One of the best narratives I've ever heard was at my local store . One of the lads was running an intro game and this was during 7th Ed, he basically said that the cultists were a bunch of nutters from the pub who are drunk and think it's a good idea to go annoy the local soldiers ( space marines ) and asked who would win ? One kid said the cultists due to numbers and the other said the soldiers, the guys reply was let's find out and they had a great intro game with him and walked away with 7th Ed. It wasn't pushed on them but the parents could see how much fun they had and that to me is how you do it right .
I remember one time I went to my LGS that I've been going to for years and know a lot of the employees by name and played against them in tournaments (it was mtg not Warhammer) and I just came from work to get a few cards I needed for my deck and go. I work at a machine shop and get covered in oil and I remember one of the guys was like "whoa man you kinda smell like a repair shop". I was so embarrassed I didn't come back for like 2 weeks and when I came back the manager came up and said "hey man, where have you been! We thought we lost ya!" And I told him I was so embarrassed because I smelled like oil and he just laughed, no harm done. But yea I take good care of myself and that was definitely one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. Still go there just about every weekend
Wow. Great video. Thanks. Hard to believe the gall on the supervisor handling other peoples' models. Some people would give a man a slap in the gob for touching other peoples' models. Me. I am some people.
I'll never forget the strong memory when i was 14 and i walked into a busy GW store during an event, and a red shirt was walking around spraying de odorizer around the store due to the BO
I remember “trying” to keep up w my childhood 40k habit while being a rabid party animal. Me and my bud were way tooo yakked out for a local tourney. We both lost all our matches but had a good time w several bathroom trips. To b in my 20s again 🍻
@@rebel1052k oh I was def on loads of different drugs in those days :) ravin on the weekends and all that. We were nice and breaking all stereotypes but we were def too high to win any matches :p now i just drink 🍻
Used to work with a guy that was homeless for a bit. First week, pulled him aside and told him he smelled like rancid taco meat. He was super embarrassed, and explained that growing up dirt poor and being off and on homeless, his entire family had no access to showers and all lived in a car for the most part. Showers were not always available and sort of a hassle to use at the homeless shelters. He was no longer homeless, but his lack of awareness stayed with him. He got better at showering and it was never an issue.
I just can't fathom the disconnect that so much of GW management seems to have with the reality of the hobby. It's like the company manages to succeed despite these idiots. I can understand they do need to sell stuff and having a horde of gamers clogging up the store is going to reduce sales and walk-ins. At the same time, there's a balance. They're trying to sell the hobby while hiding the most important parts of the hobby. The socializing aspect, the gaming aspect, the conversions, the lore discussions, that's what makes the damned toy soldiers! Not pitching Space Marines to every single person who walks in the door and then trying to shuffle them out as fast as possible. Also, it's freaking 2021 (will be 2022 in a few days), haven't we established that the sweaty, desperate and pushy sales thing does not in fact work anymore? For some reason, there are still management that think this is what leads to sales....
They believe first sales are more important than repeat customers. I can't argue with them because I don't have any data. But I would like to know if they actually did any empirical studies or if they just roll out the business fad du jour based on middle-management butt-kissing. "The neck beards clog up your store" sounds like something a Chad brown noser would look cool for saying and not so much like an actual marketing strategy that has been focus-grouped and A/B tested.
@@USALibertarian Yeah, from everything I've seen, management doesn't understand their product. They're applying the equivalent of 80s office supply retail mentality to things. The only reason they're doing so well is because their production costs are almost nothing and that's riding on the hard work and creativity of a handful of overworked and underpaid people who keep the wheels turning DESPITE the bunch of stuffed suits counting beans and pretending to the wolf of wallstreet.
@@USALibertarian They're probably correct at least to a degree -- SO many people quit these "childish hobbies" when they discover beer and girls. Some _do_ return at later age, but nowhere near all of them. And there's more money in selling an entire army to someone starting off than bits and pieces to someone who already has everything.
I remember when I worked at a GW, we had a differentiation between an intro game (kids) and a demo game, calmer, collected, more in depth, that was really more suitable for teens and adults. We had a lot of success with that.
Good video bud. I went to get some paints on Warhammer day at my local GW and the aroma in there was eye-watering, there was only about 6 people in playing a couple of games but Jesus, it was rank. I said to the guy working there "Who's playing the Nurgle army?" 'Uh, nobody.' He must have had a deaf nose.
That's very sad about the guy that left, but fairplay to you for being subtle with people and not putting them on the spot man , that's the best way to approach it , like you said you don't know what's going on in these customers lives.
"just leave them alone" I _wish_ they got this, same as "sir doofus not doing handpuppets" - I went in with my girlfriend to checkout some new releases, Sir Doofus summoned up his inner Martin Prince from SImpsons and approached her loudly singing some rousing medieval song - all the merry minstrel was missing was a lute. At least the other staff looked a touch embarassed, but geez, it just summed up the pain of entering a GW store. So much fun product to look at but it was always a battle to not be followed around by some dude bothering you - I'll buy if you leave me in peace, they chase people away.
I'm happy that the GW store I ended up at the guy was super helpful and let me look over things. Granted, with Covid restrictions he couldn't let me roam the store but gave me a whole catalogue of models separated into different armies and game type. Dude was super cool and awesome to talk to he gave me a lot of helpful tips on what to do for a Death Guard army even suggesting another game store if he didn't have what I needed.
Stink-quisition. It's actually a really good joke. I would never say it out loud but if I thought of that joke in the moment I would never stop telling people I made the greatest one-liner of all time but was too nice to say it out loud.
Beg to differ on the whole ultramarine view you have there they were the army that got me into 40k. The second Ed ultramarine codex and all it’s lore was amazing to my 10 year old mind
My problem is not with Ultramarines, my problem is with them being forced upon new hobbyists who might want something different. Once heard a staffer try and convince a huge gundam guy who really wanted Tau into Ultramarines, constantly, for 20 minutes until the customer gave up and went elsewhere for his Tau.
I don't like that they are the defacto face of the faction, I totally understand why they do it though. Some of the designers have talked about how important coherency is for the advertising, and it makes sense. That being said, their novels are actually pretty good, most were written a while ago so they're from that time where 40k was still highly committed to the consistently dark and bleak tone. In my opinion they are also one of the coolest legions in 30k, Know No Fear being one of my favorite Heresy books.
@@northernexile I remember back when I worked in a GW store that 3/4 of the kids who showed up at Sunday megabattle had Ultramarines. Made for some really weird looking battles. I did try my darnedest to steer everyone towards being creative and coming up with their own colour scheme or at least choosing one of the the other chapters out there. But then I'd get kids who tell me they want to paint them the "right" way. As in how it's painted on the front of the box. *eye rolls*
@@northernexile The Iron warriors got a really good showing in those as well, the fact that Uriel Ventris got a model recently and it wasn't accompanied by Honsou or any of the other Warsmiths from those books is such a huge wasted opportunity only GW could have done it.
I worked in retail for 15 years, there's no excuse bar homelessness for smelling like a medieval peasant in this day and age, spend £5 in the poundshop on toiletries instead of using it for nuln oil
As a children's/teen librarian who does a little wargaming at work, including 40K, I think this is really awesome advice for intro gaming. I get more interest with painting than playing these days.
the "stink-quisition" comment, while it was cruel, was still funny. I probably would have laughed at the time. I would have definitely felt bad for it though. honestly I never really noticed anyone stinking back in the day, other than at one event there was a guy next to me on the table that absolutely reeked of garlic sausage. I guess I was lucky that garlic doesn't bother me too much, but if you were particularly not found of the smell of garlic, it would have been horrific, as it was incredibly pungent. I knew it was garlic sausage as well as I used to get it from the deli in high school on my diner breaks (deli wasn't in school, it was in the village that my school was in) so I was familiar with the exact scent of it. I think the guy must have had a sarnie in his pocket or something. I know garlic comes through your pours, but this was different. It was the exact smell of garlic sausage. he must have had a packed lunch or something like that. It's the only time I can remember something like that though.
When did this obsession with Ultramarines start? I remember 80's and early 90's products tended to have Blood Angels on the front a lot (or Crimson Fists on the 1e core book and plastic marine box iirc)
Practicality. Most marine products are just normal space marines that you can use for any chapter. Therefore you need a colour to paint them on the boxes. It’s ultramarines because people like blue but also because if you think about it, of the original legion chapters, the only two that really work as ‘normal’ marines these days are the Ultramarines and Imperial Fists. The rest are all rather specialist and unique in their warfare but those two translate well to lots of successors and a relatively uniform way of doing things. So for marketing it’s ultramarines or fists. And yellow is hard to paint for new players. Blue is very easy. So that would be why.
Damn it, I was in a busy quiet office trying to be professional at work delivering/listening to this when I heard @8:15 "Oiii!!!! the stink-quisition has struck!" And had the loudest heartfelt laugh all day. Am I the asshole for admitting I would have laughed in that situation?!?!?! 😭👍
Thank you for your videos! In several videos you mentioned that you do not tell your students about your hobby interests? I used to be a teacher until I started my PhD thesis this year. I never had any problems showing my students that I am a litte bit nerdy. I teached chemistry and biology, do historical fencing stuff and playing tabletop games. I think it helped some of the kids to be more open in their behavior or their interests to have a real person as a teacher than just a role of it.
People can be cruel about things. Here’s the thing , I never get why people don’t shower and the like before getting into a nerd crowded area but it can be handled better than to attack people over it. Good on you for trying to touch on it with kindness however.
That story with the brothers pretty much happened with me and my bro but it was the dark vengeance box with the crimson slaughter and dark angels. Exact same ending with the dice roll lol.
One thing to consider for the body odor thing. I fully get there is individuals that are just well rancid and havent had shower in longest time, but for some there might be issue like allergy or hypersensitivity to scents, or they have family member or friend who has this issue. This means if you visit them a lot, you really cant be using deodorants like axe that stinks to high heavens and i'm not allergic to scents, but over use of that gets to me too, guess little hypersensitivity. There are some non scented ones around mostly salt based that do something but it aint much. For showering part sure its couraged specially if person has been sweating a lot, but some people have more delicate skin and it works bit different than normal one, ie showering daily might cause skin irritation and possibly even leasures to appear so each of us need to handle hygiene best of our abilities. So as said there is myriad of reasons, but personally i would rather deal with person that might be bit sweatty than one who poured half a bottle if deodorant to conceal their body odor.
You don't develop a rancid smell from not using deodorant. It's not even that raunchy if you're showering every other day. People you can smell from the other side of the room generally have not cleaned themselves in days, and did an indifferent job last time they did clean themselves.
I remember an episode from a few years back. AoS second edition just came out and a friend of mine bought the box set in Warhammer World while he was on an international school exchange. We intended on splitting the box between us and we chose to meet up at our city's Games Workshop and when the day came we met inside the store and decided to do the box/money exchange downstairs, since noone was there. We did so and one of the store workers came downstairs mad at us because we were doing a transaction "on their turf". I might have missed a few details and I understand that we could have also done this elsewhere, though I'm still boggled at the fact that he was so aggressive to us, both being late teens at the time. If he was right please let me know so I can avoid situations like this
Well I can see what he is getting at, transactions of any kind should not be happening on the premises tbh. Saying that, there is no need for aggression at all, a simple kind word would have sufficed I suspect. Put it this way, feel free to organize box splitting at the store, just don’t do it there xD
I understand why Ultramarines are on the boxes. For ‘plain’ marines it’s either ultramarines or fists really. And yellow is hard to paint. I love my blue boys but they sure aren’t for everyone.
Hell I think I would have loved it if an employee offered to run an introduction game with me as a teenager, hell I would love it now at 42. Maybe it would finally get me off the fence where I can use all these models I have been collecting. I just have this fear as a new player of constantly waisting others time by having to check rules every 15 seconds. I know nobody is perfect especially when starting out but I would hate to think I am being a huge pain in the ass to other people.
An easy way to start is to write down or print the information you need for your army. What weapons, any specific rules, etc that way you dont have to waste time thumbing through rule books or codex. Try to keep it to just a couple pages.
@@jeffreybleam5645 Thanks for the advice. I have bought index cards and was filling them out for my night goblin army I just need to do it for my 40k armies as well. I really wish Gdubs would start including warscroll cards in with each box of models even with constantly having rules changed it would still be a huge help. Honestly I think to combat the issue of recasts and prints eventually Gdubs will be forced to do something like include scanable chips with model information on them. I could imagine where they had an app that went with them allowing you to input you various choices for the unit scan your unit then scan your opponents then it could tell you exactly what you needed to roll to hit, defend, etc. I think it would draw in a tremendous amount of new players with a gimic like that alone
As i was a manager, i played games all the time, that got me the business. I just marvel the fact, that GW regional managers/etc do not have slightest idea, how the game/models are sold...i actually had a list "Challenge the Manager" and people were really into it. Also, the Intros, mandatory bs, that seldom gathered business, but as people checked other people playing/faced me/another employee, they always get some new ideas, to either start a new army or to bolster their army. And yes, some people smell really bad, it´s a shame, that the cliche from the movies about us "nerdier" guys having a bad b.o. applies to some people really well. Not just 40k players, but as a player playing in FLGC´s too, Magic/other card game players seem to trump us in this ;)
That manager sounds like a piece of work. Like I get corporate standards but if he's higher up he should be asking questions about what you are doing to see if that's something other locations could emulate.
Some will see this as OTT but unless someone is totally new to the hobby (tbh they should still know better) or they are really young doing something like this is extremely ignorant and rude.
I'm finding that indie game shops have their own character (and frankly help to screen out a lot of the idiots), and personally I'd rather support them over a chain when possible. We've got a Geek Retreat opening where I live soon and I've heard immensely dodgy things about the franchise, but I think they'll mostly attract the more, entitled members of the gaming community.
supidly confused as to why the hell you can't play games in store. my local GW is nearly always empty or dead! Show the hobby as alive and breathing, not on basically life support struggling along. Would be great if i could message the store, get a game, get a few models, bang good time has been had.
As a buyer/client, I would have given that trainer a verbal warning for picking up my models without asking. Second warning would have been a manslap to the face, I don't care if you're the CEO of GW.
I've never been a tournament or in-story playing type, I just stick to playing with my mates outside of an introductory game I played against the CEO of Dream Pod 9 at Otakuthon (he gave me a free Grizzly for that). Closest I have to hobby nightmares is when I try to assemble my Heavy Gear miniatures due to their small size and my shaking hand problem, since I have about a 30-50% fatality rate when assembling those miniatures, and I dread the thought of trying to paint them.
Bring your resume with you. Be well dressed, courteous and polite. Also, buying something helps too. Nothing crazy, just pick up some paints or other small stuff. Don’t seem overly interested in the position, treat it like any other job. Cheers!
Imagine u speak to Amazon customer service and he/she acts like they are Jeff Bezos himself... that's how it's like with some of these GW "employees"...
If you use OSB over Xsplit you dont get a watermark on your videos. not that it matters as your talking over a still, but you may want to also use it for image slideshows while talking.
I know that you (sensibly) never lent codexes when you were in the biz... but when people tried playing at your store, did you allow (the single version) open-copy books? (Such as for core rulebooks or codexes?) I ask because GW doesn't allow them to exist any more... but surely the games must be hard to play without book use... and nobody is going to buy anything before playing the game... What's your opinion on the issue? (Open-copy books disappearing, just the one per codex/rulebook) Other players let me know too. Are the lack of written rules a hassle?
can't stand the Space Potatoes tbh, mainly cause i'm not the type of person who buys the hype. i'm the same with films, if a couple of people say you have to watch this film or that one its like a death nail to it. Other reasons is that i'm always looking for the faction that don't get the love, which is another reason why i'm a guard person, but not Cadian cause they are too Pushed as well. currently working on painting my Praetorian Guard from 1998 still.
That whole „we do not want to be a hobby store anymore - instead just a recruitment center“ will not age well, everybody knows that except management it seems….. from personal experience i can assure u 100 percent that the people who keep the company going financially are NOT the newcomers… some of them may become loyal customers but it is 30-60 yr old „elite hobbyists“ who drive in the „big“ sales ….
I used to think the ultramarines were boring. I think the color scheme is dull. I think the primarch is complicated. Their lore has gotten good but pretty much every chapter looks cooler.
Dear Northern Exile: is it fair to say that if people can afford the models they can afford the time to paint them prior to coming to the table? If you can glue, you can paint? People look at me cross eyed when I make this simple request (no gray!)
I would, of course, prefer armies I play to be fully painted like mine are. I hate using models that are even half done, I always want my army to look swag on the table top. Not to dick measure, but just so I get the simple pleasure of SEEING it battle arrayed, finished and just like I imagined it. I think a lot of the time people who play with not a lick of paint on their models are doing so because they want to play the game, and that is fine. I also think there is definitely a place for the attitude of 'paint your models or don't play me' because if you are going to be rules lawyering me and bringing really OP units to the table, as many non-painters do, I at least want it to look epic. Not all grey model merchants are like this, but in my experience a LOT of them are - win at all costs.
@@northernexile thanks mate! I received an enormous about of flak (600+ comments) on Luke’s Facebook group for daring to suggest this (no gray at my table). You’d think I kicked a puppy. It’s not like I’m discriminating against a persons gender or race. Painting (even poorly) is in everyone’s control (even with cheap craft paint). To me it boils down to laziness and/or impatience. If you could discuss this on an upcoming video I think it would be fun. I (for one) have no problem sacrificing a game for this concept…We have spent too much time and money to play on crap looking tables.
@@northernexile sorry, Luke’s APS (RUclipsr) aka Geek Gaming in the UK. Which is not relevant to my topic , just happened to be the forum that exploded with this conversation. Actually; just found out I was banned from the group despite keeping a firm but respectful stance in my replies. People just can’t seem to handle my preference for no gray and pushing others to follow the same standard; ‘just try!’ Well thanks mate for listening and keep up the great work! I like how you’re not afraid to speak your mind.
I wear Dior Suvage it smells so good women literally get moist smelling it an Men wanna play me in 40k just so they can smell it for hours. 😉 link is not in the comments section 😆
Not sure if it was this video or the one about Ladies in the store, but you made a comment about people coming in with Che Guevara and/or Mein Kampf shirts and you kicking them out. In a US GW store, that might land GW in a lawsuit as it would be an infringement on their First Amendment rights, although I am NOT a lawyer, so don’t quote me on that. There may be some aspect to 1st Amendment rights I’m forgetting or there may be exceptions re: refusing service in a place of business. I don’t know, I just find that interesting. That’s also the source of the whole kerfuffle with the Spanish 40K tournament; according to the organizers if they’d kicked that guy out, they were liable to get sued (and the guy in question made that clear to them as well, iirc). Tricky situation to negotiate in some places.
US Federal Law states any shop can refuse service as long as it does not violate: The United States Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 defines “protected classes,” and Title II of this act prohibits discrimination against these specific groups. However, there may be state or local laws where a shop cannot refuse service for certain other reasons beyond the above mentioned one. In today's society however, the bigger danger would not be the law, but social media blow back.
Can you tell us about if you ever had a player whos undefeated and everyone secretly doesn't like them or call them a min max power gamer, who uses no lore. Curious to know if every store has one of these for 40k. Not even gonna lie, I'm that ass hole from my store, the GW inside Great Lakes Crossings Mall in Michgan USA until it shut down. I played Biel-Tan Eldar 😅 x15 Reapers, 3 Wraithlords with Star Canons, 2 Farseer, (1 Seer with Reapers) (1 Seer with the Scorpions) 10 Scorpions in a Wave Serpent with Bright Lances for 1500pts. That list is undefeated to this day.
You obviously aren't lying. A surprising fraction of people can't use common sense to recognize when things are realistic versus when other things are clearly false. My big problem is those people are still allowed to vote.
@@USALibertarian you know, most people in the world aren’t American and this is a British hobby. Anyway, did you vote Biden, his voters are well known for falling for bullshit.
@@jon747 Is that a yes or a no? He showed his pay stub. People know what stores he worked at. What exactly do you think he is making up? And why do you care so much even if he did? And btw I find it hilarious how people get so annoyed when they think I assume they are American.
@@jon747 And why would he make up such mundane stories? He's a writer. He could make up a lot more drama if he wanted to. I can't even tell if you are just trolling. And what if he is making it up. So what? He's not even all that negative towards GW. And he is incredibly positive towards the hobby. I'm not even as positive towards the hobby as he is. And I'm way more negative towards GW. He doesn't even pile on to the negative GW drama of the week like other RUclipsrs. He almost entirely talks about his experiences ctiticizing corporate policy. Sooo...his motive is to lie and be...middle of the road???
One of the best narratives I've ever heard was at my local store . One of the lads was running an intro game and this was during 7th Ed, he basically said that the cultists were a bunch of nutters from the pub who are drunk and think it's a good idea to go annoy the local soldiers ( space marines ) and asked who would win ? One kid said the cultists due to numbers and the other said the soldiers, the guys reply was let's find out and they had a great intro game with him and walked away with 7th Ed. It wasn't pushed on them but the parents could see how much fun they had and that to me is how you do it right .
The employees don’t sell well because of their training. They sell well in spite of it.
I remember one time I went to my LGS that I've been going to for years and know a lot of the employees by name and played against them in tournaments (it was mtg not Warhammer) and I just came from work to get a few cards I needed for my deck and go. I work at a machine shop and get covered in oil and I remember one of the guys was like "whoa man you kinda smell like a repair shop". I was so embarrassed I didn't come back for like 2 weeks and when I came back the manager came up and said "hey man, where have you been! We thought we lost ya!" And I told him I was so embarrassed because I smelled like oil and he just laughed, no harm done. But yea I take good care of myself and that was definitely one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. Still go there just about every weekend
I love these stories, after the pandemic I'm looking into starting my own hobby store and I'm loving and dreading some of these stories.
Just do everything in opposite as GW does, you´ll be golden :)
Do a lot of market research first.
Wow. Great video. Thanks.
Hard to believe the gall on the supervisor handling other peoples' models.
Some people would give a man a slap in the gob for touching other peoples' models.
Me. I am some people.
I'll never forget the strong memory when i was 14 and i walked into a busy GW store during an event, and a red shirt was walking around spraying de odorizer around the store due to the BO
I remember “trying” to keep up w my childhood 40k habit while being a rabid party animal. Me and my bud were way tooo yakked out for a local tourney. We both lost all our matches but had a good time w several bathroom trips. To b in my 20s again 🍻
Fun times for us. Maybe a nightmare for the organizer :) but we were way too “cool” to care lol
@@penpointred Were you on drugs or just drink??
@@rebel1052k oh I was def on loads of different drugs in those days :) ravin on the weekends and all that. We were nice and breaking all stereotypes but we were def too high to win any matches :p now i just drink 🍻
One of the better knights players always plays less than sober
@@skirk248 for the emperor! INTAKE
Used to work with a guy that was homeless for a bit. First week, pulled him aside and told him he smelled like rancid taco meat. He was super embarrassed, and explained that growing up dirt poor and being off and on homeless, his entire family had no access to showers and all lived in a car for the most part. Showers were not always available and sort of a hassle to use at the homeless shelters. He was no longer homeless, but his lack of awareness stayed with him. He got better at showering and it was never an issue.
I just can't fathom the disconnect that so much of GW management seems to have with the reality of the hobby. It's like the company manages to succeed despite these idiots. I can understand they do need to sell stuff and having a horde of gamers clogging up the store is going to reduce sales and walk-ins. At the same time, there's a balance. They're trying to sell the hobby while hiding the most important parts of the hobby. The socializing aspect, the gaming aspect, the conversions, the lore discussions, that's what makes the damned toy soldiers! Not pitching Space Marines to every single person who walks in the door and then trying to shuffle them out as fast as possible.
Also, it's freaking 2021 (will be 2022 in a few days), haven't we established that the sweaty, desperate and pushy sales thing does not in fact work anymore? For some reason, there are still management that think this is what leads to sales....
They believe first sales are more important than repeat customers. I can't argue with them because I don't have any data. But I would like to know if they actually did any empirical studies or if they just roll out the business fad du jour based on middle-management butt-kissing.
"The neck beards clog up your store" sounds like something a Chad brown noser would look cool for saying and not so much like an actual marketing strategy that has been focus-grouped and A/B tested.
@@USALibertarian Yeah, from everything I've seen, management doesn't understand their product. They're applying the equivalent of 80s office supply retail mentality to things. The only reason they're doing so well is because their production costs are almost nothing and that's riding on the hard work and creativity of a handful of overworked and underpaid people who keep the wheels turning DESPITE the bunch of stuffed suits counting beans and pretending to the wolf of wallstreet.
@@USALibertarian They're probably correct at least to a degree -- SO many people quit these "childish hobbies" when they discover beer and girls. Some _do_ return at later age, but nowhere near all of them.
And there's more money in selling an entire army to someone starting off than bits and pieces to someone who already has everything.
@@maxxon99 Probably accurate.
Couldn’t agree more, they are only succeeding due to their early script writers in my opinion
I remember when I worked at a GW, we had a differentiation between an intro game (kids) and a demo game, calmer, collected, more in depth, that was really more suitable for teens and adults. We had a lot of success with that.
Good video bud. I went to get some paints on Warhammer day at my local GW and the aroma in there was eye-watering, there was only about 6 people in playing a couple of games but Jesus, it was rank. I said to the guy working there "Who's playing the Nurgle army?" 'Uh, nobody.'
He must have had a deaf nose.
"Stinkquisition" is the funniest thing i've heard in a while tbh. i know it might not have been funny in the moment, but for real lmao
That's very sad about the guy that left, but fairplay to you for being subtle with people and not putting them on the spot man , that's the best way to approach it , like you said you don't know what's going on in these customers lives.
"just leave them alone" I _wish_ they got this, same as "sir doofus not doing handpuppets" - I went in with my girlfriend to checkout some new releases, Sir Doofus summoned up his inner Martin Prince from SImpsons and approached her loudly singing some rousing medieval song - all the merry minstrel was missing was a lute. At least the other staff looked a touch embarassed, but geez, it just summed up the pain of entering a GW store. So much fun product to look at but it was always a battle to not be followed around by some dude bothering you - I'll buy if you leave me in peace, they chase people away.
I'm happy that the GW store I ended up at the guy was super helpful and let me look over things. Granted, with Covid restrictions he couldn't let me roam the store but gave me a whole catalogue of models separated into different armies and game type. Dude was super cool and awesome to talk to he gave me a lot of helpful tips on what to do for a Death Guard army even suggesting another game store if he didn't have what I needed.
The "sink-quisition" made me choke on my red bull.... couldn't breath for 3 minutes 😂
Stink-quisition. It's actually a really good joke. I would never say it out loud but if I thought of that joke in the moment I would never stop telling people I made the greatest one-liner of all time but was too nice to say it out loud.
@@USALibertarian 😂right? I've got it in the chamber ready to fire off!
Beg to differ on the whole ultramarine view you have there they were the army that got me into 40k. The second Ed ultramarine codex and all it’s lore was amazing to my 10 year old mind
My problem is not with Ultramarines, my problem is with them being forced upon new hobbyists who might want something different. Once heard a staffer try and convince a huge gundam guy who really wanted Tau into Ultramarines, constantly, for 20 minutes until the customer gave up and went elsewhere for his Tau.
I don't like that they are the defacto face of the faction, I totally understand why they do it though. Some of the designers have talked about how important coherency is for the advertising, and it makes sense. That being said, their novels are actually pretty good, most were written a while ago so they're from that time where 40k was still highly committed to the consistently dark and bleak tone. In my opinion they are also one of the coolest legions in 30k, Know No Fear being one of my favorite Heresy books.
@@Julian_The_Apostate Iron Within. Iron Without.
@@northernexile I remember back when I worked in a GW store that 3/4 of the kids who showed up at Sunday megabattle had Ultramarines. Made for some really weird looking battles.
I did try my darnedest to steer everyone towards being creative and coming up with their own colour scheme or at least choosing one of the the other chapters out there. But then I'd get kids who tell me they want to paint them the "right" way. As in how it's painted on the front of the box. *eye rolls*
@@northernexile
The Iron warriors got a really good showing in those as well, the fact that Uriel Ventris got a model recently and it wasn't accompanied by Honsou or any of the other Warsmiths from those books is such a huge wasted opportunity only GW could have done it.
I worked in retail for 15 years, there's no excuse bar homelessness for smelling like a medieval peasant in this day and age, spend £5 in the poundshop on toiletries instead of using it for nuln oil
As a children's/teen librarian who does a little wargaming at work, including 40K, I think this is really awesome advice for intro gaming. I get more interest with painting than playing these days.
the games-workshop store I go to only has 1 work, the manager, and he often plays games with people during done time
Omg smell! i remember going to some gamesdays and being pretty sure they took some years off my life.
the "stink-quisition" comment, while it was cruel, was still funny. I probably would have laughed at the time. I would have definitely felt bad for it though.
honestly I never really noticed anyone stinking back in the day, other than at one event there was a guy next to me on the table that absolutely reeked of garlic sausage. I guess I was lucky that garlic doesn't bother me too much, but if you were particularly not found of the smell of garlic, it would have been horrific, as it was incredibly pungent.
I knew it was garlic sausage as well as I used to get it from the deli in high school on my diner breaks (deli wasn't in school, it was in the village that my school was in) so I was familiar with the exact scent of it. I think the guy must have had a sarnie in his pocket or something.
I know garlic comes through your pours, but this was different. It was the exact smell of garlic sausage. he must have had a packed lunch or something like that.
It's the only time I can remember something like that though.
When did this obsession with Ultramarines start? I remember 80's and early 90's products tended to have Blood Angels on the front a lot (or Crimson Fists on the 1e core book and plastic marine box iirc)
Practicality. Most marine products are just normal space marines that you can use for any chapter. Therefore you need a colour to paint them on the boxes. It’s ultramarines because people like blue but also because if you think about it, of the original legion chapters, the only two that really work as ‘normal’ marines these days are the Ultramarines and Imperial Fists. The rest are all rather specialist and unique in their warfare but those two translate well to lots of successors and a relatively uniform way of doing things.
So for marketing it’s ultramarines or fists. And yellow is hard to paint for new players. Blue is very easy. So that would be why.
Great vid. Loved the stories. Keep them coming!
Damn it, I was in a busy quiet office trying to be professional at work delivering/listening to this when I heard @8:15 "Oiii!!!! the stink-quisition has struck!" And had the loudest heartfelt laugh all day. Am I the asshole for admitting I would have laughed in that situation?!?!?! 😭👍
Hearing about that intro game made me pretty excited about being a part of the hobby!
Love your content, it's great to get these insights into the company, keep up the awesome work
Thank you for your videos!
In several videos you mentioned that you do not tell your students about your hobby interests? I used to be a teacher until I started my PhD thesis this year. I never had any problems showing my students that I am a litte bit nerdy. I teached chemistry and biology, do historical fencing stuff and playing tabletop games.
I think it helped some of the kids to be more open in their behavior or their interests to have a real person as a teacher than just a role of it.
Hi, new to the channel, these gw stories episodes have been great to listen to. Cheers 👍👍
Love your stories. Great insight into GW. Keep up the great work.
People can be cruel about things. Here’s the thing , I never get why people don’t shower and the like before getting into a nerd crowded area but it can be handled better than to attack people over it. Good on you for trying to touch on it with kindness however.
Be kind the first time.
The second time? They had their warning, now it's time for the consequences of shaming and shunning.
That story with the brothers pretty much happened with me and my bro but it was the dark vengeance box with the crimson slaughter and dark angels. Exact same ending with the dice roll lol.
One thing to consider for the body odor thing. I fully get there is individuals that are just well rancid and havent had shower in longest time, but for some there might be issue like allergy or hypersensitivity to scents, or they have family member or friend who has this issue. This means if you visit them a lot, you really cant be using deodorants like axe that stinks to high heavens and i'm not allergic to scents, but over use of that gets to me too, guess little hypersensitivity. There are some non scented ones around mostly salt based that do something but it aint much. For showering part sure its couraged specially if person has been sweating a lot, but some people have more delicate skin and it works bit different than normal one, ie showering daily might cause skin irritation and possibly even leasures to appear so each of us need to handle hygiene best of our abilities.
So as said there is myriad of reasons, but personally i would rather deal with person that might be bit sweatty than one who poured half a bottle if deodorant to conceal their body odor.
You don't develop a rancid smell from not using deodorant. It's not even that raunchy if you're showering every other day.
People you can smell from the other side of the room generally have not cleaned themselves in days, and did an indifferent job last time they did clean themselves.
I remember an episode from a few years back.
AoS second edition just came out and a friend of mine bought the box set in Warhammer World while he was on an international school exchange. We intended on splitting the box between us and we chose to meet up at our city's Games Workshop and when the day came we met inside the store and decided to do the box/money exchange downstairs, since noone was there.
We did so and one of the store workers came downstairs mad at us because we were doing a transaction "on their turf".
I might have missed a few details and I understand that we could have also done this elsewhere, though I'm still boggled at the fact that he was so aggressive to us, both being late teens at the time.
If he was right please let me know so I can avoid situations like this
Well I can see what he is getting at, transactions of any kind should not be happening on the premises tbh. Saying that, there is no need for aggression at all, a simple kind word would have sufficed I suspect.
Put it this way, feel free to organize box splitting at the store, just don’t do it there xD
Seems like the higher ups at gw are snobs
That’s corpos in general. Most of the time they’re sitting around in offices, masturbating over how great they are.
I understand why Ultramarines are on the boxes. For ‘plain’ marines it’s either ultramarines or fists really. And yellow is hard to paint.
I love my blue boys but they sure aren’t for everyone.
Hell I think I would have loved it if an employee offered to run an introduction game with me as a teenager, hell I would love it now at 42. Maybe it would finally get me off the fence where I can use all these models I have been collecting. I just have this fear as a new player of constantly waisting others time by having to check rules every 15 seconds. I know nobody is perfect especially when starting out but I would hate to think I am being a huge pain in the ass to other people.
An easy way to start is to write down or print the information you need for your army. What weapons, any specific rules, etc that way you dont have to waste time thumbing through rule books or codex. Try to keep it to just a couple pages.
@@jeffreybleam5645 Thanks for the advice. I have bought index cards and was filling them out for my night goblin army I just need to do it for my 40k armies as well. I really wish Gdubs would start including warscroll cards in with each box of models even with constantly having rules changed it would still be a huge help.
Honestly I think to combat the issue of recasts and prints eventually Gdubs will be forced to do something like include scanable chips with model information on them. I could imagine where they had an app that went with them allowing you to input you various choices for the unit scan your unit then scan your opponents then it could tell you exactly what you needed to roll to hit, defend, etc. I think it would draw in a tremendous amount of new players with a gimic like that alone
As i was a manager, i played games all the time, that got me the business. I just marvel the fact, that GW regional managers/etc do not have slightest idea, how the game/models are sold...i actually had a list "Challenge the Manager" and people were really into it. Also, the Intros, mandatory bs, that seldom gathered business, but as people checked other people playing/faced me/another employee, they always get some new ideas, to either start a new army or to bolster their army. And yes, some people smell really bad, it´s a shame, that the cliche from the movies about us "nerdier" guys having a bad b.o. applies to some people really well. Not just 40k players, but as a player playing in FLGC´s too, Magic/other card game players seem to trump us in this ;)
That manager sounds like a piece of work. Like I get corporate standards but if he's higher up he should be asking questions about what you are doing to see if that's something other locations could emulate.
I can tell you with utmost honesty, if the jerk retail manager picked up my model/s without asking, hellfire would rain!
Yes I was waiting to see your subscribers go to 4000 👌🏻🤝🏻☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻
Cheers dude :) it’s been a busy few months! xD
If someone touched my models without asking they would need a surgeon to remove my paint brush from their nostril
Lol u nuts
Some will see this as OTT but unless someone is totally new to the hobby (tbh they should still know better) or they are really young doing something like this is extremely ignorant and rude.
Yeah, some people have anosmia (a.k.a. "noseblindness"). It's okay to let your friends know when they have B.O., in private of course.
I'm finding that indie game shops have their own character (and frankly help to screen out a lot of the idiots), and personally I'd rather support them over a chain when possible. We've got a Geek Retreat opening where I live soon and I've heard immensely dodgy things about the franchise, but I think they'll mostly attract the more, entitled members of the gaming community.
supidly confused as to why the hell you can't play games in store. my local GW is nearly always empty or dead! Show the hobby as alive and breathing, not on basically life support struggling along.
Would be great if i could message the store, get a game, get a few models, bang good time has been had.
8:13 Sidonus first interaction with the inquisition u.u
awesome
I am the worst 40k hobbyist in the World. No ifs no buts, it's me. Hobby criminal? No. Hobby genocidist? Yes!
Are you allowed to steer people towards forge world chapters like the carcharadons? Would you get written up for that kind of thing?
Don’t be silly xD not written up but admonished definitely
@@northernexile oh gotcha. I heard a rumor that GW managers can get written up for pushing forge world stuff. Wasn't sure if that was correct.
You know you've made it on RUclips when...you've got your own little bunch of trolls
As a buyer/client, I would have given that trainer a verbal warning for picking up my models without asking. Second warning would have been a manslap to the face, I don't care if you're the CEO of GW.
I've never been a tournament or in-story playing type, I just stick to playing with my mates outside of an introductory game I played against the CEO of Dream Pod 9 at Otakuthon (he gave me a free Grizzly for that). Closest I have to hobby nightmares is when I try to assemble my Heavy Gear miniatures due to their small size and my shaking hand problem, since I have about a 30-50% fatality rate when assembling those miniatures, and I dread the thought of trying to paint them.
Lynx....lol
Regarding trolls, I wonder how many trolls knows that they are trolls and how many are like me, not realising they are trolls :)
Which is the most appropriate way to ask for employment in a gw store or a hobby store without looking like a douchebag or simply dumb ?
Bring your resume with you. Be well dressed, courteous and polite. Also, buying something helps too. Nothing crazy, just pick up some paints or other small stuff. Don’t seem overly interested in the position, treat it like any other job. Cheers!
Imagine u speak to Amazon customer service and he/she acts like they are Jeff Bezos himself... that's how it's like with some of these GW "employees"...
If you use OSB over Xsplit you dont get a watermark on your videos. not that it matters as your talking over a still, but you may want to also use it for image slideshows while talking.
one thing i would say is ultramarines are awesome, no one playes them beacuse they are pereceived as being the mainstraeam option
I know that you (sensibly) never lent codexes when you were in the biz... but when people tried playing at your store, did you allow (the single version) open-copy books? (Such as for core rulebooks or codexes?) I ask because GW doesn't allow them to exist any more... but surely the games must be hard to play without book use... and nobody is going to buy anything before playing the game... What's your opinion on the issue? (Open-copy books disappearing, just the one per codex/rulebook)
Other players let me know too. Are the lack of written rules a hassle?
can't stand the Space Potatoes tbh, mainly cause i'm not the type of person who buys the hype. i'm the same with films, if a couple of people say you have to watch this film or that one its like a death nail to it. Other reasons is that i'm always looking for the faction that don't get the love, which is another reason why i'm a guard person, but not Cadian cause they are too Pushed as well. currently working on painting my Praetorian Guard from 1998 still.
That whole „we do not want to be a hobby store anymore - instead just a recruitment center“ will not age well, everybody knows that except management it seems….. from personal experience i can assure u 100 percent that the people who keep the company going financially are NOT the newcomers… some of them may become loyal customers but it is 30-60 yr old „elite hobbyists“ who drive in the „big“ sales ….
I used to think the ultramarines were boring. I think the color scheme is dull. I think the primarch is complicated. Their lore has gotten good but pretty much every chapter looks cooler.
Dear Northern Exile: is it fair to say that if people can afford the models they can afford the time to paint them prior to coming to the table? If you can glue, you can paint? People look at me cross eyed when I make this simple request (no gray!)
I would, of course, prefer armies I play to be fully painted like mine are. I hate using models that are even half done, I always want my army to look swag on the table top. Not to dick measure, but just so I get the simple pleasure of SEEING it battle arrayed, finished and just like I imagined it.
I think a lot of the time people who play with not a lick of paint on their models are doing so because they want to play the game, and that is fine. I also think there is definitely a place for the attitude of 'paint your models or don't play me' because if you are going to be rules lawyering me and bringing really OP units to the table, as many non-painters do, I at least want it to look epic. Not all grey model merchants are like this, but in my experience a LOT of them are - win at all costs.
@@northernexile thanks mate! I received an enormous about of flak (600+ comments) on Luke’s Facebook group for daring to suggest this (no gray at my table). You’d think I kicked a puppy. It’s not like I’m discriminating against a persons gender or race. Painting (even poorly) is in everyone’s control (even with cheap craft paint). To me it boils down to laziness and/or impatience. If you could discuss this on an upcoming video I think it would be fun. I (for one) have no problem sacrificing a game for this concept…We have spent too much time and money to play on crap looking tables.
@@House-Atreides Hmmmmm leave that with me. May be interesting as a video :) And Luke?
@@northernexile sorry, Luke’s APS (RUclipsr) aka Geek Gaming in the UK. Which is not relevant to my topic , just happened to be the forum that exploded with this conversation. Actually; just found out I was banned from the group despite keeping a firm but respectful stance in my replies. People just can’t seem to handle my preference for no gray and pushing others to follow the same standard; ‘just try!’ Well thanks mate for listening and keep up the great work! I like how you’re not afraid to speak your mind.
I wear Dior Suvage it smells so good women literally get moist smelling it an Men wanna play me in 40k just so they can smell it for hours.
😉 link is not in the comments section 😆
Not sure if it was this video or the one about Ladies in the store, but you made a comment about people coming in with Che Guevara and/or Mein Kampf shirts and you kicking them out. In a US GW store, that might land GW in a lawsuit as it would be an infringement on their First Amendment rights, although I am NOT a lawyer, so don’t quote me on that. There may be some aspect to 1st Amendment rights I’m forgetting or there may be exceptions re: refusing service in a place of business. I don’t know, I just find that interesting. That’s also the source of the whole kerfuffle with the Spanish 40K tournament; according to the organizers if they’d kicked that guy out, they were liable to get sued (and the guy in question made that clear to them as well, iirc). Tricky situation to negotiate in some places.
US Federal Law states any shop can refuse service as long as it does not violate:
The United States Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 defines “protected classes,” and Title II of this act prohibits discrimination against these specific groups.
However, there may be state or local laws where a shop cannot refuse service for certain other reasons beyond the above mentioned one.
In today's society however, the bigger danger would not be the law, but social media blow back.
Offering to shower customers when your store is full of pedos is probably not a good idea, lol.
I probably shouldn’t mention the free oil rubs then.
@@northernexile free oil rubs you say hhhhmmmmm you have my attention good sir 🤣🤣🤣
Can you tell us about if you ever had a player whos undefeated and everyone secretly doesn't like them or call them a min max power gamer, who uses no lore. Curious to know if every store has one of these for 40k.
Not even gonna lie, I'm that ass hole from my store, the GW inside Great Lakes Crossings Mall in Michgan USA until it shut down. I played Biel-Tan Eldar 😅 x15 Reapers, 3 Wraithlords with Star Canons, 2 Farseer, (1 Seer with Reapers) (1 Seer with the Scorpions) 10 Scorpions in a Wave Serpent with Bright Lances for 1500pts. That list is undefeated to this day.
You obviously aren't lying. A surprising fraction of people can't use common sense to recognize when things are realistic versus when other things are clearly false. My big problem is those people are still allowed to vote.
Are you joking? Like 95% of what this guy says is so obviously made up.
How can you believe it?
@@jon747 Are you a Democrat?
@@USALibertarian you know, most people in the world aren’t American and this is a British hobby.
Anyway, did you vote Biden, his voters are well known for falling for bullshit.
@@jon747 Is that a yes or a no?
He showed his pay stub. People know what stores he worked at. What exactly do you think he is making up? And why do you care so much even if he did?
And btw I find it hilarious how people get so annoyed when they think I assume they are American.
@@jon747 And why would he make up such mundane stories? He's a writer. He could make up a lot more drama if he wanted to. I can't even tell if you are just trolling.
And what if he is making it up. So what? He's not even all that negative towards GW. And he is incredibly positive towards the hobby. I'm not even as positive towards the hobby as he is. And I'm way more negative towards GW. He doesn't even pile on to the negative GW drama of the week like other RUclipsrs. He almost entirely talks about his experiences ctiticizing corporate policy. Sooo...his motive is to lie and be...middle of the road???