Thinking About The Good Ole Days....

This pic is of the now closed GW Battle Bunker in Downers Grove, IL. More specifically it's a pic of how it was when I first started going there. Some of you might be asking why the hell are you posting about that place, I thought you hated it?! Well I did after a while but looking back I really miss the place.

I started going to the Bunker back in 2008 where I would meet up with Dan, Jon (Tau Jon, not The Baron) and Rich. I've know them since 2000 or so, maybe even earlier. We used to all play AD&D 2nd Edition (with Skills and Powers!) back in the day and one day I got a call from them asking me to meet up with them at the Bunker, so I did. I've always had an interest in 40K from years prior and I finally had a job that gave me the means to afford to get serious with the game. That one meeting at the Bunker turned into a weekly ritual. We would do mini campaigns, start rivalries between our armies and just shoot the shit about the hobby or anything in general. We would always wait for everyone to get there then do lunch at either Portillo's (which is a Chicago staple) or Burger King (which always gave me bad gas).

I was also introduced to Mack and became friends with him as well. Mack was a good addition to the crew because he was Mr Tournament player and none of us really were. He really made our group well rounded because all of us had different ways of playing and it really made things interesting.

This was also when I was invited to sit in on a recording session of Dice Like Thunder and I had a blast sitting in on it and eventually I was asked to become a part of the show. I had been listening to podcasts since 2004 or so, mostly listening to Video Game podcasts such as 1UP Yours and GFW Radio so the concept was not new to me at all. So every Friday after gaming at the Bunker we would record, which was great because we got to talk about our misadventures at the Bunker while it was still fresh in our heads. I was shocked that people actually listened to what we were talking about and actually wanted to hear more. It was very humbling, especially when going to Adepticon for the first time and have people talk to me saying they love the show. It was a very weird experience because I would just freeze in shock and just say the truth, we only do it because it's fun and I'm glad our little group can entertain you with our idiotic podcast, lol.

Then people started coming out to the Bunker on Fridays to meet up with us and play with us. The Bunker's location was perfect because it was centrally located and right off of a major highway. We met a ton of cool people and our regular Friday gaming group just grew because of it. This is how I met Joe, Chaos Dave, Roy, Fletch and the rest of the Screaming Heretic Podcast crew. We also met Dave and The Baron through regular Friday night gaming at the Bunker! We then started doing full blown campaigns and doing Apocalypse games here and there. My wife (that I was dating at the time) even started to come out every Friday! Our small group turned into a full blown gaming club but it was still small enough where we all would meet up and still do lunch all the time and bullshit about anything and everything. We would even hang out with each other away from the Bunker and we all became really good friends. The Dice Like Thunder Crew which would eventually turn into the Eternal Warriors crew would still record every Friday night after gaming at the Bunker. Everything was still the way it used to be, just on a grander scale.

I believe things started to change when we all started getting to other gaming systems, which we could not play at the Bunker. Price increases, people losing interest in 40K and other things made the ritual Friday meet ups less frequent. Regardless of why that happened, it was still a blast when he did it and I look back fondly at those days realizing that it might not ever be like that again. Life happens, people get married, have kids, move, work gets in the way and etc....

But if it wasn't for the Bunker I would not be writing this blog post right now and I would not have befriended a bunch of amazing people that I am still friends with to this day. Now, if we could only get TEW to record at least once a month, that would be great.... lol