Giga-Bites Cafe

On Friday, my wife had a doctor's appointment in Marietta. The kids and I dropped her off, and then headed over to check out a gaming store that a friend from church had recommended: Giga-bites Cafe

From what I'd been told, I was expecting a Games Workshop dealer, with a little Flames of War. Well, I did find a terrific shop for GW product as well as Battlefront FoW stuff, but with a twist. The first thing I noticed was the friendly owner, David, coming over to welcome us to the shop. I don't even remember what was on the flat screen TV in the front of the shop in the cafe area, but he made sure to pop in a kid-friendly DVD while I was there with my son and daughter. That goes a long way towards making me feel comfortable in a shop.

The we started talking about games, and not just the big names I've already mentioned. David carries a huge line of figures for Infinity and Malifaux. He also has a selection of miniatures from a couple of Spanish companies (Enigma & Avatars of War) and others. This in addition to a ton of painting and scenery/basing supplies.

On top of the game shop aspect, there are at least six large tables on which gamers can go to town with their favorite minis and rules. The cafe is open until late every night except Sunday, so it is definitely gamer-schedule friendly.

I picked up a couple of boosters for Malifaux (more on that a little later), some bases and ordered a couple of GW Warhammer figures (Citizens of the Empire: Duellists) which I am sure will see some action in Mordheim or some other skirmish game. As we were leaving I realized the kids and I had not had lunch yet, and it hit me - this place serves food too!

My son had a hot dog, while my daughter and I both chose the cheese steak panini. We got a BLT to-go for my wife. I was blown away by how good my sandwich was, and my wife said it was the best BLT she'd ever had, and she is not prone to exaggeration. Heck, the food was so good, I can see us going back just to eat - though you never know what other goodies I might find in there! And on our next visit we will definitely give the smoothies a try.

Overall, for friendly atmosphere, fantastic food and great gobs of gaming goodness, I can say this is now my gaming shop of choice. The only drawback for me is that it is a bit of a hike from my place. But, it is on the way to my parents house - so it is only coincidence that grandma and grandpa will see an increase in visits from their grandkids!

Now back to Malifaux. I was intrigued by the figures - a very interesting and different look, in my opinion. The world of Malifaux appears to be a mix between steampunk, Victorian horror, spaghetti westerns and Cthulhu. Cool, but creepy. I think it may be a bit too dark for my kids. I went to the Wyrd Games site to get some more info. After some digging around I finally found where I could download the Wyrd Chronicles, which seem to be what I was looking for in terms of the background to the Malifaux worlds and the factions.

I think it might work for my children, if we stay away from some of the more horrific factions, although even the law and order types are pretty dark and edgy. For the time being, I will collect the miniatures that appeal to me and use them in whatever game system I am playing at the time - mostly Song of Blades and Heroes. So to that end, the two blisters I picked up were Samael Hopkins, who will see duty as a monster-hunter werewolf-trapper, and the Guild Guard pack which comes with a pair of very nice-looking guardsmen that will be equally at home hunting down Zorro or other bandits in a Western setting, as they would be prowling Mordheim.

So, Friday was a good day - I found a great new place for gaming and good eats, and picked up some cool new figures to paint up. Doesn't get much better than that.

'Til next time.