and he assured me that there will be room for the popular games that took place at the Bulwark in his new store. RPGA Wednesdays, AGoT Mondays, and Warhammer Sundays will still go on as normal. I have known Shane (aka Kettil) for a long time, and I know his attitude towards community is as dedicated as mine.

I will soon be posting a couple of events, both involve cleaning the Bulwark. November 6^th will be a “Revenge of the Nerds” barcrawl before the barcrawl though folks are invited to gather at the Bulwark help move some stuff and I will buy food and drink before taking a trip downtown. During this momentous occasion, in order to celebrate a successful year I will allow people to put drinks on the game table. That’s right, our one law out the window.

2011 is going to be just as exciting as 2010, if not more exciting. Shane will be organizing in-store events such as Warhammer Tournaments and game days, we still have a dedicated team of coordinators willing to help organize events and campaigns, and there will no longer be any dues! The ten dollars a month you were tithing to keep the doors open can go to actual product like a new chapter pack, or Imperial Guardsman unit.  The Bulwark is your community, and this is a big change for that community.  If you have any concerns or questions, post them on our Facebook page, and while you are there stop by Kettil’s Keep on Facebook to say “hello” to Shane.

Signed,
The Management

Lace up your cleats, put on your helmet and poison your knife, Blood Bowl is just around the corner. Bylliam Toofgobbla is your host again as 16 teams struggle for the most points at the end of 16 turns. Players you choose will gain skills, as they become star players adored by fans. Humans, Elves, Orks, and more face off against each other in this parody of American Football where the only way to achieve greatness is by creating a grand ascent of the dead and defeated. Your players will die, become injured, and develop horrible mutations all in pursuit of glory!

While we can certainly take the time to paint the models, and get a board together, we let Blood Bowl do the work for us. Two hosts will hold league nights at their house and run two copies of the Blood Bowl game by Cyanide Studios. Using hotseat mode you and your opponent will be able to sit face to face and do everything they can to remove each other’s blockers.

We look forward to starting a great season, and if you are interested join us at the Round Table on Pilsbury on August 29^th.

If computer games aren’t your thing and turn based strategy only makes you want to scream, perhaps the recently announced Blood Bowl LCG by Fantasy Flight Games may be up your ally?

Saturday witnessed the return of a Bulwark tradition, lying to your friends and enjoying a few beers while they suffer.  Diplomacy is the international game of politics and intrigue, each player makes alliances and breaks them in order the further the ends of his country. For more information on Diplomacy, check out some of our previous articles.

Arch-Duke Jared Gilmore gathered some new faces and some old as Russian swept West with the aid of Turkey. A special nod goes out to Blake Morillas who was sportsman of the evening. Playing as Austria he was first eliminated when the Germans, lead by the Arch-Duke himself, betrayed the nation and allowed Italy to sack the country.

We are looking forward to more Diplomacy games in the future. Some video was taken during the night and posted to our Facebook group, swing by and check it out.

The Bulwark has gone digital! That’s right your favorite gaming club now has a presence in Azeroth.  Several members in our club have banded together in order to thwart the Burning Legion and wreak a special kind of genocide on the boars of Kalimdor. The Bulwark guild is currently leveling up on the Steamweedle Cartel server as Alliance characters, but members gathering as Horde are welcome to use our Ventrilo server.

If you would like to join us, or if you are a member and want access to our Vent server let me know and I will get you taken care of.  If you want to watch The Bulwark, check out our Armory page below.

http://www.wowarmory.com/guild-info.xml?r=Steamwheedle+Cartel&gn=The+Bulwark

Tomorrow morning history shall be made! The local knights and scions the powerful lords of Westeros will gather on the field of honor. Alliances will be made and broken, young warriors will clash with the old while power and intrigue takes place in the shadows of our great stadium. This is the Tournament of the Hand, and this day will decide the fate of the great Battle for the North.

For the last 5 weeks our players have been vying for position as leader of our Monday Night A Game of Thrones League. As the League closes a winner will be decided. Tomorrow will culminate in the day’s champions vying for total power at the final table. The schedule is below.

We will be seeding first round tables in a group format based on league performance.

10:00 Open
11:00 First Round
1:00 Lunch Break
2:00 Second Round
4:00 Third Round
6:00 Final Table

Also the current standings of the league are below as well.

1^st Sir John Deatrick the Bountiful
2^nd Sir Andrew Flicker, Scion of the Exiled
3^rd Sir Ben Blythe Scion of Lannister
4^th Sir James Stremel, Scion of Winterfell
5^th Dame Margo Franks the Hound Mistress
6^th Sir Andy Able the Furious
7^th Sir Ian Allen the Fruity
8^th Sir Don Boucher, Scion of the Rock
9^th Sir Ryan Huber, Scion of King Robert the Drunk
10^th Dame Jess Thomas the Fierce
11^th Sir Phillip Sexton the Victorious
12^th Sir Dirk Walls, the Upstart
13^th Sir Joel Snow, of the Wall
14^th Sir Chris Patzner, Keeper of the Tolls
15^th Dame Malinda Miller the Mild

In case you weren’t around this weekend you missed a lot! Yeah, nothing was scheduled officially but we had a great weekend of pick-up gaming. Pip ran Call of Cthulhu were we got to see a vintage special edition core book by Chaosium and several investigators lost their minds. Several Skinks were cured of a condition which rendered them armless by Betsy. On the heels of that Don ran a massive 8 player Dungeons and Dragons game, which followed on the heels of Arkham Horror where Chris was sealed in an alternate dimension never to be heard from again.  The next day JD put together a casual AGoT group, and Drew marched Dwarves to slaughter the undead hordes of Khemri.

It was great seeing all the pickup games. If you dropped by just to hang out we were glad to have you! Remember the Bulwark isn’t just a spot to game, it’s a place where everybody knows your character’s name.

May the God Emperor bless our members. So often I am asked “How can I help the club”, or “What does the organization need”, people are ready and eager to donate tangible items. Things like fans, or chairs, or what have you. The fact is we get those things off of Craigslist, or purchase them using the dues our members pay.

What we really need is people to coordinate and run games. This doesn’t have to be anything huge, just you, a few friends having a good night. Have an old table top RPG you have been wanting to play for a while? Run it! We have members chomping at the bit to play in some home brew games.  Right now we have Call of Cthulhu, World of Darkness, and Scion being ran at The Bulwark, and we have plenty of people asking about other games too!

Do you love a board game and want to get some players together?  Let me know, and I will create an event. If you are interested in playing a game the club can order a copy for you at a huge discount!

So when people ask me, “how do I give back” I tell them just have fun, and bring people along for the ride.

Monday night John “JD” Deatrick made a boast. During A Game of Thrones league play he said he would purchase a chapter pack for the player who started on the lowbie table and rose the highest. Phillip “Pip” Sexton has had a wretched time, he is able to hold his own in casual games, but unable to see any sort of victory during league play. He went into the evening with not a single win under his belt. Well that all changed. After a first place win on a table of four and a second place on a table of three, Pip soared up in the rankings and as promised JD has penciled in a special order with the Bulwark’s special order desk.

Congratulations to Pip, and congratulations to JD for maintaining the honor of his house.

A couple of exciting announcements coming from the Bulwark! Starting in July we will have membership cards which will be used to record the payment of monthly dues.  This will offer a sure fire way of telling who has, and who has not paid their club dues, and make sure club organizers don’t accidentally double charge members. The last thing the Bulwark wants to do is divert any more of your hard earned money than we need to. Besides, an extra $10 is a new chapter pack and can be put towards a lot of gaming fun!

Speaking of chapter packs, the second week of the Game of Thrones Living Card Game league is roaring along, JD is currently sitting at first, with Drew and James sitting next to him at the leaders table Monday night. A full list of our league standings appear below.

The players of the Strange Aeons Warhammer Escalation Campaign (say that five times fast) have had their first round this month. Right now Karen Hechel is on the top of the stack commanding her Tomb Kings army, with Drew and Betsy trailing closely behind. Each of them also has an extra Empire point which they carry into the campaign proper.

Coming up in June and July the Bulwark will be hosting the Dungeon Bowl! Members are encouraged to create 4 man teams with the goal of getting their party through a dungeon to the finish line faster than other PC opponents. The event will run in an Eberron setting and will run like a league as well. If you and your friends think you are the best adventurers this side of Karrnath stay tuned for details!

As always, the Bulwark tries to bring you the best in Chico gamin. We have a lot of private games that are hosted at the Bulwark which aren’t mentioned. If you would like to take advantage of our large tables, library or gaming aids and host a game at the Bulwark simply send an email to Blythe@thebulwark.org or post a comment on our Facebook group. We are open 7 days a week as events come up, and we can pencil your group in anywhere.

A Game of Thrones – The Battle For the North
1st – JD
2nd – Drew
3rd – James
4th – Ben
5th – Ryan
6th – Andy
7th – Joelz
8th – Margo
9th – Don
10th – Pip

Strange Aeons – Warhammer Fantasy Escalation
1st – Karen (Tomb Kings)
2nd – Drew (Dwarves)
3rd – Betsy (Lizardmen)
4th – Ben (Dark Elves)
5th – Damon (Skaven)
6th – Spencer (Gobbos)
7th – Andy (Empire)
8th – Ryan (Orcs)

New Haven by Night will be returning to Chico State starting June 18th.  The Chico State Campus is New Haven’s ancestral home, and the Bulwark is happy to host them during the cold and rainy parts of the year.  Now that the weather is cheering up, the local members of Prince Batavus’ court will lurk about Chico State instead of gaming store behind K-Mart. “I like the CSU Chico site primarily due to the sheer size. The scale of the site allows us to adopt real-life locations as representations of in-game locations, adding to the degree of believability when one says they are or are not at a specific place,” says Lee Elmore. Lee has been playing in the local Vampire LARP through its several incarnations, most of which have been at Chico State during Chico’s 10+ year LARPing history, “While the CSU Chico site doesn’t have as easy access to restrooms or air conditioning, it grants us the ability to spread out and play.”

No doubt the Bulwark has had a positive impact on the game by connecting new players like Josh Amaral to the community. Josh is looking forward to the move, “open space, the buildings, it all just gives a more, almost sinister, ambience”. NHbN has had a positive impact on the Bulwark as well, while the community was being created NHbN helped solve problems of harsh fluorescent lighting, and establishing atmosphere, concerns which are no longer an issue inside the gaming shop.  The Bulwark looks forward to seeing more creatures of the night around early October, when the weather starts to change. That said, the Bulwark will still try to play an active role in NHbN and if you are at all interested in playing the longest running game in Chico simply email the staff at NHBNStaff@irondragongames.com.