It's 2:00am in the morning do you know where your local game store is?

One of the biggest issues for me in this hobby is actually finding time to play. Playing a game requires, picking out a list, gathering the models, packing up said models, gathering up the peripherals (dice, codex, ruler) packing all this junk in the car and going to the local game store. Lucky for me the local game store is a block up the street or I doubt I would ever get in the random game of 40k. Sadly even when I make time now I have trouble getting a game.

The place I play is called the Tower Games in Lawrenceville, GA. He has 5 0r 6 Custom built 6x4 tables quite a bit of terrain laying around, and a few armies on the shelf if you need to proxy or 'borrow' a unit or two. One of the better hobby stores around due to the size of the store and the quality of the tables.

A few months ago the place was slammed with 40kers, I could walk in just about anytime after 3:00 and see someone playing 40k. Now it's kind of dead. I don't know if the fifth edition excitement ran out or what, but it's been a few months since I have seen a 40k game going on. Where did all the gamers go and why? This is not a cheap hobby to invest in. How do you just quit on something you spent so much money and time to start? Honestly when I talk to most of the guys they still have interest in 40k just not the army they started. Pretty much to a man it comes down to the competitiveness of their army in their mind. They purchased an army tried to play, lost a few times and quit. (Can i hav yur stuf?!?) Most point to their lack of competitiveness versus the local 180 boyz army (which while a pain really isn't that great of an army). Mob boyz take some getting used to playing against but once you figure out it's weakness (mainly AV14 or using 12' moving empty vehicles to open them up to extra rounds of shooting or to simply block charge) you find you will be in the position to win games where you don't roll horribly. At what point did everyone believe that they should just 'Auto-Win' at everything?

I have been playing 40k games for the past year, and it took me a few rounds of play before the system and my army clicked. After a game I analyze what went right, what went wrong. I attempt to recall and discuss anything my opponents did that I thought was rel event to the outcome of the game. I am not spectacular at the game at this point but I know what my units are capable of and I know quite a bit about the other armies and their rules. At this point I consider my training wheels off. I really don't have any ambition to play tournament 40k as the system seems pretty out of wack right now, (Who would let people bring their own dice to a competition where money is involved?) but I could not imagine just dumping my stuff if I didn't win a couple of games. I would really like to help rebuild the stores player base but right now I just don't have that kind of time. Hopefully I can get a campaign kicked off with the new Galactic Empire tiles.