This month’s business spotlight is a new tabletop gaming
store in town, Dreadnought Depot. The father/daughter team of
Jamey and Rachel Litchfield opened Dreadnoughts on Jefferies
Boulavard. Jamey explains, “I retired from the Marines in 2016
and have been working some different jobs, but I’ve always liked
gaming, and we’ve never had it here. We’ve had some starters, but
for whatever reason, they didn’t work out. I’m at the point where I
can make this happen and Rachel wanted to get into a business and
so we made it happen.”
The father/daughter team offers a wide range activities at the
store, from tabletop games, miniature painting, card games such as
Pokémon, and role-playing games like D&D, historical war games
from the Civil War, Napoleonic Wars, World War Two, and sci-fi
like Battle Tech, and Star Wars. Jamey explains, “These are all
tabletop games, no electronics of any kind to get people off staring
at their phones. People have to learn to start talking to each other
again.” Jamey is more into the art of the military games, “I like
painting the miniatures, and I’ve played historical game like Axis
and Allies.”
Rachael is more a card gamer but likes painting as well. “I
mostly have played Magic, but I collect a couple of different card
games and am into the tabletop stuff. Because of him, (her father)
painted Warhammer. I started painting as well.”
The store is a gathering place for all gamers and encourage
new/want to be gamers to stop by. Jamey says, “First timers are
great, because they can come in and get a hobby they can do. We
have set up a paint station to try the hobby. We give them a free
model, and they can try painting it and see if they enjoy it. We have
some paints that are in box sets for historical accuracy. When you
get into the Sci-Fi and other stuff, you can just pick your colors,
because you can do whatever you want.”
The store is set up for all levels of play, Jamey explains, “Some
games that are a little easier to learn at first, like Hero Escapes.
That’s a good family game, they sell it at Walmart, then you can
move up to the bigger games. Depending on the game, some can
take an hour or two and with some of the bigger games you can
play all day depending on how big you want to make it.”
The store also has a family atmosphere, “We don’t mind
children being here, we have young parents that want to play. So if
they want to come in and play a game and they have their children
with them, that’s not a problem. We have tables that kids can play
on and do what they want to do while their parents play a game. If
their kids want to play, that’s fine too.”
Rachel adds, “The tables are open to play, It doesn’t matter
what you want to play, a board game or just hang out. If you want
to paint, the tables are open, people just come in, meet new people,
and hang out with friends.”
Dreadnought will be setting up tournaments in the Pokémon
play system, they will have some different event nights for either
playing the card games or just having a coloring event geared
towards kids.
One of the more unique features of the store is the mystery prize
machines, Rachel explains, “They will be loaded up with mystery
prizes, one machine will have miniatures that will be random, and
then the other one will have some pop culture or anime mystery
items you can get. You just buy a token and put it in the machine
and turn it like a gumball machine, you’ll get a capsule that comes
out, and you see what you win. Whether it’s a mini to put together,
a figure , or something else the surprise makes it fun.
Dreadnought Depot is located at 1102 North, Jeffries Boulevard
in Walterboro. The hours are Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and
Saturday from 10am until 10pm to allow time for people to come
in and game after work. They also have Sunday hours from 2pm
until 8pm for gaming after church. For more information you can
check out their Facebook page at Dreadnought Depot.
