Thursday, October 3, 2013

Atomic Empire: a Game and Comic Store in Durham, NC

 Hi Kids, although I hesitate to call this place local being 75 miles from home, I think its worth reporting just cause it has a ton of cool stuff for sale.  It's on Westgate Road, just off Biz 15/501, about 3 miles north of I-40.  Just out of sheer dumb luck there was a War$ Fantasy tournament going on the day I turned up.
 Some of the armies were funkier than expected.  Fuzzballs with eyes?  I think they look pretty damn cool, but they don't call me king of the proxies for nuthin.  Your mileage may vary.
 Unpainted figs?  This is North Carolina.  Painted armies are crazy rare.  Just ask anybody.
 That's a pretty honkin' big unit of orks.  As Stalin said, "Quantity has a quality all its own."  And I'm sure Uncle Joe would approve GW's business plan and price points!  (Yeah, yeah, I know...   its a cheap shot.  So purge me.)
 A big pile of loaner games.
 Gaming space?  Oh yeah, a great big yeah.  They even have a snack bar.
 A rack of used and/or discounted stuff.  You don't see "Blood Berets" or "Psiworld" everyday!
Most of the racks were this steel variety, great for displaying stuff, but looks strange in pictures.  Where does one rack end and the one behind it start?  Flames of War looks to be a big seller.
Variety is the spice of life, here we have Infinity, Bolt Action, and Malifaux all in 12 feet of shelves.  Somewhere in there is a few feet of Battletech minis.  When was the last time you saw Battletech on the shelf?  It's been awhile for me.  They stock a couple different lines of paint also.
Looking down the GW 40K row.
GW War$ Fantasy.  Overall GW has about 24 feet of these racks.
Reaper has about 12 feet of display space.  Hooks are pretty deep with stuff!  They are even arranged by numerical order!  How crazy is that?
Warmachine and Hordes, at least 8 feet of it.
RGP's.
X-Wing and Star Trek.
Plastic minis, I think Wargames Factory.
Bolt Action (aka Satan's Rules).  For those gamers too wimpy to handle "Disposable Heroes," The Best WW2 Rules Ever!  And other stuff, too.  How often have you seen TSR's (ex-SPI) "Firefight?"
A few shots of Euro Games.


Privateer Press a-go-go!
Dust and that new 25mm action from Dystopia Wars.  I'm really curious what the new owners will do with Dust, I think the idea, artwork, and figs are all pretty honkin' cool, but so far the rules have left me cold.  If they can come up with something in an anti-Bolt Action vein we might be able to do some gaming!
Score one for the Chuckster! Wargames Illustrated Oct 2013!  The store 62 miles from home (Parker, Banner, Kent and Wayne) was sold out, but I got lucky and bought the last copy at Atomic Empires!  WoooooHoooooo!  I've been jonesin' to check out the Arab-Israeli stuff in this issue.  You're damn skippy that I already have some of the tanks and infantry painted up ready to go!  In fact, I blogged about it awhile back.

5 comments:

Michael Awdry said...

I'm so glad that little lot is not 3 miles from me - I'd be ruined! :)

DragonOfId said...

Thanks for the review! :-D Glad you got to come out and see the fuzzball Empire army, I was sorry I missed it.

eriochrome said...

Looks like a pretty big store. Well stocked also. If you liek fuzzball armies you should see Tristan's Blood Bowl Slann:

http://gwpertinent.blogspot.com/2010/10/deathbowl-xiii-introducing-my-counts-as.html

Powerposey said...

They also still discount GW products 20% since they do not order directly from GW. You can also order online from them. This is the store that runs Brawler Bash now (used to be part of Southern Assault) but now get 70+ players for their WfB GTs. All painted BTW, only their monthly tournaments don't require painted armies. Store is big as it used to be a Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I travel 75+ miles to visit whenever I can, just to browse their mini ranges.

ColKillgore said...

It is a great shop. Especially for someone like me that plays many different games. I managed to stop by the last time I was in town for business and had a great experience and added a couple out of print gaming books to my collection from their bargin rack.

ColKG