Loyal Friends

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

"Yo, Seventeen, what army list are you using today? Your favorite cans again?" The shop owner was also a Warhammer Friend. He wore a red T-shirt printed with the Chaos Eight-Pointed Star and gold-rimmed glasses. One look told you he was very loyal.

"No, I'm using Sisters today. I felt like trying something different." Chen Xi answered, then asked, "How many people are playing today?"

"Not many. Sea Hare Hospital has a surgery, A Ling School is proctoring exams, A Lian Company is working overtime to meet a deadline, and Dog 76 said he has to do the quarterly financial reports." After explaining the situation, the owner asked curiously, "By the way, Seventeen, where did you get that Power Sword you showed off in the group? Thinking of selling it?"

"It's not for sale. If you had one, you wouldn't sell it either." Chen Xi flatly rejected the probe, but he did not completely close the door. "But if you want to know where to get one, I can introduce you. I'll tell you more after we finish playing."

Hearing that, the shop owner did not seem too disappointed. He merely nodded and did not ask any further questions.

Instead, Chen Xi looked around and asked, "Where's Yuri? Didn't he come today?"

"He went on a date with a loli. You know how it is." The owner shrugged, wearing an expression that said it all.

Chen Xi frowned. "Didn't she dump him? She already made herself pretty clear."

"Well, if he could let go that easily, he wouldn't be Yuri." The owner sighed. Relationship problems were never easy for anyone to face.

Chen Xi could not really say anything more after hearing that, so he carried his case upstairs instead.

Though the ground floor of the shop sold red wine, the owner had converted the upper floor into a lounge resembling a salon. It had a huge table large enough for eight people to lie side by side on, specifically for group members to play tabletop battles and tabletop RPG campaigns.

This was also where Chen Xi and the others in the group usually gathered. After all, playing Warhammer tabletop battles, especially large-scale ones, required a great deal of space for terrain, miniatures, and various markers.

Unpainted miniatures were manageable enough, but once they had been painted, transporting and carrying them could easily cause damage.

This was especially true for large toys like Imperial Knights, Dreadnoughts, Land Speeders, and Dipping Sauce Titans. Even setting aside the risk of bumps and scrapes, such large things were difficult to carry in the first place.

So unless one had a specially prepared Deployment Box, the better choice was to simply leave them where the games were played and take them out whenever needed.

Chen Xi had a cabinet here containing the miniatures he often used for a 1,000-point army list.

After setting down the Deployment Box he had brought, Chen Xi saw that two group members were already playing, so he stood to one side and watched.

They were not playing a large-scale battle, but the recently released Kill Team from Games Workshop. One side used Navy Breachers, while the other used a Rogue Trader Retinue.

This kind of squad battle was quick and straightforward. Usually, the winner could be decided within three to five rounds, and each round did not take very long.

Compared with battles using army lists worth thousands or even several thousand points, where merely moving through a single round could take more than ten minutes, these small-scale games were undoubtedly better suited for gatherings or casual fun in one's free time.

Once the two sides quickly decided the winner, Chen Xi finally greeted them. "Mai Mai, Twilight, is it just you two today?"

"Yeah, no one else came. Looks like it'll just be the few of us today." Mai Mai greeted Chen Xi, then asked, "By the way, Seventeen, where did you get that Power Sword? Can I borrow it for cosplay at a convention next time?"

"What character are you planning to cosplay? A Commissar?" Chen Xi asked curiously when he heard she wanted to use it at a convention.

"I want to cosplay a Rogue Trader, but I don't have suitable clothes." Mai Mai shrugged helplessly.

"Rogue Traders do not have a fixed style of clothing, do they? How about looking for some Baroque-style vintage clothes?" Chen Xi offered a suggestion, though he had an easier solution.

"Vintage clothes are too expensive. I'll think about it later!" Mai Mai seemed to have only brought it up on a whim and did not pursue the matter further.

The three of them cleared the remaining miniatures from the table and set up a new game.

The shop owner seemed to have finished what he was doing as well. He came up to the upstairs lounge carrying a bottle of wine that had already been allowed to breathe, along with several glasses.

"Come on, drink while we play! I opened a good bottle today!" Acting generous and hearty, the owner filled everyone's glass.

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

"A vineyard? Selling wine? Is it an old vineyard or a new one? If it's an old vineyard, you don't need to worry about any of that. Just sell through its existing channels." The owner was somewhat puzzled by Chen Xi's question. After raising an eyebrow, he still gave an answer. "But if it's a new vineyard, it's more troublesome. You need to find professional rating agencies to score your wine, and you need to get the highest score possible.

Only after getting a decent rating can you start building hype. Invite social celebrities and the like for wine tastings, then try giving some away or sending it to specialized auctions.

In short, do not expect to make money from the first batch. Building a reputation is what matters most.

Once you have gained a little fame, you can basically try contacting high-end restaurants or hotels and sell your wine through them.

But that is the high-end approach. You need to control your annual production volume. Generally speaking, a high-end vineyard only produces a few thousand bottles a year, and until your brand is established, you should basically maintain that level of output.

Stockpile some while creating an atmosphere of scarcity.

But that is how high-end brands operate. If you want widespread distribution and volume sales, it is much simpler. It is easy enough these days: find a mid-tier influencer with decent traffic, pay them to promote your product, and the folks in their livestream will help drive up sales.

Of course, if you go that route, do not expect your brand to have much of a good reputation. High-end dining will basically be out of reach for you, unless you grow big enough and rebrand yourself as upscale later."

As he listened to the owner speak at length, Chen Xi touched his Deployment Box and said, "What if I were selling wine in the Warhammer world?"

"The Warhammer world? Why would you even think of that?" All three of them looked startled. But the owner seemed to make some connection, staring at Chen Xi uncertainly. "Don't tell me the Emperor really conscripted you?"