#GRINdark

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A smiling and cheerful Sister is the most dangerous, since she is content and fulfilled in His grace.

I went with my 8yr old boy on the Sunday and he looked at you (in your costume) for a while and said to said "Daddy is that the Scottish Orc lady? Can we go say hello?" and I went "Nah, it can't be!" but I owe him a serious apology 😆

That SoB costume is incredible! Very nice of Alfhild Windrunner to loan it out!

Wish they'd bring back Epic. We used to engage in system assaults by first engaging in space combat with Battlefleet Gothic, then move to the planetary assaults with Epic, then finally fighting select individual battles in 40K. It was simply INCREDIBLE to stretch a campaign out through all those games.

The fact that you gave one of your tickets to your mum is incredibly wholesome. Fantastic

I love how Lukas of Squidmar Miniatures is just chilling at 9:38.

"it probably serves her right for dressing me weird in the 90s" 😂😂😂😂 Great video, loved it!

It worries me when there's the lack of designers and pannels. I worry because it feels like a growing trend within the company to not champion their creatives.

The fact that you got to cosplay as an awesome sister of battle, AND dragged your mum into the photo just warmed my heart, seriously, tears of joy for you!

You basically described exactly how I remember Games Day being. I remember waiting in line for something one year, and an employee had a rolling cart with the Lord of the Rings game on it that we got to demo while we waited, which was great. But by far the biggest thing I will always remember was meeting Studio people; this was right when the big Dark Eldar revamp in 5th edition was happening, and I got to meet Jes freaking Goodwin, Phil Kelly, and even a young Peachy! (I think Adam Troke was there as well?) I'm a giant fan of all things Aeldari, and getting to talk to Jes Goodwin and Phil Kelly, being able to flip through Jes's sketches, was the coolest thing ever to teenage me. I can't imagine not having those sorts of interactions with the creatives.

Hi, cashier at the Warhammer Fest store. If I took a drink for every time someone complained about the ques, I wouldn't be typing this. I was there for five days, two days setting it up and three days serving and taking it down, four days working overtime as well. It was bit mis-managed from my own experience and from customer feedback, some people speculated it was done intentionally but that feels a bit farfetched. I'm glad people complained because most people made a joke of the ques but said "I haven't done anything yet but I'm enjoying it". I just appreciate honest feedback. This was my first ever Warhammer event I've ever attended and given what I was told about their statistics of attendance this was the biggest one they've ever had with 20,000+ attendees, which I speculate they vastly underestimated. 10,000 people on Saturday, 6,000 Sunday and 4,000 Monday. Then again I don't know what you do at Warhammer Fest normally so I could be wrong. There was also a lot of thefts as well due to the layout of the store area being poorly designed as well as the 10th edition and store ques ending up at the store exit. I tried to enjoy what I could but having to balance my break with sightseeing it was difficult but did what I could. Heck, I even got to kill a titan and shout "engine kill" in a titan fight, that was pretty cool and seeing the cosplayers. Also if you saw a staff member glaring at you, that was me. Not out of malice I was just trying to figure out if it was you or not and I've been told I have that kind of face sadly.

It IS an old railway station - Manchester Central! Closed in 1969.

Premium tickets weren't £70, they were £140, making it essentially +£100 for the box + t-shirt.

I came from Germany for this, i paid 430 euros in accomodation, and i spent3 days of quees, i didnt get to play any games because i didnt booked the tournaments, and i didnt try the new 40k because i refuse to stand for 3 hours plus. i asked for a refound, it was absolutely not worth it for me and i feel completely ripped off. if i as around the corner sure, but i will never go to another official warhammer fest, i feel dumb for spending this amount of money for this.

"Straight goofin for the Emperor" made me genuinely LOL. Great video!

09:38 - That's Lukas from Squidmar right behind you. Yay got the easter egg

I've gotten into the hobby for almost 6 months now, I had to talk to GW support one time because a seller on Amazon pointed any help inquiries directly there. I bought the Scions of Macragge box to start my Ultramarines collection and Tigurius was missing a leg piece. I checked the box, all of the sprues to see if it fell out and was stuck and couldn't find it, I emailed support, and while not the fasted responses, they straight up sent me an entire Tigurius even though I was asked if there was just an upgrade sprue or something I could take from to use which was unbelievably helpful

I think the crowds would have been tough for me. I get a little claustrophobic and find crowd's tough going, but would love to bring my son one day. Maybe a normal visit to warhammer world will do us. Glad you enjoyed it, great sister of battle outfit. 👍

great coverage :) speaking as someone that attended one of the NMM classes - it was indeed VERY well done and invaluable! ...I also want to echo the point about much respect being due to the staff there on the weekend, everyone there running things despite the issues did a great job

I used to work with Ben in his previous job before he joined GW and he's such a sweetheart. On the rare occasion that I bump into him at Warhammer World he's always full of smiles and hugs. A real credit to the GW brand ❤

Painting up the finalist pin is such a clever idea, awesome

I was there for just the Monday and had a really good time, but at the same time I didn't bother queuing for any of the events. So we got there at lunch, walked around and talked to people running the booths, looked at golden Daemon and bought the fest models. If I'd been there for the whole weekend or travelled from far away I can imagine being annoyed but as a just day out it's great.

@9:46 “That’s a tanky-tank!” LOVE MAV!!

You made a terrific Sister Louise. Simply awesome! 💥👍

Sugs, your enthusiasm for the hobby is infectious and a true boon. I worked with Ben at his previous workplace, he's one of the nicest guys on the planet, glad you both had fun 😊

honestly, you're absolutely right, the best part of the events, the parts of the two games days i went to that i still remember and tell people about, were interacting with studio/BL/ETC staff (getting a book signed by Graham McNeill, embarrassing myself confusing a Juan Diaz sculpt for one done by Jes Goodwin when gushing over Jes' work when i met him out the front, only to be digging my way out of that hole when my friend took over and gushed about the dark eldar sculpts) whilst maybe a tad rambly, those examples are the tings that made/make events priceless, so i'd hope so long as the staff are willing to come to the events, that they aren't sidelined as seems to be the case, as i cant tell you what i bought at the two games days i went to (other than dreadfleet, maybe space hulk) or what i built, but those human experiences are the ones that stick, even something like (!!?) fifteen years later?

By far the happiest review of the day that I've seen. So refreshing. Also, that man's Horus cosplay was 🔥 (as was your SoB costume)

It is a huge joy seeing you spread your hobby wings. Warhammer Fest looked fun, and you looked smashing in the SoB costume. And Congrats on 55K subs already ❤

They could introduce a registered queue. When you can scan QR code and get a notification when it’s your turn, or just good old numbers and screen which shows what number can come next. So people can do something else when they’re waiting in queue, or join multiple queues.

9:38 a casual Lucas from Squidmar in this shot haha

Yeah the fest was a bit dull in parts but I had staff go above and beyond for me and they were all incredible and did an amazing job

Im really glad people enjoyed it, even when i didnt. And im sad i didnt, it doesnt give me a kick to moan about things, it was more frustrating giving the benefit of the doubt and feeling dissapointed and let down the more the weekend drew out (and as a solo atendee, it really did draw out!) The cost of travel accomodation and parking for that venue was a real drop compared to previous venues, and the content abailable for three day tickets just wasnt there. It was great the amount of community and social content but it wasnt provided by gamesworkshop it was paying customers! It felt mismanaged, but i have endless respect fornstaff that still got the job done in the midst of all that. I hope that is a wierd aberrant year and next year will return to what made previous games days and warhammer fests so good, and to a venue better suited better located and with some good day management.

Got mates texting me going “you and Fi are in the new Rogue Hobbies vid” proper chuffed 😊

that sisters of battle looks amazing

Great video! Really hope the team will sort it out and make the next Warhammer Fest better! This event has so many possibilities

I'm glad Rob the intern can help out with the camera work.

It was cool but nerve wracking to submit my first GD entry, and to see you entering yours right next to me - light competition! Kicking myself I didn’t say hi. Amazing models!

Love see a Sister of battle with a such happy smile ! Remember the old days when met the man himself ;John Blanche gave me my silver Golden Demon ,great days !

It was a fun day out but yes, the additional costs and the queues dampened it a bit. It was lovely to see you there as a hobbies and off duty though. And yes the behind the scenes staff engagement was sadly missing. I (well my hobby obsessed 12yr old) remembers you teaching him how to paint chaos warrior at event. It made his day!!!

This popped up through the Ol' algorithm, so thought I'd give it a watch. Thanks for sharing your experience in such a positive way whilst also explaining yourself clearly and offering fair critique. I think your spot on at 17:30 I unfortunately couldn't make it to This one, but have attended previously ( both at the Ricoh in 2018 & 2019, and Gamedays at the NEC) and one of my favourite experiences was meeting the studio staff. Chatting with the army painters and finding out which armies they don't enjoy painting. Or meeting Jes Goodwin (my favourite designer) and pawing over his sketch book and discussing his design process. The hobby is at its core about personal connection, both to the miniatures and others, and having the ability to engage with the people who help bring these worlds we love to life was great.

I remember going to an old gamesday and meeting James Swallow and getting one of his audiobooks signed by him and got to chat to him for a while. I really enjoyed that and its a fond memory ^^ And maybe your particular sister shows her devotion with fanatic smiling perhaps? Or is really happy to be there!

Me and my friend were there for the full three days (saw you a few times (too shy to say hi)) and we only queued for Boltgun, which admittedly was 2.5 hours on the Saturday. After that we avoided all the queues by being tactical with our time… we got straight into the Painting Hangout first thing Sunday morning with no queue, and timed the Pin Paint for late Sunday when it was quieter. Fest was an amazing experience for me!! But that was only because we planned things out quite carefully

I love your enthusiasm! Need more of it in the community

You're costume was awesome. You should be allowed to smile while wearing it and enjoying the con. Very interesting stuff about the queues. I think for many the event should have been only a day or two. Very interesting video. Hopefully they make improvements going forward. Keep up the good work.

I've just started getting back into 40k after an absence of several years and had no idea Warhammer Fest was a thing, and it was only down the road from me. The last time I went to anything like this was in the mid 90's. The Golden Demon shows at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham and some other thing at the same venue that I can't remember the name of.

Really great to meet you at the Fest with Titan Owners Club. Thanks again for your work on Legio Victorum, glad you liked the banner!! Loving the channel and content!

I've been working away from home for almost five years. I love listening to your videos, your accent reminds me of home.

Awesome video as always!! :D Your Golden Demon entries were flipping fabulous! 🤩

I entered in every Golden Demon back in the day when I was still visiting the Games Day events. Of course I never expected to even survive the first tier of eliminations, but entering as a Golden Demon painter meant that you got into the venue 60 to 90 minutes before the doors opened for the rest of the visitors. Which meant: no queues at *any* stall whatsoever. Coffee with the studio guests before the mayhem started. A great bonus were the looks you got from some of the best painters in Europe waiting next to you, with all their masterpieces delicately packed in padded boxes, while you entered a Tactical Marine you literally carried to the event in your jacket pocket XD.

Great video, glad to hear so many people enjoyed themselves, but hearing a bit more about it makes me miss the old Horus Heresy and Black Library Weekenders which for me were always the pinnacle of GW events.

Thank you for the awesome review!

I enjoy your perspective and hope you keep making videos that feature insight from your professional background. Thank you.

Great video, reminds me of games day 1996 me and 3 friends went. We were 12 and got to ride a coach from basingstoke to Birmingham by ourselves with no adult supervision. Had a great day buying chaos spacemarine stuff and just running about eating sweets and looking at all the massive games tables. Got to see the golden demon stuff though we were all garbage at painting back then coz of gatekeepers at the painting tables and no KZfaq’s to teach us the way. 😅 I remember we were really excited about the spacehulk game?! And we made a massive paper airoplane and threw it during a presentation and people started cheating it and throwing it about. Then someone either wrecked it or stole it and they got boo’d pretty hard. The 90s were pretty rad 😅 apart from all the rage outbursts I’d have whilst at school from chomping on lead miniatures all the damn time

As someone who has been going to games day since 2000 in Brum for a few years, then a haitus while doing uni and stuff until it went to the Ricoh, this year was a huge let down. In terms of the cost, Ive been lucky enough to either live close to the venue or know a friend who can put me up, and travel hasnt been too much of a huge problem. I have my old games day/warhammer fest A4 official programmes from all the ones ive attended; printed on glossy paper, with some info about the team who work in the design studios, wrote the books etc; even managed to get some signed by writers/artists etc. This year i have a crappy A5 folded up bit of paper with a map on one side, a programme and a load of adverts - which is a perfect comparator to how warhammer fest felt this year. The BEST thing about fest this year was all the stuff that "Warhammer" the brand didnt really do - the cubicle 7 and other licenced product section, the cosplay folk, seeing the fantastic golden daemon entries, and the titan battle. Yes, "Warhammer" gave them a space, but that space was poorly laid out and terribly excecuted. The lack of the studio teams was a huge dissapointment, and the only actual warhammer models in the whole place that you could look at (apart from those that GD folk brought) was about 6 cabinets crushed up against the 10th ed area and shop. In the video you said you didnt really have a typical fest as you did some cosplay and didnt really interact with other things - thats because apart from queueing for the shop, GD cabinets, a seminar that you could watch at home on twitch, or 10th ed demo tables, there was nothing else to do. I had a great time; i got to spend the weekend with a buddy from school being a nerd and looking at some fantastically painted minis. But i could have done that with a twitch account at their house. This years theme was GW being a tyranid and sucking up as much cash as possible from anyone and everyone for as little effort as possible. (The staff at the event were fantastic though)

A really great look at the event. I have never been to FEST, but I would love to at some stage. One of the things I would like, is meeting the people behind the curtain, so I am all in on your plan.

From working in events, I know they need to keep a lot of space open for attendees to generally walk around (health and safety reasons), which I do feel like was needed especially on Saturday. But it does feel like outside of pre-event ticketed things like the workshops, Kill Team Live or the tournaments, day visitors had not a whole bunch to engage with. Maybe a bigger venue is the solution so they can cram more in? Love the idea of things like a Necromunda area that's all themed etc and a few beginner boards, with other systems getting a small space of their own around the show. Maybe even merging the tournaments into those spaces. Either way, glad you had a great time and it was lovely to chat to you briefly!

Didn’t get to go but I’d like to try for next year. Great review and hopefully some of the issues can be addressed!

Great to see you here 😃

It's kind of funny, I hadn't signed up for warhammer + yet and thus hadn't known your work for GW but still this channel was recommended and I can't believe how quickly these videos go, I absolutely adore how you share stories and it makes me really appreciate the passion people have in this hobby. Tomorrow I'm gonna paint, dang it.

From someone who would love to go, but is too far away (Canada), thanks for taking us along for the journey, Louise! It sounds like a ton of fun :)

I saw you at the 2019 or 2018 fest and talked to you for an age about artwork you were making, a reminder of how wonderful it was to meet studio teams in the older style of event. Now we can enjoy your content here in stead!

Delighted to see your videos being suggested! Your content is awesome 😊

Ben ran our table for the demo game of 40K and he was an awesome dude! Me and my friend both commented how enthusiastic and engaging he was despite having such a intense and monotonous job at Fest!

17:29 completely agree get the studio staff back. They were one of the main draws to Warhammer Fest. They were always a joy to speak to and so passionate and generous with their time. It was also great to find out what projects they had actually worked on as they have not been credited for soooooooooo long. That needs to change. Perhaps a freedom of information request needs to be made? 🤔

Sounds like you had a blast! I must go next time, and i now want to build my own Dark Angel cosplay outfit!

Geee, I love the innocence of someone who went and did X and enjoyed themselves, in their own way. Thank you for being the rare voice who praises the quality of humans who drove the excitement, worked their butts off for the customers. I wish GW did a better job at making their employee's feel valued, because they are what makes events like this.

Your enthusiasm is infectious. Love it! ❤

First Rogue Hobbies video for me. How have I missed this!? Love your energy!

That reminds me a lot of my trip to games day at the Birmingham NEC years ago!

Great video! I feel like I learned so much about what the event actually is. Thank you!

Haha I love that you brought Lesley! Looks like she was a proper proud Mumma there. I went to Games Day back in the day and it was also huge and there did seem to be more to do, but again it was so busy that getting into the painting challenge or the like was kinda hard. There was also all the club participation tables, and I spent two years helping to run one of those which again gave me a big thing to do each day.

Only just worked out you did the a load of the blood bowl art, which is my favourite art style in all of GW so that’s awesome! Wish fest/GW championed the game more, it’s so accessible and fun.

Thank you so much for this review. It's so fair-minded and honest, and I'm extremely grateful that. This channel is such a blessing for the hobby!

I went to many Golden Demon and Games Day events in the 90's, from the Assembly Rooms in Derby to the Birmingham Indoor Area, starting as a regular punter and finishing off as a staff member working the events and organising the store's coach trip to the event. They were great events back in the day.... The location used to be Manchester Central station, which got re-developed as an events and conference centre, called the G-Mex, so it's name has changed since I moved. I used to work at GW Warrington and Chester in the 90's and even covered at the temporary Manchester store for a few days, as the original store was closed after the IRA bomb

Thank you Louise! Love to hear your experience and I think you’re feedback would make it a better experience

I didnt get to do everything either tbf, was happier spending time with friends i dont see often. Mind you myself and my fiancee painted some pins which was fun. Really proud of her, shes not geeky in the slightest.

Was my first Warhammer Fest and really enjoyed it aside from the queues of course. Was great meeting so many nice people, didn’t happen to bump into you but did see the awesome Sister cosplay from afar :) Would have just said it’s awesome to see that the channel is doing so well already! Maybe catch ya at the next one :)

Ben is an absolute legend - he would randomly help out at Bugmans when it was rammed even though it wasn’t his job at all. AAAA++++ dude! I didn’t go to Warhammerfest - Thanks for highlighting the set design. It is something I haven’t seen reported on before yet it looks awesome! I hope you’re enjoying your channel as much as I am!

Watching people's faces when they asked the dude at the shop how much the objective markers were was peak shock value.

New to the hobby and therefor my first WH Fest. Went with my bro, also new to the hobby and my fiance who appreciates how cool the models look and not much more. Overall we enjoyed it but only because we got to do the laser tag at the end of the day. Having half a room of tables (on the Monday only about 10 were in use) and then a huge chuck of the hall with just empty floor felt like a missed opportunity and not really excusable. We took a walk over to the local Warhammer store and much preferred looking around that compared to the store in Fest which thinking about it should never be the case. The staff in the venue were very good and helpful, other than that I don't really know what much else I'd be able to talk about in a positive light. The figures, dioramas etc were of course great but I've seen that and more at Warhammer World. I'd I would like to go again next year but I'd have to hear about some big, positive changes before I do. Great video :)

Just noticed the goblin green shelf. That's amazong 😀

I bumped into you on Saturday to say thanked for everything you to to improve the hobby. I agree with everything you said in the video. I think if I hadn't bought 2 tickets for the tournaments I would have been done after the first day. I'm sad I didn't have time to play 40k.

Thanks for sharing!! I've been to lots of cons but not a dedicated Warhammer con! This would be something to check out in future!

You're so yourself, never change. You're awesome.

Sounds like a really good time! Awesome video!

Just discovered your channel, looking forward to seeing more 😊

I’m just here for the Goblins….❤

Haha, it's lovely to see someone who's gets as over excited as I do over this kinda stuffs 🎉

Very informative video, it was interesting that you saw the event from a public side. I personally didnt go as ticket, transport and accommodation costs were high. The cosplay section looked amazing and your outfit was very detailed. After hearing your comments about things to participate totally agree queues are massive, so you walk off looking for something to get involved in and end up in another queue.......might try next time

I agree with your points, I remember going to Fest when 8th 40k was coming out and adamant I wasn't interested as I was always a fantasy player who got back into the hobby when my son was old enough to play AOS...because of the things to do I came out rebooked on Blood Bowl and picking up the 8th starter set when it launched. Open Day was the same, the Q&A sessions with the studio team and the passion they had got my talking to staff who showed me what I was missing with MESBG which I adore!

Ben is a treasure! I've been away from warhammer, and miniatures, for almost 20 years and just recently got back into it. There are so many awesome, generous, people in the hobby these days. I'm sure there always was, but it's good to see those people get some much deserved attention. And it's so amazing that I can just go on youtube and see painting lessons from some of the best miniature painters in the world. I remember being 10 yrs old and struggling to figure out how on earth people managed to paint like the pictures I saw in White Dwarf. What a time to be alive :)

"That was my first impression going in, oh my god it was huge" Alright that should tide me over for a while...

I love your energy!

Great video thank you! I dropped in with my 12 year old son who’s got into warhammer in the last year. We really enjoyed checking it all out but didn’t get to do the queueing things as he (and I) just didn’t have it in us!

One interesting suggestion I saw from someone that attended is that they could have had more room for 40K demos and other casual gaming/events by having the big 40K and AoS tournament at Warhammer World on a different weekend. It's not like the tournament players just won't attend because it's not at Warhammer Fest. And honestly, I'd hate to have to pay for an entire convention ticket, then hardly get to see any of it because I was too busy at the tournament.

Glad to know you had a good time. GO MAN U ❤🖤🎈

It sounds like the biggest issue is simply finding a good enough venue to host it all... Maybe the best option is to separate the tournaments from the rest of the event? That would certainly ease some of the space pressures, and maybe help with the queues...

Ha! My hands get a cameo at 9.57! 😁