'The Eye of the Storm' - first pics of the new store

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'The Eye of the Storm' - first pics of the new store

Post by Dark Alliance »

It's an incredible day for us here at Maelstrom Games for we can finally reveal the amazing new venue we are establishing for all wargamers and hobbyists within the East Midlands, the United Kingdom and indeed the world - for we believe you will all want to visit The Eye of the Storm!

As noted previously, we are moving our current operation to much larger and far more characterful premises later on in June, which will enable us to improve our existing operation massively. Our physical shop will increase in size sevenfold from where we currently are based, and with our warehouse and distribution centre upsizing too we will of course be able to carry more stock for more wargames. Crucially, our move will also enable us to become far more efficient, thanks to new working practices and systems that simply could not be implemented inside the shoebox we are currently enduring. This is great news for you, our valued shop and internet customer, but not all of our great news!

Image

Our new premises, a Grade II listed building sat grandly next to the River Maun and the Oakham Local Nature Reserve, is a former working mill that is being tastefully renovated to keep its glorious former character yet modernised to meet the needs of wargamers and hobbyists. Roughly twelve thousand square feet in size, it will also comprise The Eye of the Storm - the shop and gaming hall with space for seventy-five tables, or a hundred and fifty wargamers - as well as a first class licensed bar and restaurant named The Woodstock, offering high quality food and drink as well as provision for live music and sports. With easy access from all major road and rail links, ample free on site car parking and a massive product range available over the counter The Eye of the Storm is going to be the must attend venue on everyone's events list. For the first time there will be a centrally-located venue dedicated to the miniatures hobby that embraces all game systems, enabling you to enjoy your wargaming, shopping or creativity in a warm and friendly environment. Oh, and did we mention there was a bar?

To further your wargaming, we will be running tournaments for as many systems as we can throughout the year, as well as allowing the hall to be used by organisations wishing to hold their events at The Eye of the Storm. We'll be holding sculpting, painting and converting weekends for those more interested in the hobby side of things and we'll be inviting noted guest speakers to get you face to face with developers. There'll be lots of events for kids in the school holidays and if you live nearby we'll be offering regular gaming nights and campaigns, as well as introductory gaming within the shop and a place to harness your creative side with brush or sculpting tool. The gaming hall itself will feature the latest technology designed to make the tournament experience as hassle free as possible, and our website will evolve into something far more than a simple e-store, for the information you will need about our venue, our facilities and of course the events we will be running will be at your fingertips.

To ensure the success of this much anticipated expansion additional key staff members have been recruited. Gary Moore (aka Dark Alliance) will head the venue team and will be responsible for delivering high quality gaming and hobby related events for all games systems. Tim Fisher will be running hobby workshops as well as building quality terrain and gaming tables. Tim will also be the Maelstrom studio painter, whilst Rich Gedney will be the estate manager. The new store will be headed up by Tom Carrington and Dave Speed who will be more than pleased to run demo games and talk about all of the various games systems on offer.

Here are some 'before' photos...
Image Image Image Image Image Image

The new shop and distribution centre is expected to be open by the end of June 2009 and the gaming hall, bar and restaurant is scheduled for launch at the end of the year, along with the new website. We will of course release photographs and further details as our venue evolves, but one thing's for sure: The Eye of the Storm is the future of wargaming entertainment, and we want you to experience it with us!

Watch for more news soon!
Last edited by Dark Alliance on Mon Aug 03, 2009 2:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Amarel »

I'm very excited by this (just read it on their site before also seeing it in here) and I live miles away.

Be cool if it becomes a regular haunt for people and those of us wandering up from afar can almost guarantee a game of something :).
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Post by Calisson »

So this is the explanation for your present avatar!
The Eye of the Storm!
I recall that you've changed it in Mar 09, 2009

I understand now why you've been so quiet recently.

Looking forward to seeing the result. :o
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Calisson wrote:What happened to your black and gold symmetric shield?
How come did you turn to contemporary art?



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Last edited by Calisson on Thu May 28, 2009 6:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Kinslayer »

Wait... DA, you are part of Maelstrom? Awesome, I buy most of my models of you!!
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Post by Dark Alliance »

Kinslayer wrote:Wait... DA, you are part of Maelstrom? Awesome, I buy most of my models of you!!


Indeed I am!
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Post by Kinslayer »

Then I've probably spoken to you on the phone. I was probably annoying too, I often change my mind about orders :p
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Post by Dark Alliance »

Kinslayer wrote:Then I've probably spoken to you on the phone. I was probably annoying too, I often change my mind about orders :p


No I don't have anything to do with that side of the business. I'm developing the venue itself.
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Post by Dalamar »

DA takes care of the fun stuff over there!

Great work mate! Finally getting to see what you've been so busy with these past few weeks, and even though the photos show very much "in progress", it seems like this might just be it.

Good luck!
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Post by Lord Veshnakar »

Well at least that explains the signature and the newest avatar. Job well done dude, and I know there's still a long way to go but congrats nonetheless. An incredible achievement, and I hope I get the chance to give it a visit when I make it over to the isles eventually.
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Post by Langmann »

I hope this is a successful endevour. But I think it would have been better if you built it beside my house.

Good luck buddy!
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Post by Dark Alliance »

langmann wrote:I hope this is a successful endevour. But I think it would have been better if you built it beside my house.

Good luck buddy!


All in good time... ;)
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Post by Amarel »

Dark Alliance wrote:
langmann wrote:I hope this is a successful endevour. But I think it would have been better if you built it beside my house.

Good luck buddy!


All in good time... ;)

Woah, we can put in requests like that? Excellent - second dibs on the house-side project :p
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Post by Fr0 »

Mmm.. good to see. I can't help but wonder what that machine is..
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Post by Dark Alliance »

That machine is an old piece of woodworking machinery. What is more interesting is that it is destined to be repositioned outside in our patio area, and will be the framework of my mega BBQ!
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Post by Kinslayer »

mega BBQ!? How do I sign up?

:twisted:
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Post by Cathel »

Big premises, an old house, mega barbeque.
Unfortunately very far away...
It's close to a river you said, can a black ark or at least a corsair ship moor there? I'll ask Calisson for a passage aboard his ship.
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Post by Zardock »

Aww man.... If only I still lived in Britain haha, probably get more games in to.

I hope that this goes well for you DA, that way when I'm over from NZ in the next year or two, I can come see this place, looks like it's going to be great!!!

and will be the framework of my mega BBQ!


You had me at hello... !lol!
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Post by Calisson »

Cathel wrote: I'll ask Calisson for a passage aboard his ship.
Unfortunately I'm not anymore embarked :cry:
Where I work now is a dugout below the medieval castle of Brest, France.
<= see there my location.
This castle does not move, unlike Black Arches.

Now, if there is a mega barbeque, DA and others folks to find there...
booty, ransoms...
I might consider an expedition in that place. :twisted:
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Post by Zardock »

Now I'm just imagining Calisson appearing there with an eyepatch riding a Sea Dragon and stealing the Mega BBQ, perhaps you should invest in some Bolt Throwers DA to ward off the threat of Calisson attack?
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Post by Dangerous Beans »

Bro, that sounds AWESOME! If you ever need Bar Staff let me know! ;)

I'll be keeping a firm eye on tournament events and fixtures - great job guys, the place looks fantastic! :D

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Post by Dark Alliance »

Here at Maelstrom Games another milestone in the road to wargaming heaven will be reached this weekend, the 1st and 2nd of August - for our lovely new physical store in Mansfield will be open to the public for the first time, and to celebrate, we're offering anybody who visits 25% off anything they see on both days!


Our store will be open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 6pm and on Sundays from 10am to 4pm, and it has more than enough space for all the wargames, miniatures and hobby products that we sell online. These range from Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 to Battlefront Miniatures' Flames of War to Vallejo's huge range of acrylic paints, as well as two eight foot by four foot gaming tables (space for four games running at the same time) and a painting area that can seat four comfortably and eight at a push.

Thanks to those tables we'll be running a few introduction and demonstration games this weekend, so if you fancy trying something new or even just watching and soaking it up before you take the plunge then our store retail team - headed by Dave Speed, our store manager - will make you feel very welcome.

Our Venue Manager, Gary Moore, will also be on hand to give you some details on the premises and the events we'll be running, and he'll be happy to show you around the mill building and paint a picture of how it will all work when that part of our operation will be running later on this year.

In short, our opening weekend is an ideal way to check out what we're up to, play a few introduction games and paint your miniatures, so if you pop down you're not only grabbing yourself a bargain, you're also enjoying the unique atmosphere that the grand surroundings of the old mill generates. What more could you ask for of a weekend?

Our address, if you've not already clocked it, is:

Maelstrom Games Ltd
Matlock Mill
Hamilton Way
Mansfield
Nottinghamshire
NG18 5BU

We also have a new store telephone number that will be in use from Thursday, so if you need directions or just want to chat about what we're up to please ring 01623 629 425.

Hopefully we'll see you there on Saturday, 9am sharp!
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Post by Nurik0 »

We saw the before pictures. Can we see some after pictures now?
I'd like to see how it turned out.
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Post by Dark Alliance »

I'll be uploading some more pics shortly now the opening weekend has passed.
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Post by Dark Alliance »

Thank you all very much for all the kind comments made in the various threads across the various forums. It is very gratifying for us to see that our hard work is well appreciated :D

For clarification, the bar and gaming hall are scheduled to open at the end of this year/early 2010 but I do stress that we will not rush things. We want to ensure that we deliver the best gaming and hobby experience possible, so do not intend to open further parts of the building until we are completely happy.

In the meantime, here are some more pictures from the weekend...

Some happy shoppers...

Image

The Hordes and Warmachine wall...

Image

Fancy some Flames?

Image

Demo games...

Image

And the Maelstrom "Gateway".... :wink:

Image
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Post by Calisson »

The woodden beams and the "eye of the storm" metallic door provide a nice atmosphere.
Good work!
Looking forward to see the next pictures, especially some general pictures such as the "happy shoppers" one.
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