Loyal Friends

A few days later, Chen Xi, carrying his miniatures case, arrived at a wine shop.

"Yo, Seventeen, what army are you fielding today? Still your favorite metal boxes?" The shop owner, also a Warhammer Friend, was wearing a red t-shirt printed with the Chaos Eight-Pointed Star and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, looking every bit the loyalist.

"Nah, going with the Sisters today, fancy a change of pace." Chen Xi replied to the owner's question, then asked, "How many people are playing today?"

"Not many today. Sea Hare Hospital has a surgery, A Ling School has exams to invigilate, A Lian Company has a deadline, and Gou76 said he has to do quarterly financial reports." The shop owner explained the situation to Chen Xi, then curiously asked, "Speaking of which, where did you get that Power Sword you posted in the group? Thinking of selling it?"

"Not selling it, and you wouldn't either if you had it." Chen Xi directly rejected the offer, but didn't completely shut down the conversation. "But if you're asking about where to get one, I could introduce you. I'll tell you the details after we're done playing."

Hearing Chen Xi's response, the shop owner didn't seem disappointed, simply nodding and not asking any further questions.

Chen Xi looked around and asked, "Where's Yuri? Not coming today?"

"Went on a date with a loli, you know how it is." The shop owner shrugged, wearing a knowing expression.

However, Chen Xi frowned and said, "Didn't he get dumped? She made it pretty clear."

"Ah, if he could let go that easily, he wouldn't be him." The shop owner sighed, stating that relationship problems weren't easy for anyone to face.

Hearing this, Chen Xi didn't say anything more, and instead picked up his case and went upstairs.

Although the shop downstairs sold wine, the owner had converted the upstairs into a lounge-like space, with a large table big enough for eight people to lie down on side by side, specifically for the group's tabletop battles and role-playing games.

This was also where Chen Xi and his Warhammer Friends mainly gathered. After all, to play a tabletop game of Warhammer, especially a large-scale one, the terrain, miniatures, and various markers took up a lot of space.

And if the Warhammer miniatures were white plastic, it would be fine, but if they were painted and decorated, moving and carrying them could easily cause damage.

Especially large models like Imperial Knights, Dreadnoughts, Land Speeders, and Dipping Sauce Titans, even without considering the risk of bumps and scratches, were difficult to carry due to their size.

So unless you had a specially prepared army case, the better option was to just leave them at the place where you played, and take them out when you needed them.

Chen Xi had a cabinet here, in which he kept some of the miniatures from his one-thousand-point army list that he often used.

Putting down the army case he brought, Chen Xi saw that two Warhammer Friends were already playing a game, so he stood aside to watch.

They weren't playing a large-scale battle, but were using the new Kill Team game recently released by GW. One side was using Navy Breachers, and the other was using Rogue Trader Retinue.

This kind of small-scale battle emphasized being short and fast-paced. Usually, the winner could be determined within three to five rounds, and each round wouldn't take long.

Compared to large army battles of thousands or even thousands of points, where each turn could take more than ten minutes, this kind of small-scale battle was undoubtedly more suitable for fun with friends or during leisure time.

Seeing that the two sides quickly determined the winner, Chen Xi greeted them, "Mai Mai, Twilight, just you two today?"

"Yeah, the others didn't come. Looks like it's just us few today." Mai Mai greeted Chen Xi, then asked, "By the way, Seventeen, where did you get that Power Sword? Can I borrow it for a cosplay at the convention next time?"

"What character are you planning to cosplay? A Commissar?" Chen Xi asked curiously, hearing that they wanted to use it at a convention.

"I want to cosplay a Rogue Trader, but I don't have the right clothes." Mai Mai shrugged, looking a little helpless.

"Rogue Traders don't have a fixed style of clothing, do they? Have you considered getting some Baroque-style vintage clothing?" Chen Xi suggested to Mai Mai, although he had a simpler solution.

"Vintage clothing is too expensive, I'll think about it later!" Mai Mai seemed to have just had an idea and didn't go into too much detail about it.

The three cleared the remaining miniatures from the table, and then set up a new game.

The shop owner seemed to have finished his work, and brought a bottle of already-decanted red wine and several wine glasses up to the lounge.

"Come on, let's drink and play! I opened a good bottle today!" The shop owner said generously, filling everyone's glasses.

Chen Xi took a sip, savoring the taste of the wine, and suddenly asked the shop owner, "Say, if I had a vineyard and was planning to start making wine, how would I sell it?"

"A vineyard? Selling wine? Are you an old vineyard or a new vineyard? If you're an old vineyard, you don't need to worry about any of this, just sell it through the vineyard's original channels." The shop owner was a little puzzled by Chen Xi's question, raising his eyebrows before giving an answer. "But if it's a new vineyard, it's more troublesome. You need to find a professional rating agency to score your wine, and try to get a high score.

After getting a good score, you can start promoting it, inviting some social celebrities to taste the wine, and then you can try giving some away as gifts, or sending it to a specialized auction.

In short, don't think about making money with the first batch of wine, building a reputation is the most important thing.

Once you're a little famous, you can basically try contacting some high-end restaurants or hotels to sell your wine.

But this is the high-end route, you need to control the amount you produce each year. Usually, high-end wineries only produce a few thousand bottles a year, and you should maintain this production level until your brand becomes famous.

Stockpile some wine while creating a sense of scarcity.

But this is all for high-end brands. If you want to sell in bulk, it's simple. It's easy to do now. Find a non-top influencer with a decent amount of traffic, ask them to help you promote it, and the people in their livestream will help you boost sales.

Of course, in that case, don't expect your brand to have a good reputation. High-end restaurants will basically be off-limits, unless you rebrand yourself as a high-end brand after you get big."

Listening to the shop owner's detailed explanation, Chen Xi touched his army case and said, "What if I was selling wine in the Warhammer world?"

"The Warhammer world? Why would you have that idea?" All three of them looked surprised, but the shop owner seemed to have realized something, looking at Chen Xi with suspicion and uncertainty and said, "You wouldn't have actually been drafted by the Emperor, would you?"