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I was brainstorming my woc army weeks ago with the manager of my local GW. Getting ready for a summer gaming campaign / tournament. Explaining I was going to use mordheim middenheimers, Dunlendings on 25mm bases, beorn and bear, etc... Really cool historic looking viking like army. He agreed it would be cool and all, I ordered a dozen blisters from his store, etc... I assembled them up, on proper size bases, bought the army book, etc... I go into store the other day to do a test game and he comments "...nice job! But you know you can't use them in a tournament, right?" WTF? He tells me this after I spend $300ish dollars? Ugh, that was sleazy.

a bit cheeky, but as per the terms of the licence for LOTR Gw cannot mix the two and cannot sanction conversions between the two either in store or tourninments sanctioned by them

What a massive donkey-cave. Did you express to him how much of a dick move that was?

cammy wrote:
a bit cheeky, but as per the terms of the licence for LOTR Gw cannot mix the two and cannot sanction conversions between the two either in store or tourninments sanctioned by them

Which is fine as that is their right, but you shouldn't sell an army of mixed units to the OP and then turn around and enforce it once you've got the cash.

Interesting that short term sales is the goal at all levels

Well, you must be new to warhammer. Otherwise you could expect something like that. Either way, you should have asked before buying these miniatures. I don't agree with his attitude, but I would never whine if someone didn't let me use non-legit miniatures in a tournament.

Good thing that GW doesn't support or organize any tournaments anymore.
Don't think that any independent TOs have any problem with your army.

KeyserSoze wrote:
Well, you must be new to warhammer. Otherwise you could expect something like that. Either way, you should have asked before buying these miniatures. I don't agree with his attitude, but I would never whine if someone didn't let me use non-legit miniatures in a tournament.

He should have asked if it would be a problem before buying GW minis from GW to use in a GW tourney? Wow. If he didnt know this rule (and not everyone does), it should have been on the GW employee to fill him in at the purchase, not afterwards. This isn't a failure on GW, but it is a serious failure on the part of the worker at the register.

Good thing that GW doesn't support or organize any tournaments anymore.
Don't think that any independent TOs have any problem with your army.

Exactly this, I never met any TO who has any issues with non-official / non-WHFB GW miniatures in tournaments
What matters is that they look the part, that's all

It was clear in our discussion.

We had several conversations on this. Although i never thought to even ask such a specific question as "Although these are gw minis, and will follow a woc book, and will be based and converted to be in whf games, will this be usuable in your store in tournies..." (never came to my mind...the conversation would have naturally brought it to his mind to say something, IMHO...)

I spoke of how I missed warhammer historicals, that I used to play lotr but no one here (in my gw store where I only play games 'cause I am .3 miles from the store) does anymore, that I am a huge fan of the new Vikings series, (I have old glory vikings, but he said I can not use them in his gw store), but that the Dunlending models are larger then other lotr models and have a viking historical look, and old mordheim middenheimers, and can be a Norsca or marauder army for fantasy (here is where he mentioned that would be cool, they need to be on square bases, that if I intend to play in his store that they would have to be, and are, gw minis, etc...).

I got everything, assembled it, brought it and he basically said - very nice, but in any official games or contests he might have that Iinvolves prizes, I can not use this army in fairness to others...

Thdy are fine for casual fun games though. He "will allow it."

So he allows you to play with the miniatures he sold you in casual games? Sounds absolutely fair to me

Sounds to me like he's enforcing a law which no longer exists, or a the very least was relaxed a few years ago when LOTR was added to the bitz range.

 Kroothawk wrote:
So he allows you to play with the miniatures he sold you in casual games? Sounds absolutely fair to me

true, true. But he should have said (not contest/tourny allowed in his store) that before I placed a $300 order.... just saying....

I work for GW.

If the models you intend to use are bought in a GW store then you can use them, regardless of which system they originally were intended for. If you bought Dunlendings and put them on square bases then you can use them for WHFB.

Another note: GW is not allowed to sanction tournaments that offer prize support. The only way that can happen is if the tournament it organized by players, prizes are handled by players. GW does not do prize support for events. We can only provide the space.

Any GW mini's can be used in any capacity within a GW store. If you have more problems go over his head. Sounds like he is wrongfully trying to squeeze more money out of you.

FenrisianStuart21 wrote:
I work for GW.

If the models you intend to use are bought in a GW store then you can use them, regardless of which system they originally were intended for. If you bought Dunlendings and put them on square bases then you can use them for WHFB.

Another note: GW is not allowed to sanction tournaments that offer prize support. The only way that can happen is if the tournament it organized by players, prizes are handled by players. GW does not do prize support for events. We can only provide the space.

Any GW mini's can be used in any capacity within a GW store. If you have more problems go over his head. Sounds like he is wrongfully trying to squeeze more money out of you.

oh, wow, thanks!

So when he has his monthly painting contests each month, which entries must be a new purchase to enter, and the prize is equal to what you spent on your initial purchase/ entry, thatis frowned upon?

Requiring a purchase to participate in a contest is perfectly fine. HE (the store manager) can't then provide any monetary return in prizes. If the players get together and create a prize support that is perfectly acceptable.


For example; my store does a bi-weekly painting contest where we require your entry to be an in-store purchase prior to that contest. Our "prize" is a certificate, that comes from our GW resources that then is posted on our wall for everyone to see as well as on our FB page. No monetary reward as it is against policy. Were the local group to decide that they would each enter $5(any # here) to compete and the winner receive it in a gift card, that would be perfectly fine.

What are your consumer laws like over in America? Here, I'd recommend returning them as "unfit for purpose", considering why you bought them and that he knew about it and encouraged you. Of course, that'd probably get you banned from the store too, but dammit if someone did that to me, I'd never step foot in his store again anyway.

The perfect solution is to never go there again, even for friendly games.

I have more or less boycotted GW store fronts for years. The employees are,usually, as arrogant and cruel as the company they work for.

The entirety of Games Workshop might as well be the hobby/ retail form of Cobra Kai.

 FenrisianStuart21 wrote:
Requiring a purchase to participate in a contest is perfectly fine. HE (the store manager) can't then provide any monetary return in prizes. If the players get together and create a prize support that is perfectly acceptable.

I spend a lot of time at my local GW. Some of the reasons for the "require a purchase option" are 1. support your local GW store, keeping the lights on, battleforce tables, painting stations running etc, 2. putting everybody in the contest on an even playing field. It makes it easier for whoever's judging. Whoever's running the store (if they so choose) could keep track of what people have bought for the contest and record somewhere, if they wanted to. It just keeps people from submitting stuff they've started earlier, or previous work.

Guy is a complete scumbag. I would never set foot in that store again. Not even worth the energy to argue with him.

A past manager tried a similar argument with me. I gave him a skeptical look and told him that if a New Line exec came in and complained, I'd fight my own legal battle. He shut up after that.