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IMHO if you went in with a open mind you could get your $25.00's back in a heartbeat..

1) Build your own terrain clinic... If you went early people were walking away with $90.00+ in built terrain

2) Conversion clinic.... Build 1 - 3 minis, using the Warriors of Chaos, Chaos spawn, Possessed chaos marine sprues.... Bits alone worth it if well build..

3) Golden Daemon painting tables.... those folks were friendly....

4) Some fun, free, gamesday tables......

Definitely a disappointment in terms of what GW proper offered this year (even compared to last). Little in the way of seminars or rumors, no open gaming. Speed Demon painting was definitely fun though, and I managed to have a really good time over at the IFL Warhammer Fantasy Tournament.

Also, what the hell THQ? That was the worst excuse of a booth I've ever seen. Not even a booth, just some long tables with laptops.

So wait, did GW scrap the registered gaming? I haven't gone to a GD since the late 90's, but back then (2-day gamesday, rock on) there would be a list of tables available (with pre-set armies) and ticket holders could register for a few. Is that gone?

Edit: Somebody out there had to get shots of our boys in the Armies on Parade. Assuming GD isn't a total suckfest, that alone would be my reason to fly to Baltimore next summer. Anybody have some pics of that particular attraction?

Teek.

Save your money. Go to Adepticon or the Necro (closer to you) instead.

I was hugely disappointed with how lame GD was this year. In theory, they had a lot of fantastic ideas but it was so poorly executed. Why did they have the entire convention hall when they were going to have roughly half of it as empty space?

Armies on parade was a great idea, however they put everything so close together and decided to use the most scratch up light reflecting plastic they could find to put in front of the armies. You actually had to work to get a good look at an army and could basically forget any hi-res pictures. Then you had each army so close that if you decide you really want to take a look at an army, it holds up the crowd behind you.

The scenic tables were few and far betweens. One of the fun things about GD was always the awesome crafted tables that gaming groups would bring. However this year, there were very few gaming groups and even fewer good tables.

The Golden Daemon display was terrible due to bunching it all up when they had all that space. You had countless gorups of people swarming it and derping around which really reduced your chances of seeing anything to zero.

Apparently playing on the computer has become more about the hobby than playing open games or even pre-supplied miniatures. Why would you bother setting up computers for people to play a game that they can play at home? they could have limited to just a few videos of game play and a table of merchandise and free 10 day demos/posters.

The forgeworld store was a waste of time considering they had so few models actually for sale.

The only highlight of the day was the Ace of Cakes squig cake and the terrain make and take. The whole event would have been so much better if they actually used the space they had available. Even better if they could actually encourage more gaming groups to show off their awesome tables.

Even better if they could actually encourage more gaming groups to show off their awesome tables.

I think that's the idea for next year, and hopefully they start working on that immediately, getting out the information to clubs, so they have a head start working on their tables. We did a big WOTR display this year, and ran Pelanor fields with about 1500 miniatures. We built the Minas Tirith display in a few weeks, and at the end I was wishing for another week. We're going to pick out our subject matter early this time, and give ourselves months, not weeks, to do the project.

It was great fun running a table at Games Day, and the group is psyched up to do it again next year.

I actually had a very good time this year, and I didn't even pick up a die once. I guess I have been to enough GDs now that I know how to maximize my time. The hall closed earlier than it has in the past, so it seemed like I couldn't do everything (deciding that I wanted FW this year doesn't help that). I would have liked at least till 6. I was disappointed in the lack of reveals, and I had to work hard to get scraps of info. However, everyone I talked to was friendly, and BL had some great deals. I live in the Baltimore area, so I didn't have to travel, I guess that make a difference.

I took a picture of the Minis Tirith and sent it to all my nerd friends, and they were amazed. Great Job!

Niccolo wrote:I actually had a very good time this year, and I didn't even pick up a die once. I guess I have been to enough GDs now that I know how to maximize my time. The hall closed earlier than it has in the past, so it seemed like I couldn't do everything (deciding that I wanted FW this year doesn't help that). I would have liked at least till 6. I was disappointed in the lack of reveals, and I had to work hard to get scraps of info. However, everyone I talked to was friendly, and BL had some great deals. I live in the Baltimore area, so I didn't have to travel, I guess that make a difference.

I took a picture of the Minis Tirith and sent it to all my nerd friends, and they were amazed. Great Job!

On the back of the ticket, it says 10am - 6pm...did they close early for some reason?

Yeah, they wanted to give people even more things to complain about.

mikhaila wrote: Even better if they could actually encourage more gaming groups to show off their awesome tables.

I think that's the idea for next year, and hopefully they start working on that immediately, getting out the information to clubs, so they have a head start working on their tables. We did a big WOTR display this year, and ran Pelanor fields with about 1500 miniatures. We built the Minas Tirith display in a few weeks, and at the end I was wishing for another week. We're going to pick out our subject matter early this time, and give ourselves months, not weeks, to do the project.

It was great fun running a table at Games Day, and the group is psyched up to do it again next year.

Your table was very impressive. Kudos to you and yours for getting that done.

For those of you who took the time to stop and look at my collection display at Games Day Baltimore, thanks very much. I met a lot of really nice people, got some wonderful comments and I had a great time. I've been to every Games Day in Maryland since the first one in 1993, but this was my first time being part of the show. It was an exciting and memorable experience for sure. It took me and a few helpers more than an hour to both set up and pack up the huge amount of models I brought, but it was worth it. Special thanks to Dave T. and John S. for making it happen!

Which one was yours?

I thought they all looked good.

When is games day ?

It was Saturday the 9th.

Thirdstorm wrote:IMHO if you went in with a open mind you could get your $25.00's back in a heartbeat..

1) Build your own terrain clinic... If you went early people were walking away with $90.00+ in built terrain

2) Conversion clinic.... Build 1 - 3 minis, using the Warriors of Chaos, Chaos spawn, Possessed chaos marine sprues.... Bits alone worth it if well build..

3) Golden Daemon painting tables.... those folks were friendly....

4) Some fun, free, gamesday tables......

Not to mention the free Dawn of War II and Warhammer Age of Reckoning T-shirts. Add all that up definitely more than $25 worth.

Napalm wrote:Which one was yours? I thought they all looked good.

In addition to my Armies on Parade entry, which was my Deathwing Space Marines, I also had a collection display on the five adjoining tables consisting of: Eldar, Chaos, Space Marines, Imperial Guard.

Echoing what some others have said, I think GW's trying to get the clubs to supply more of the gaming content. They give you a lot of swag (and privileges) for doing so, so if you have a club, make a table and attend. However, I agree there should have been open gaming. Tell the events guys that and they'll listen.

On the rumor/new product front, a certain new supplement was supposed to have been a major focus of the show. But for whatever reason, it got blacked out by GWUK. The events staff may or may not know why -- I heard this from a different source and I didn't talk to them about it. But I can imagine that must have been awfully frustrating for them. So go easy on them. From what I heard, it was GWUK's fault. Boo on them.

it may seem like such a small thing, but casual gaming is the major draw for me for gamesday. hooking up with friends i dont normally get to see and chucking some dice with our favorite armies while catching up.


this year our group had to maul the terrain "make and take" long enough to actually make some terrain we can use to play a game.

It was my first GD, and my club was there running a table (The 131). I thought it was alot of fun, and it was certainly great to see some of the other amazing club tables. The bar has definitely been raised for next year. We are thinking about running multiple tables next year, we might even build a Warlord or 3

Overall, I thought it was pretty fun. I definitely wish I had gotten a chance to walk around a bit more.

I no longer want to post an epic rant about how much GD sucked this year, but suffice to say that this was my 6th and last. Maybe I'll be back in a few years, but I get the feeling that it's more likely that GeeDub will cancel their conventions completely in the coming years and leave it to the indys, which is what they've clearly done with GTs already.

Props to the dude dressed as a fire warrior though, you definitely deserved to beat that baby death jester, even if we had to scream for you three times to convince the judges

- Salvage

Even better if they could actually encourage more gaming groups to show off their awesome tables.

I think that's the idea for next year, and hopefully they start working on that immediately, getting out the information to clubs, so they have a head start working on their tables. We did a big WOTR display this year, and ran Pelanor fields with about 1500 miniatures. We built the Minas Tirith display in a few weeks, and at the end I was wishing for another week. We're going to pick out our subject matter early this time, and give ourselves months, not weeks, to do the project.

It was great fun running a table at Games Day, and the group is psyched up to do it again next year.

Watching you guys build that monster was impressive as Hell Mike, I gotta say.

Everytime I came in the store it seemed to have doubled in size, wish I had been able to make it down to see it in all its glory, alas mothers day is killer between My sister, My mom and my GF ;-)

I Hope you are able to fit it in your window display so you can show it off some more.

ChaoticFlanagan wrote:

On the back of the ticket, it says 10am - 6pm...did they close early for some reason?

Mistake at the printer, apparently. So I was told when GoGo asked to look at my ticket to see what was on there.

I had a great time i got loads of good gear
i loved all the make and takes it was my first games day
so i dont know what others were like.

BrassScorpion wrote:

Napalm wrote:Which one was yours? I thought they all looked good.

In addition to my Armies on Parade entry, which was my Deathwing Space Marines, I also had a collection display on the five adjoining tables consisting of: Eldar, Chaos, Space Marines, Imperial Guard.

I loved that Deathwing you put out then, unfortunately I forgot to vote until it came over the PA and by then I was too far away to get it in time. Did you win? I was over at the Golden Demon collection when they were calling the winners.

Napalm wrote:I loved that Deathwing you put out then, unfortunately I forgot to vote until it came over the PA and by then I was too far away to get it in time. Did you win? I was over at the Golden Demon collection when they were calling the winners.

Thanks for the kind comments about my model collection. The winner of Armies On Parade was the terrific desert themed, light-up Thousand Sons army, built and painted by a friend of mine who is known as Thirdstorm here on Dakkadakka. He's going to help me get working lights into that Tower Of Skulls conversion I built that's currently on display in the Maryland Battle Bunker.

don_mondo wrote:

ChaoticFlanagan wrote:

On the back of the ticket, it says 10am - 6pm...did they close early for some reason?

Mistake at the printer, apparently. So I was told when GoGo asked to look at my ticket to see what was on there.

That's definately something that should and can be checked before those tickets go on full run.. However, a reminder at the GD should keep that misunderstanding down to a minimum..

I wish I had kept up on this thread better so I would have known to swing over and see your set up mikhaila! Do you have it on display at your store now?

Overall I agree with Studder and Salvage that it was terribly disappointing. Maybe I was thinking too much that it would be like Historicon or ColdWars in gaming volume, but not supplying terrain for open gaming is really wierd to me. I was having a really hard time guessing what I got for my ticket price and drive time that I couldn't get at the FLGS or my basement. Entering the Golden Demon I guess, but overall I was disappointed to the point of being angry. It was just a giant games shop with out the games part.

The lack of themed tables probably was due to GW lacking their usual army of volunteers, thanks to cutbacks. As I said on another forum, the events guys were almost being set up for failure, really. They had to make do with drastically reduced personnel, and had their own studio guys strangely contribute virtually nothing in terms of new products to create any show buzz. I hazard to guess that if they had their usual volunteers, they'd have run the themed tables and set up some tables for open gaming.

gorgon wrote:The lack of themed tables probably was due to GW lacking their usual army of volunteers, thanks to cutbacks. As I said on another forum, the events guys were almost being set up for failure, really. They had to make do with drastically reduced personnel, and had their own studio guys strangely contribute virtually nothing in terms of new products to create any show buzz. I hazard to guess that if they had their usual volunteers, they'd have run the themed tables and set up some tables for open gaming.

Yep, this was a tough one to pull off for the promotions team.
-No tables up from Memphis limited play area.
-Cutback on the Kommando program took away the volunteers to run the tables, so savings two ways, but less tables.
-Club tables on the upswing, but what was needed was the club program that will be there in 3 years, just not enough clubs doing enough tables to fill the gap this year. Kommandos were freed up, but had no time to do their own tables. (Our Minas Tirith display and WOTR game got done by 6 people doing nothing else for a month. Instead of gaming on Fridays and Sundays, we painted like madmen to get 1500 figures done, and built a city out of pinkfoam.)
-No studio support, or technical difficulty leading to the cancellation of presentations.

Pretty sure that next year will rebound quite a bit. More club run tables of a higher quality. Open gaming should be back, and the new head of promotions will have the time to get things rolling in the right direction.