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bluedestiny wrote:I have a questions. would my models here should be allowed or not, to be used at my local GW.



Cause i'm told i'm not allowed to use them, due to them not 100% GW model by the staff.

You answered your own question...

But a paintjob and rule of cool goes a long way with discretionary policies... clearly showing the bare parts really shows how not GW they really are.

Where did you get the dress legs?

@Nkelsch: Mircoarts studio= Knights Legs and i did ask "should" i be able to use them or not.

My GW has a 75% GW Bitz rule, although they're rather lax on this - they like my TWC which are about 40% GW Bitz, and they've let me use a 100% scratch-built drop pod before too.

Going from the OP, the model must be 100% GW. However, that was in the US, so it might not be a world wide directive yet.

If you really want to use the models, it might be worthwhile a call or email to Aus HQ and see what they say.

If you get a negative reply, you will have to go with what nkelsch has said - give them a paint job, and either go to a different store, or wait for a staff change (GW being what it is, that shouldn't be that long). As has been often said in this thread, the best and most certain defence is not to draw attention to the non-GW bits, if you do you force the hand of the staff even if personally they might not want to.

I remember when I rolled into the GW US HQ with my Ravenguard army back in 2001. I had decals from Griffon games, and one of the redshirts came in and grilled me about them. I told him I made them, and he backed down.

Just say you sculpted and cast the parts yourself. If they say it looks like scibor's work, just tell them you copied it.

Ditto with chapterhouse shoulderpads etc.

Read up on making molds and casting in resin and metal in case they ask you how you did it..

If they want to call you a liar, call up the HQ and complain. It's a good way to lose customers, which they don't want to do.

General Hobbs wrote:

I remember when I rolled into the GW US HQ with my Ravenguard army back in 2001. I had decals from Griffon games, and one of the redshirts came in and grilled me about them. I told him I made them, and he backed down.

Just say you sculpted and cast the parts yourself. If they say it looks like scibor's work, just tell them you copied it.

Ditto with chapterhouse shoulderpads etc.

Read up on making molds and casting in resin and metal in case they ask you how you did it..

If they want to call you a liar, call up the HQ and complain. It's a good way to lose customers, which they don't want to do.

If he painted the miniatures he should not even need to talk about casting.
Paint and just say you sculpted them if you really want to play at those stores...

bluedestiny wrote:I have a questions. would my models here should be allowed or not, to be used at my local GW.



Cause i'm told i'm not allowed to use them, due to them not 100% GW model by the staff.

As mentioned above, your situation calls attention to a very interesting and only rarely mentioned facet of this discussion that can be summed up in two questions

Some managers will throw a fit no matter what, but..

How many of these 100% GW dictates from managers are connected to unpainted models?
How many folks thrown out for non-GW stuff are "cought" because their models are unpainted?

If a model is fully painted, it's much harder to tell whether it has aftermarket parts and easier for a manager to let it slide. However, so many of the models that appear on FLGS and GW tables are not painted and it's very easy to spot resin parts on a plastic or metal model or other model parts grafted on to a GW model. The above is a great example. Just frakin' paint it and it's likely that no one will notice, but if you plunk it down at a GW then it's pretty obvious that you're putting non GW product on the table, and the implied message could easily be "hey look at this, the GW model wasn't good enough...". Other examples that have been mentioned:

Metal or resin heads on Cadians.
Resin Soulder pads on marines.
etc, etc.

I think that in many situations, it likely comes down to these two key observations.

1) If it's painted, with a GW figure as the base, it's a great showcase of a GW model.
2) If it's unpainted, it's a very clear advertisement for someone elses product.

redeyed wrote:In a GW not to far from me, they dont allow you to use older GW models
you have to use "current edition"

.

that is a direct violation of company policy. A quick call to customer service (ask for an area manager if you need to) will get the whole store staff cleaned out.

Some friends and I did that to a store a few years ago with a staffer that gave us guf about my friends Squat army being used as Imperial Guard.

Area manager drove to the store, met with us outside, went into the store and within 5 minutes the area manager was manning the store and the staff (2 redshirts and a manager) were out the door.

Worglock wrote:

redeyed wrote:In a GW not to far from me, they dont allow you to use older GW models
you have to use "current edition"

.

that is a direct violation of company policy. A quick call to customer service (ask for an area manager if you need to) will get the whole store staff cleaned out.

Some friends and I did that to a store a few years ago with a staffer that gave us guf about my friends Squat army being used as Imperial Guard.

Area manager drove to the store, met with us outside, went into the store and within 5 minutes the area manager was manning the store and the staff (2 redshirts and a manager) were out the door.

That sounds like a delightful story, and rough justice in a Clint Eastwood kind of way (just missing them being beaten on the quick draw, and sliding slowly to the ground with bullet holes in them). How long were the staff deposed for?

Pacific wrote:If you are sensible about it, you will be able to continue using your 3rd party bits, regardless of this latest proclamation.

I've used a variety of maxmini and pig iron bits, as well as conversion combinations from various GW kits, I have never ever had any trouble - and this includes the fact that one store I frequented had a real GW zealot manager who would have crawled naked through broken glass and flung himself infront of a truck if a directive from HQ told him to.

Whenever I've been quizzed about them, the answer I always give is 'green stuff' or 'plasticard'. So for my batch of maxmini heads I get praised for my immense green stuffing skills, to which I shrug modestly, and then I continue with the game.

I don't see why you would lie to staff or be surreptitious or covert in the use of your army just to bag a game in their shop, is it really worth it? Doesn't sit right with me, it's obvious they don't want your models or your kind of hobby on their premises so why give them patronage?

Eilif wrote:

bluedestiny wrote:I have a questions. would my models here should be allowed or not, to be used at my local GW.



Cause i'm told i'm not allowed to use them, due to them not 100% GW model by the staff.

As mentioned above, your situation calls attention to a very interesting and only rarely mentioned facet of this discussion that can be summed up in two questions

Some managers will throw a fit no matter what, but..

How many of these 100% GW dictates from managers are connected to unpainted models?
How many folks thrown out for non-GW stuff are "cought" because their models are unpainted?

If a model is fully painted, it's much harder to tell whether it has aftermarket parts and easier for a manager to let it slide. However, so many of the models that appear on FLGS and GW tables are not painted and it's very easy to spot resin parts on a plastic or metal model or other model parts grafted on to a GW model. The above is a great example. Just frakin' paint it and it's likely that no one will notice, but if you plunk it down at a GW then it's pretty obvious that you're putting non GW product on the table, and the implied message could easily be "hey look at this, the GW model wasn't good enough...". Other examples that have been mentioned:

...I think that in many situations, it likely comes down to these two key observations.

1) If it's painted, with a GW figure as the base, it's a great showcase of a GW model.
2) If it's unpainted, it's a very clear advertisement for someone elses product.

This.

GW Retail Managers should support your painted minis as they would no doubt enforce the imagery of the grimdark universe... inspiring new and existing GW gamers to copy or attempt their own... this should increase their sales...

Frazzled wrote:What he said, but add in some weiner dogs, a large machete, and a bottle of Patron.

Geeze, Frazzled, what are you planning to do to those dogs?


OT: Maybe I don't get see any of this because I'm older or look scary. No GW manager has ever tried to tell me what I could or could not do, even in the store. One redshirt was somewhat upset that I had my netbook open with armybuilder running on it. I told him to ask his manager if he really wanted to tell me not to use it. The manager told the redshirt that I was a paying customer and that there was no problem with me using it. I doubt this is any sort of company-wide policy.

With regards to the OP, if you actually read the thread on the other forum, there are a number of interesting replies. Quite a few people have quizzed their local managers, from various locations around the world, and the reply was not a uniform one. It seems like it is very much open to the interpretation of the manager, and that such a rule has existed for some time. So, it might just be down to the luck of the draw in terms of what 'type' of staff you have working in your local GW.

Howard A Treesong wrote:

Pacific wrote:If you are sensible about it, you will be able to continue using your 3rd party bits, regardless of this latest proclamation.

I've used a variety of maxmini and pig iron bits, as well as conversion combinations from various GW kits, I have never ever had any trouble - and this includes the fact that one store I frequented had a real GW zealot manager who would have crawled naked through broken glass and flung himself infront of a truck if a directive from HQ told him to.

Whenever I've been quizzed about them, the answer I always give is 'green stuff' or 'plasticard'. So for my batch of maxmini heads I get praised for my immense green stuffing skills, to which I shrug modestly, and then I continue with the game.

I don't see why you would lie to staff or be surreptitious or covert in the use of your army just to bag a game in their shop, is it really worth it? Doesn't sit right with me, it's obvious they don't want your models or your kind of hobby on their premises so why give them patronage?

I don't really think of it as a big deal.

One of the chaps in my local store I have known for a while. He is a hobbyist first and GW employee second, and so I don't have to bother lying to him about where the models come from. However, the manager is a different story entirely, and will toe the company line. So, it's something I have to do if I play in the store. Point being, I can't always get to a club (there are very few in my area, and the one that does operate doesn't have a lot of 40k) so essentially I have no other choice if I want to play, although I do play at home on occasion. I hate that I feel I have to lie about it - I would love to talk about it openly, the conversions and whatnot, but in this case beggars can't be choosers unfortunately.

Redbeard wrote:

Frazzled wrote:What he said, but add in some weiner dogs, a large machete, and a bottle of Patron.

Geeze, Frazzled, what are you planning to do to those dogs?


OT: Maybe I don't get see any of this because I'm older or look scary. No GW manager has ever tried to tell me what I could or could not do, even in the store. One redshirt was somewhat upset that I had my netbook open with armybuilder running on it. I told him to ask his manager if he really wanted to tell me not to use it. The manager told the redshirt that I was a paying customer and that there was no problem with me using it. I doubt this is any sort of company-wide policy.

Same. Its been awhile but when I was running Armored Company or mech guard back in the day I had a pair of Tamiya King Tigers kitted with FW Vanquisher turrents, Cadians, and GW vehicle bits. I also have a hellhound made of a chimera hull and one of said KingTiger turrents as the base turrent. These were played in two different GW stores. I never had an issue other than complements on the conversion, but was always ready to note that the FW stuff cost more than the rest of the models.

Of course back then we would use paper chit armies to represent armies or fleets we were testing without problem as well.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Redbeard wrote:

Frazzled wrote:What he said, but add in some weiner dogs, a large machete, and a bottle of Patron.

Geeze, Frazzled, what are you planning to do to those dogs?

Wrong thinking. One should be thinking, what are they dogs telling me to do for them?

Frazzled wrote:

Redbeard wrote:

Frazzled wrote:What he said, but add in some weiner dogs, a large machete, and a bottle of Patron.

Geeze, Frazzled, what are you planning to do to those dogs?

Wrong thinking. One should be thinking, what are they dogs telling me to do for them?

I assume it involves shots and mayhem.

AvatarForm wrote:
This.

GW Retail Managers should support your painted minis as they would no doubt enforce the imagery of the grimdark universe... inspiring new and existing GW gamers to copy or attempt their own... this should increase their sales...

I guess that explains why they've been kind of clamping down on the more meme inspired armies, huh.

This is news to me...

It would be news if it was true. Oh, it's on the Internet so it must be true? Well you can't kill an idea, but that doesn't make it true no matter how much it catches on. I have seen no indication of anything like this in any of the GW stores I frequent and several of us had a good laugh over this rumor with the manager of one of my local GW stores today. No such directive was issued at the GW retail conference last week. But that won't stop people from continuing to complain and be outraged by this for another 10 or 20 pages of posting, will it? Is it possible a single overzealous manager did something like this? Well of course it is and maybe that's what happened. However, there is no veracity to the idea that this is now a company policy.

BrassScorpion wrote:

This is news to me...

It would be news if it was true. Oh, it's on the Internet so it must be true? Well you can't kill an idea, but that doesn't make it true no matter how much it catches on. I have seen no indication of anything like this in any of the GW stores I frequent and several of us had a good laugh over this rumor with the manager of one of my local GW stores today. But that won't stop people from continuing to complain and be outraged by this for another 10 or 20 pages of posting, will it?

BrassScorpion, how dare you ruin our alarmist attitude with logic.

You...you...you FUNRUINER!

Agamemnon2 wrote:I'm continually surprised GW lets me play with GW models from the 80s and 90s. If they had an ounce of sense in their thick heads, they'd ban THOSE.

ahah amen. I have an old Space Hulk terminator: the ugliest model ever, with the worst paintjob you can imagine. I field it just for fun.

I'm continually surprised GW lets me play with GW models from the 80s and 90s. If they had an ounce of sense in their thick heads, they'd ban THOSE.

That came up in conversation today as well with a GW store manager. They don't ban their older models, which is a good thing for those of us who have been buying their product for years. Imagine if you bought something last week and then when the newer version came out a week later they banned it? Yeah, that would go down well.

Classic models, even the uglier really old ones, provide great interest and conversation pieces. I've experienced this many times myself. They also often make the newer versions look better than ever. There is no good reason for them to ban older models and thankfully, they do not.

So i guess, that means i can not use my Cottage cheese container Drop pods.Because the container is not GW.

I don't buy anything but GW anyway. Forgeworld is too expensive. Hell, I don't even play in GW stores.

Just find somewhere else to play.

And people have brought up this wierd food metaphor far too much. I've eaten in a gakking Wendy's, having carried in a large side of BK fries. I order a sandwich and drink from there, sat down, and ate. No one cared, probably because my food was mostly from Wendy's. Why not make that the same for the GW stores? The majority of the models should be from GW. I mean, 75% isn't too hard.

they have this rule at my GW (Australia) the only exception it that models can have 3rd party bitz as long as the model is fully painted and has no scratch built GW stuff (FW is ok)

Does this include magnets? All my figures have magnets on the base bottoms to stick to a display board. If they kick me out of the store for that, Id be pranking them everyday with pizza deliveries and putting up huge posters on the wall to turn people away from their store. Ive got a mean hand at photoshop when I need it.

Defeatmyarmy wrote:Does this include magnets? All my figures have magnets on the base bottoms to stick to a display board. If they kick me out of the store for that, Id be pranking them everyday with pizza deliveries and putting up huge posters on the wall to turn people away from their store. Ive got a mean hand at photoshop when I need it.

It doesn't include magnets because it's not true. Read my post above.

BrassScorpion wrote:

Defeatmyarmy wrote:Does this include magnets? All my figures have magnets on the base bottoms to stick to a display board. If they kick me out of the store for that, Id be pranking them everyday with pizza deliveries and putting up huge posters on the wall to turn people away from their store. Ive got a mean hand at photoshop when I need it.

It doesn't include magnets because it's not true. Read my post above.

Whoops, only read the first page. Mental note: Always read the most recent page before summoning the angry marines.

Pacific wrote:

Worglock wrote:

redeyed wrote:In a GW not to far from me, they dont allow you to use older GW models
you have to use "current edition"

.

that is a direct violation of company policy. A quick call to customer service (ask for an area manager if you need to) will get the whole store staff cleaned out.

Some friends and I did that to a store a few years ago with a staffer that gave us guf about my friends Squat army being used as Imperial Guard.

Area manager drove to the store, met with us outside, went into the store and within 5 minutes the area manager was manning the store and the staff (2 redshirts and a manager) were out the door.

That sounds like a delightful story, and rough justice in a Clint Eastwood kind of way (just missing them being beaten on the quick draw, and sliding slowly to the ground with bullet holes in them). How long were the staff deposed for?

To my knowledge, permanently.

Does this mean I can't play with magnetized flying bases on my Eldar grav-tanks?

Worglock wrote:

To my knowledge, permanently.

Doesn't take much to get canned under our "workplace relations" laws. Even less if you are a "casual" employee (which most of the store employees are).
There are "immediately sackable" offences and "warning level" offences.
Full timers have some degree of protection, but the "immediately sackable" offences also cover them. The only difference is how much pay in-lieu of notice they get.

All of the cool guys I've known at GW no longer work in gaming. Most work in the travel sector now (as most were avid snowboarders).
The only one I've known who was sacked was done for one of the "I.S" offences (relating to alcohol and minors and work hours).

Yes but would not letting someone play with their army constitute an immediately sackable offence? I'm not quibbling that the guys were obviously of questionable character for banning old GW models in the store, but it still seems a little OTT.

Unless of course the 'you are not playing with that army in here' was immediately followed by a drunken bellow and an almost empty bottle of whisky being thrown in their direction?