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Northcoast Life A Gamer’s Retreat
A Gamer’s Retreat
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From WWII battlefields to distant future, locals enjoying tabletop games
 Ray Cardy sets up his American forces before battle with the Germans in France at A Gamer’s Retreat on I Street. Cardy is playing the tabletop game Flames of War, which acts out WWII battles. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson “I got 88s,” Ira Clements responds. It’s June 1944 and the U.S. military has successfully landed in Normandy, France, and is advancing on the Germans, being commanded by Clements. Cardy looks down at his army of miniature tanks posed for attack amidst the green trees and rolling hills of coastal France. He had just rolled his die and has to decide what his next move will be. “That makes a difference on where I put my tanks,” Cardy says about the fact that Clements has 88mm anti-tank artillery. “If all my tanks are close together, he can take out more models.” On the next table over, Joshua Wells and Colin Ramsey live in the year 40,000, when alien races are battling for control of the universe. Just a typical day at A Gamer’s Retreat. Norris Harp, the owner of the gaming store on I Street next to Del Norte Office Supply, hasn’t even technically opened, but for the last two months people have been coming in and playing what are known as tabletop games. He is also the first recipient of a Tri-Agency Economic Development Authority micro-enterprise loan that helped get his business off the ground. Harp has set up several large tables for locals to deploy their miniaturized armies and become entrenched in one of the many tabletop games, such as Flames of War, Warhammer, Dungeons and Dragons, and Magic the Gathering. “This gives people a place to go and play games,” he said. Harp is providing this gaming space free of charge, but is selling all the supplies a gamer might need: manuals, dice, miniatures and paint for the tiny figurines. He also plans on getting some more games. “I ask them to support the shop by buying their supplies here,” he said.
His arrival has been welcomed by locals who normally would have had to drive to Grants Pass or Eureka, he said. “It was something that was missing in town,” Harp said. “It was a definite need.” Tabletop games may seem like an underground activity that only devoted fans know about, but they’re actually very popular. The biggest challenge for a gamer in Crescent City has been finding people to play with, Harp said. “They don’t know other people playing the game,” he said. “They’re excited to find someone to play with.” Ira Clements has been playing tabletop games for about 25 years. He said there are a “fair amount” of players in Crescent City, and that population is growing. “You’re always trying to get new people into it,” Clements said, because new players bring “fresh strategies.” Most gamers range in age from 18 to their 40s, Harp estimated, but there are also educational games for ages 5 to 12. Harp, who was born and raised here, said he has been playing these games for probably 30 years. He enjoys getting so immersed in playing out a scenario that it takes his mind off everything else. “You can take a break from reality,” Harp said, hence why his shop is called a “retreat.”
The games also take a lot of concentration, considering all the rules. One player joked that Warhammer 40,000 is called that because there’s that many rules. Each game has thick, hard-cover guide books, but the best way to learn is to just play, said another player. Moves are based on a character’s point value and the roll of the die, but players do have some control in the game. A game could have only two players or small teams or range up to 14 people, Harp said. Flames of War is a WWII battle game set from January to August of 1944. Warhammer has two variations: there is the fantasy game set in Middle Earth from “Lord of the Rings” featuring goblins and orcs; then there is the 40K version that is set in the 41st millennium.
“You’re trying to keep yourself alive to win the game,” said Clements while playing Flames of War and explaining how each miniature soldier or tank can move. “It’s like an elaborate game of chess.” The models and terrain on the tabletop give players a “3-D experience,” he said. The WWII battle game that Clements is playing is “more or less historically accurate,” but it allows players to run “what-if” scenarios. Clements’ opponent, Cardy, enjoys the historical battle games. He spent 20 years in the Army and fought in the first Gulf War. “This appeals to me, it’s more realistic” than the futuristic or fantasy games, Cardy said. “The rules (of those games) don’t make any sense.” But just because Cardy is playing on the American side doesn’t mean he will automatically win — on this tabletop, the Germans still have a chance. Meanwhile, Joshua Wells is getting ready to fire on miniatures that look a lot like the extraterrestrials from the “Alien” movies. “We’ll see if their armor saves them,” he said. The roll of the dice kills two of Colin Ramsey’s eight soldiers, but soon it will be his turn to attack the enemy. It’s complicated, they admit that, but that’s why there are rule books. “If you play a lot, you learn fast,” Ramsey said. In addition to the tabletop games, players can also participate in better-known games such as Dungeons and Dragons, a role-playing game. There’s also the card game Magic the Gathering, where people play against one another in a group. “I want to be nationally syndicated with all the games,” Harp said, so he can host tournaments. But beyond that he would eventually like to see his original dream realized: a family fun center with not only the tabletop games, but also an arcade and computer games and a food court, “where people can show up and have a good time,” Harp said. “That vision is still there,” he said. “I’m starting it piecemeal ... depending on how well all this goes.” |
