Two of Tulsa’s Gaming Shops | A Guest Post by Tim
December 10, 2011 in Banner
I went to Tulsa recently on a Christmas shopping mission, but decided to visit a couple of gaming shops while I was there.
There are at least a half-dozen gaming shops in the city, but I was mainly focused on wargaming and had limited time. Still, I thought a quick ‘review’ of the two shops I explored might be of general interest.
The Hussar
My first visit was to The Hussar (http://www.thehussar.com/ | Facebook) which proved not to be a gaming shop, at all. This surprised me, because I’d found it by googling “wargaming Tulsa.”
So, The Hussar doesn’t really do gaming, but what it does do is modeling, finished figure sales, and reference materials for militaria ranging from ancients to modern.
You might pick up some exquisitely painted miniatures in any scale, 1/35 armor kits, browse some Osprey Publishing reference books, or pick up a detailed academic treatise on German WW2 small unit tactics while you were there.
I wish I had taken pictures, because the shop is very….tidy and well put together. The decorations consist of vintage (or perhaps they were reproductions, I didn’t ask) military uniforms and helmets and the exquisitely painted minis I mentioned above.
Even though it’s in a no-name shopping center on a typical urban sprawl commercial street, when you step through the door it’s like you enter a little magical realm in another world. Shoppe, even.
It’s a very cool place and worth a visit, even if historical military miniatures are of no interest to you. The proprietor is an extremely friendly man who loves to talk about his hobby.
As an aside, I would think any game shop owner/manager would benefit greatly from visiting The Hussar. It’s an extremely pleasant place to visit. I would even use the term ‘professional.’
Top Deck
The second visit was to Top Deck (http://www.topdeck.us/) which bills itself as “Tulsa’s Best Game Shop.”
Top Deck’s owner is very gregarious and helpful. He assisted me in picking out three color 1944 German armor camouflage patterns while fielding multiple entries into a very-well-attended Magic tournament.
If that’s not patience, I don’t know what is.
Top Deck is definitely a more stereotypical game shop experience than The Hussar. I’d say they lean more towards boardgames, warhammer, and other miniatures games than RPGs, though they do have a fairly healthy RPG section. Top Deck has a great selection of board games.
They carry everything from Apples to Apples to a rather extensive selection of Command & Colours. I would have totally picked up a set of C&C Ancients, if I could have somehow hidden the amount from my girlfriend. 
The entire Warhammer line is well-represented, including the various RPGs. They have a good selection of Napoleonic miniatures and rules (minis are all 28mm Victrix…also sorely tempting) and all the Flames of War you could possibly want.
Top Deck’s gaming space had at least 10 tables, all of them full. I saw guys playing Warhammer 40k, euro board games, and the aforementioned Magic Tournament. Looked like a thriving community of gamers.
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In summary, both of these shops are well worth a visit next time you’re in T-town.
I have to say, I’m a bit jealous of the volume and variety of gaming that appears to be going on there. I suppose it’s the population difference, though I wouldn’t think it would be that great if you take NW Arkansas as one semi-urban region.
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