About Us
Frankie Giampapa (left) and Reece Robbins (right) founded Frontline Gaming in 2011. Lifelong gamers and friends, the two realized they spent so much time debating line-of-sight and army lists that they might as well make a business out of it.
Frankie, the company's CEO, and Reece, the President, have been rolling dice since childhood. The visionaries behind the Independent Tournament Circuit (ITC) and the legendary Las Vegas Open, they've left an indelible mark on the tabletop scene. Together, they have dedicated themselves to growing the community and making the tabletop hobby better for everyone.
Gamers first. Always have been.
Frontline Gaming didn't start with a business plan. It started with a tournament.
In the summer of 2011, a few friends from the San Francisco Bay Area decided to run their own Warhammer 40,000 Grand Tournament, the Bay Area Open. They had no experience running events and walked away with a profit of $14. But the event was a hit, the team worked well together, and they had a blast pulling it off. That was enough. A few months later, in November 2011, Frankie Giampapa and Reece Robbins opened Frontline Gaming.
A 450-square-foot beginning
The first store was a tiny shop in Martinez, California, with room for a few tables, a register, and not much else. We started with the money in our pockets and our credit cards, almost no retail experience, and two years of working for next to nothing. Being that small forced us to get creative, and that habit has stuck with us ever since.
In those early days we hand-painted custom gaming surfaces on cloth, then teamed up with friends to bring a new kind of gaming mat to market through a successful Kickstarter. We also hit the road as "mercenary" tournament organizers, packing up our crew and terrain to run as many as five GTs a year across the western US.
Betting the farm on Las Vegas
We knew that if Frontline was going to be a real career, we had to take a big swing. So in [YEAR: first LVO] we launched the Las Vegas Open. If it flopped, we were done. Instead, it took off. The first LVO filled 10,000 square feet. By year three it had grown to 40,000, and today it's one of the largest independent tabletop events in the world, drawing thousands of players for Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, Kill Team, painting competitions, hobby seminars, and much more.
Around the same time, we created the Independent Tournament Circuit (ITC), giving tournament organizers around the world shared missions, free tools, and global player rankings. What started as two upstarts from the Bay Area talking about a circuit grew into the standard for competitive play, and in 2024 the ITC became an official part of Warhammer Events.
The LVO vendor hall.
Made by gamers, in the USA
Success with the LVO let us move the company to San Diego, Reece's hometown. There we took our next big risk: buying our own manufacturing equipment and producing gaming mats right here in America. FLG Mats were born, followed by FLG Terrain, FLG Tables, full-color bases, dice, and a growing line of hobby accessories designed by people who actually play on them.
FLG Terrain and the FLG Folding Game Table.
In 2024 we launched our first board game, Blood Throne: The Tower of Sacrifice, a cooperative dark-fantasy adventure more than five years in development, funded on Kickstarter by our community.
Blood Throne: The Tower of Sacrifice.
Work from the FLG Paint Studio.
15 years later
We've reinvested nearly every dollar back into Frontline, and we're still the same people who just wanted to roll dice with friends. Thank you to every customer, player, employee, and friend who's been part of the journey. We'll see you on the tabletop.