DuluthCommunityNews

The store opened last April, and makes it a mission to welcome as many gamers as possible. The goal is to create and maintain a gaming community, the free gaming room, open-use models, and - perhaps most importantly - the words of instruction, humor and advice from staff and regulars who have already started to establish this.

“Pete here came in one day, never played before,� said Dakerski, gesturing to a 12-year-old boy watching the Warhammer game in progress on a recent Saturday afternoon. “We showed him the ropes.�

“Direct hit!� said Misson, Dakerski’s mortal enemy, at least until the end of the game.

The two 30-something men are standing over a square Astroturf-covered table and the models they have created: small hand-painted figurines representing soldiers, tanks, weapons, and gorgon-like creatures. Each player takes a turn, decides on the strategy - attack, advance, retreat - and rolls dice to determine the outcome of the strategy. Dakerski, a red-headed ex-Marine, teases Misson about his absent girlfriend as Misson laughs it off and checks his cell phone for text messages from the lady in question.

“Just wait until you get a girlfriend again,� Misson chuckles.

Tables are spread out haphazardly throughout the large, brightly-lit room, where the other players, dressed in jeans and comfortable tees and hoodies, mill around, chat with each other, or engage in their own games. The small tables are ready to accommodate a simple two-player model game, like the one Dakerski and Misson are playing, or a larger game, like a “mega battle,� which involves six armies in an all-day face-off.

An entire culture of gamers (role playing game enthusiasts) exists in Duluth, and it includes the young, the old, the in-between, and just about anyone willing to roll the twelve-sided die.

There is strategy in all of these games - imagination too. The staccato alarm of the dice erupting regularly is a reminder that there is also a healthy dose of luck involved. One player rolled a few bad turns.

“Bad dice,� he said, tossing them in a corner and selecting new ones from a plastic cache.

Misson and Dakerski are clearly veterans of role-playing games, as they rarely have to glance at the thick rule books that accompany each version of Warhammer, and their movements and murmured dialog is fluid, full of momentum, and studded with wisecracks. Misson has been playing for 15 years, Dakerski for 20.

“The funny thing is, I hardly ever win!� said Dakerski, as he and Misson erupted into laughter.

“We’re as much of a club as any Lion’s Club or Rotary Club.� Said Elton Krosch Jr., one of the store’s owners. Krosch went on to explain the communal genesis of the store: when a different gaming store went out of business last year, Krosch and other ex-employees of the place bought the leftover merchandise and relocated it down the street to Dragon Port. Then, dozens of store regulars showed up to put the new store together, painting walls and tables, sorting models, arranging furniture. Both Misson and Dakerski helped with the endeavor.

Duluth’s gaming community is just that, said Misson, and doesn’t have as much of an interest in competition as it does in the social aspect of game-playing. “We’re very lucky here.�

The store continues to grow, attracting curious newcomers and gaming veterans alike. Dakerski agrees. “We work on this store as a community,� he said.

“People walk in every weekend never having played,� said Jade Bardon, a clerk at the store. “Pretty soon, someone is back there, walking them through the entire game.�