Spotlight on: Clifton Road Games

I love Games Shops, wherever I go I like to look them up and see how they do things.  I've been to Games shops all over the UK, in Italy, France and even in Florida and Indianapolis.

From now on when I visit a new one i'll do a little review and share my thoughts with you, I hope you find it useful. Leave a comment if you like the idea.

So first in the series will be the shop I went to today. Clifton Road Games in Exeter (UK).  I've been aware of this shop for a few months and despite living just half an hour away I haven't found the time to visit until now.  That's a mistake I'll be correcting on a regular basis if I can.

An entire wall of Flames of War

They have a Facebook page and a pretty well constructed website.

Clifton Road Games has a very deceptive entrance.  Through a tiny corridor opens up into a fair sized shop with a very, very, generous games room.  

Gamers Paradise

The member of staff (the owner I think) was friendly and helpful as were the other customers.  In my experience its a characteristic of Games Shops that the customers want to help other gamers and this store was no exception.

So many miniatures, so little in my bank!

The store had a really great selection of miniatures, a whole wall of Flames of War, Warmachine, Dystopian Wars, Black Scorpion, Rackham, West Wind and loads more. I can't remember another shop I've been to that had such a comprehensive offering.  The few I didn't see included Copplestone Castings,  Reaper Miniatures (a personal favourite as regular readers will know), Hasslefree and Games Workshop (an omission I consider to be a major point in Clifton Road Games' favour).

Even more Miniatures

Along with miniatures there was a massive selection of boardgames, RPGs, Wargames Rules, Vallejo paint (Air, Game & Model Colour ranges), scenery and general model supplies.  There was also a pretty extensive selection of Card games like Magic and the shop is clearly very active in tournament hosting.

The Games area, they were moving tables at the time

This leads me on to another major strength of the shop. The Games area.  It was HUGE.  Plenty of tables and chairs for Friday Night Magic and Tournaments and it was big enough to hold lots of big wargames or skirmish games.  

Did I mention Gamers Paradise?

I would estimate that their playing area is around ten times the size of your average Games Workshop.  The store hosts weekly Card Games nights, Wargame nights and Boardgames nights.

Before I say this I want to make it clear that I don't know anyone at the shop, I don't get paid anything by them or have any ties to them.  

I could have spent hours at this shop, and if my lovely wife wasn't with me I certainly would have.  This is an excellent shop with a really great games area and if you live in the Exeter area (or anywhere nearby) I'd strongly recommend paying a visit to Clifton Road Games, I'm sure they will make you very welcome and I'm sure you'll become a regular.

Now thats my kind of mural. OOTS FTW