gd gw games day

so it's been a few years since i attended games workshop's games day here in chicago, and as i stepped through the doors of the donald e. stephens convention center i was carrying a pretty big chip on my shoulder and quite a bit of cynicism, not to mention a man-purse with a sandwich, a sigg bottle full of water, and a flask of jim beam in case of emergencies.

my initial experience upon entry didn't do much to change my attitude. there was a long line to purchase tickets, and i was at the tail-end charlie of said line. i had made a trip out to the battle bunker in downers grove to purchase a ticket the week before, but was told that games workshop didn't send out paper tickets this year. instead you made your purchase at a gw store up to two weeks before, and the tix were mailed to you.

i was told that this kept costs down since it was "too expensive to print up a bunch of tickets that might not get sold", an excuse that had the distinctive aroma of finely aged bullshit. after all, games workshop should have historic data regarding games day attendance versus tickets sold at each store locally.

and the idea that mailing all of those tickets was cheaper than printing them? it just doesn't make sense to my simple little mind.

unfortunately for my inner curmudgeon, that's the extent of the bad experiences.

games day 2012 was, in my opinion, pretty chaosgodsdamned good.

i got to see a lot of old friends (shout out to duane z., a little mens reader. great to see you man!).

i checked out the golden demon entries (and they were all amazing). dave taylor's procession of morr was stunning, and i would've voted for it even if he had not paid me (it's the chicago way.)

fantasy flight games was there playtesting/demoing relic their spin on a 40k version of talisman, only with much more engine under the hood!

sat in on some really great seminars (thanks to travis, tanya, rob, and norm!).

and, like a good games day should, it put the hook in my mouth, and the fire in my belly. i've been toying around with doing a new army for 6th edition of 40k, and i made my first purchases late in the day once the line at the forge world table was gone. 2 packs of death guard conversion sets, the death guard terminator conversion set, and the nurgle csm sorceror.

yep. i've forsworn my soul to papa nurgle. insert fart/poop joke here.

i've even gotten busy putting some together and priming it up...

so all-in-all, games day accomplished its mission. it got me excited about the games workshop hobby again.

well played games day. well played, indeed.