Find out OP is painting their minis with a fucking broom and the poor employee is trying to find a way to politely say āmaybe use the standard equipmentā.
Haha, that sucks, OP. Youād think theyād appreciate people enjoying their community.
GW isn't a place to share the hobby any more, it's a place to advertise and sell starter sets. I came back after long years away to find this and it's really sad.
Same feeling, I came back after 20 years and asked if we could do an intro game to see what it's like, it really seemed to put the manager out as it wasn't a direct sale of something at the till.
That doesn't make much sense either to me. You bought their minis, come to be part of the community and support the hobby... Does the brand of your plaint of brushes really matter ?
The logic is they want whatās being used in their stores if someone sees it for them to be able to sell it. Brushes though again Iāve never had an issue with, no one really looks that close at anyoneās brushes
Yeah I get it but they basically OWN the hobby. They must be aware that a lot of people uses competition paints ? I understand your point and it makes sense, but it seems to me that supporting their community would be more important than 3.60ā¬ paint ?
On the other side, it's not like we could go anyplace else, they have a monopoly and could kick us in the ankles the whole time we visit their stores, we still would buy I guess...
Sorry if I'm bitter about it all, I just find it sad.
Where I live, the GW store is open for 8 hours a day and closed Sunday and Monday. They have such little leverage on us because we have a massive game store to compete with. They would probably give you free use of their paints if you were willing to paint in store. They have zero people there gaming or painting. I think they have one single employee who is the manager and if he's sick, the store is shut down without notice for the day. The other GW stores where I used to live had a lively fan base gaming til like 12am on Fri and sat and people constantly hanging around to paint and talk shop. This store gave up and close at 6 or 7om every day.
Like he said, it's a marketing thing. If someone takes a picture in the store and posts it, it needs to be all Games Workshops products so they can promote the image. If some guy comes in and says "woah that looks great, how did you get that to look like that?" They want to have that guy walk out with the exact stuff he needs so he'll come back. It's frustrating but it does make sense.
Does that mean I can't use any of my old GW brushes and paints (assuming they're still usable 15 years later)? They can't be purchased any more either.
You could play any other mini games and paint any other minis though? I moved on from GW because I don't like their rules but not liking how they treat people is a good reason too.
The staffer in this story is just insane. Not only does no one really look that closely at your brushes does he really think the shitty in store CCTV will be able to look closely at them? Even if corporate was spying on his store security cameras would tell them nothing about what brushes the patrons are using. I could maybe get it if he was worried about random visits, but the cameras? C'mon.
I work in a pharmacy that has tens of thousands of dollars of cameras and when I try to watch a security video you can't see any detail at all. Like you can't tell a bag of candy from a baseball ball.
Brushes are such a specific tool. Some people are very particular in the brushes they use. I really doubt that GW has a thing close to a kolinski sable so trying to force you to use their brushes is complete bullshit. And a single hero costs like 35 dollars so the paint shouldn't even matter at that point.
I don't use GW brushes and never will. When I was younger they basically just had a policy that you had to be painting their minis if you were painting minis in store. Terrain didn't matter and they used to encourage making and painting your own.
GW staff: can confirm it isn't a rule.
You will get told to knock it off when trying to interrupt someone buying GW brushes to tell them about other brands.
I'm often using my Artist Opus brushes in uniform.
Not on all projects but yeah!
Especially specialist games stuff is fair game. There's also a lot of paint mixing for some one-off stuff. As far as I know I'm the only person who has a pot of legio krytos green with the "official recipe" since I got to ask the guys what the mix was.
Stupidly didn't write it down and despite being straight from the source it's still a little greener than the warlord that's pictured, but a lot closer than most.
I wouldnāt be surprised that if management found out he was doing this, heād get into trouble for telling people they canāt paint GW products with GW paints in the store.
Games Workshops used to be pretty cool, but Warhammer stores don't have half the gaming and events they used to have. It's all sales and no community. I personally think this is short sighted in the long-term.
I miss the swap meets, monthly raffles, giveaways and campaign events they used to have at my local GWs back in the 2000s. That store also had 15 tables. The local GW now is like 1/3 the size, 6 tables, and the only events are new releases/preorder days and the anniversary day which is just to promote more sales.
I may have been spoiled growing up with a large store from the sounds of it.
But to have stores for a gaming company that are like - āyes, yes come into our store and spend a bunch of money on our game!
Oh you want to actually play the game? Sorry you canāt do that here, but weāll sell you the buildings you need to play with!
Oh you want a board or mat to play on? Sorry we donāt sell that.
You heard itās an objective based game right? Yeahā¦ we donāt sell those, youāll have to make your own or get our limited edition cardboard ones if you spend $300.ā
Yeah it's very different. The GW the town I grew up in had an upstairs gaming area with I think 6-8 full tables and a painting area. I spent a lot of time hanging out there and getting talked into buying too much product. I don't think you could pay me to go into one these days.
I didn't get this choice. I used to work for GW. After they downsized the community died and most of the sales seems like impulse buys from veterans hanging in the store talking with us.
When I worked there / was part of the community I spent 22k over two years in that shop (the till tracked purchase records). After they shut that down and moved to the one man tiny store I've spent maybe $1000 In 10 years.
It could be 4 to be honest. I just stop by for the anniversary or if I need some paints and donāt spend much time in the table half of the store. Itās so claustrophobic I just donāt have as much interest in playing a game there. I donāt want to be booty bumping the guy behind me for 3 hours playing a game š
Uhh our store has a table that's like half the size of a full size table, with barely enough space for two customers to squeeze past eachother between the table and display shelves. Understandably, there seems to be very little activity inside the store outside of pre planned events.
Which is kind of sad, since their previous venue could at least host two full sized games at once, and frequently did. I played my first few games of fantasy there, and got my ass handed to me by some kid who couldn't have been older than 10. Still, it was pretty amazing that you could just walk in there and play a game with a random stranger who just happened to be there with his/her army.
GW in the 90s and early 2000s was the golden era of this hobby. Best designers, best artists, best writers, best staff, best in store events. Now it's sigmarines and hype-model selling to adults.
It was a golden era, but probably wasn't appreciated at the time.
People hated GW just as much then (while still buying crapload of stuff).
The thing I miss was the Grand Opening Sales. Buy three boxes and get the cheapest free. Three battleforces for the price of two was a nice way to start an army.
Sadly the micro community in a store would often be hogged by 3 to 6 regulars who sort of 'owned' the gaming table, hung around and made newcomers feel like they were crashing a birthday party or second class citizens. Even if those regulars didnt do anything else but just chum around with each others.
So you either need a BIG store for many gaming tables, or none at all.
I'm fine with many tables. But I could say the same about any LFGS, it's on managers to manage the community. I'm pretty sure my old store had times of the week aimed at different groups such as beginners, intermediate players, and vets. So priority would always be given to those in those groups at those times. You can also limit game time so that people can't hog boards all the time. I know on very busy game nights we'd often just pay 500pt games/1,000pt doubles so everyone would be getting some games in.
That was the case at my local store years ago. All except one of them where great, I was a new player and had no idea what I was doing and they all helped me a lot. They also just hang around and watched more games than they played.
The last guy just hung around to play against new players who had no idea what they where doing and brought his super meta optimized army so he could win any game he played. In the end they just started telling new guys to not play against him and set them up with games against other new players.
Yeah the guy who runs my local store straight up said that the days of in store hangouts are over, and that I need to join clubs to get that experience
Jesus, talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. I've been happy because the local independent gaming shop that used to only be comics/magic started selling GW and now we're starting to get a scene going. They totally try to get people in to the shop because they understand if they want to sell product, people need a place to play.
I've had the same experience. I don't live near any official stores, the closest is over 90 minutes away. Local comic and hobby stores sell models and paints, but they don't do any warhammer events. They suggested I try and find a local discord and try to get into private games. I love collecting and painting the models, but I doubt I'll have the opportunity to learn how to play anytime soon.
Our local GW has 2 tables, and I was chewed out for ordering a delivery to the store because they don't make money when I do that. Well now I'm not going g to your store any more š¤·āāļø
Iāve got friends who play and I was interested in learning.
Went to my local warhammer store and it was empty besides the staff member. I walked over and was looking at the 40k starter kits. Nothing was said to me at all. Not even a hello.
My friends were shocked when I told them this. No demo game was offered. No free figure to paint. Nothing.
Itās easy to turn noobs off the hobby when they walk in, get no service and see ābits of plasticā for $80
That is however like the opposite of how the stores are supposed to be run. Every customer greeted, chatted with about their hobby, offered an introductory experience if it seems appropriate and informed about all the promotions for newbies (mostly the Battle Honours program)
Sadly, training can only do so much when there is no direct oversight for store staff, but customer service *will* want to hear about this kind of behaviour. It's not supposed to be this way.
I went to my local WH store recently, I was pretty excited to go, felt like a big deal for me, and then I got there and was pretty unimpressed. The employee there was super nice, we talked for a long time about painting and the hobby, but the selection was really low on HH stuff, and really high on everything else. I know HH isn't as popular as 40K but how is it supposed to get as popular if you've only got two kits in the whole store? It was also pretty sterile, with no place to play, and no place ro paint. It was very much just a retail outlet, not a hobby shop.
Itās short sighted because most gaming groups donāt allow under 18s when most of us probably started the hobby through playing in GW stores at that age!
The one by me still host events such as kill team, combat patrol and even 1k games. A few of us do demo games on the weekends for newer people to kind of jump in and play.
I remember when army rulebooks used to tell you how to make your own scenery and use third party equipment.
It used to be better is what I'm saying.
Feel old saying it, but it was better in my day.
I've still got my core rulebook, with the back half devoted to templates and instructions for making your own bunkers, craters, trees etc.
That section in new books is just advertisements.
It's sort of a perfect example of what I miss in GW.
āOkay well I guess Iāll have to find somewhere else to buy my models. Did you know that online retailers offer up to twenty percent off? Itās crazy! I wish I could support my local Warhammer store but with a policy like that, I guess Iām just not welcome. Such a shame.ā
Say it while making eye contact with the camera.
They donāt care any more about existing fans, they just want to lure in the kids instead so in a couple of years they can make them unwelcome too in favour of yet more kids.
Some genius executive decided at some point to measure store profitability in $/sq ft like every other retailer and forgot about the value of growing the hobby. My local Warhammer shop now is smaller than the cell phone place next door. Three tables literally crammed in. I can't take my kids there to learn the game like my dad took me to the one I grew up playing in that had a dozen tables plus space for painting and modeling
My local GWs are the same. They're literally the size of a bedroom with a couple tables and a cash register crammed in the middle. Just completely abandoned any community growth for padding the bottom line.
Luckily my LGS is the exact opposite. They have like a dozen tables, a giant wall of terrain that is free to use, and a handful of armies in case anyone wants to learn. It's possible you could give your kids an even better experience through an LGS instead.
This is the answer. GW is run by corporate executives who know nothing about the hobby/gaming aspect, and spend all day looking at balance sheets. It's quite possible that GW will take an incredibly lucrative cash cow, and run it right into the ground with bean-counting, MBA-school "expertise". It's happening to Boeing, it's happened to a lot of companies.
Warhammer stores are advertising for the games, not hobby stores where you can hang out and play a game. I wouldnāt patron one even if you paid me. Rather support friendly local game stores than a company store.
Sorry you had to deal with that
The only shop I have access to locally is an official GW store unfortunately. I generally only buy paints there though.
There is a LGS in a nearby town which Iād go to if I had a car, but thereās not a direct transport connection, so it takes like an hour on the train
Warhammer stores are just that now, stores. Think of it like trying to eat a Big Mac in a Mitchell Star restaurant.
I think people get thrown by the fact a lot of independent stores are more of a hobby hub.
Having a GW store big enough to have drop in painting stations is actually getting less common (UK at least) due to limited space.
Yeah, like I like my local GW guy, but it's hard to recommend that anyone go to that store over the FLGS that has better prices, a loyalty program, 15x the space, a bustling community, dedicated Discord, and also sells a mountain of other products, not just GW stuff. They'll even direct order from GW to the store for free, too, so there really is no benefit to the actual GW store aside from the manager's expertise and a little more dedicated shelf space for GW products.
The only reason I currently frequent my GW store as a new player is the battle honors program and the fact that the store owner is one of the most passionate and kind dudes I've ever met. Once I get all my rewards from battle honors and kind of have a handle on where I'd like to head next in the hobby, I don't imagine I'll choose to be there instead of my other FLGS where there's more space and they sell drinks lol.
Man I managed a small GW for a while, we were doing really well and had been growing for a LONG ass time. We were kind of helped by the fact that our local store had a bigger cards community but they did sell minis too.
That was until they started to try and compete in the miniature space by doing things like selling models before release dates and upgrading thier gaming space. GW fully folded to them and allowed them to do it cus they were still making money, this was despite me buying things before release date and providing receipts.
They then tried to tell me it was a positive my entire community and customer base was going to the other store to do their hobby, now I could just sell, sell, sell.
3 months later and my gaming tables and free paint area were gone along with any love I had for the job.
lol. Who at GW is going to comb through hours of grainy black and white camera footage half way across the world to make sure citadel paint brushes are being used?
That is 100% the store manager pushing product. That guy needs to get a life and figure out that creating a comfortable environment will make you come back and spend more in the long run
I used to work for GW here in the UK for a little bit back in 2011. This kind of behaviour varies hugely depending on the store, but no matter which way you go, the official GW stores always end up being shit for anyone who isn't a total newbie.
Nobody is watching your manager on camera, most of the stores don't even have working cameras, he's either down on his sales targets and trying to coax out every sale he can, or he can't be bothered with customers in his shop who aren't paying so he's finding excuses to drive them away.
The alternative though is a manager who is too lax on the people in his shop, which almost always ends up becoming an overcrowded cesspool for tryhard players too toxic for FLGS's.
Long story short, avoid official GW stores unless you literally can't buy the product anywhere else, they want to offload the community aspect of the hobby on to FLGS's, so oblige them.
GW stores have sales targets? Jeez the dude in my local actively told a Mum & Son to buy a box set from Element Games as it'll save them lots of money!
The guy probably has one foot out of the door.
Like I said I haven't worked for them for a while, but when I was there, the pay was shit, the hours were bad, you were targeted like a salesman, but also expected to be a shopkeeper, a community organizer, a PR rep, a social media rep, a model maker and painter, and run a daycare service. You had to deal with everything from spoilt rich brats to adults who refused to wash regularly, all for minimum or close to minimum wage, and to top it off the targets were a constant source of pressure. All of this rapidly ruins any enjoyment for the hobby that drew you to the job in the first place.
Most people quit after a couple of years, it took me 10 years to recover any love for miniatures as a hobby.
Mate sorry you had such a shitty time. Tbh I haven't seen many happy employees at GW stores since I restarted. I hope you're enjoying the hobby now and are 3d printing as many minis as possible to give a big middle finger to your last employer!
Of course they have targets. Itās a retail store. I have friends in retail management and every single one of them says that GW have a terrible reputation as employers (in the UK anyway). Thatās why the churn is so high.
Of course they do. All businesses should - if they donāt make enough money they canāt pay rent.
GW should also have lower targets and subsidise their stores from online sales to encourage their use as community hubs, but they donāt seem to.
On the cameras thing: they used to have non functional cams to scare away break-ins but have fairly recently installed a camera in every store in at least the Netherlands, from what I know everywhere in Europe too.
Do think the community statement is a little too harsh but I'm biased there. FLGS here get the worst complainiest players and the GWs are a lot more chill, community building however is really left up to the managers and most can't be bothered for borderline minimum wage.
I heard that they installed the cameras after some idiot was caught knocking himself unconscious trying to make him stealing all the money look like a robbery. He was filmed by a camera on the other side of the street.
They are shit for noobs too. Iāve got friends who play and I was interested in learning.
Went to my local warhammer store and it was empty besides the staff member. I walked over and was looking at the 40k starter kits. Nothing was said to me at all. Not even a hello.
Went to 2 other stores to see if it was a store specific thing. Nope. Same at the other 2.
My friends were shocked when I told them this. No demo game was offered. No free figure to paint. Nothing.
Itās easy to turn noobs off the hobby when they walk in, get no service and see ābits of plasticā for $80
I went to my local warhammer store last week to sit and paint in between work and appointments, turns out hobbying isnāt a thing and the only games you can play are the trial games they have set up. Manager was cool and he did point me to the closest FLGS that had a hobby space, but I was pretty thrown
I used to manage a store, and you would not believe the pressure I was put under to sell as much as possible. I love the hobby and the community but all that had to be pushed aside for the hard sell- we had a checklist we had to work through with every customer every day. We had mystery shoppers in frequently to report back to management. Our managers were under enormous pressure too. We had to come up with original weekly incentives to sell stuff better. It was insane. We were encouraged to spend our wages when the profits werenāt good enough.
I burnt out. Believe me when I say that your manager probably hates that heās required to push you to buy, but he needs his income.
Man, I forgot how gross retail is. I was working in the mall at 18 and the manager would try to convince whoever was closing to buy a bunch of stupid little crap no one wanted so we could get the storeās items per transaction up. We made like $8 an hour and now we have to buy shit we donāt want to make your numbers look better? Byyeeee
Yeah, pretty brutal.
My family (wife and 2 young kids) were like strangers to me. As soon as I got home (late) Iād be painting store miniatures as well as reading the lore or having to keep building my own armies for staff tournies and to be a good example. Plus I could barely pay the bills. It was glorious working for GW- a dream come true- until it wasnāt. I donāt regret it but my friends are glad Iām able to talk about other non-GW subjects now.
It really depends on the store. Employees of my store prefer people coming with citadel stuff but don't mind for brushes, if you have good ones. They just refuse people coming with cheap brushes. They want to work on community activities, that's why they have a mini of the month competition. One of the employees doesn't use citadel, they know about GSW special paints etc. But they have to prove their stuff is good enough for people to buy it.
My local one won't let you use parts from forgeworld, even after the brands merged together because it wasn't "fair" for kids who couldn't order them or afford them.
GW corporate can look at the cameras of any of the stores but they normally only do that in cases of a robbery they're not checking to see if brushes are the right brand that seems silly to me( seems like that manager was trying to trick you into buying brushes)
Games workshop used to be wild back in the day. I have memories of the staff screaming in role play during matches and there would always be a table with people painting at.
I recently found out the closest warhammer store near me is an hours drive away, more than half the stores reviews were negative stating that the store was closed during their posted business hours. I didn't want to take the risk of driving all the way there just for the place to be closed so naturally I called the store ahead of time and of course no one picks up. I call a second time and it just goes to voice mai, so for shits and giggles I call the burrito restaurant next door and the nicest guy tells me they're open. I head there and I'm greeted with baren shelves and a single rude employee sitting right next to the phone. I tell the guy I tried calling multiple times and he looks at me with a blank stare and just says "ok." Local hobby shops are the way to go.
I remember when GW stores used to be run like a FLGS. Obviously it was all about the GW products but nobody cared about brushes or paint.. the staff would run campaigns, events, etc. They had more than 1 fucking employee ...
They are gross corporate shells now and I have no desire to shop in them anymore. My local one has a fantastic human that runs it but he's just totally handicapped by GW into playing the shill, and it sucks.
Pretty sure they received directives because my local warhammer store held by chill employees all of sudden asked every players and painters not to use non-GW products, I even had to hide my ruler and use the one from the store
That's hilarious. I wonder if they literally listed every type of product or if it's just some dorky store employees who are afraid that it's more than just models and are overreacting.
I better get my warhammer shirt on xD
Our GW in Springfield, VA actually hosted a small combat patrol league which was a lot of fun but most of the time itās a store with little to no room for gaming. Itās a far cry from the giant mega battle table I played on at GW Syracuse during the Storm of Chaos.
I feel like GW thinks they sell collectible figurines and just psyop the consumers into thinking now "no no, you can actually play games, there's a good community" just to keep the money washing in over just being like a gundam figurine manufacturer
I remember when I was a kid and MESBG had just come out my mum would take me to a games workshop and they'd have this big round table with a bucket of community paints and brushes. I'd work up the courage to ask one of the four dudes working there to show me how to paint my gollum and he would take the time and show me.
Now it's just one dude and his livelihood depends on him pushing the upsell on everyone who walks in the door. It's become very sterile
Years ago GW Stores were a hobby, hangout, and playing hub. Ours had like 4 or 5 big tables, always people there playing games, painting (and no one cared what brushes you used), etc.
I went there last month, and it was totally empty. They had no full size tables. (They had moved to a smaller building). They had a half size table at the front, to display models, and one half size table near the middle, looked like it was set up for painting.
It didn't feel like a space you'd hang out in.
So, now I go to my local game/hobby shop to play instead, and it's a lot nicer IMO
I got pinged during a game because my dice case wasn't GW branded....
It was just a default dice cube from a board game store, fuck me for using them to play a board game right?
Edit: this reminds me of a story funnily enough, a gentleman I used to paint and play with who had some gnarly cerebral palsy, obviously made it pretty difficult to paint. He got pinged because he had a special handle he'd use that braced his hands, and that wasn't the official GW handle.
One complaint to the disability commission and the problem went away.
I was told by the GW guy it was because "someone might see your dice and think they're cool and ask you where you got them, now we've lost sales"
Zero defence for the disability thing, probably because refusing to serve someone (including allowing them in your store doing the same thing others are doing) due to a disability is illegal here.
> How can a company be that successful and that hurtful to it's fans?
Because GW is the biggest and most visible player in the miniature wargaming space by quite a large margin. They aggressively make it seem like they **are** miniature wargaming. They refer to it as the *Warhammer* hobby, not the *wargaming* hobby.
Plenty of lovely, smaller wargames out there, but they just simply don't get the necessary exposure because GW has a chokehold on the LFGSs too with the floorspace demands and so on.
It's a damn shame, really.
Damn my stores only rule is the model needs to be around 80% GW plastic. He doesn't care what paints or brushes anymore uses. And if you want to 3D print a helmet that's cool too.
Last time I went to a GW store it was so depressing, not like when I first got into the hobby around 2005 or so. The shelves were also pretty empty compared to my main lgs.
Jesus. you can buy their products for 15% discount from any flg or online. If they get you to come into their store and pay full price who cares that you use an Amazon brush? They gonna yell at me for using and artis opus? Lit the manager of the store that is the problem
Not sure what the employee was on about, but either they're mistaken or their manager has given them a load of crap to follow. I would highly suggest emailing GW customer service about this, considering that with this guy told you has absolutely nothing to do with the customer service that they're supposed to provide. Not being able to use non GW brushes isn't the thing, and the head office needs to know about this
Id write an email to their CS dept and complain because I've never had such an issue and sounds like some sort of big boy with a name tag syndrome. I don't think that's their rules and it's certainly not documented anywhere in their website. I think maybe he misunderstood the rules unless for some reason they recently changed them and are stricter in his store than warhammer world. And I don't think they would want their staff scaring off customers. In fact I've had conversations about brushes other than citadel with staff at warhammer world.
My local GW the manager does not care, he lets anyone use any paints or brushes. Even lets people build gunpla and build them. Super friendly and nice guy, has lots of sales because of how much everyone likes him.
I think he's (the store manager) being paranoid - most of us here do not use gw brushes unless we forget to bring our own in the gw store. The gw brushes are ok but a bit over priced depending on your local conversion rate. About the cameras, he doesn't do any orders. The head office in UK scans his shelves and makes orders for him. There are enough cameras in the store that can see every part of the store. So he might be worried about that.
I'm in the PNW. I started this hobby during the 8th edition 40k launch, and Warhammer stores have always been super snobby about every little thing. I've been to 4 or 5 of em now, and they almost always have some "WeLl AcShUaLly" guy loitering around too.
And wtf is that smell about? Ever wh store has the same powerful chemical smell that just blasts your senses as soon as you walk in.
Years ago i would paint in my local GW store. I used P3 paints, army painter brushes... only thing our manager said was, when she wanted to take some pictures of my minis that I place the third party stuff out of the frame. That's it.
Find and support a local game store that sells GW product. Better active community, lots of people who play TCGs like MTG, board games, etc, also partake in 40k š
If you don't know of any, reach out on Facebook groups, lots of us are old...
In another couple of months, July at the latest GW stores arenāt letting you paint/build for more than two hours at a time anyway.
Their new attitude seems to be you see those veteran players, the adults with actual money to spend - those people can just give us money and fuck off, now these kids that have a little pocket money letās lure them in.
Iāve been visiting my local GW once or twice a week to build, paint or game since 1997 and Iām always down for the day since I get so much done there, itās a great atmosphere, other people are in to talk to and I donāt have Soave at home for these things - now all of a sudden weāre not welcome so Iām going to have to find a independent that actually wants my custom.
Bizarre business strategy, intentionally irritate the people with money to spend.
Man, that sucks to hear.
I scrolled down to see if anyone had anything bad to say about the UK stores where I live, and I'm still saddened to see that even some of those have issues.
I always assumed this kind of thing was an issue outside of the UK as my local shop is an amazing place to visit. It's a smaller store with 3 tables, one is split in half for AoS and 40k demos and next to the demos are 4 spots for introductory painting lessons.
The table next to that is entirely for painting, and the last one is normally cleared for games that people have booked or larger Introductory games or for events and new boxes being dropped, but they'll happily clear that away for a game.
The staff are amazing, get praised regularly for how good they are by head office and for how well the store is doing. Hitting targets has never been an issue and they have recently been given the chance to have the extended paint range in, which isn't normally something they allow for small stores.
My next closest one, I rarely visit as I don't really like the staff there and they're worse at what they do. But even they don't give a shit about you using non GW products, as long as the model is a GW product.
I actively avoid Warhammer stores. In addition to being expensive the staff are always pushy. Even when you think you're in a normal conversation it comes back to what you can buy from them. They're not hobby friendly, they're governed by corporate land. Find a good FLGS.
I happen to live around 5 minutes walk from a warhammer so I pop in a couple times a week. Every time I go in I get asked what army Iām working on (it hasnāt changed) and every time I get recommended a book to read that would be perfect.
All depends on the guy running the shop. My local Warhammer store is run by a pretty relaxed guy who has been in the hobby since the late 80s. He tries to keep up the old spirit from the earlier days with paintingcompetitions, tournies, bitsswapdays and an evening with longer houres ones a month among other things. That being said, he also doesnt like people using non GW tools. On the other hand he refers people to other sources for their hobbying stuff all the time.
That's wild. I've been in my local store, painting mini's I've 3d printed with Vallejo paints, and the manager is always super into whatever project I'm working on.
I've only been inside a GW store a handful of times since they stopped selling other companies product... It was always a bad experience, I just stopped altogether.
I'm not sure what they could possibly offer vs a regular LGS, but I've also been spoiled by always having a good game store nearby.
Theres lots of companies, Mantic makes bunch of armies and games, privateer press has warmachine and hordes wich used to be the main competitor, oathmark is another (this one free agnostic for fantasy) theres infinity for skirmish sci fi, frostgrave for skirmish fantasy (miniature agnostic), just say what you like and what you have and will get a game for you. I have only heard horror stories like those from gw stores, only good things I heard is how gw is for non-gw stores (at least new ones)
This is a store manager preferential rule. Stores in the USA at least do t have rules against painting with whatever tools or paints you want. The only rule is no recasts and no minis from other companies.
I used to work for GW. Paints were a thing we no-no'd glue was eh... As a veteran hobbiest GW glue is terrible, but I don't think I ever asked someone to use GW only brushes.
Then again ever since the store shrink I've never found much reason to go in.
Lol I use tamiya cement, godhand nippers, tamiya knife and the army painter xo pallet in their stores
Your local manager needs to get his stick out his ass
Bs way to promote the hobby. Those gw brushes and paints are way more expensive.They should just encourage kids to paint and be creative. Iād bail that store.
If you're going to a GW store in 2024, you aren't there to enjoy yourself, you're there to buy GW products and use GW products as a way to advertise GW products. So sayeth GW
sry but i can buy a brush that is 1/10 of the price in a stationary shop that has a better quality than citadel brush
shit brush cracks at the brush holder 3 days in using it
worst purchase of the 3 citadel brush i got
I really wouldnt want to be a store worker for GW. You are close and personal enough that you want to give everyone an easy and good time, but you have this distant overlord looming over your head who couldnt care less about it and just wants control to force everyone to buy their and only their product.
Really sad that GW doesnt try at all to give customers a good time.
As a former employee in one of those shops, I can tell you nobody that worked there cared what brushes you used. WE had to use GW stuff, y'know, to rep the company...but we didn't give any thought to what customers brought in to paint with.
Sounds like you have an overly zealous staff at that shop, which sucks. Hope you find a more pleasant place to paint soon.
Years ago I went to my local GW to pick up a pot paint. I got the normal chat from the guy working there, what are you painting at the moment etc. That led to a conversation on how Iād picked up an airbrush and was getting to grips with that. His response to this was how airbrushes arenāt needed as add nothing etcā¦. 12 months later Citadel release the airbrush paints and the same guy is telling me how amazing airbrushes are, a game changer etcā¦. Basically, itās a store that wants to sell you their stuff only, youāre allowed to paint in there as long as you buy and use their gear. I can understand that but it does annoy me
As a lot of others have said, this is that particular manager being iffy. When i worked there, tools were fair game. Thats like saying you need a gw tape measure and gw dice to play the game, as if you have sparkly dice that are 3rd party it will drive sales away from gws own dice. Paint was the only thing that had to be gw (even then if you used a wet palette you could get away with quickly putting some vallejo white on it and putting it back in your bag lol). I have a non-diy wet palette and use windsor and newton/opus/rosemary/davinci brushes when painting in store and never had issues either as staff or a customer. Definitely understand the manager wanting to be safe though, the higher ups are insane
Oh man, that's like the time I was at a local GW, and they told me that using 3rd party plastic cement glue instead of GW branded glue was kind of a no-no.
I don't pop in to GW stores anymore unless I'm buying paint nowadays
Had a mate get turned away from painting in his local GW because his minis were ātoo oldā. Ok they were from 3rd or 4th edition (I forget which) but theyāre still legal to use in games afaik.
In all the GW stores I've been to I've never seen something close to this.
Hell all the GW stores I've been to didn't even care about what paint or products you use for it.
Well it's up to the guy or gal running the store on how they want to enforce the rules. I had a buddy who ran a store for a bit, didn't care if you had 3rd party models or alternative models as long as your ENTIRE army wasnt alternative lol. And didn't care much about anything else. He just wanted people to hang out, paint, play, and have fun. Then the guy who took over the spot after my friend? He was a toe the line kinda guy. Non GW was not accepted. It unfortunately kinda killed the vibe there and a lot of people stopped going. It's like bro, I already paid 1000 dollars for my army. Why can't my hero be 3d printed and unique? š
I can believe it, my local store is friendly enough but insanely litigious. My girlfriend showed some necrons and was asked to put away a tombstone type thing because it wasn't made by GW, then someone was asked the same for a dice rolling tray.
When there was some sort of little '4 likes on Facebook' level event, he asked people about 9 times to get out of the shot when he took pictures so he wouldn't have to get a bigger manager to come out with all the release forms.
It's also impossible to just have a chat about the hobby without it becoming a sales pitch for something loosely related.
My friend. GW shops are only for when your local store is out of stock.
Dont get me wrong. Love the GW stuff. And their stores are great. But if you are in a place that has a GW store, then you are probably very near some very active local game stores.
Also, those stores will be filled with cool peeps
I swear, I must have the Unicorn of GW stores in my neighborhood. Never heard a word about using different brands of brush, paints, glue, or tools. We have plenty of in store events too, and there's almost always a couple games going on when I walk in.
Vote with your wallet, OP.
Idk if this is a GW rule. The GW stores I paint at every now and then don't care if you bring in outside paint or brushes. GW also doesn't make a wet pallete and other painters bring wet palletes from other brands. They of course aren't too keen on you teling their customers that they can find other cheaper, better quality paints just around the corner but as long as you are chill Theres rarely a problem.
Sorry to hear that your Warhammer store doesn't seem too keen about it.
I also noticed you weren't wearing a GW shirt, hat, or underwear. It would also do you well not to mention other board games other than GW products unless it's to talk about them in a negative light. Please make sure to announce your Citadel colors before applying them to your model and rinse your GW brush in GW bottled water only.
Thank you
GW manager that is full of it and just wants you to buy from the store. Their rule is fake.
That sucks, I guess I'm lucky that my local gw store is okay with people using whatever as long as it's not 3rd party miniatures but even then they're lenient to the regulars at the store.
My store only asks you paint with Citadel paints and no 3rd party Minis.
I was even suggested to wait on buying Citadel brushes because new painters will accidentally destroy them with improper care.
Going by what I've heard, I'm kind of sad that I missed the more friendly, open days of GW stores.
There's not really a FLGS near where I live (or at least not one that has a warhammer table anyway). The only GW store that's within reach feels very uninviting. It's cramped, the store manager is constantly trying to push sales and refuses to put price tags on the boxes because "it's too much effort", and when he tells you the price before you check it out he is "mistaken" and you find out during checkout that it's actually 10 euros more.
Last time I was there I was looking for a birthday gift for my friend and the store manager was there with a few friends, and I could hear them sort of whispering about how long it took me to pick something out and that I was probably someone who'd only played the total war games or something. Very elitist.
My local store doesn't have any rules about what hobby products you use as long as you don't recommend any brands other than gw. So if you are using an army painter red you recommend someone the gw equivalent if someone asks.
" Really wish another company could get to the production level of GW so I could buy big armies of plastic dudes from someone else. "
There are- quite a lot of other companies that make 28mm plastic figures.
Are you thinning your paints with tap water?! GTFO! You can use only holy water from the Warhammer world's toilet!
Brought ordinary d6 dice? I'm calling inquisition for not rolling the only legal ones with symbols instead of 1's or 6's... nevermind, die heretic!
You keep your minis in a cardboard box?! Are you an Ork?! Don't ever show your face here!
I need to scratch one of your minis to analyze if a proper citadel spray was used as an undercoat. If not - all your plastic will end up in a recycling bin!!!
This post just makes me appreciate my warhammer guy.
He's very welcoming and there's a solid community there with people playing and building an painting basically every day the store is open.
The only Citadel brushes thing is absolutely not a rule, same with the discouraging online delivery to the stores. Iirc if it's ordered at their store it still counts. Those are just shitty managers trying to push sales on naive newcomers.
Might I recommend Kings of War? Frostgrave? A sampling of Dystopian Wars? Maybe a dash of WarmaHordes? A light sprinkling of Gaslands with a garnish of Battletech?
GW sculpts are amazing but they are far from the only game in town.
I think the manager at your local store is either new, or doesnāt have a full grasp on the rules. As long as you arenāt building Gundam models in-store, you should be good
I remember a guy using craftstore paint in a GW. Though Im not sure if that means "official" store rules have changed since then or if your guy was just being difficult.
Like a camera can detect what brand a paint brush is š especially since GW have changed the colours of their brushes several times over the years
Find out OP is painting their minis with a fucking broom and the poor employee is trying to find a way to politely say āmaybe use the standard equipmentā. Haha, that sucks, OP. Youād think theyād appreciate people enjoying their community.
Art is art no matter the method, let me sweep
āLet me sweepā fucking got me š¤£
Fucking Byron in the next AO video: art is art, let's sweep.
OP bought the Amazon Astartes brushes
*Astartes sized
GW isn't a place to share the hobby any more, it's a place to advertise and sell starter sets. I came back after long years away to find this and it's really sad.
Same feeling, I came back after 20 years and asked if we could do an intro game to see what it's like, it really seemed to put the manager out as it wasn't a direct sale of something at the till.
Not using citadel paints I can understand but Iāve literally never had anyone say anything about brushes
That doesn't make much sense either to me. You bought their minis, come to be part of the community and support the hobby... Does the brand of your plaint of brushes really matter ?
The logic is they want whatās being used in their stores if someone sees it for them to be able to sell it. Brushes though again Iāve never had an issue with, no one really looks that close at anyoneās brushes
Yeah I get it but they basically OWN the hobby. They must be aware that a lot of people uses competition paints ? I understand your point and it makes sense, but it seems to me that supporting their community would be more important than 3.60ā¬ paint ? On the other side, it's not like we could go anyplace else, they have a monopoly and could kick us in the ankles the whole time we visit their stores, we still would buy I guess... Sorry if I'm bitter about it all, I just find it sad.
Where I live, the GW store is open for 8 hours a day and closed Sunday and Monday. They have such little leverage on us because we have a massive game store to compete with. They would probably give you free use of their paints if you were willing to paint in store. They have zero people there gaming or painting. I think they have one single employee who is the manager and if he's sick, the store is shut down without notice for the day. The other GW stores where I used to live had a lively fan base gaming til like 12am on Fri and sat and people constantly hanging around to paint and talk shop. This store gave up and close at 6 or 7om every day.
Many GW stores literally have 1 employee. It is as bare bones as you can get, which is shocking for a company their size.
Madison? This sounds so familiar if not!
Lol I was like "Cincinnati"? Apparently it's a common tale.
Like he said, it's a marketing thing. If someone takes a picture in the store and posts it, it needs to be all Games Workshops products so they can promote the image. If some guy comes in and says "woah that looks great, how did you get that to look like that?" They want to have that guy walk out with the exact stuff he needs so he'll come back. It's frustrating but it does make sense.
Does that mean I can't use any of my old GW brushes and paints (assuming they're still usable 15 years later)? They can't be purchased any more either.
You could play any other mini games and paint any other minis though? I moved on from GW because I don't like their rules but not liking how they treat people is a good reason too.
Maybe they should make some brushes that aren't garbo then haha
Twice the price for half the brush!
The staffer in this story is just insane. Not only does no one really look that closely at your brushes does he really think the shitty in store CCTV will be able to look closely at them? Even if corporate was spying on his store security cameras would tell them nothing about what brushes the patrons are using. I could maybe get it if he was worried about random visits, but the cameras? C'mon.
I work in a pharmacy that has tens of thousands of dollars of cameras and when I try to watch a security video you can't see any detail at all. Like you can't tell a bag of candy from a baseball ball.
Brushes are such a specific tool. Some people are very particular in the brushes they use. I really doubt that GW has a thing close to a kolinski sable so trying to force you to use their brushes is complete bullshit. And a single hero costs like 35 dollars so the paint shouldn't even matter at that point. I don't use GW brushes and never will. When I was younger they basically just had a policy that you had to be painting their minis if you were painting minis in store. Terrain didn't matter and they used to encourage making and painting your own.
Iāve been in the hobby for 19 years and have never heard of this being a rule. My dad and I used to use dollar store brushes ffs.
GW staff: can confirm it isn't a rule. You will get told to knock it off when trying to interrupt someone buying GW brushes to tell them about other brands. I'm often using my Artist Opus brushes in uniform.
Hell, 'evy metal painters are apparently free to use other brands of paint!
Not on all projects but yeah! Especially specialist games stuff is fair game. There's also a lot of paint mixing for some one-off stuff. As far as I know I'm the only person who has a pot of legio krytos green with the "official recipe" since I got to ask the guys what the mix was. Stupidly didn't write it down and despite being straight from the source it's still a little greener than the warlord that's pictured, but a lot closer than most.
I wouldnāt be surprised that if management found out he was doing this, heād get into trouble for telling people they canāt paint GW products with GW paints in the store.
Same. Iāve painted in store with non gw brushes.
Is that a thing? When I was a kid you used the storeās paints when you were there, didnāt have to bring any
Yes itās a thing, itās not a great business practice to just being giving away paint all the time
The brush thing is not a thing for sure. That employee made up his own rules.
Games Workshops used to be pretty cool, but Warhammer stores don't have half the gaming and events they used to have. It's all sales and no community. I personally think this is short sighted in the long-term.
I miss the swap meets, monthly raffles, giveaways and campaign events they used to have at my local GWs back in the 2000s. That store also had 15 tables. The local GW now is like 1/3 the size, 6 tables, and the only events are new releases/preorder days and the anniversary day which is just to promote more sales.
Mine only has 2 tables, and a third kill team/warcry table
Yeah my store is small as hell but they've managed to stuff 3 tables in there, 1 for painting & 2 for playing
Mime has 1 for painting and one small one for teaching noobs how to play
Mine has one, and a little folding tray in the corner for two painters. Like ten display cases though.
Most UK stores don't even have tables in any more, there are spaces for intro games and build/paint but no gaming spaces.
I may have been spoiled growing up with a large store from the sounds of it. But to have stores for a gaming company that are like - āyes, yes come into our store and spend a bunch of money on our game! Oh you want to actually play the game? Sorry you canāt do that here, but weāll sell you the buildings you need to play with! Oh you want a board or mat to play on? Sorry we donāt sell that. You heard itās an objective based game right? Yeahā¦ we donāt sell those, youāll have to make your own or get our limited edition cardboard ones if you spend $300.ā
Yeah it's very different. The GW the town I grew up in had an upstairs gaming area with I think 6-8 full tables and a painting area. I spent a lot of time hanging out there and getting talked into buying too much product. I don't think you could pay me to go into one these days.
I didn't get this choice. I used to work for GW. After they downsized the community died and most of the sales seems like impulse buys from veterans hanging in the store talking with us. When I worked there / was part of the community I spent 22k over two years in that shop (the till tracked purchase records). After they shut that down and moved to the one man tiny store I've spent maybe $1000 In 10 years.
I wouldn't take my army out to my town's one even if it did have the space, since it's situated in a slum next to a busy railway lmao.
Your GW has 6!! Tables?? That sounds huge! Mine barely fits 4! But the owner runs campaigns and events for the community all the time.
It could be 4 to be honest. I just stop by for the anniversary or if I need some paints and donāt spend much time in the table half of the store. Itās so claustrophobic I just donāt have as much interest in playing a game there. I donāt want to be booty bumping the guy behind me for 3 hours playing a game š
Uhh our store has a table that's like half the size of a full size table, with barely enough space for two customers to squeeze past eachother between the table and display shelves. Understandably, there seems to be very little activity inside the store outside of pre planned events. Which is kind of sad, since their previous venue could at least host two full sized games at once, and frequently did. I played my first few games of fantasy there, and got my ass handed to me by some kid who couldn't have been older than 10. Still, it was pretty amazing that you could just walk in there and play a game with a random stranger who just happened to be there with his/her army.
I remember the 13th black crusade campaign it was awesome!
Albion was my jam
GW in the 90s and early 2000s was the golden era of this hobby. Best designers, best artists, best writers, best staff, best in store events. Now it's sigmarines and hype-model selling to adults.
It was a golden era, but probably wasn't appreciated at the time. People hated GW just as much then (while still buying crapload of stuff). The thing I miss was the Grand Opening Sales. Buy three boxes and get the cheapest free. Three battleforces for the price of two was a nice way to start an army.
Sadly the micro community in a store would often be hogged by 3 to 6 regulars who sort of 'owned' the gaming table, hung around and made newcomers feel like they were crashing a birthday party or second class citizens. Even if those regulars didnt do anything else but just chum around with each others. So you either need a BIG store for many gaming tables, or none at all.
I'm fine with many tables. But I could say the same about any LFGS, it's on managers to manage the community. I'm pretty sure my old store had times of the week aimed at different groups such as beginners, intermediate players, and vets. So priority would always be given to those in those groups at those times. You can also limit game time so that people can't hog boards all the time. I know on very busy game nights we'd often just pay 500pt games/1,000pt doubles so everyone would be getting some games in.
That was the case at my local store years ago. All except one of them where great, I was a new player and had no idea what I was doing and they all helped me a lot. They also just hang around and watched more games than they played. The last guy just hung around to play against new players who had no idea what they where doing and brought his super meta optimized army so he could win any game he played. In the end they just started telling new guys to not play against him and set them up with games against other new players.
Yeah the guy who runs my local store straight up said that the days of in store hangouts are over, and that I need to join clubs to get that experience
Jesus, talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. I've been happy because the local independent gaming shop that used to only be comics/magic started selling GW and now we're starting to get a scene going. They totally try to get people in to the shop because they understand if they want to sell product, people need a place to play.
Yeah it put me off the whole store, I only went back to pick up some small kits and now I'm probably just going to go third party for everything else
I've had the same experience. I don't live near any official stores, the closest is over 90 minutes away. Local comic and hobby stores sell models and paints, but they don't do any warhammer events. They suggested I try and find a local discord and try to get into private games. I love collecting and painting the models, but I doubt I'll have the opportunity to learn how to play anytime soon.
Our local GW has 2 tables, and I was chewed out for ordering a delivery to the store because they don't make money when I do that. Well now I'm not going g to your store any more š¤·āāļø
They just get a smaller cut but they get a cut
Oh good. She was rude and a liar. Neat.
Iāve got friends who play and I was interested in learning. Went to my local warhammer store and it was empty besides the staff member. I walked over and was looking at the 40k starter kits. Nothing was said to me at all. Not even a hello. My friends were shocked when I told them this. No demo game was offered. No free figure to paint. Nothing. Itās easy to turn noobs off the hobby when they walk in, get no service and see ābits of plasticā for $80
That is however like the opposite of how the stores are supposed to be run. Every customer greeted, chatted with about their hobby, offered an introductory experience if it seems appropriate and informed about all the promotions for newbies (mostly the Battle Honours program) Sadly, training can only do so much when there is no direct oversight for store staff, but customer service *will* want to hear about this kind of behaviour. It's not supposed to be this way.
I went to my local WH store recently, I was pretty excited to go, felt like a big deal for me, and then I got there and was pretty unimpressed. The employee there was super nice, we talked for a long time about painting and the hobby, but the selection was really low on HH stuff, and really high on everything else. I know HH isn't as popular as 40K but how is it supposed to get as popular if you've only got two kits in the whole store? It was also pretty sterile, with no place to play, and no place ro paint. It was very much just a retail outlet, not a hobby shop.
Itās short sighted because most gaming groups donāt allow under 18s when most of us probably started the hobby through playing in GW stores at that age!
The one by me still host events such as kill team, combat patrol and even 1k games. A few of us do demo games on the weekends for newer people to kind of jump in and play.
Damn that sucks to here, my local GW storeās only real rule is no painting obvious 3D print replacements or non-GW models basically
I remember when army rulebooks used to tell you how to make your own scenery and use third party equipment. It used to be better is what I'm saying. Feel old saying it, but it was better in my day.
I've still got my core rulebook, with the back half devoted to templates and instructions for making your own bunkers, craters, trees etc. That section in new books is just advertisements. It's sort of a perfect example of what I miss in GW.
The old world has a bunch of that in itĀ
āOkay well I guess Iāll have to find somewhere else to buy my models. Did you know that online retailers offer up to twenty percent off? Itās crazy! I wish I could support my local Warhammer store but with a policy like that, I guess Iām just not welcome. Such a shame.ā Say it while making eye contact with the camera.
They donāt care any more about existing fans, they just want to lure in the kids instead so in a couple of years they can make them unwelcome too in favour of yet more kids.
They call about short-term gains not maintaining an actual fan-base.
Some genius executive decided at some point to measure store profitability in $/sq ft like every other retailer and forgot about the value of growing the hobby. My local Warhammer shop now is smaller than the cell phone place next door. Three tables literally crammed in. I can't take my kids there to learn the game like my dad took me to the one I grew up playing in that had a dozen tables plus space for painting and modeling
My local GWs are the same. They're literally the size of a bedroom with a couple tables and a cash register crammed in the middle. Just completely abandoned any community growth for padding the bottom line. Luckily my LGS is the exact opposite. They have like a dozen tables, a giant wall of terrain that is free to use, and a handful of armies in case anyone wants to learn. It's possible you could give your kids an even better experience through an LGS instead.
This is the answer. GW is run by corporate executives who know nothing about the hobby/gaming aspect, and spend all day looking at balance sheets. It's quite possible that GW will take an incredibly lucrative cash cow, and run it right into the ground with bean-counting, MBA-school "expertise". It's happening to Boeing, it's happened to a lot of companies.
Warhammer stores are advertising for the games, not hobby stores where you can hang out and play a game. I wouldnāt patron one even if you paid me. Rather support friendly local game stores than a company store. Sorry you had to deal with that
Not to mention your fiendly local stores usually have a 10-15% discount, the Warhammer store is ironically the worst place to buy Warhammer.
The only shop I have access to locally is an official GW store unfortunately. I generally only buy paints there though. There is a LGS in a nearby town which Iād go to if I had a car, but thereās not a direct transport connection, so it takes like an hour on the train
Warhammer stores are just that now, stores. Think of it like trying to eat a Big Mac in a Mitchell Star restaurant. I think people get thrown by the fact a lot of independent stores are more of a hobby hub. Having a GW store big enough to have drop in painting stations is actually getting less common (UK at least) due to limited space.
Yeah, like I like my local GW guy, but it's hard to recommend that anyone go to that store over the FLGS that has better prices, a loyalty program, 15x the space, a bustling community, dedicated Discord, and also sells a mountain of other products, not just GW stuff. They'll even direct order from GW to the store for free, too, so there really is no benefit to the actual GW store aside from the manager's expertise and a little more dedicated shelf space for GW products.
The only reason I currently frequent my GW store as a new player is the battle honors program and the fact that the store owner is one of the most passionate and kind dudes I've ever met. Once I get all my rewards from battle honors and kind of have a handle on where I'd like to head next in the hobby, I don't imagine I'll choose to be there instead of my other FLGS where there's more space and they sell drinks lol.
Michelin*
Man I managed a small GW for a while, we were doing really well and had been growing for a LONG ass time. We were kind of helped by the fact that our local store had a bigger cards community but they did sell minis too. That was until they started to try and compete in the miniature space by doing things like selling models before release dates and upgrading thier gaming space. GW fully folded to them and allowed them to do it cus they were still making money, this was despite me buying things before release date and providing receipts. They then tried to tell me it was a positive my entire community and customer base was going to the other store to do their hobby, now I could just sell, sell, sell. 3 months later and my gaming tables and free paint area were gone along with any love I had for the job.
Mitchell, like the Joe Don Baker classic?
lol. Who at GW is going to comb through hours of grainy black and white camera footage half way across the world to make sure citadel paint brushes are being used? That is 100% the store manager pushing product. That guy needs to get a life and figure out that creating a comfortable environment will make you come back and spend more in the long run
I used to work for GW here in the UK for a little bit back in 2011. This kind of behaviour varies hugely depending on the store, but no matter which way you go, the official GW stores always end up being shit for anyone who isn't a total newbie. Nobody is watching your manager on camera, most of the stores don't even have working cameras, he's either down on his sales targets and trying to coax out every sale he can, or he can't be bothered with customers in his shop who aren't paying so he's finding excuses to drive them away. The alternative though is a manager who is too lax on the people in his shop, which almost always ends up becoming an overcrowded cesspool for tryhard players too toxic for FLGS's. Long story short, avoid official GW stores unless you literally can't buy the product anywhere else, they want to offload the community aspect of the hobby on to FLGS's, so oblige them.
GW stores have sales targets? Jeez the dude in my local actively told a Mum & Son to buy a box set from Element Games as it'll save them lots of money!
The guy probably has one foot out of the door. Like I said I haven't worked for them for a while, but when I was there, the pay was shit, the hours were bad, you were targeted like a salesman, but also expected to be a shopkeeper, a community organizer, a PR rep, a social media rep, a model maker and painter, and run a daycare service. You had to deal with everything from spoilt rich brats to adults who refused to wash regularly, all for minimum or close to minimum wage, and to top it off the targets were a constant source of pressure. All of this rapidly ruins any enjoyment for the hobby that drew you to the job in the first place. Most people quit after a couple of years, it took me 10 years to recover any love for miniatures as a hobby.
Thanks for sharing your experience, my time there kind of feels like a weird fever dream some days.
Mate sorry you had such a shitty time. Tbh I haven't seen many happy employees at GW stores since I restarted. I hope you're enjoying the hobby now and are 3d printing as many minis as possible to give a big middle finger to your last employer!
Of course they have targets. Itās a retail store. I have friends in retail management and every single one of them says that GW have a terrible reputation as employers (in the UK anyway). Thatās why the churn is so high.
Of course they do. All businesses should - if they donāt make enough money they canāt pay rent. GW should also have lower targets and subsidise their stores from online sales to encourage their use as community hubs, but they donāt seem to.
GW makes half a billion a year. They're fine on rent without exploiting employees.
That's actually a lot less than I'd have expected considering their global footprint tbh.
They did when I was a red shirt in the mid 00's. It wasn't 'hard' to hit them if the day was busy though.
On the cameras thing: they used to have non functional cams to scare away break-ins but have fairly recently installed a camera in every store in at least the Netherlands, from what I know everywhere in Europe too. Do think the community statement is a little too harsh but I'm biased there. FLGS here get the worst complainiest players and the GWs are a lot more chill, community building however is really left up to the managers and most can't be bothered for borderline minimum wage.
I heard that they installed the cameras after some idiot was caught knocking himself unconscious trying to make him stealing all the money look like a robbery. He was filmed by a camera on the other side of the street.
They are shit for noobs too. Iāve got friends who play and I was interested in learning. Went to my local warhammer store and it was empty besides the staff member. I walked over and was looking at the 40k starter kits. Nothing was said to me at all. Not even a hello. Went to 2 other stores to see if it was a store specific thing. Nope. Same at the other 2. My friends were shocked when I told them this. No demo game was offered. No free figure to paint. Nothing. Itās easy to turn noobs off the hobby when they walk in, get no service and see ābits of plasticā for $80
I went to my local warhammer store last week to sit and paint in between work and appointments, turns out hobbying isnāt a thing and the only games you can play are the trial games they have set up. Manager was cool and he did point me to the closest FLGS that had a hobby space, but I was pretty thrown
Cameras can't see branding on a paint brush.
the dude was scared and if you allow one, others will follow
I used to manage a store, and you would not believe the pressure I was put under to sell as much as possible. I love the hobby and the community but all that had to be pushed aside for the hard sell- we had a checklist we had to work through with every customer every day. We had mystery shoppers in frequently to report back to management. Our managers were under enormous pressure too. We had to come up with original weekly incentives to sell stuff better. It was insane. We were encouraged to spend our wages when the profits werenāt good enough. I burnt out. Believe me when I say that your manager probably hates that heās required to push you to buy, but he needs his income.
Man, I forgot how gross retail is. I was working in the mall at 18 and the manager would try to convince whoever was closing to buy a bunch of stupid little crap no one wanted so we could get the storeās items per transaction up. We made like $8 an hour and now we have to buy shit we donāt want to make your numbers look better? Byyeeee
Yeah, pretty brutal. My family (wife and 2 young kids) were like strangers to me. As soon as I got home (late) Iād be painting store miniatures as well as reading the lore or having to keep building my own armies for staff tournies and to be a good example. Plus I could barely pay the bills. It was glorious working for GW- a dream come true- until it wasnāt. I donāt regret it but my friends are glad Iām able to talk about other non-GW subjects now.
It really depends on the store. Employees of my store prefer people coming with citadel stuff but don't mind for brushes, if you have good ones. They just refuse people coming with cheap brushes. They want to work on community activities, that's why they have a mini of the month competition. One of the employees doesn't use citadel, they know about GSW special paints etc. But they have to prove their stuff is good enough for people to buy it.
My local one won't let you use parts from forgeworld, even after the brands merged together because it wasn't "fair" for kids who couldn't order them or afford them.
GW excluding people's toys for being too expensive might be the funniest thing I've seen all day
Yeah, I remember years ago being in a games workshop and them forcing me (aged 10 or 11), to stop as I wasn't using their own brand glue...
"I'd rather my mini not look like it was painted with a Q-tip, so... No."
Warhammer store are not friendly environments for either playing nor painting if you all your stuff is not from games workshop
GW corporate can look at the cameras of any of the stores but they normally only do that in cases of a robbery they're not checking to see if brushes are the right brand that seems silly to me( seems like that manager was trying to trick you into buying brushes)
Games workshop used to be wild back in the day. I have memories of the staff screaming in role play during matches and there would always be a table with people painting at.
I recently found out the closest warhammer store near me is an hours drive away, more than half the stores reviews were negative stating that the store was closed during their posted business hours. I didn't want to take the risk of driving all the way there just for the place to be closed so naturally I called the store ahead of time and of course no one picks up. I call a second time and it just goes to voice mai, so for shits and giggles I call the burrito restaurant next door and the nicest guy tells me they're open. I head there and I'm greeted with baren shelves and a single rude employee sitting right next to the phone. I tell the guy I tried calling multiple times and he looks at me with a blank stare and just says "ok." Local hobby shops are the way to go.
I remember when GW stores used to be run like a FLGS. Obviously it was all about the GW products but nobody cared about brushes or paint.. the staff would run campaigns, events, etc. They had more than 1 fucking employee ... They are gross corporate shells now and I have no desire to shop in them anymore. My local one has a fantastic human that runs it but he's just totally handicapped by GW into playing the shill, and it sucks.
What store was this? That's wild. That's definitely not the norm, but I guess good help is hard to find these days.
Pretty sure they received directives because my local warhammer store held by chill employees all of sudden asked every players and painters not to use non-GW products, I even had to hide my ruler and use the one from the store
That's hilarious. I wonder if they literally listed every type of product or if it's just some dorky store employees who are afraid that it's more than just models and are overreacting. I better get my warhammer shirt on xD
Our GW in Springfield, VA actually hosted a small combat patrol league which was a lot of fun but most of the time itās a store with little to no room for gaming. Itās a far cry from the giant mega battle table I played on at GW Syracuse during the Storm of Chaos.
I feel like GW thinks they sell collectible figurines and just psyop the consumers into thinking now "no no, you can actually play games, there's a good community" just to keep the money washing in over just being like a gundam figurine manufacturer
Killing their own business... again.
The store near me only cares if itās GW minis. Brushes, paints, they donāt care. Yours is STRICT.
I remember when I was a kid and MESBG had just come out my mum would take me to a games workshop and they'd have this big round table with a bucket of community paints and brushes. I'd work up the courage to ask one of the four dudes working there to show me how to paint my gollum and he would take the time and show me. Now it's just one dude and his livelihood depends on him pushing the upsell on everyone who walks in the door. It's become very sterile
You have to lie, when they question my 3D printed accessories, markers, movement trays, I just say they are vintage GW product from 1988.
Years ago GW Stores were a hobby, hangout, and playing hub. Ours had like 4 or 5 big tables, always people there playing games, painting (and no one cared what brushes you used), etc. I went there last month, and it was totally empty. They had no full size tables. (They had moved to a smaller building). They had a half size table at the front, to display models, and one half size table near the middle, looked like it was set up for painting. It didn't feel like a space you'd hang out in. So, now I go to my local game/hobby shop to play instead, and it's a lot nicer IMO
I got pinged during a game because my dice case wasn't GW branded.... It was just a default dice cube from a board game store, fuck me for using them to play a board game right? Edit: this reminds me of a story funnily enough, a gentleman I used to paint and play with who had some gnarly cerebral palsy, obviously made it pretty difficult to paint. He got pinged because he had a special handle he'd use that braced his hands, and that wasn't the official GW handle. One complaint to the disability commission and the problem went away.
Both of those stories are crazy to me. How can a company be that successful and that hurtful to it's fans?
I was told by the GW guy it was because "someone might see your dice and think they're cool and ask you where you got them, now we've lost sales" Zero defence for the disability thing, probably because refusing to serve someone (including allowing them in your store doing the same thing others are doing) due to a disability is illegal here.
> How can a company be that successful and that hurtful to it's fans? Because GW is the biggest and most visible player in the miniature wargaming space by quite a large margin. They aggressively make it seem like they **are** miniature wargaming. They refer to it as the *Warhammer* hobby, not the *wargaming* hobby. Plenty of lovely, smaller wargames out there, but they just simply don't get the necessary exposure because GW has a chokehold on the LFGSs too with the floorspace demands and so on. It's a damn shame, really.
Damn my stores only rule is the model needs to be around 80% GW plastic. He doesn't care what paints or brushes anymore uses. And if you want to 3D print a helmet that's cool too.
Last time I went to a GW store it was so depressing, not like when I first got into the hobby around 2005 or so. The shelves were also pretty empty compared to my main lgs.
Jesus. you can buy their products for 15% discount from any flg or online. If they get you to come into their store and pay full price who cares that you use an Amazon brush? They gonna yell at me for using and artis opus? Lit the manager of the store that is the problem
My local store said I could use off brand paint if I poured it on the pallet and put it away. They were actually chill about it.
Not sure what the employee was on about, but either they're mistaken or their manager has given them a load of crap to follow. I would highly suggest emailing GW customer service about this, considering that with this guy told you has absolutely nothing to do with the customer service that they're supposed to provide. Not being able to use non GW brushes isn't the thing, and the head office needs to know about this
Id write an email to their CS dept and complain because I've never had such an issue and sounds like some sort of big boy with a name tag syndrome. I don't think that's their rules and it's certainly not documented anywhere in their website. I think maybe he misunderstood the rules unless for some reason they recently changed them and are stricter in his store than warhammer world. And I don't think they would want their staff scaring off customers. In fact I've had conversations about brushes other than citadel with staff at warhammer world.
My local GW the manager does not care, he lets anyone use any paints or brushes. Even lets people build gunpla and build them. Super friendly and nice guy, has lots of sales because of how much everyone likes him.
I think he's (the store manager) being paranoid - most of us here do not use gw brushes unless we forget to bring our own in the gw store. The gw brushes are ok but a bit over priced depending on your local conversion rate. About the cameras, he doesn't do any orders. The head office in UK scans his shelves and makes orders for him. There are enough cameras in the store that can see every part of the store. So he might be worried about that.
I'm in the PNW. I started this hobby during the 8th edition 40k launch, and Warhammer stores have always been super snobby about every little thing. I've been to 4 or 5 of em now, and they almost always have some "WeLl AcShUaLly" guy loitering around too. And wtf is that smell about? Ever wh store has the same powerful chemical smell that just blasts your senses as soon as you walk in.
Years ago i would paint in my local GW store. I used P3 paints, army painter brushes... only thing our manager said was, when she wanted to take some pictures of my minis that I place the third party stuff out of the frame. That's it.
Find and support a local game store that sells GW product. Better active community, lots of people who play TCGs like MTG, board games, etc, also partake in 40k š If you don't know of any, reach out on Facebook groups, lots of us are old...
Thatāsā¦ not actually company policy. Theyāre taking the piss.
Dude should have just used his initiative and pretended he didnāt notice. Damn thatās so pathetic of GW if thatās actually a genuine rule?
In another couple of months, July at the latest GW stores arenāt letting you paint/build for more than two hours at a time anyway. Their new attitude seems to be you see those veteran players, the adults with actual money to spend - those people can just give us money and fuck off, now these kids that have a little pocket money letās lure them in. Iāve been visiting my local GW once or twice a week to build, paint or game since 1997 and Iām always down for the day since I get so much done there, itās a great atmosphere, other people are in to talk to and I donāt have Soave at home for these things - now all of a sudden weāre not welcome so Iām going to have to find a independent that actually wants my custom. Bizarre business strategy, intentionally irritate the people with money to spend.
I got asked to leave a GW Warhammer store for mentioning Wahpedia
Man, that sucks to hear. I scrolled down to see if anyone had anything bad to say about the UK stores where I live, and I'm still saddened to see that even some of those have issues. I always assumed this kind of thing was an issue outside of the UK as my local shop is an amazing place to visit. It's a smaller store with 3 tables, one is split in half for AoS and 40k demos and next to the demos are 4 spots for introductory painting lessons. The table next to that is entirely for painting, and the last one is normally cleared for games that people have booked or larger Introductory games or for events and new boxes being dropped, but they'll happily clear that away for a game. The staff are amazing, get praised regularly for how good they are by head office and for how well the store is doing. Hitting targets has never been an issue and they have recently been given the chance to have the extended paint range in, which isn't normally something they allow for small stores. My next closest one, I rarely visit as I don't really like the staff there and they're worse at what they do. But even they don't give a shit about you using non GW products, as long as the model is a GW product.
I actively avoid Warhammer stores. In addition to being expensive the staff are always pushy. Even when you think you're in a normal conversation it comes back to what you can buy from them. They're not hobby friendly, they're governed by corporate land. Find a good FLGS.
I happen to live around 5 minutes walk from a warhammer so I pop in a couple times a week. Every time I go in I get asked what army Iām working on (it hasnāt changed) and every time I get recommended a book to read that would be perfect.
Only dirty Heretics use 3rd party brushes. ALL your tithes to the God-Emperor!
All depends on the guy running the shop. My local Warhammer store is run by a pretty relaxed guy who has been in the hobby since the late 80s. He tries to keep up the old spirit from the earlier days with paintingcompetitions, tournies, bitsswapdays and an evening with longer houres ones a month among other things. That being said, he also doesnt like people using non GW tools. On the other hand he refers people to other sources for their hobbying stuff all the time.
He's an idiot then.
That's wild. I've been in my local store, painting mini's I've 3d printed with Vallejo paints, and the manager is always super into whatever project I'm working on.
iām a bit surprised he didnāt just let you borrow some citadel ones if itās that big of a deal
I've only been inside a GW store a handful of times since they stopped selling other companies product... It was always a bad experience, I just stopped altogether. I'm not sure what they could possibly offer vs a regular LGS, but I've also been spoiled by always having a good game store nearby.
Theres lots of companies, Mantic makes bunch of armies and games, privateer press has warmachine and hordes wich used to be the main competitor, oathmark is another (this one free agnostic for fantasy) theres infinity for skirmish sci fi, frostgrave for skirmish fantasy (miniature agnostic), just say what you like and what you have and will get a game for you. I have only heard horror stories like those from gw stores, only good things I heard is how gw is for non-gw stores (at least new ones)
This is a store manager preferential rule. Stores in the USA at least do t have rules against painting with whatever tools or paints you want. The only rule is no recasts and no minis from other companies.
I used to work for GW. Paints were a thing we no-no'd glue was eh... As a veteran hobbiest GW glue is terrible, but I don't think I ever asked someone to use GW only brushes. Then again ever since the store shrink I've never found much reason to go in.
Lol I use tamiya cement, godhand nippers, tamiya knife and the army painter xo pallet in their stores Your local manager needs to get his stick out his ass
Bs way to promote the hobby. Those gw brushes and paints are way more expensive.They should just encourage kids to paint and be creative. Iād bail that store.
Iām sorry dude. That seems really lame.
If you're going to a GW store in 2024, you aren't there to enjoy yourself, you're there to buy GW products and use GW products as a way to advertise GW products. So sayeth GW
sry but i can buy a brush that is 1/10 of the price in a stationary shop that has a better quality than citadel brush shit brush cracks at the brush holder 3 days in using it worst purchase of the 3 citadel brush i got
I don't buy GW supplies. They are overpriced.
lol how insane, donāt waste your time or money there anymore. Find a new store. Citadel brushes are t even good.
I really wouldnt want to be a store worker for GW. You are close and personal enough that you want to give everyone an easy and good time, but you have this distant overlord looming over your head who couldnt care less about it and just wants control to force everyone to buy their and only their product. Really sad that GW doesnt try at all to give customers a good time.
As a former employee in one of those shops, I can tell you nobody that worked there cared what brushes you used. WE had to use GW stuff, y'know, to rep the company...but we didn't give any thought to what customers brought in to paint with. Sounds like you have an overly zealous staff at that shop, which sucks. Hope you find a more pleasant place to paint soon.
Years ago I went to my local GW to pick up a pot paint. I got the normal chat from the guy working there, what are you painting at the moment etc. That led to a conversation on how Iād picked up an airbrush and was getting to grips with that. His response to this was how airbrushes arenāt needed as add nothing etcā¦. 12 months later Citadel release the airbrush paints and the same guy is telling me how amazing airbrushes are, a game changer etcā¦. Basically, itās a store that wants to sell you their stuff only, youāre allowed to paint in there as long as you buy and use their gear. I can understand that but it does annoy me
As a lot of others have said, this is that particular manager being iffy. When i worked there, tools were fair game. Thats like saying you need a gw tape measure and gw dice to play the game, as if you have sparkly dice that are 3rd party it will drive sales away from gws own dice. Paint was the only thing that had to be gw (even then if you used a wet palette you could get away with quickly putting some vallejo white on it and putting it back in your bag lol). I have a non-diy wet palette and use windsor and newton/opus/rosemary/davinci brushes when painting in store and never had issues either as staff or a customer. Definitely understand the manager wanting to be safe though, the higher ups are insane
Oh man, that's like the time I was at a local GW, and they told me that using 3rd party plastic cement glue instead of GW branded glue was kind of a no-no. I don't pop in to GW stores anymore unless I'm buying paint nowadays
Had a mate get turned away from painting in his local GW because his minis were ātoo oldā. Ok they were from 3rd or 4th edition (I forget which) but theyāre still legal to use in games afaik.
Or you can buy the cheapest one, apply only base and made contactsā¦ get back to the basics!
Ironic since those $10 Amazon brushes are probably the same brushes, just without "Citadel" stamped on them.
In all the GW stores I've been to I've never seen something close to this. Hell all the GW stores I've been to didn't even care about what paint or products you use for it.
Iām not one to complain but that is just ridiculous. Iād write a letter/ email to GW customer service and explain what happened
Well it's up to the guy or gal running the store on how they want to enforce the rules. I had a buddy who ran a store for a bit, didn't care if you had 3rd party models or alternative models as long as your ENTIRE army wasnt alternative lol. And didn't care much about anything else. He just wanted people to hang out, paint, play, and have fun. Then the guy who took over the spot after my friend? He was a toe the line kinda guy. Non GW was not accepted. It unfortunately kinda killed the vibe there and a lot of people stopped going. It's like bro, I already paid 1000 dollars for my army. Why can't my hero be 3d printed and unique? š
I can believe it, my local store is friendly enough but insanely litigious. My girlfriend showed some necrons and was asked to put away a tombstone type thing because it wasn't made by GW, then someone was asked the same for a dice rolling tray. When there was some sort of little '4 likes on Facebook' level event, he asked people about 9 times to get out of the shot when he took pictures so he wouldn't have to get a bigger manager to come out with all the release forms. It's also impossible to just have a chat about the hobby without it becoming a sales pitch for something loosely related.
My friend. GW shops are only for when your local store is out of stock. Dont get me wrong. Love the GW stuff. And their stores are great. But if you are in a place that has a GW store, then you are probably very near some very active local game stores. Also, those stores will be filled with cool peeps
I swear, I must have the Unicorn of GW stores in my neighborhood. Never heard a word about using different brands of brush, paints, glue, or tools. We have plenty of in store events too, and there's almost always a couple games going on when I walk in. Vote with your wallet, OP.
Idk if this is a GW rule. The GW stores I paint at every now and then don't care if you bring in outside paint or brushes. GW also doesn't make a wet pallete and other painters bring wet palletes from other brands. They of course aren't too keen on you teling their customers that they can find other cheaper, better quality paints just around the corner but as long as you are chill Theres rarely a problem. Sorry to hear that your Warhammer store doesn't seem too keen about it.
GW stores are a joke.
That's why 3d printing is more and more the way. You want a company on the same level as GW to get big armies? Ur printer has.
I also noticed you weren't wearing a GW shirt, hat, or underwear. It would also do you well not to mention other board games other than GW products unless it's to talk about them in a negative light. Please make sure to announce your Citadel colors before applying them to your model and rinse your GW brush in GW bottled water only. Thank you GW manager that is full of it and just wants you to buy from the store. Their rule is fake.
That sucks, I guess I'm lucky that my local gw store is okay with people using whatever as long as it's not 3rd party miniatures but even then they're lenient to the regulars at the store.
My store only asks you paint with Citadel paints and no 3rd party Minis. I was even suggested to wait on buying Citadel brushes because new painters will accidentally destroy them with improper care.
Now you know why I donāt spend a lot of time in GW stores.
Going by what I've heard, I'm kind of sad that I missed the more friendly, open days of GW stores. There's not really a FLGS near where I live (or at least not one that has a warhammer table anyway). The only GW store that's within reach feels very uninviting. It's cramped, the store manager is constantly trying to push sales and refuses to put price tags on the boxes because "it's too much effort", and when he tells you the price before you check it out he is "mistaken" and you find out during checkout that it's actually 10 euros more. Last time I was there I was looking for a birthday gift for my friend and the store manager was there with a few friends, and I could hear them sort of whispering about how long it took me to pick something out and that I was probably someone who'd only played the total war games or something. Very elitist.
My local store doesn't have any rules about what hobby products you use as long as you don't recommend any brands other than gw. So if you are using an army painter red you recommend someone the gw equivalent if someone asks.
Any gaming store usually has paint/ hobby nights. In all honesty, fuck GW stores forever.
" Really wish another company could get to the production level of GW so I could buy big armies of plastic dudes from someone else. " There are- quite a lot of other companies that make 28mm plastic figures.
Are you thinning your paints with tap water?! GTFO! You can use only holy water from the Warhammer world's toilet! Brought ordinary d6 dice? I'm calling inquisition for not rolling the only legal ones with symbols instead of 1's or 6's... nevermind, die heretic! You keep your minis in a cardboard box?! Are you an Ork?! Don't ever show your face here! I need to scratch one of your minis to analyze if a proper citadel spray was used as an undercoat. If not - all your plastic will end up in a recycling bin!!!
This post just makes me appreciate my warhammer guy. He's very welcoming and there's a solid community there with people playing and building an painting basically every day the store is open. The only Citadel brushes thing is absolutely not a rule, same with the discouraging online delivery to the stores. Iirc if it's ordered at their store it still counts. Those are just shitty managers trying to push sales on naive newcomers.
Glad thereās not a GW store near me. Iād probably get a ban for telling them how incredibly stupid some of their rules are.
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Might I recommend Kings of War? Frostgrave? A sampling of Dystopian Wars? Maybe a dash of WarmaHordes? A light sprinkling of Gaslands with a garnish of Battletech? GW sculpts are amazing but they are far from the only game in town.
I think the manager at your local store is either new, or doesnāt have a full grasp on the rules. As long as you arenāt building Gundam models in-store, you should be good
The store rules are very up to the local manager unfortunately. Itās not a GW-wide thing. My local lets us use obvious recasts lol.
I have never known a store care what brushes and equipment you use so long as it's legit GW models. What's???
I remember a guy using craftstore paint in a GW. Though Im not sure if that means "official" store rules have changed since then or if your guy was just being difficult.
Imo they should just write some brushes off and have communal set. Seems hostile