On the 8th of October, coming out of our tax advisor's office, two weeks after my mother’s death, I noticed that the shop which used to be called GAMES WORKSHOP was now called WARHAMMER. I was curious, walked over to take a closer look, found out that the shop was closed and studied the painted miniatures behind the window.
A young man came over, holding a little box in his hands.
"Damn. It’s closed", he said.
"Yes", I said. "Strange."
"I was looking for somebody to play 40K with", he said.
"What army do you play?"
"Space Marines. Salamanders."
"Those are the Space Marines that live in the jungle?"
„In the jungle? I don’t know. They are all equipped with flame throwers. I have them here in my box.“
"I sometimes play 40K with a friend. He used to live in Berlin, but unfortunately he moved to Dortmund recently. Are the rules very important to you? We play the 5th edition. It was written by Alessio Cavatore. It’s my favourite."
"The new edition is very beginner-friendly. I like that."
"If you would like to play with us, please contact me. I have a blog. It’s called Herr Zinnlings Arbeitszimmer. I have some 40K battle reports on it. So you can see how we play. It’s a bit old school, though."
"Damn. I’m angry that the shop is closed. I came all the way from Aplerbeck to play 40K."
"Yes. I mean. Really. Please contact me if you want to play with us. There’s a contact form on my blog."
"Schlimmling? What kind of name is that?"
"Äh. No. Zinnling. Herr Zinnling’s Arbeitszimmer."
"But you live in Berlin?"
"Yes. But I’m in Dortmund often. My mother died two weeks ago."
"I’m reall pissed off about this. I came all the way from Aplerbeck and now the shop is closed."
Ok. This didn’t work. He probably thought I was some kind of human spam bot, lurking in front of GW shops, ähh … AoS shops, to advertise my blog.
Instead I went to Krüger’s house with my two sons and we played 40K. We had a great time. We played Space Marines vs Orks. Both sides were able to secure one objective, if I remember well, and the game ended in a tie. It was the boys' first game of 40K.