Games day 2013

[Lord of the Dead]

I was thinking about going to games day in north America for the first time. Just wondering what to expect and are there other things going on before and after the event.

[Wolfshade]

Here is a link that might be helpful

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=&categoryId=300002&section=community&aId=17800011a

[Lord of the Dead]

I guess I should have phrased it better. does anyone have first hand experience going to games day

[Wolfshade]

I have been to the UK Games Day. But never the US ones, too far to travel. They all tend to follow a similiar sort of pattern.

There are some brilliant boards with armies/displays painted to very high standards
There are the forgeworld with their WIP
There are a chance to meet the designers and talk with them about what they are planning/working on
There are games tables for plenty pick up games
There are usually some quirky games being run, like a super heavy tank battle or 40k in 5'.
Black Library are usually there with some of their authors to sign books/chat with
Numerous retail points for FW/BL/GW
THQ have been there in recent years, whether they will still be trading later this year is currently unknown.
There is the Golden Daemon competition and show cases of all the qualifying minatures which are far too good to be painted by any real person.
Sometimes there are things like Scrap competitions where you have a box of bits and have to make things, other times there are terrain building lessons and stuff.
Queues, there are signifcant queues and masses of people, which can be annoying

Quite often, or historically at least, there are the Gamesday limited edition miniature and some stuff which is available "pre-release" though those things fly off the shelves.

Hope this helps.

[Lord of the Dead]

thanks wolfshade that does help.

[Wolfshade]

I enjoy them and they can be a nice chance to meet up with people you know from the gamming community but not in real life, if you are into that sort of thing.

[Digitarii]

I've been to the Baltimore Games Day twice and the LA Games Day twice. I went to Baltimore the first time to compete in the Golden Demon. My painting didn't make the first round of cuts, but the Judges loved my conversion work on my Nurgle Predator. The second time was a buddies' trip with me and my best friend hitting up the Games Day just for the gaming and shopping aspects of it. The first LA Games Day was a group trip for our gaming group and the last Games Day I went to was a solo trip just to go. I always compete in the speed painting competitions and I love seeing the new designs coming out through the seminars and talking with the guests. Take your army with you and have several army lists written up at different point levels for pick up games. If you're going to compete in the games, get all your work done on your army and then some. Test run and tweak your army builds several times. If you want to compete in the Golden Demon, start working on your entries now and do as much as you can. Compare your work to what you would see in White Dwarf. If what you're doing doesn't compare to White Dwarf, then focus and get it up to speed if you want to compete. If you're just going to have fun, then do as you will. If you don't want to get gouged on food prices, carry bottled water and protein bars with you. If you can afford it, make sure you save up a chunk of money so you can make impulse buys from the Forgeworld tables. Don't make impulse buys of anything you can buy for the same price (or less) online.

[PalinMoonstride]

I took my little brother to the last Baltimore games day. He looked everything over in about a half hour and then spent the rest of the day randomly popping in and out of the various conversion contests where they handed you sprues to work with. When we got home i found he had a new chaos army that would have retailed about $800.

[Tannarak]

I've been to a couple of GD Chicagos. If you've been to a Battle Bunker, just imagine the same thing just several times bigger (and more crowded). GD Chicago was loud with the shouting of the big game tables. Merchandise was available for regular retail price.

A handful of suggestions:
1) Bring extra money for food. If available on site, assume sporting event/ concert priced food. (expensive)
2) Forge World merchandise is available for sale. Preorder what you'd like and pick it up before you leave. This way, you'll not have to worry about losing it during the day. My first visit, I spent several hours waiting in line for Forge World. Ordering ahead of time will save you hours of waiting.
3) My favorite part were the seminars (especially the Forge World one). You should get a preview of upcoming product.

[wittdooley]

I've been to GD Chicago once and won't be going back. Personally, I thought it was a waste of time. Could rarely get into events. Not really a ton of open tables to play. There were some nice thing In armies on parade, but that's about it. If you want to do a Chicago convention, do Adepticon. Much, much better.