Games Workshop Perth 20th Anniversary Celebration
Games Workshop is a company that can probably say they have played a hand in just about every hobbyists gaming history. Most (I said most, I know there will obviously be a exceptions!!!) table top war gamers start with Games Workshop games purely and simply because they have a store presence. You can wander into the store either with purpose or randomly and find yourself immersed in the experience of table top war gaming. It is often (I said often!!!) where table top gamers paint their first minis and where the bug hits.
Mike and I were joined by a long time friend Tim for what should have been an episode of the Pod Cast but ended up being 2. The first part of that episode is available here on the blog and the second part follows on. We spoke about the history of Warhammer 40,000 in general and in Perth. Gamers were playing Warhammer before the Games Workshop stores opened in Raine Square in September 1998. However, much of Mikes, Tims and even my memories of this game are interwoven with the actual Games Workshop stores and the old Perth store. We both still have men we call friends who we met in those stores even if we don’t see them often or they have upped and moved states.
Despite how incredibly busy our schedule is at the moment and last weekend in particular with the Beyond Games and Hobby soft opening event, there was no way we could miss the 20th Birthday/Anniversary celebrations.
The day
It was a great day. It was BUSY! I have seen GW stores busy before but never have I seen it like this. It was standing room only. It was brilliant to see so many people turn out to help Ry and the team celebrate. Troy from Sardowyn’s Foundry was there as Primaris Veteran Sergeant to welcome people to the store, pose for photos, and even serve customers at one point. Other people got in on the act and dressed for the occasion as well. There was cake and soft drinks (which we needed because it was 9 million degrees in the store!), there were events like the Kill Team mini event that I caught in the video (link below), guys painting, there were even some other females at the event. I counted 5 at one point, that was almost 10% of the population of the store!
Photos
I had offered to take some photos of the event including the big group photo at 1pm. All was well and good. At about 12.50 I went upstairs to set up next to the balcony. Just as I was setting up the tripod I was approached by a security guard. My stomach did drop for a moment when I realised I was shooting inside a private shopping mall and didn’t have a permit. Was he going to stick to the regulations and not let me take the photo?
This is the downside to shooting with a DSLR with speedlight on a tripod, you can’t do that sneakily! He didn’t have an issue with the 12 random strangers who stood next to me with mobile phones to take a photo of 50+ random strangers in a store doorway. Anyway, my winning smile got us across the line and I was allowed to take the photo. He seemed to regret that decision when those same 50+ gamers let out a war cry ‘Waaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhh’ and the same security guard came running to find out what was happening and where was the fight!
There was lots of stories shared and memories of days gone by. If you want to see some of the photos that Luke, former GW staff member when the Raine Square store opened and then GW manager, shared you can have a look at the short video I did at the event on Facebook.
Photo reel
