Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

BrassScorpion wrote:

WarOne wrote:So...is anyone going to go protest GW price hikes in front of their new location... Just wanted to see if anyone got that idea yet...

Definitely not. Fairly pointless. First, it's only one store out of how many world-wide? Second, the store staff will hardly be the people with whom you want to communicate your displeasure. Unless you can organize repeated large protests in front of dozens of their stores, such a demonstration would have no impact by going largely unnoticed. Best use your energy to communicate to upper management in Nottingham by adding your voice to the others who are writing to the company HQ.

Yep, this. Remember, decisions about price hikes are done at the upper corporate level, not be the folks working at the retail locations. From everything I've heard around the web/local area, the folks running the new battle bunker are top notch, and deserve a fair chance, not ranty gamers. I'll be starting off on the right foot getting to know them, after all, they got into working for GW probably because they have a love/passion for the hobby like many of us, not because they wanted to be the bearers of bad news from corporate.

I stopped by the Bowie Bunker today and took this photo of the outside. Under orders of the Inquisition, you'll have to make it down there yourself on or after May 21 if you want to see more.

By the way, 6818 is Eastern Delight, a little Chinese food place with tables and carryout service. One more good meal option while at GW. Outback Steakhouse's new building should be finished soon and there's lots of food right down the street.

Oh, and confirmed, the new Bunker is approximately 3700 square feet.

Wow, still doesn't look ready to open, does it? I guess GW like to keep everything under wraps!

Still, no matter what I'm walking through the door on Saturday morning!! And definitely looking forward to it. I totally agree with you guys about the local retail fellas not being the ones to take anything out on.

In particular, I'm happy about this opening with regards to the retail guys in that some from Arundel are got hired (per this thread), which is great since they were out of a job.

Tony at Columbia is the best GW manager I've come across, looking forward to getting to know these guys and giving them a chance at that spot, though .

This won't replace Columbia as "my store" I don't think... but right now my loyalties are pretty split with making the drive all the way to Dream Wizards for Warmachine/Hordes, Columbia for GW, and now the Bunker perhaps for weekend events...

Finishing touches were going on at the store today and will continue tomorrow. It will be ready to open on Saturday, though there may be some tweaks and adjustments needed to some things after the fact.

Except that the permanent sign has yet to be installed I don't think they'll be doing a lot more to the outside except posting the hours on the door and taking down the "coming soon" signs.

The store will open on time on Saturday morning.

Yes, I meant the sign... but that's no problem with me

Just had a thought- what happened to the giant space marines statue outside the old HQ/Bunker? Did it move to Memphis on a cargo truck/train or did it run free like it was meant to...

I think the outdoor Space Marine statue got shipped to Memphis. I vaguely remember asking someone about that many months ago during a visit to the old Glen Burnie HQ.

Funny... With all the recent GW shenanigans, I'm just not feeling the desire (at least right now) to pop by a new GW store, even if it's a full-on Bunker.

Guess we'll have to see how things might change by Saturday.

Valete,

JohnS

I vaguely remember from pics a month or two ago that the site layout Is it still such that the entry door leads to a hallway that then opens into the actual space. Is this true? I'd have thought they'd have wanted some window frontage to display models and such..

I was just in the Battle Bunker. Met Dave and Tom, the manager and someone who works there. They are having a preview today at 2pm EST and they open tomorrow at 10am for business. The store is already decked out and they have a complete assortment of merchandise laid out. Saw a lot of kits I had never seen before.

I was impressed for a lot of reasons. First off, it's huge. When Alliance Comics was in the space, they must have had half of the area walled off because the gaming area is genuinely gigantic.

There were at least 12 tables set up, most of them already decorated. You do walk down a hallway, which is decorated with a lot of Warhammer posters. When you get into the store itself, there is a sales area in the front and tables in the back. More than 2/3rds of the space is just for gaming tables.

Secondly, the layout is spaceous. There is a lot of free space to walk around, stools for sitting and the like. One of the issues I always had with playing at a store is that it is cramped, you can't really get around when you are in there. This place is going to have none of those problems.

Third, it looks very community oriented. They are getting together calendars today and are going to have tournaments, pyramids and ladders. There is lots of wall space for posting things, which I imagine is going to be filled up very quickly.

They did have a Finecast poster up with example minutes, looked to be at about 200% resolution. They do look fairly detailed. What stood out was the Abbadon model, same pose but noticably more detail.

Wow man, thanks a lot! That sounds great, especially that last bit.....

I can't wait to get there. What's the story on painting space? I know it's a bunker, but it'd still be nice to get some painting done :3

It's all but set in stone that I'll be there tomorrow for the opening.

If anyone cares to chat with me. Look for the guy in the brightest green polo shirt you can imagine.

Today's preview at the new Battle Bunker was by invitation, though I guess there were some people who wandered in too. My family and I were there helping them "break it in". I actually played a game on one of the new tables for most of the day. The store is beautiful and spacious and ready to go. We'll be there again tomorrow when it opens at 10 AM.

I'll be headed there tomorrow, look for the guy in the I heart NY shirt.

Wish I could make it, but I'll be out of town. I might try and check it out on Memorial Day weekend. Best of luck tomorrow!

I'll be getting there around noon with my Ultramarines and IG. I'll be the bald dude with a beard.

I checked it out this morning and it's great . Met BrassScorpion (or rather, re-met him and figured out who he is irl ) but Kid_Kyoto wasn't there when I left a little before noon. I need to find out who a few more of you posting here are, too!

The only downside was when they called for fantasy players for the "big battle" there were only 4 out of what must have been over 50 or so people there. I play only play fantasy right now, but didn't have it with me... luckily, I'm planning to pick up 40k again and so would have something to use in the future.

But at least for today, the fantasy turnout over at the Columbia GW seems to be a bit better.

So long story short, I will keep an eye out for you guys at the Bunker especially Mon-Tues if I make it out those days, since Columbia isn't open then, or on the weekend.

Yeah... Almost swung by the Bunker today, but just hit with an overwhelming sense of "meh" wrt GW right now.

Took a nice long walk with the dog and my son instead. It was a good choice...

But I'm sure I'll hit the Bunker at some point and maybe even meet a few of the Dakkaites I don't know already.

Valete,

JohnS

I gotta say, the new bunker is pretty huge. Seems like it has more tables too. Sucks that the AC wasnt working or something though.

If anyone saw, the girlfriend and I were like the only people playing Mordheim, but unfortunately arrived a little too late and had to mix up 40k terrain and fantasy fences... doh!

Seemed like a neat job they did though, hopefully it'll calm down a bit in coming weeks so I could get a 40k game in. Seems there's no way you're ever gonna play cityfight game there... not with how sparse the terrain was.

Had a blast this afternoon at the new bunker. They definitely need to get some more terrain because there definitely was a lack of stuff for the tables. I loved how open everything was and I mentioned to my buddy how it felt more like a community center than a store.

Fixing the AC really should be priority number ONE. By the time I left a little after 5 it was gross in there and started to smell of too much BO. It is safe to say that it was hotter in the store than outside and my car temp said it was 83 when I left.

All in all I can't wait to get some more games in there!

The sparse terrain is a temporary situation. Customers were actually helping build more terrain kits all day today. Remember, the store just opened and not everything is fully up to speed yet. More good things are coming.

A few people stopped by my little hobby spot today to say hello and some even mentioned that they'd been following the Bunker news I've been posting in this thread. Nice to see you and thanks for letting me know that keeping this up to date was worthwhile.

Yeah, it was getting crazy hot when I left... and that was before noon . Is the AC actually broken, or were they just not ready for that many folks? (That'd be surprising)

More terrain would be great, I'm sure they'll be working towards that but I agree that the most urgent thing is the AC...

The AC was not working at all. Luckily, the GW US executive who was there was as uncomfortable and unhappy about it as the rest of us and she was throwing her administrative weight into trying to get someone in there to fix it. Hopefully it will be sorted out quickly.

Oh yea I totally understand the lack of terrain for today. No worries!

BrassScorpion wrote:The sparse terrain is a temporary situation. Customers were actually helping build more terrain kits all day today. Remember, the store just opened and not everything is fully up to speed yet. More good things are coming.

A few people stopped by my little hobby spot today to say hello and some even mentioned that they'd been following the Bunker news I've been posting in this thread. Nice to see you and thanks for letting me know that keeping this up to date was worthwhile.

Good to hear about the terrain! Hopefully they'll have some custom pieces too, I really enjoyed the cool pink foam scenery that they had at the old bunker.

I was surprised to see the two older ladies who I assume are executives? I wonder what armies they play

I am betting on having a better time next time i'll be in there, which I think will be the 29th. I would like to meet you guys!

I would also like to mention for those who plan on coming with the intention of buying, they are missing some of the stuff that's gonna be finecast. Either that, or they sold out really fast (i got there around noon.) No hive guard, malagor(?) the dark omen, or some others. There were some surprising blisters though, I found a beastlord with additional hand weapon which is supposed to be direct only, and some others hiding in the mix.

Went today and had a good old time, Duane was a nice gent, as were the other employees, and I played three good games.

The AC made it into a bit of a gamer-funk swamp, but things happen, nothing you can do about it sometimes.

I'll be looking forward to going back, and getting some more games in. I met Kid_Kyoto, but didnt meet any other dakkaites I know of.

I was the guy in the blue t-shirt that said "Paddle Faster...", so if I played you, thanks for the games, and if not, until next time!

I came in with my Ultramarine 'scouted up' son and played in the back with some Salamanders and then towards the end of the night with my Horde Orks.

I think I met someone off of Dakka - but was concentrated on the Cake and Ice Cream too much to grab their screen name. I closed out the bunker and made a huge Forge World order before I left that will make an appearance in one of my WIP blogs.

I definitely felt uber gross by the end of the day with the crazy heat the horde of GW Fanboyz was creating. Everytime I went outside and then came back in it was like walking into a dense wall of hot air. They tried to come in and fix the AC later in the evening, but they're going to have to come back in the morning and take another look at it.

It's a shame, I'll be visiting my GF in Annapolis in the coming week or two and was originally going to try and stop by to see the new Battle Bunker with my Orks while she's working, but with all the bad news that GW's been putting out and the fact that I don't want to support a company that's making worse and worse decisions, I'll probably have to skip out. :/ It's a shame, I'd love to try and get a game in with KidKyoto and RiTides again (saw them both at DakkaCon and RiTides helped me out of quite a pickle there!) but I don't feel comfortable going to a store and playing but then turning around and saying "Sorry, I don't want to buy anything because I'm displeased with your company. Thanks for the gaming space though!"

I'd totally be up to playing at a different store or somewhere, but it's still a shame. I popped into the old Glen Burnie Battle Bunker before that closed, which also introduced me to Fantasy, and I remember how awesome that place was, and was looking forward to seeing this one, but looks like I'll have to skip.

Had a great time today! Cake, Ice-cream, ...interesting spearhead pick-up game...

I had to leave after a few hours though, and couldn't really settle in and catch up with the few staff members I knew and a friend here on dakka. The heat was just oppressive. I will be sure to call before going back to make sure it is sorted out. If anyone is looking for a good pick-up game, I'm looking to widen my hobby circle (my main opponent is in med school and so pretty much zero gaming the last six months). I'll usually be wearing a Triangle Fraternity T-shirt (big T / triangle logo, can't miss it).

BrassScorpion wrote:The AC was not working at all. Luckily, the GW US executive who was there was as uncomfortable and unhappy about it as the rest of us and she was throwing her administrative weight into trying to get someone in there to fix it. Hopefully it will be sorted out quickly.

Must've been a lovely aroma at the end of the day.

I wasn't able to make it, unfortunately. Hopefully I'll get some gaming time in on Wednesday or Thursday. Excited to see this place.

Looks like the air conditioner was unhappy with GW's announcements. Maybe GW will have an additional price hike to fix the AC.