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Games Day and the Games Workshop Hobby!
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It was the noise that got to you first. I was driving round the maze that is the road network of central Birmingham, trying to find the National Indoor Arena for Games Workshop's Games day 2003. I had already suffered a diversion from the direct route from Dudley that had taken me on a tour of Smethwick (my stamping ground from my teaching days), and now I was trying to keep an eye on the speeding multi-laned traffic and look for the sparsely scattered roadsigns pointing me to my eventual goal.
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At first I was surprised by the sound, a low chanting, interspersed with cheering and equally with the odd bout of jeering. I originally thought that it was a football crowd, but as the NIA slipped into view I was able to see the thousands of people queuing in orderly, raucous but good natured lines spiraling around the building.
Parking was a nightmare, the car parks already packed. I slipped into a minute space between a wall and a concrete pillar, having to leave the vehicle by the hatchback as the doors had no space to open. And my topical tip for this show is have lots of pound coins available to pay for your parking ticket, or be prepared for a long walk to the change machine.
Entering the main exhibition hall I was simply stunned by the numbers of people attending. Over 12,000 gamers and their families I was told based of advanced ticket sales, and each paying upwards of £15 each. This knocks the attendance at the largest wargames event, Salute, into the shadows. So what is the attraction? And is there anything that wargaming in general can learn from this event?
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The attraction is that the gamers attending, overwhelmingly but not exclusively young have been able to pursue their chosen hobby in a manner that is socially acceptable. The Games Workshop concentration on Fantasy has avoided the feelings of guilt and public distaste about WARgaming. Further, the familiarity of the Games Workshop premises and logo on the high street have made this aspect of the hobby positively acceptable. It is then permissible for these gamers to be openly enthusiastic about their hobby.
Further, because of the business strategies of Games Workshop (of which more later), it is in their interests to promote a bringing together of gamers both morally and physically. So they use their network of shops, and the shop staff who organize regular gaming sessions, and to pass on news and information about developments in the hobby. This is further supported by promoting these aspects throughout the various gaming medias. Now the cynical wargamer may call this simple manipulation, but others would call it successful and clever marketing.
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Wargamers are a funny and diverse breed of people who always seem to be falling out amongst themselves, whether it is over rules, competition games, or model manufacturers. In contrast there is a wide degree of unanimity amongst the Games workshop market, and the thing that unifies them is the desire to grab a fistful of dice and get on with the game.
I was amazed to see at the show a 100 games in progress. Every single one was a participation game, and everyone that I saw was being managed by GW staff and friends who stood back from the game, oversaw the play and communicated with the players and audience. Richard was with me, stunned by the size of the show, and overawed by the number of players and games. He took part in four participation games, two using Warhammer, which he found difficult to play as he did not know the rules, and other players did, and two using the Lord of the Rings rules, which are easy and simple.
What made the real difference though was the way in which the staff facilitated the games. I stood back and watched. In the Warhammer games the players were generally older, knowledgeable about the rules and confident. The staff gave Richard attention and explained what was going on but he lacked to confidence to challenge the older players and their superior knowledge.
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In the Lord of The Rings games the staff explained to everyone step by step how the rules worked. They put a lot of effort into checking that each player understood their options and encouraging every player. The Warg Riders attack was particularly good in this respect as it was a small scale game allowing for good individual communications. The staff worked very hard at every game that I saw and their efforts were rewarded by the response of the youngsters.
There were a small number of historical games in evidence organised by Rob Broom and a team of familiar faces from the wargames circuit, and they did attract some interest, and players, though I noticed at the time I visited the tables the players tended to be somewhat older than was the norm. The now famous El Cid battle from Messrs…….. was rightly the star of the historical games, but I noted that the players were not moving the models, this was being done by the game facilitators. I understand why, but to me it seems it is the tactile aspects of the gaming that prove so attractive to the average GW customer. Perhaps this is why such a wonderful game as the El Cid battle drew admiring, but passing, glances rather than the three and four deep crowds at other tables?
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I was very impressed by the terrain, figure painting, and modeling workshops that were in progress throughout the show. Here gamers got the opportunity to prepare and create their own models from materials supplied by the show organisers, and with the active help of a host of experts. The seats at these table were filled all day, and more showgoers queued for their opportunity, and many were still waiting when the show closed.
But perhaps the longest and most persistent queue were those waiting to enter the lower hall and view the Golden Demon painting competitions, and meet the model designers and painters whose superb work was on display in serried ranks of glass cabinets. I was really struck by the popularity of this aspect of the show, as I have noted that at many wargames shows the painting and modeling competitions are sparsely supported, and often totally ignored by the majority of attendees. But here, these aspects were an important, and sought after element of the event. This indicates to me that there is an element in the GW approach that not only values high quality painting and modeling skills, but also successfully encourages individuals to aspire to such achievements, and to recognize their own skills, whatever standard they might be.
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As a VIP Guest I had access to the press lounge, and the opportunity to meet with a number of the Games Workshop directors and designers. I was also given a press pack that included a copy of the company's Annual Report. This made fascinating reading and led me to ponder, yet again, the Games Workshop phenonema, and the relationship between the company and the "mainstream" wargaming hobby (though this may be a misnomer).
There are always complaints from wargamers about the cost of GW products. And yet their ranges continue to grow, and to sell. The evidence of this was start at Games Day, where the retail stalls ringed the main area, and were busy all day with eager buyers gathering bag after bag of models and terrain (I saw box after box of Helms Deep gateways being carried away at £50 a throw). So if these models are so seriously overpriced why do they sell in such quantities?
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Well maybe they are not overpriced; maybe the wargamer has for too long had the benefit of underpriced models, supported by a garden shed or cottage industry based on the self employed enthusiast whose ambitions are limited to supporting a decent standard of living for themselves or their family. Maybe the wargames mainstream is actually no longer the "mainstream" but an increasingly isolated and archaic element of the hobby. It is certainly true that the hobby is still cheap… no matter what you may think of the individual unit cost of models. It is also true that the majority of wargame manufacturers are small or single trader companies. In fact there seems to be an actual bias against larger manufacturers, consider the hostile comments consistently directed at major players like Foundry and Old Glory.
Looking through the company accounts I would imagine that the board of Games workshop looks on the continually criticisms of their pricing and marketing techniques as largely irrelevant. They have a Worldwide market, and a large, loyal purchasing following, that produced a 2002/3 financial turnover of £129.1 million, and a pre-tax profit of £17.5 million pounds.
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I have no doubt that with this sort of financial muscle they could buy out the UK wargames industry without blinking. But they have no need, they are not competitive markets. Games Workshop has created its own, individual hobby, which it has marketed very successfully in areas that wargames have proved unable to approach, and eclipsed the originating pastime.
As the Chairman, Tom Kirby, states in the annual report, Games Workshop has a business model or plan based on niche marketing, and: -
"…the story is that it appeals to a relatively small number of people devoted to the Games Workshop Hobby"
He goes on: -
"Niche businesses have natural strengths, they are naturally protected from macro economic factors, their customers are dedicated and loyal, they are relatively price insensitive." (Editors underlines)
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It is clear from the marketing strategy and the comments above that games workshop does not regard itself as part of wargaming, it is a new hobby, and one in which wargamers are welcome to join, and to benefit from, but not one on which the peculiarly diverse wishes of wargamers will have any strategic impact. This was reinforced by a discussion that I had with Rob Broom, who is working hard to promote the historical aspects of the business and has the responsibility for the El Cid, and Alexander the Great WB supplements that have proven so popular. He sees that Games Workshop can benefit the wargames hobby in many ways, not least in the provision of quality products and the indirect promotion of wargames manufacturers in WAB publications. But that wargames themselves are likely to have little impact on the dedicated GW hobbyist.
So, as long as the Games Workshop business grows, and the good keep selling, their price regime will not change. And why should they? After all their business drivers are not the same as a one-man band. They have hundreds of employees to pay, and business overheads from employment and international health and safety legislation (two thirds of sales are overseas with Europe as the largest single market) to meet that a garden shed figure maker can largely ignore.
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More, there are a growing number of independent retailers (accounting for 47% of total sales as opposed to only 7% direct mail order) who depend on the sale of GW goods, and so profit margins need to be maintained. Finally there are the shareholders, GW is a plc, and a pretty good investment it seems. These people and institutions provide the finance for GW's business expansion, and they want their dividends!
The impact of Games Workshops marketing approach is increasingly being seen in the wargaming hobby. More manufacturers are revisiting their packaging and introducing blister and unit packs. They are also trying harder to produce the "full monty", ready organised units, rules, painting instructions, flags in support of their ranges. And whether you love it or hate it, this is the commercially sensible way forward.
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And Games Workshop will not be changing direction. Their brilliantly planned partnerships surrounding the Lord of the Rings films, as well as the very high quality products, illustrate that they are the primary driving force of figure gaming and modeling in the UK and Europe, and the "mainstream" had simply better get used to it.
"Our business model is robust and well proven over time. To attract more customers we must open more Hobby stores, work with more good independent partners, then we must provide customers with an experience they will enjoy for life. So far we have been successful in this: we aim to continue"
Tom Kirby
I really enjoyed my visit to Games Day, the whole atmosphere was alive, and thrilling, though brash, loud and in your face. The only disconcerting thing I saw was a number of young men dressed as Space Marines, which is a bit like admiring the SS, not altogether wholesome. The games were excellent, with the figures and terrain being absolutely first class. The gamers that I spoke to felt their entry fee was money well spent, and those who had travelled, some taking very long journeys, would quite happily do so again. Richard had to be dragged out of the show, having initially been overawed by the whole event. The previous day I had been at Colours, a good show, a very good show, but light years away from Games Day.
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