Armchair Dragoons PAO, 1 December 2025
Continuing our spotlight series on the Friendly Local (War)Game Stores around the US & Canada
Mindtaker Miniatures Games and Hobbies is located in Vancouver, WA (right across the river from Portland, OR)
In our key ratings for the FLGS directory, Mindtaker Miniatures Games and Hobbies scores
- 5 – Wargame Friendliness
- 5 – Wargame Inventory On-Hand
- 4 – Wargaming Event Frequency
This is a 1-7 scale, where higher numbers are better; see bottom of article for details
And Yes, they do offer online ordering; you can find them at their homepage
What makes this store awesome?
Zachary Grant says
The word I’d use to describe Mindtaker Miniatures is “welcoming”. When I first visited Mindtaker, the store manager, Pete, warmly greeted me, told me if I had any questions to ask him and then proceeded to show me around the store. I felt very welcome!
Mindtaker has a large selection of board games and roleplaying games. There is a small hex and counter wargame section; however, the store more than lives up to its name with its loads of miniature wargames and miniature wargaming accessories. There are figures for Ancients, Napoleonics, American Civil War, World War II, Sci Fi and Fantasy (think Games Workshop), and much more. There are modeling supplies from paints and brushes, to glues and flocking. If they don’t have it, my guess is you can ask and they’ll be able to get it for you. They have a table heaped with small parts and pieces from old modeling sprues that you can purchase by the ounce and they have bins of random figures that you can dig through to find the perfect figure to represent your favorite hero or dastardly villain.
There is plenty of space to play games in the store. There is an open area available for gaming and there is a spacious room in the back that can be reserved for events or individual games. Did you forget a key piece of terrain for your battle? Not a problem! There are shelves of terrain you can use to make your battlefield complete.
You can purchase drinks and snacks from Mindtaker, or you can bring your own food, or have food delivered to the store. The store is open seven days a week and there’s something happening almost every day.
Mindtaker Miniatures Games and Hobbies has minis wargames as their main product inventory, and also carries board wargames, minis wargames, Eurogames, tabletop RPGs, non-wargame minis (fantasy and/or space), general game accessories (dice, game mats, markers, etc), minis accessories (terrain, paint, etc). And on the shelves, it’s mix of both new & used games
For in-store gaming, you’ve got dedicated rooms for gaming
Snacks for sale? Yes!
Take a look at the store!
click images to enlarge
(photos submitted by Zachary Grant)
Don’t forget to check out our overall FLGS directory, which will grow in listings as you folks submit your own nominations for inclusion!
Ranking scale for the stores
- Wargame Friendliness: 1 (What’s a Wargame?) through 7 (Wargaming Nirvana)
- Wargame Inventory On-Hand: 1 (A stray lonely copy of one game) through 7 (Inventory is at least least 90% wargames)
- Wargaming Event Frequency: 1 (Monthly or less) through 7 (Nightly)
Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and riding with The Armchair Dragoons.
Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web.
You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events.
Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.
Is there a particular reason why these stores are rated on a 1-7 scale instead of 1-10?
Also, I’ve often wondered why the term “FLGS” is used and, more specifically, how it originated. It seems the “F” is superfluous and possibly even presumptuous.
1-7 gives a good spread with a defined midpoint, and 3 steps on either side of it.
1-10 skews toward one side if you set 5 as the midpoint (four numbers below the 5, five numbers above it)
No idea about the origin; FLGS has been around for so long that it’s the term people know.
But I suspect it’s more about calling attention to the “L” than anything, since there’s no real national game store chain the same way you’ve got national chains for books, sporting goods, and clothes, even though there’s a lot of (usually excellent) local stores in the same markets 🤠