Sean, Mike and I went down to Games Day yesterday. Lots of people there and it wasn't a bad day. We wandered round, took in the sites and greeted some friends, which was great. Then, we nipped out for lunch. We would up getting a little turned around in the city, so we just grabbed some McDonalds and headed back to pop into the Forge World shop before heading back to Barrie.
In terms of Games Day, it wasn't bad. Definitely better run this year than last. The volunteers seemed to be much happier with what they were doing and that's always a good thing.
The GW store was great this year in terms of selection (as opposed to the minimal stock they had last year) and while there were no prices on the kit, the volunteers were pretty much right there to lend a hand, so it wasn't the end of the world.
The Forge World store was pretty much a waste of my time since they didn't have anything I wanted. They offered free shipping at which point, I realized that the items of my list weren't really a priority, especially since they weren't picking up the duty on the stuff coming over. I've had enough issues with that sort of thing in the past that I wasn't about to do it again. The one bright spot though was the folks running that store. Very personable and efficient, even later in the day after they'd been run off their feet for hours. Really great job by these folks.
The Armies on Parade was a nice touch, though I didn't get over to see it later in the day when everyone had gotten their entries in. The ones which were there in the morning were some very nice armies though.
Golden Demon was there again this year too, but I didn't find it as impressive as last year. The entries which won deserved to win I think and there were some fantastic models there. On the whole though, there didn't seem to be as many models there as last year and the split between the ones which made the first cut and those that didn't was very obvious. More than a few of the entires were on par with what I paint up for the table top. Mike and Sean seemed to think that was because I'm getting better year on year. Hopefully they're right. If that's the case, I should have something worth entering next year.
The other thing I noted a distinct lack of was store tables. There were far fewer tables at Games Day this year (though there were some very big and very nice ones) and very few stores. I can't really say I blame them since they can't sell at the event. I've often thought it would be nice to let the stores sell and just have GW run the Forge World and Black Library stuff, maybe a small section for their Direct Exclusive stuff. Less maintainence for GW and for the stores, what a great way to be rid of dead stock. Of course, you'd probably also see things like sales at Games Day in that event too.
In the end, it was a descent outing. We went down, saw the place out, went round Toronto a bit, then came back to Barrie and did our shopping at our FLGS where Mike got his case and I found a deal on some Multi-Melta Sisters. If I've got to pay retail anyway, I'm pretty much going to buy where I play.
In terms of Games Day, it wasn't bad. Definitely better run this year than last. The volunteers seemed to be much happier with what they were doing and that's always a good thing.
The GW store was great this year in terms of selection (as opposed to the minimal stock they had last year) and while there were no prices on the kit, the volunteers were pretty much right there to lend a hand, so it wasn't the end of the world.
The Forge World store was pretty much a waste of my time since they didn't have anything I wanted. They offered free shipping at which point, I realized that the items of my list weren't really a priority, especially since they weren't picking up the duty on the stuff coming over. I've had enough issues with that sort of thing in the past that I wasn't about to do it again. The one bright spot though was the folks running that store. Very personable and efficient, even later in the day after they'd been run off their feet for hours. Really great job by these folks.
The Armies on Parade was a nice touch, though I didn't get over to see it later in the day when everyone had gotten their entries in. The ones which were there in the morning were some very nice armies though.
Golden Demon was there again this year too, but I didn't find it as impressive as last year. The entries which won deserved to win I think and there were some fantastic models there. On the whole though, there didn't seem to be as many models there as last year and the split between the ones which made the first cut and those that didn't was very obvious. More than a few of the entires were on par with what I paint up for the table top. Mike and Sean seemed to think that was because I'm getting better year on year. Hopefully they're right. If that's the case, I should have something worth entering next year.
The other thing I noted a distinct lack of was store tables. There were far fewer tables at Games Day this year (though there were some very big and very nice ones) and very few stores. I can't really say I blame them since they can't sell at the event. I've often thought it would be nice to let the stores sell and just have GW run the Forge World and Black Library stuff, maybe a small section for their Direct Exclusive stuff. Less maintainence for GW and for the stores, what a great way to be rid of dead stock. Of course, you'd probably also see things like sales at Games Day in that event too.
In the end, it was a descent outing. We went down, saw the place out, went round Toronto a bit, then came back to Barrie and did our shopping at our FLGS where Mike got his case and I found a deal on some Multi-Melta Sisters. If I've got to pay retail anyway, I'm pretty much going to buy where I play.
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