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Stores are reopening, but no word on Store Anniversaries as yet.

Normally, Milton Keynes is the first to get the new Anniversary Models. But, that’s typically in June, which has of course been and gone.

I suspect they won’t crack on with Anniversaries, which are normally a decent source of income and custom until things are relaxed a little further.

Either way, I’ll Looting for the Loot Group (Tat for the Tat Throne!) at the earliest convenience. Think my local Store is normally September, so provided that’s not changed, fingers crossed it’s just a couple of months.

Want one for myself, as I bought a ‘for charity’ Carl Weathers, and he needs his boss lady! (no I will not part with Carl Weathers. Ever)

A few of them are in the wild and on ebay, though your wallet may have to pass a leadership check to BFI.

I've seen Warhounds cheaper than some people are bidding.

Checking the completed listings on ebay shows that a few have already been sold, for various prices, by sellers in the USA. None have become available from the UK yet.

It seeems a little ridiculous to me that you can't even get them if you go to Warhammer World.

Is there any way to find out which stores will be opening/having birthday events without using Facebook? I really prefer to avoid using social media.

Word of mouth, really.

I don’t know if GW Stores use other social media.

GW stores all have their own FB page and normally put up on them when events are, but they vary a lot depending on the store manager (some use it more than others). At the same time GW has a LOT of stores worldwide. Best thing is to keep an eye on Mad Doc's Loot GrouP (check the ilnk in his signature 2 posts up)

I always figured it was a deliberate choice on GW’s part to not publish the store birthdays, as they want you to go in regularly and build up a relationship with the store, rather than just turn up on the one day you can order a special model.

Kinda, yeah. Community engagement is definitely a thing.

 Jadenim wrote:
I always figured it was a deliberate choice on GW’s part to not publish the store birthdays, as they want you to go in regularly and build up a relationship with the store, rather than just turn up on the one day you can order a special model.

Then perhaps they should just make these models available without all the preconditions and limited availability, and just have them be something you can order at any time by going into a store.

 Yodhrin wrote:

 Jadenim wrote:
I always figured it was a deliberate choice on GW’s part to not publish the store birthdays, as they want you to go in regularly and build up a relationship with the store, rather than just turn up on the one day you can order a special model.

Then perhaps they should just make these models available without all the preconditions and limited availability, and just have them be something you can order at any time by going into a store.

Because then people would just go en-mass when it went on sale and never again. Don't forget these models go on sale along with other discount gifts like backpacks and art. It's all about creating an "event". They pair it to money spent so it not only encourages you to go to the store get the model, but also to know your local store's birthday and save up. Generating a sales spike for each store irrespective of model sales.

And it works. Heck when Ossiarchs came out I was doubly lucky in that it was also the same week of my local stores' birthday so the money I was going to spend anyway got spent direct at GW instead of through a 3rd party and it was spent in store. I got some extra stuff and the store got some sales- everyone wins.


The main downside is if you don't have access to a local store or fail to keep in touch to know when their birthday event is. Then you can have issues. That said with ebay, loot group and facebook and forums I'd say provided GW is working as normal, then if you want a a birthday model then you can typically get hold of them.

 Jadenim wrote:
I always figured it was a deliberate choice on GW’s part to not publish the store birthdays, as they want you to go in regularly and build up a relationship with the store, rather than just turn up on the one day you can order a special model.

They did publish a list of all stores b/days briefly last year but it wasnt available for long, there are some screen caps of it buried somewhere deep in the Loot group.

Some Stores also tend to have their birthday event on a day other than their birthday, eiher so it falls on a Saturday, or to cope with absences/holidays etc

having a widely available list of birthdays would mess with that

 Original Timmy wrote:

 Jadenim wrote:
I always figured it was a deliberate choice on GW’s part to not publish the store birthdays, as they want you to go in regularly and build up a relationship with the store, rather than just turn up on the one day you can order a special model.

They did publish a list of all stores b/days briefly last year but it wasnt available for long, there are some screen caps of it buried somewhere deep in the Loot group.

I’d be very grateful if you could find the list and post it here on Dakka!

The Loot group is not an option for people like myself who don’t do Facebook.

 Overread wrote:

 Yodhrin wrote:

 Jadenim wrote:
I always figured it was a deliberate choice on GW’s part to not publish the store birthdays, as they want you to go in regularly and build up a relationship with the store, rather than just turn up on the one day you can order a special model.

Then perhaps they should just make these models available without all the preconditions and limited availability, and just have them be something you can order at any time by going into a store.

Because then people would just go en-mass when it went on sale and never again. Don't forget these models go on sale along with other discount gifts like backpacks and art. It's all about creating an "event". They pair it to money spent so it not only encourages you to go to the store get the model, but also to know your local store's birthday and save up. Generating a sales spike for each store irrespective of model sales.

In what way does making them available on a continual basis after the original launch - still only via their own stores, mind - not achieve that same end?

As to "it works" - does it tho? Stuff like the Loot Group wouldn't exist if it worked on everyone, and even there and on ebay the highly conditional ones where you have to spend a set amount of stuff on a set day after sacrificing a goat to Artemis during the blood moon etc are incredibly uncommon even if someone did want to buy one, and from what I've seen online and in person they're hardly more common in people's armies. In fact I didn't see a single one of those Terminator Chaplain models IRL at all until after they became available via "the Eastern road".

I've also never met or spoken to anyone who ended up giving a gak about their local store's birthday or opening times or "community"(such as they are these days) because of these limited models beyond the limited models themselves, anyone who cares about that stuff already did care about it because the store is their primary venue - the rest of us just try to get in and out as fast as possible.

In the end, the present policy might give GWHQ a nice predictable bump in each store's KPIs one day a year, but if I worked at GW I would hate the practice(since whether you can surpass those KPIs to whatever level of growth GW have demanded on an annual basis next year is entirely dependent on whether the next super-duper-exclusive mini is something enough people really want to trek in and spend the excess, and if it isn't then oops that's a black mark on your record regardless of the fact it's not even remotely your fault), and I firmly believe they could achieve a similar return in a more sustainable way without all the restrictions and hoopla - at the end of the day, people who like GW stuff want to buy GW stuff, you don't need to force their hand by holding models hostage, and for some people trying to do so will achieve the opposite result to what you intend.

 Undead_Love-Machine wrote:

 Original Timmy wrote:

 Jadenim wrote:
I always figured it was a deliberate choice on GW’s part to not publish the store birthdays, as they want you to go in regularly and build up a relationship with the store, rather than just turn up on the one day you can order a special model.

They did publish a list of all stores b/days briefly last year but it wasnt available for long, there are some screen caps of it buried somewhere deep in the Loot group.

I’d be very grateful if you could find the list and post it here on Dakka!

The Loot group is not an option for people like myself who don’t do Facebook.

Why not just set up a throwaway account? My FB profile has a fake name, a cartoon avatar, and zero personal information. I use it to check a handful of hobby-specific Groups and that's it.

 Undead_Love-Machine wrote:

 Original Timmy wrote:

 Jadenim wrote:
I always figured it was a deliberate choice on GW’s part to not publish the store birthdays, as they want you to go in regularly and build up a relationship with the store, rather than just turn up on the one day you can order a special model.

They did publish a list of all stores b/days briefly last year but it wasnt available for long, there are some screen caps of it buried somewhere deep in the Loot group.

I’d be very grateful if you could find the list and post it here on Dakka!

The Loot group is not an option for people like myself who don’t do Facebook.

Il see what i can dig up for you.

Moar threadomancy I’m afraid.

Loot Group has shown that Warhammer Edinburgh is relocating, and it’s reopening is 5 September. Hopefully, that’ll provide the first opportunity to get this goody to the good.

No guarantee it will, but I’ll report back once I know more. Which means price remains pending.

If you’ve not already joined up, see my sig, see my sig, made with, erm, real gorilla wig, for a link.

I was there the day it opened first time round, no reason to visit the Royal Mile when I go back on the odd visit now and again

Moving to Castle Street, so far less uphill when I arrive at Waverley.

Oh wow. It's mad to think they won't be there anymore, even though I rarely visit these days they've been in that spot for as long as I've been into Warhammer. Played my first games of WHFB, 40K and Mordheim in that store, got my first painting lesson, it's where we all set off from for the Gamesday bus.

Yeah. Many, many years ago it was GW Edinburgh that drew back the veil for me.

Just looked into the possibility of working some Looting around a visit to my Dad, but not trains. Bums.

So, I've been keeping my eye out on ebay for one of these to pop up at a reasonable price, when I noticed something a little sickening.

There is a seller who has sold 30+ of them. Presumably they own a relatively new independent gaming store and GW provided them with a box of Sergeant Jacksons to encourage people to make purchases from them, the seller then chose to sell them all on ebay. Here is a link to the completed listings:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/comic-god/m.html?item=124219633514&epid=26039067710&hash=item1cec112f6a%3Ag%3AgiMAAOSwkLNe2%7ETq&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684


Surely this can't have been what GW intended? They really need to look at their policy of artificial scarcity, because this is good for nobody except the guy who is selling them at a huge markup.

Weird, stores over here got far fewer (even the real big boys like Element and Wayland),

I'd wonder if they've got an 'in' at the GW USA warehouse and are getting these in some sort of a nod and a wink sort of way?

(or GW USA are far less stringent about how they're handing them out, and have a far bigger supply to play with)

GW USA might have a bigger supply because it comes in waves whilst GW UK might do more ad-hock casting. AS its a model to be given out during anniversary releases I'd wager the USA should likely have quite a lot of stock of her

That's a fair point, they could well have a years supply at once with GW UK casting for each convention as it comes

still annoying though

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
Weird, stores over here got far fewer (even the real big boys like Element and Wayland),

I'd wonder if they've got an 'in' at the GW USA warehouse and are getting these in some sort of a nod and a wink sort of way?

(or GW USA are far less stringent about how they're handing them out, and have a far bigger supply to play with)

Just to be clear, this is the female catachan sergeant, not colonel Carl Weathers. To my knowledge no store in the uk has access to them, while this one guy has 30+.

I hope that somebody less lazy than me can inform GW about this, because I just can’t believe that they can be happy about the situation.

You could well be right about the guy maybe having a contact at GW US, it would explain how they got so many of them (and seemingly, continue to be able to get hold of more stock: they’ve been selling them for a while).

Aaaaaand go! She’ll be available in GW stores 12-20 September 2020.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/09/04/visit-your-local-warhammer-store/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=40K&utm_content=40kripperjackson04092020

Well that's good news.

Now about that Catachan Colonel...

No you can’t have my one. He’s still in his shrink wrap!

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Now about that Catachan Colonel...

FYI - FLGSs are still getting them. A craft store near-ish to me started stocking GW a fortnight ago and got one with their first delivery.

I'm very pleased to read this and that GW is going to make her available online as well and not make everyone have to rush to local stores during these uncertain times when many might not want too or might even be unable to reach their local store

Great news!

I like to think that my moaning made a difference