Ask a GW manager

Opinion of Stormcast and Age of Sigmar?

Opinion of Primaris Marines?

What sells and what doesn't at your store?

Women in warhammer, truth or legend?

Does/did your store have a 30K scene? Has it changed with the recent delays of Book 8?

How bad has it been with the children this year?

Do you allow FW models to be used and do you hate that GW are ignoring that people are sick of Stormcast releases?

Has a black person ever been in your store? I've heard of them playing at the Montreal gw, but I think that's just an urban legend.

I play both sides against the other.
My guess is that you were "discussing" as a way to shit on AoS, or just being a shitty neckbeard in general. Or maybe someone just pissed in his/her cornflakes that morning.
If you beat your numbers from the same time last year past the built in % you hit bonus and then you get a percentage of every sale after that until the period is over. The exact number and timeframe changes.
Nothing that can be comprehended by the human mind, so why bother?
For me it's shitty loudmouths. Basically people who embody the negative stereotypes of our hobby. Made worse by the fact that those are the ones who usually have no fucking money to spend.
I don't deal with as many kids as you would think.
You gotta earn that shit. I ain't cheap.

Cont...

>You gotta earn that shit. I ain't cheap.
I got $3.50. Good enough?

How popular is AoS?

What kind of stuff are they loud about? Lore opinions? Bragging about their last victory?

I like AoS. It is certainly more popular than WFB was towards the end. I am excited to see where the story goes and I like the new models that have been coming out. Stormcast are alright, don't hate them, don't love them.
I like Primaris Marines. They look so much better that the old ones, but I just like realistic proportions in models more than heroic scale. I still use my old models but I have mixed some Primaris squads into my army.
I sell a lot of different stuff. Things that are hard to move are terrain kits. Paint is always the biggest seller by volume.
You get some women, but not that many. They would probably hang out more if dudes weren't fucking spergs.
I have a few guys who have 30k armies but they mostly play it at home. I don't pay much attention to it because I don't sell FW so I don't care about it.
I don't deal with a lot of kids in my shop and the ones I do are pretty chill. I don't let people fuck around no matter their age.
I allow FW models, but we have a rule that both players have to agree to use FW rules. I don't care about people who bitch on the internet.
I have a few black regulars. Obviously the ratio tilts in favor of whitey, but my shop is in a pretty diverse area so my customers follow suit.

Shit I make my girl pony up more than that before I get my pants off.
Pretty popular in my shop. I have a group that was playing it since release, so when the points came out we already had a core of players.
Over the years I have learned to tune most of the random bullshit out. It's the only thing that has prevented a murder spree. But they will talk about anything and everything: anime, video games, this reeeeaaallly cooooool thing their character did in an RPG that no one else gives a fuck about. You name it.

>Shit I make my girl pony up more than that before I get my pants off.
Well, I tried man. Can you fault a guy for trying?

Ok, actual real question: what's the most popular 40//30k/40k army at your shop among the regulars?

What's your favorite edition of 40k and what armies do you collect for it?

my locl anager tries to shill products on me like im a twelve year old with birthday money every time I go in, but I've been going there sporadically for like 5 generatios of managers over two decades. Is that like a sales tactic you get trained in? I like the hobby but the overzelousness of the staff with trying to sell me expensive kits and armies I've never had any interest in really put me off going in for any serious length of time.

I cannot.
Honestly my shop has a pretty good spread of armies. Lots of people play more than one. The most popular in no particular order probably are: Vanilla Marines, Guard, Chaos, Flavored Marines, and Nids.
I like 8th. I played 3rd when I was a kid and I liked that, but we were very "creative" with our understanding on the rules. I play Blood Angels. I started them because red is my favorite color and they were on the cover of the first white dwarf I bought.
Everyone will have their own style of sales. The best managers will change their tact depending on the customer. We are taught to be proactive with our sales conversations, but if you're not receptive to it then obviously a different method should be applied. Try talking to them like a normal human person. Also remember, if you're just going in every few months to look around but you never get anything they may just be going hard on you so you fuck off for good. Nothing worse than some old timer who comes in to look around with no intention of getting anything. We have to interact with you if you're in the store.

I'm heading home but I'll answer more questions later tonight after I get some chow.

Nah, I'm 20 odd, and I buy shit fairly regularly, I'm more into painting and shit, but I think its because I've spent hundreds of pounds at a time getting whole armies when I had that amount of disposable income a few years ago, so now I feel like they try to get big sales out of me when I'm in there for a couple of new brushes, thanks for the answer though

My GW manager is overall decent, but occasionally gets annoying pushing Space Marines on me. Like, dude, I already have 3 armies.

Worst customer experiences in the time you have worked as a manager?

Best customer experiences in the time you have worked as a manager?

Do you get extra commission for pushing Primaris stuff?

Is 40k dying? Hows player retention?

>Literal shill thread
Jesus Christ you guys, why are you responding?

How Necromunda doing saleswise?

Calm your tits, spergking, we get "Ask a GW manager" threads fairly regularly, it usually isn't a dude shilling products but just calmly and politely answering questions.

Enjoy your "viral marketing" campaign

I'm starting 40k and I'm choosing between tyranids and admech. I like admech the admech style better but they look so hard to paint and have them look good. Tyranids seem easier to paint and are pretty cool. I'm also undecided on a playstyle. Just looking for some help on getting started.

In that case just try telling them something like, "hey man, I know the deal, but I'm just not sitting on fat stacks right now like I used to. I support you as much as I can." Hopefully they get the message. Then again with your use of pounds I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you're in the UK, so maybe they do thing differently over there with staff training. Good luck!
If you're looking for advice on this I'd say what I said to the guy right above. Talk to them like a person and just tell them the truth. If they are a decent manager they will understand.

More answers in a bit!

yeah, the last guy was chill as fuck and held vet nights, this new guy is german and very very 'pro-active' with selling

Worst is probably a interaction I had with a personal friend, who had also been a customer of the shop. At the time I was letting work frustrations get to me and while even looking back I don't think I was wrong, I could have handled things very differently. The short version is I burned a bridge I could have kept. Thus a life lesson about work: when dealing with customers and employees, friendly, not friends.
Best is probably some of the kids I have worked with who were actually good learners and got into it. When you're growing up life is hard enough so it's good to see them succeed.
No, all money is equally green.
I think 8th edition was a shot in the arm for 40k. Having been through 3 edition changes with the company a new edition will always sell core sets and rulebooks and the like. Granted, I can only speak for my store, but I think it is just fine.
I'm sorry you feel that way, but you know what I think might help out? A new Ork Stompa™! I'll just put this one up by the register for you when you're ready.
I haven't sold a ton, but I think the people who do have it like it. I think once more gangs are out it might do better, but I'm sure some people were turned off by it being made into a boardgame out of the box.
I always recommend to pick the models you like the most. Rules come and go, but the models are what you're going to have forever. Plus it really sucks to paint shit that you hate.
Good ol' efficiency for ZE GERMANS.

>I'm sorry you feel that way, but you know what I think might help out? A new Ork Stompa™! I'll just put this one up by the register for you when you're ready.
Fuck it. You're alright

I've been getting back into the 40k and building my army for the last couple months. Just waiting until the army is all fully painted before I start playing.

What are some Do/Don't or any advice you can give to have a good time playing at GW stores? I'm usually good at getting along with people, but I heard that it might be difficult with people that frequent GW stores.

I asked a games workshop manager this today and he didn't know because AoS doesn't seem to have a following in my area (fuck)

If I have a list of Slaves to Darkness and give them all the Tzeentch mark, can I declare that as a Tzeentch Allegiance list and take demons without having to make them Allies?

The rule says you pick at the start of the game. Does that mean it has to be done after the list is finalized?

Allegiance is determined after marks are given

That's cool to hear, I hope you have fun. Always cool to see someone who wants to fully paint everything before playing. Props.
Every store is going to be different. Just be cool. If you don't like playing a person don't play them again. And don't smell like shit.
I don't have the book with me but if this thread is still up tomorrow I'll look it up and try to get a reply out.

bump

Tau girls or Eldar girls?

What army/armies do you play in AoS and 40k?

>Nothing worse than some old timer who comes in to look around with no intention of getting anything
well fuck you too, is a GW a fucking museum that i have to pay a fee to look at?

>If you beat your numbers from the same time last year past the built in % you hit bonus and then you get a percentage of every sale after that until the period is over. The exact number and timeframe changes.

Isnt that an incentive to not sell anything else after hitting your numbers then

To be fair, it's a store. If you aren't buying anything, or at least engaging with actual customers in a way that keeps the hobby appealing to ongoing membets and newcomers alike, then you're literally just taking up their space. You can argue for making a place look busy, but someone who goes into a place and browses without doing anything else can actually be off-putting for a community activity.

By contrast, bringing in an army and playing some skirmishes would actually have a positive effect on the store's appeal, even if you buy nothing.

Not him, but I also work for GW in a different capacity. 40k is doing the best it has ever done in its history. Dark Imperium did wonders for the company. The stock sort of speaks for itself.

Im curious as to what happened to the 'GW is a sinking ship' posters this last year..

What do you think of Tau players?

It was mainly dudes complaining/shit posting about AoS, they were either trolling or in denial

How do I become a GW Store Manager?

Does paint sell more (or approximately the same) as AoS stuff currently?
Curious if the 'paint outsold fantasy' thing people throw about was due more to fantasy not selling or to paint being a big seller in general.

Does your store ever get love for dark eldar?

Are the dark eldar players massive edgelords?

I know, man.
I used to be like that, trying to impress the local GW manager and generally being really braggy and autistic.

Thankfully I don't think he remembers half of it, or he's just recognised that I've grown out of it. I go in there, have a chat, he's a very chill person and he handles the autismos well, but every now and then you can see his demeanour waver a little.

How shitty is it if I just want to look around and not necessarily buy anything? I feel like doing that really upsets guys at GW shops - like they would rather just kick me out of the store.

Oh god please answer this.

I think you kill the current manager and steal his power, I'm not quite sure tho

>No, I don't know when X army will get a release...
But every manager has been told when the SoBs are getting their plastics.
At least according to every 'He said he regrets buying all them metal Sisters just a month ago', 'You didn't hear it from me but hold off on those Sisters till Feb' and 'Plastics were done over a year ago but they've finally run the stock down on the metal so it'll just be a month now' and also 'They were going to be released but 8th pushed their release slot back so they gave us Veridyan to 'tide us over''.

You don't need a manager to answer this.

It's not shitty at all, only autistic terribad GW workers growl and leer at people just casually browsing or showing interest but not immediately dropping their wallets on the counter, these are the kind of faggots that appear in "GW horror story" threads for good reason, this kind of shit is more likely to turn you off the hobby than welcome you in

The way Games Workshop trains and makes demands of its managers fosters this attitude.

Managers with worse attitudes and abilities to cope don't deal well with the whole 'You will lose your job after a while if you don't make enough money' deal.

Not the same GeeDub guy, I'm also UK so things might be different to his reply.
Store I was in would have some days where paint/ supplies would outsell 40k models.

Fantasy was doing absolutely terribly towards the end, and AoS has driven up sales, especially for younger players.

Fantasy was in direct competition with 40k with the 'expansive' rules, stripping it down a lot was a good way of shifting the demographic to a slightly younger one.

What I love about AoS is the ultimate freedom it give you for making your dudes, even if the setting is very new. Like in 40k you can make your own slice of the setting to claim as your own. Although the WHBF world also had some room for your dudes, it wasn't so easy as in 40k or AoS.

I am sad to see the old world go away as it did, but I see it as a good thing, for now GW cannot make any changes to the old world at large

Thanks, friend. I have returned!
Eldar. You can do all sorts of things with those ears.
I play Blood Angels and Warriors of Chaos.
No, but a lot of people forget that it is a retail store first and act like it's their clubhouse to hang out in. has the right of it. Really the reason it both me the most is that when someone comes into my store I HAVE to talk to them (and I'm not a big fan of talking to people in general) so when someone come into my shop and then acts like I'm bothering them by doing my job I ain't got not time for that shit. Now if you come in, look me in the eye and just say " hey, I used to play this and I like to check out a store every once in awhile" I'll probably leave you alone.
Haha, you rase a good point, a point I have sometimes made to new managers. If you want to make money crushing a bonus period can be a great way to get a few extra thousand dollars in your pocket, but if you do you better be ready to crank it out next year...
Considering that I had a Tau army I don't think there is anything wrong with playing Tau. If your talking about the stereotype that Tau players are insufferable weebs then I will say that that trait is in no way limited to those who play Tau. ;)
Go on the GW website and and scroll down to the bottom and click on the "jobs" link. That page lists all the job openings GW has worldwide. Right now North America alone has 6 manager postings.

Why the hell have I not been able to get led belcher spray in over 3 months?

How hard is it to tell people that Grey Knights are a good army while you keep a straight face?

Opinion on bringing in home-made proxy models?

Just destroyed a 20 man tournament with mine. drago, brother captain with nemesis staff (for +1 invun in melee) relic bolter, 3x 10 man strike squads with 2 psilencers, 1x 10 man squad of interceptors with 2 psilencers, 2x purgigator squads with 4x psilencers, another brother captain, and 3x purgigator squads with 4x psilencers. thats 68 dudes, all basic marines armed with falchions for a free extra attack. Toughest match I had was vs guard with 6 scout sentinels. Had to slog across with 4 BRRT tanks shooting at me and (fortunatley) 15 lascannons making up the rest of his list. Moved up, smited one sentinel off the board, shot another off the board, that opened a hole big enough to drop everything else. I think I had my warlord and mabye 8 marines left, tabled him though.

I have a question. How many people in this thread are actually anons and not GW staff asking each other questions and jacking each other off?
Trick question,btw.

Paint has always been the largest selling range GW has by volume. And back when WFB 8th edition was out yes, paint generally out-sold it $ wise as well. AoS does far better sales wise than Fantasy did at the end.
We don't have many DE players but I have a feeling that will change when they get a new code for 8th. Honestly Chaos players are usually the biggest "edgelords" closely followed by the imperium players who get a little too into the whole fascism is awesome thing.
Honestly if you have changed enough to acknowledge that you used to do that you're cool in my book. Self awareness is one of the best things a person can have.
If you are respectful of the fact that the staff still have to do their job (engage and talk to you, at least a little) then it isn't the worst thing. What you have to keep in mind is that anytime there is someone in the shop that we don't know we have to be more on the ball, watching for shoplifting is one of the biggest things, so even by just being in the shop you are making the staff expend more effort. Not that that is the worst thing. Then again if you're just some rando who wanders in shouts "just browsing!" Before I have even finished saying hello and is walking around finger banging Al the product on my walls why the hell would I want you in my shop?
At the end of the day every manager is going to be different. I know some dudes who go hard on everyone regardless because that's the job.
There can only be one.
What?
I dunno. I have it in my shop.
I don't play GK so I don't know how they are on the table right now. If people like the look of the models and want to play then I sell them.
Models in my store have to be at least 50% GW if they are converted. Most other manager use a higher percentage I think. At the end of the day you'd have to be pretty dumb to think you can just walk into a corporate store and use random shit.

Thank you - that's even more than I expected. And yeah, it was clear that Fantasy was doing bad due to shitty rules. It just always bothered me that people would say it was axed 'because paint outsold it' when paint is something nearly everyone in the hobby uses (and some people will use it for non-GW miniatures, even), so it always seemed a dumb comparison.

Well besides me two other posters have said they are GW employees and there are 49 unique posters so I'm gonna say 46?

Heard any news if they are gonna release Warhammer 40k version of Warscroll Builder? I'm currently learning programming and consider about making army builder for W40k

There’s an application to become a studio painter. What do you know about the GW hq studio environment?

Do you occasionally work as a doorman for local metal shows?

I have no direct knowledge of what the atmosphere is like there but I'm gonna guess that if you just want to paint a shit load of models real fast and don't really care about making a lot of money then it could be good.
I have no idea about that. Everyone I know uses Battlescribe.

How well do you know managers from other stores? My local manager before my current one said she knew other GW workers well thanks to annual meetings for managers in NA in Dallas, was wondering if that stuck or not

Of course if someone comes in just to waste your time that's retarded. But just saying you shouldn't come in just to look at stuff is too extreme.

what are your personal feelings about the end times and the destruction of the old world, do you miss it? do you miss playing rank and flank fantasy?

I do not. I don't really have the look of a metal-head, but I do listen to it.
We have quarterly manager meetings. There are around 120 managers in North America now so I "know" them all, but most only to shake hands with. Some of us who have been with the company for more than year are pretty close. New managers are like babies in the 1700s, you don't want to get attached to them until they have survived a year. ;)
While I liked WFB it was a whole pain in the ass, both to set up and play and to sell to people. I think the best outcome was the change to AoS and the release of the Total War Warhammer games. For my money that was the best way to keep the setting of the old world "alive". Plus the video games do the scale of WFB battles much better than the tabletop could ever do in a reasonable game.

There are plenty of wargames that do that scale fine. Fantasy was in dire need of a deep rethinking though, that's for sure. I think they should have gone 15 or 6 mm so that the battles could be bigger with less hassle and cost. But i do agree that GW players want 28mm, so the other possible outcome could have been goig back to the small battles of older editions. I don't think AoS was the only option. But whatever really, i didn't even play fantasy and i wouldn't be playing it now. I am just a guy who likes the setting.

Do you have a "this guy" regular at your local store who is a total good guy/bro

One of my best friends is a regular at the shop. He is in his mid 30s and has been doing the hobby since he was a kid. Not only is he one of the toughest guys I know but he is an amazing hobbyist and gamer. He helps enforce the "social contract" of the shop and has been known to take offenders (mostly just people who don't understand how soap works) for a little walk around the block to explain things to them. Total bro.

do you call him Mr. Soap

When Y army will get a release?

No.
Q3 2019

Tell me about the infamous common knowledge about the lack of hygiene of the average players
Are the rumors true?

For the most part people at my shop smell ok. We have a few repeat offenders however. One gross fuck checks all the boxes: horribly disgustingly fat, smelly, plumber's crack for days, not particularly kind, kinda dumb, and best of all he
plays Nurgle. Can't make shit like that up.

I'd say the average is fine where I am, but about 10-20% of the super regulars have hygiene issues, whether they just reek of cigarettes or what not.

That said, there have been some absolute cesspools. Fairly sure a teenager once shat himself in the store I work.
You ever had a code brown, US guy?

No, worst was a kid pissing himself when I first started. Lucky for me back then we were still a staffed store and we didn't have a public restroom, so the guy who had been working there for longer than me took care of it and we were able to just send the kid out cus we didn't have a place for him to get cleaned up. But really the crazy thing about it was that he pissed himself and just like... stood there in it. The only reason we knew it had happened was that I noticed he was standing in a puddle. God what a shitlord (or pisslord I guess).

I'd believe he just stood in it.
I think what happened with our shitlord was he ran off suddenly to go to a bathroom, didn't make it and came back in and totally no sold it.
But it fucking stank. His mother picked him up not long after.
How goes this Christmas period? Making growth? We're about there despite an awesome year last year.

>What?
Every rumour about the Sisters, if it isn't the one guy that just arbitarily says 'January, screencap this.', is always a variant of 'The Manager of my local GW said...' I've honestly lost count of the variants of this style of rumour.

>code brown
Is it exactly what it sounds like it is?

Oh no, I got that. I was referring to the verbal diarrhea it came out as. All good though, sarcasm doesn't translate well through text.
I mean, it's not an official GW term. Unless the UK guys get very different training.

This treat has been fun. I'll check a little tomorrow to see if it's still going but now is family time. Merry Christmas to all.