Valley of The Sun Gaming Stores

While on vacation today in the Phoenix Metro area I decided to check out 5 of the areas gaming stores. I will list them in order from best to good.

1. Imperial Outpost Games
2. Empire Games
3. Game Depot
4. Desert Sky Games
5. Play or Draw

Each gaming store has its pros and cons and I will try to elaborate on my experience. The prices at each store is about the same so one is not better than the other for prices.

Imperial Outpost Games

4920 W Thunderbird Rd, Glendale, AZ 85306

Outpost Games by far had the largest selection of games and tables to play your various board games, card games, and skirmish battles.  The store is enormous; it actually as two shops one for board games and table top games and another for card games separated by their gaming tables.  The staff was very helpful, friendly, and ready to help you find anything you need.  I will definitely be calling this store my new second home.

Empire Games

1766 S Greenfield Rd, Mesa, AZ 85206

This store was my next favorite store.  They have a large following for Spartan Games Firestorm Armada and Plaentfall.  They staff was very friendly and eager to help.  They have about 20-25 gaming tables and card table for you needs.  This store has the largest selection of WarHammer supplies that I saw in any of the stores.  Even though I don't play at all.

Game Depot

3136 S McClintock Dr #11, Tempe, AZ 85282

Patty at game depot was very helpful and friendly.  They have a good selection of gaming supplies.  This was the only store where I was able to find Flames of War supplies.  It also has a large gaming group called Arizona Desert Rats FOW gaming group that calls this place home.  They do rotating tournament called Shifting Sands.

Desert Sky Games

2531 S Gilbert Rd, Gilbert, AZ 85295

This was the last store that I visited today.  It had a good mix of gaming supplies and some comics for good measure.  There are several tables to play here too.  The guy running the store while I was here was very helpful and friendly.

Play or Draw

965 E Van Buren St #116, Avondale, AZ 85323

This was my least favorite store.  They had very little gaming supplies that I play and all of it was locked up in cabinets and no one could find the key when I asked to look at an item.  They were not very helpful and were more interested in playing with their cards than trying to help out a customer that was going to drop almost $200 in Star Wars Armada stuff.  This store is more dedicated to card games such as Magic or Pokemon.  There are several tables to play here too.

Star Wars Armada Wave II

On 6 April 2015 Wave 2 was announced, offering additional fighter squadrons and ships including the first ships on "large" bases for both factions.  Wave II includes the following expansion packs for the core game.

• Imperial-class Star Destroyer Expansion Pack
• MC30c Frigate Expansion Pack
• Home One Expansion Pack
• Rogues and Villains Expansion Pack
• Imperial Raider Expansion Pack

The Imperial-class Star Destroyer Expansion Pack brings this behemoth battleship to your games of Armada with one pre-painted miniature, two ship cards, three command dials, eighteen upgrades, and all requisite tokens.

The MC30c frigate expansion pack contains two command dials and ten upgrade cards, along with all the tokens you need to bring this Rebel ship to battle. Of course, as with other Armada expansion packs, the MC30c Frigate Expansion Pack also comes with two ship cards that let you field your MC30c as either the MC30c Scout Frigate or MC30c Torpedo Frigate.

Admiral Ackbar flagship star cruiser, Home One, features one large-size, pre-painted miniature MC80 star cruiser, two ship cards, three command dials, and fourteen upgrades.

The Imperial Raider expansion pack comes with a command dial, speed dial, and all the tokens you need to enter the fray.

The Rogues and Villains Expansion Pack features Han Solo, Boba Fett, and a handful of the galaxy's most notorious rogues and villains.

These five expansion packs of Star Wars Armada Wave II are scheduled to arrive in the third quarter of 2015!  Everyone keep your fingers crossed.

Fantasy Flight Games: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2015/4/6/here-they-come/