Warhammer Fest – A Review (2-months late)
Our plastic crack selling corporate overlords ran a fest. The people were 10/10, the rest 6/10.
So why go hang out with 5,000 nerds in a big shed?
A weekend mini break with my gaming mates
Meet a bunch of “internet friends” in person
Entering golden demon
My first WarCry Tournament
See some reveals…?
I ended up having a great time up in Manchester during Warhammer Fest.
But I only spent about half the weekend at the “fest”. I packed a whole bunch of different stuff so we could run various games (Kill Team, Boarding Actions, WarCry, Brawl Arcane) either at the event, Element or back at our AirBnB:
Toys for daaaaays! A speedily glammed up BlAngles Boarding Patrol rubs shoulders with my Nurgle Kill Team and GD entry. I also ruined a chess board enough for it to feel like a suitable brawl arcane board. Entered a thing and hung out with some other adult(ish) men.
I also dragged two mates (@minirelapse and @mygeekyhobby) with me and hassled a bunch of our internet pals to come and be nerds.
Viewed through the lens of hanging out with people and trying a couple of new parts of the hobby – it was fab. The chance to spend time with my Oxford Outrider hobby pals, meet up and “game” with Middle Earth Crisis Pod Crew + @oldwoden was solid gold.
This really set the tone for the whole event as essentially, I didn’t meet anyone at the fest that wasn’t a) just as big a nerd as me b) excited to share experiences/talk about gaming, painting and building.
This continued as/when I submitted my Golden Demon. The painting crowd, including the top professionals, were kind, excited and happy to chat. This really took the edge off a nerve-wracking experience.
Please enjoy these crappy pictures of other people’s very beautiful entries.
In fact, walking around the cabinets with other fans, nerds and painters was one of the highlights of the whole event. Chatting, geeking out and enjoying the talent and craft of others seems like a universal experience and was a really beautiful one to be a part of. I didn’t end up getting anywhere from a competition perspective but to be a part of it felt like a very tangible moment for my hobby journey.
But it wasn’t all just joyful expressions of nerdom, some of it was…kinda shit
As an actual ‘con’ I can see why people may have felt disappointed, as it felt like a big hall with one large shop, golden demon and the occasional reveal session in a lecture hall.
Queuing for auditoriums, people in cosplay queuing for the lift and roughly 5,000 nerds queuing to get into the building on the first day. So essentially lots of queuing – which if you are British is a national pastime – but otherwise a bit of a drag.
At the very real risk of being a nerd communist - the more GW cements its position as a cultural and capitalist monolith – the more I think it is relevant to make space for other interpretations of the hobby. As rarely do interesting and varied communities thrive in a monoculture.
Part of what I fell back in love with when I picked up the hobby again was the breadth, depth, and variety of people’s engagement with creating, painting and kit-bashing their toys soldiers. From the deeply abstract, colourful through to the trad McVey ‘eavy metal nostalgia – there is something for everyone, but I don’t think this event captured it.
Conclusions
Anything that celebrates our hobby is great. But to maximise enjoyment and value - next year maybe just go for 1-day and then take a bunch of your hobby mates out for a beer and a nerd chat after.
I hope you enjoyed reading!
Stay shameful,
Sam
