Jump to content

The Big Community Survey 2019


Recommended Posts

2 hours ago, Dead Scribe said:

Our local GW store manager doesnt' let anyone use the tables except for new players and recruiting games as well.  Thats company policy, or recommended company policy.  Also they have an hour limit on the tables, which is why none of us play or buy at the GW store.

Honestly I'd raise the issue with your GW head office for your country. 

1 hour is kinda totally nuts for any game that isn't Shadpire, Killteam or Skirmish. Beginner or pro you're not gaming in 1 hour. And whilst I can sympathise with the staffer wanting to recruit new players it seems odd that they'd use all the tables only for such games (that or he's recruiting like an utter pro and has legions of new fans beating down the door).

GW has messed around with different ideas such as ticket/tokens and such for tables (at least in the UK); but in general I've never come across staff who didn't want and didn't allow regular gamers to come in and game on the tables. For the very reason you identify you don't turn away people because the intermediate player is the kind of guy who walks in on launch day of a new Battletome or Codex and who puts down hundreds in a single purchase spree. 

 

So yeah I'd complain or at least make your voice heard that your local store is not providing you a gaming experience and that that is turning you away. The only way I could understand it would be if the GW manager was networking with another store or club so that whilst he didn't have tables for regular games he was sending regular gamers toward the club, then perhaps using a 5% discount offer or the like to encourage club members to come back to the store to buy etc... Though even then I'd have thought that they'd still use tables for regular games or at least one regular game so that they could have some drop-in and play service (esp since clubs tend to be a once a week affair).

 

Heck seeing two gamers playing with full armies in paint (even entry level painting) is what can draw many to join in. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, as a guy from a country with zero GW stores I am surprised right now, I thought playing in stores would be norm, here in Russia a club closing is always bad news as you fear running out of space to play games. What is the the point to buy models if you don't have a place to play? Is this a way to sell tables and terrain? 

Edited by XReN
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly I'd raise the issue with your GW head office for your country. 

The regional manager (above the store manager) was here last summer and enforced that rule.  We complained about it when he was there and he said it was company policy, and all he could do was enforce it.   The store manager is just doing what he's being told by the regional manager, who allegedly has been told by the US manager that that is the policy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Played mainly in stores in 3 different towns (Maidstone, Harrogate, Chatham), whilst there has been the requirement to prebook it was always open to gamers old and new, but the windows varied between 90 minutes or 2 hours depending on the day and other prebooked activities. The managers of all three stores were always welcoming and gamers themselves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Must be a regional thing cause I’m also in the US. And never had an issue. There is even a guy who is higher up that comes into the store to paint sometimes and they’ve never chased anyone off or put time limits.

 

Quite the opposite really. One of the FLGS chases us out cause their clique of employees complained we were taking all the tables on Sunday.

Edited by King Taloren
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Dead Scribe said:

Maybe.  Its pretty frustrating how inconsistent it seems to be.

Have you tried talking to someone higher up in GW UK or within the US system? It sounds like a very odd regional policy for GW to adopt for their US stores when in the UK gaming in the store itself is pretty normal. It might just be that whoever is regionally in charge of your area (I would assume USA might break down into regional state blocks) has miss-interpreted the policies and is being far too draconian. If its not the same for all US stores then I'd wager something in the management in your region has gone wrong. 

 

I can understand GW having a policy of favouring tables for new players or reserving a single table for entry/introduction games; but to reserve all the game space for new customers at all times and not have any time for established players sounds daft. It means that as soon as they get a customer they are turning them away thereafter which isn't sensible at all; in fact its the opposite of what should be done for a Wargame. At the very least they should have game days/nights when the store has tables setup for gamers and focuses on getting more people in on those hours just to game.

Heck the small store local to me only sets aside (at least last time I went which, I'll admit, was a while ago) only a small table for intro games. Intro games don't need a big full table nor dozens of models - a beginner only needs to be introduced on a small fast to battle table with a handful of models on each side. The rest of the tables should then be playing bigger games with gamers so that the beginner sees proper matches going on and gets drawn further in. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, Overread said:

Have you tried talking to someone higher up in GW UK or within the US system? It sounds like a very odd regional policy for GW to adopt for their US stores when in the UK gaming in the store itself is pretty normal. It might just be that whoever is regionally in charge of your area (I would assume USA might break down into regional state blocks) has miss-interpreted the policies and is being far too draconian. If its not the same for all US stores then I'd wager something in the management in your region has gone wrong. 

The US retail leadership team is very laissez faire about how stores are run. They're not necessarily personal fiefdoms but ultimately if the manager of the store is achieving his/her sales goals then they're pretty well left alone. Where I am in the states for example - my local GW regularly lets you reserve tables to play on and has a dedicated night for everyone to game on. I'm actually going to bet (from past experience) that in @Dead Scribe's case its his local store manager's policy and his regional is simply supporting his decision. The same general thing happens with FW in stores - I've been to more than a handful of US GW stores that don't allow FW to be used in their store. Its again left to the manager to make the decision. 

Not saying I agree with any of this or anything just sharing some insight from my time inside the company. I'll add a tiny little note of salt here and suggest the current US retail team is also still stocked with Tom Kirby stalwarts who very much so don't believe that veteran hobbyists are important/worth paying attention to. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, SwampHeart said:

The same general thing happens with FW in stores - I've been to more than a handful of US GW stores that don't allow FW to be used in their store. Its again left to the manager to make the decision. 

Can confirm that UK stores are still like this.  I think each manager gauges the best way to hit their targets for the people who frequent the store.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I seem to be in the weirdest community of all time. 

I don’t know a single Stormcast Eternal player or even Order in general except for 2. 

I know maybe 1 whole death player. 

Everyone else is Destruction (every single faction even Ogres) and Chaos (everyone but Tzeentch is represented). 

The GW manager literally installed a TV on the wall of his store and has Warhammer TV videos playing with Duncan painting and the Warhammer Stormcast podcast going. 

We have 4 gaming tables open to anyone at anytime and then we have 2 separate tables dedicated and set up in fully painted Dark Imperium and Soul Wars for demo or recruit games. 

There’s not even reserving tables, people pre arrange games on Facebook. 

Im from the South though haha I guess our region is weird. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Ravinsild said:

We have 4 gaming tables open to anyone at anytime and then we have 2 separate tables dedicated and set up in fully painted Dark Imperium and Soul Wars for demo or recruit games. 

Just having this kind of space in a GW retail location is pretty rare. A lot of GW stores are 600-800 sqft store fronts (usually with a small stock room) and even the larger ones often only have 2 tables + a demo table in them. Right as I was leaving GW we had worked out a way to fit 6 tables in my store comfortably but were told to break it back down to 2 + a demo area. Since that time they've added a third table to the store but when I was last in retail they were very particular about the amount of tables you could stage. Granted they seemed to have backed off that policy in the past 5 years. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been in the hobby for 5 years and never once played or purchased from a GW store, always went to local hobby shops to buy and gaming lounges and game cafes to play. It started mostly because the nearest GW is 35 minutes away by car and the nearest hobby shop that sells and has tables is a quick walk down the street. But at this point I actually get better prices at some of my local stores and the community around these cafes and shops is way more relaxed and supportive than the 2nd hand experience I've had watching games and friends try to play at GW stores. Don't get me wrong the employees at the GW near me are great but the players that frequent the place are not. And Nagash/Sigmar even Slaanesh forbid I try to take my teenage sister there. 

Anyways as for the survey I was pro double turn, asked for resculpts on models that are old but still considered good to have like chosen or skryre acolytes, asked for some 40k stuff but this isn't the forum for that, and asked for the consolidation of stray factions like Ironweld, everchosen and 90% of aelves. i don't know if anyone would consider soulblight another like this considering their just an offhand extra page in LoN but a full release for them or properly mixing them into legion of blood would be nice to avoid having to make a vampire themed army as LoN but vampires or vampires without any of the niceties of LoN.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...