AOS Open Day at WHW World
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Entry posted by James McPherson
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AOS Open Day
So I fixed myself up with a hire car and made the trek up from Devon to Nottingham for the first time ever last weekend to attend the AOS Open Day and Seeds of Hope, the climactic finale to the Summer Campaign at WHW. I wasn't sure what to expect as the last big GW event I went to was Games Day '94 at the NIC in Birmingham which was just nuts in terms of size and scale with a crowd in attendance roughly similar to the size of a small Premier league game, imagine thousands of people all crammed into one huge hall, literally shoulder to shoulder jostling to walk and get by each other. Gaming tables so packed you couldn't even get close. That was really intense for a 12yr old kid and was at the height of the 90's golden years, and it put me off going to future events because it was just too busy.
I knew this wouldn't be as big an event, especially with the recent storms over Fantasy but as AOS was resurgent and Fantasy was going through a bit of a renaissance I figured it was worth going and showing my support for AOS nonetheless. I also wanted a gentle introduction to gaming in an organised event, for which Seeds of Hope was the perfect introduction. And I wanted to look around the place before I leave to go work at Weta Digital for a year in September.
To get there on time I had to leave super early around 6.30am but arrived exactly on time at 10am which I was stoked with. The queue was about 100 people long so I went to join the back of it. Upon entering the venue 2 different staff had welcomed me which made me feel very welcome and you could tell they were genuinely pleased to see people turning up and showing support for AOS. But would then ask , and this was the awkward bit I don't get - why I was there? Feeling like I had to somehow quantify it for them, I found myself making small talk and making up reasons for being there, when infact the real reason was blatantly obvious, I was there to show support for AOS and a hobby and game I love!
What I really should have boldly screamed aloud from the rafters was "ONLY THE FAITHFULL!" And then done several big high fives, but in my usual classic vein of shyness and nervey disposition I didn't think to do that until It was too late and the moment had passed. I was impressed with one doods T-shirt though in the queue which had that written on the back.
When you first arrive you have to walk through the shop to get anywhere and one of the sales staff chatted to me and when I mentioned I was sticking around for Seeds of Hope on the Sunday, he told me I was welcome to buy something now and sit on the edge of the gaming hall and paint it using their special paint stations that they had set up. I took one look at the little cup of dirty water and old plastic citadel paint station set up that he was pointing towards and thought that was either very kind of him or perhaps the glass half empty side of me thought him driven by a more sinister underlying motive of pressure to make sales. The poor guy also didn't realise I had my entire paint collection in the trunk with me to do touch ups back at the hotel later that evening, and I surreptitiously thanked him in a shifty manner and shimmied on into the gaming hall to geek out at the big castle walls.
Over in the corner of the gaming hall I saw pretty much half the number of people who had been in the queue outside , who were now lining up indoors for the merchandise stalls which had the exclusive event only swag. The pessimist in me would say none of them were sticking around for the open day which I found a bit meh, but maybe they were and were just worried about stuff selling out fast as it's only in limited supply.
I thought about lining up for a second and was like, you know what ****** that, so I went to have a look around Bugmans and get a cup of tea. I then went and checked out the exhibition areas for an hour or two which are pretty cool. My favorite bit was the first room which had some of the older stuff in it that I had grown up with seeing in White Dwarf and I wish there had been a lot more of that. There was no Bloodbowl, Man O War, Epic, Battlefleet Gothic, Space Hulk, Hero Quest or Space Crusade stuff which I felt was a big missed opportunity. I would've loved to see less Dioramas and more miniature collections but that's just me.
By the time I got out of the exhibition spaces the huge queue for the merchandise stall had gone, so I went to grab @Dez 's merch that he had asked for. I noticed only 4 clampacks left of the Fimir model at this point. I asked the sales rep how many they had to begin with and he said about 40 or 50 which seemed like a fairly modest number, but at least it was good they all sold out. I made a joke about people selling them on ebay, and when I told the sales rep that the stuff I was buying was for an American buddy who couldn't be here on the day, he gave me an understanding look and smiled then a double wink as if to say "Your secret is safe with me bro" which was ironic because I actually was
I think by this point there were only 2 or 3 of the mugs left, and a few T-shirts too. By far the nicest stuff on sale there were the fine art prints which I was very tempted by but my resolve not to spend too much held firm. It looked like most of them were still left for sale and nobody had bought any.
So then I skipped on into the staff canteen Area out the back of Bugmans which is where the main open day action was taking place.
Once in there I found the FW guys, as they were really the only people I was interested in talking to. I wanted to chat to them about Chaos Dwarf stuff as thats kinda my thing and I had just bought a large 2000pt army from FW the previous week, so was fishing for info on future plans and development.
I also wanted to chat to them a bit about the digital design processes involved incase I ever want a change in career direction and it's something I've considered applying for in the past.
I wasn't expecting to see Trish stood there with her Dragon proudly on display, which was really awesome to see.
Jeff Ngyuen and Keith Robertson were also there so I spent a bit of time chatting with all of them about their work , and gleamed a bit of info about future CD releases out of one of them. The consensus was yes there is more planned , and more will come soon, which I was very happy to get confirmation of.
I also chatted with them about digital design and told them a bit about myself and the work we do in the VFX industry, which has a lot of design crossovers.
After a quick bowl of chips and a Guinness, I went to check out the Golden Demon stuff, I think I saw what possibly looked like @AdHocGames's unit of bighat plastic Chaos Dwarves, and saw a STE that looked like one of @amysnuggs's mini's.
By the time I got there, I think some rounds of judging had taken place, because there was only about 15-20 minis in total. Not sure how many there were to begin with, but if I was trying to win a Demon, this would be the opportunity to do it with the least competition I think. It looked like there were more Demon statues in the cabinet than there were actual entries!
I was beginning to get tired by this point, so I went and slept in my car in the parking lot for an hour, trying to last it out until 3pm when the £500 raffle prize and Golden Demon stuff was announced, but in the end I left and went to go and check in at the Holiday Inn around the corner and unwind and settle in for a relaxing evening painting my Pestilens stuff ready for the games on Sunday.
Things that I'd wish for in future..
I would've liked to see Jervis and some of the rules and games design team walking around engaging with people , at such a small grass roots size event I think it would've been a nice touch, also some kind of Q&A sessions on AOS and the future would've been nice. And maybe a presentation / slideshow like they do at the FW HH weekenders. It was awesome to meet Trish and Jeff and Keith though which I really appreciated. I would've also liked Alan Bligh to be there and face fans and answer questions relating to the FW stuff he is responsible for writing rules for.
Edit** Turns out someone from the design team was there actually playing AOS with people on the battle boards, so I am gutted I missed the chance to chat to him! Good move GW!
I would've liked to see more involvement with the various figureheads of the community there too, I think Ben only dipped in briefly to get photos for TGA then left, and other than him and Rufio walking around who works for GW I didn't see anyone else from the podcasting community. I would've liked to see Ben's Chaos Dwarf army on display and maybe him be around to answer questions on how he painted it and show off it's awesomeness, or maybe even be there to play some games with it! It would've been nice to see more armies on display from the various tournament regulars too to get a feel for what people were fielding and get inspiration and ideas. There were some downstairs in the exhibition space but it would've been cool to see a lot more in an Armies on Parade capacity.
There was a bit of a lack of presence from the podcasters and tournament guys who have helped to build up the AOS scene.
I was chatting to @RuneBrush about it on the Sunday and he probably hit the nail on the head when he said, all these people like Ben etc already have a stack of friends who work for GW, and have been involved recently in the GHB and directly working with GW, so probably aren't too bothered about attending because they already know more than the average joe about GW and the things going on in AOS which is a fair point.
It wouldn't have taken much to do some live podcasting or video reporting from there, Warhammer TV was there though making a small video which was a nice touch, so maybe they didn't want anyone else in the building media wise, but we could have seen more participation from the rest of the community, even just people mixing a bit more with the audience and giving out cards with links to shows on or talking or playing some games together would've been nice.
Also it would've been nice to see more for the families and kids, maybe like a face painting set up or something would've been cool. The computer games area was a nice touch, but there was no Total War or Vermintide games to be had.
And the day was crying out for a Cosplay competition which would've been awesome! The £500 charity raffle was a nice touch though.
Another cool thing would've been to see some of the illustrators and artists there giving away signed prints of their artwork.
Also a Q&A and book signing with some of the Black Library authors would've been nice to discuss the fluff and background of the AOS world.
I think it would've also been awesome to let Dan/ Wayne and Ben and Russ/Terry and co do a Q&A session on their involvement with the GHB and have a big presentation on the work that went into making it. And then some signed copies from Jervis and all those involved in making it to give out to everyone would also have been a nice touch.
I'd like to have seen more about the design processes involved too, maybe some workstations/PC's set up with Zbrush and a 3d printer to show people how they design things nowadays.
Also I think they should offer tours of the factory and some other parts of the complex. I used to work at Laika who would give tours around the sound stages and the various model departments of their studio in Portland Oregon, and also at Weta where I currently work they sell tours in the Weta Cave which are very popular, and even on the ILM campus in San Francisco where I worked, they allow members of the public to come in and tour around and see all the cool stuff on show such as statues of Yoda and props from all the movies like Ghostbusters and Star Wars they've worked on. Dont get me wrong I am not looking for a Charlie and Chocolate Factory style tour of the place, but a quick guided walk around would be awesome. I visited Skywalker Ranch a few times when I worked at ILM, and even George Lucas is more welcoming and open than GW. It's not really technically an open day when you are only allowed into one room and contained into such a small space the way we were, but I appreciate it was a small event and maybe they were stretched for resources.
So to sum up, I liked the informal small grass roots family feel of things, but I'd like to see it grow into a huge event and hope they plan to do more in future, and I'd like to see them up the resources and engage more with the community and involve more external influence from the community as well as promote from within.
Seeds of Hope on Sunday to follow shortly...
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