To July ... okay, where did that time go?

We had our second busiest month ever this June, which is huge. It was second only to January this year for us, which is always our busiest month of the year.

Regardless, we've been doing great - going from strength to strength. As we grow we're always trying to do more, better for you guys, our fantastic community. It's always been my goal to be a community resource for Tairawhiti first, and a retail store second - but sales definitely help us reach those goals!

Alia

New Employee

As many of you will know it's been mostly me and my family doing things alone (with a little help from our friends, do-de-do-do-do) for the past 6 1/2 years. Now we've finally been in a good enough position to hire our first fulltime, permanent employee. This frees up a lot of my time to work on managerial stuff - i.e. writing things like this, brainstorming cool events, and making sure Artemis is thriving.

Meet Zac - Zac is overjoyed to join our team, less so to be photographed, but he consented, so it counts. If you're in store and I'm not around, he's your guy. (please return him when you're done though, I am quite enjoying having the assistance!)

Zac is a Warhammer & Magic the Gathering Player, so he's actually much more knowledgeable than me about Warhammer, which is fantastic.

Pokemon League & Stock

As some of you will have heard, we have finally started stocking Pokemon cards (not for lack of trying, I promise). Unfortunately our allocations are very low as a new store. We've decided to put all of our bundles & booster boxes towards encouraging Pokemon League attendance.

We'll be running (at first unofficial - but hopefully soon with support) Pokemon League every Tuesday afternoon from 4pm to 7pm. This will be a casual play event. Entry is $10 and participants will get a Pitch Black booster pack at the end of the session. Tuesday the 28th will be our first session. BYO deck! We'll also have demo decks to use in store & have bulk boxes of common Pokemon cards kids can look through and choose cards to build with if they don't have one.

Kids are very welcome, but under 12's are to be accompanied by an adult!

Warhammer sale!

We don't often do sales on Warhammer (or at all, other than clearance) but our Warhammer is taking up a bit more of the store than we have room for, so anything marked with a white circle sticker in store, or on our website marked under our Warhammer Sale tab is 10% off!

July 17th ~ 6pm ~ $5 ~ Riftbound Skirmish - this is our most competitive Riftbound event hosted, where you bring your best deck & play off for a playmat & promo cards!

July 18th-19th ~ 10am-6pm ~ Warhammer Teams Tournament - casual Intro to 11th edition. This is fully booked, but feel free to come along and check out the games, and vote for your favourite paint job out of the armies!

July 24th ~ 6pm ~ $25 ~ Lorcana Attack of the Vines Release Pack Rush - this easy to play, beginner friendly sealed format gets you two booster packs you slam together to play a deck! Super easy, fun, and get a taste of the brand new set.

July 24th ~ 6:15pm ~ $65 ~ Riftbound Vendetta Pre-release - get your Pre-release kit, build a deck, play a tournament! This event is beginner friendly!

July 25th ~ 12:30pm ~ $10 ~ One Piece Pirate Party: Theme - Paramount War. Pirate Party is a super casual format where players build fun decks and get participation promos & a booster pack for attending.

August 7th 6pm & 8th 2:30pm ~ $75 ~ The Hobbit is coming to Magic the Gathering, and it's Pre-release time. Our Friday evening is a standard Pre-release event, but we've decided to do something fun and Hobbity for the Saturday afternoon Pre-release, and in true Hobbit fashion we're hosting a shared afternoon tea - bring a plate and snack your way through your first taste of this cool new set! Dressing up is also warmly encouraged!

As well as all our regular monthly & weekly events - Magic the Gathering Commander & Junior League, Riftbound Nexus Nights, Flesh and Blood Armoury Events, One Piece Store Tournaments, twice monthly paint nights, yarn nerds Sundays & board game nights! Check out our Events calendar for more details.

We have a really amazing local scene for Warhammer 40k, but the range I'd like to bring to your attention today is Spearhead - a spinoff game for Warhammer Age of Sigmar (Fantasy). The models are absolutely gorgeous, the gameplay is easier to learn, and best of all you only need one Spearhead box to play - keeping costs down, and hours spent painting to a... well, reasonable ish amount.

We've got a few super keen local players, and We're actively trying to get more of a scene going for it. We're looking at doing our second Spearhead tournament in a couple of months, so it's a great time to get into it - sing out if you need someone to help teach you the game, or get some practise in and we'll get you in touch with someone who can help!

My game of the month for July is a game I played for the first time this year. I am absolutely in love with it, as is every neurodiverse person I have played it with. It is absolutely charming and engrossing. My husband however... hates it. So, it may not be for you if you're not a fan of "ships crossing in the night" style cozy euro games, but if you are... you absolutely have to try "A Place for all my Books."

It is absolutely as adorable as it sounds. You choose your favourite introvert character, start at their home, and start organizing all of your books. This gives you "social battery" which you then can spend to go to town and... buy more books (and other neat stuff!) to take home and organize. Parallel play for 1-4 introverts!

The "other neat stuff" cards contain things like manga, coffee pots, bookcases and many other things your nerdy little heart could desire. Even board games!

I cannot explain how happy this game makes me. It is so, so good!

If you are a Gisborne Local, or stopping by, join us for a Board Games Night every First & Third Friday of the month and check out this and many other cool offerings in our In-store Board Game Library!