Today's post is not a light-hearted one. It's a little bit more serious than usual, and is in a little bit of a different format for those reasons.
As some of you will know (if you're a Brisbane local, particularly), at the start of the week, the Warhammer Capalaba store was burnt to the ground. The fire gutted the entire tenancy, indiscriminately destroying everything inside, while also damaging adjoining small businesses.
It's never news that you want to wake up to, and several patrons of the store lost armies that were displayed in the cabinets. The full weight of the blow landed on the manager, Blake, however. Not only has his store been destroyed, but all of his gorgeous gaming tables and several of his armies (including the Skyfire-heavy army featured in the Game 1 Battle Report from BCGT) were reduced to ashes. He was understandably devastated by the news.
But this is where the silver lining began to shine through. Blake (and his partner in crime, Alistair from the Brisbane City store) have put blood, sweat and tears into contributing to the gaming community and nurturing a culture of sportsmanship and competition within their stores. It was all of this hard work that has resulting in an overwhelming response from the community. I've seen people opening their homes, offering tables and terrain to facilitate events and game nights, and altogether getting behind a member of our community that has been dealt a cruel hand. The local community, while all still feeling the loss of their spiritual gaming home, have picked up the slack and not missed a beat, organising themselves to adapt to this tragedy in the space of about three days. For a group of grizzled veterans and cunning generals, gamers have come out and shown a great deal of respect, support and compassion for a very well-respected member of our scene, and (without getting too warm and fuzzy), its been great to see!
Games Workshop has also not wasted time in finding him a different store to settle into while insurance and flow on effects play out.
Losing your store is a horrible thing to happen, and I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy, but I have no doubt that Blake and the community will bounce back bigger and better than ever, gritting their teeth and refusing to let this defeat them. It's easy to fall into the trap of looking at the event through jaded eyes, but at the end of the day, this is less about stock and armies, models and terrain, as it is about real life people. Our community is not defined by a store or a location. It is the people. And the people are still here and still passionate about the hobby and the game, and not afraid to get alongside their mates.
I have no doubt that Blake will have no shortage of support, both in his professional and personal life following this disastrous event.
Gabe
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