Greetings from the UK where I'm visiting for a short while (hence lots of posts from Eldrad and not many from me recently!). The news of the day is not the Aussie general election despite claims to the contrary. It is the release of the new Space Marines codex. And I dutifully queued up outside the Games Workshop Oxford store on release day a few minutes before it opened. And yes: there were a small group of people standing on the other side of the road from the store watching as they put the final touches to their displays before opening the door at 10am.
Games Workshop Oxford is just down the road (in the adjacent building in fact) from the Wesley Memorial Methodist Church (if you know Oxford at all), sharing a building with a dry cleaners and a betting shop. Its kind of tucked away, but still very accessible from the major arterial routes that snake through the old city. The store is quite spacious in some regards (certainly bigger than the likes of Chadstone, Australia) but is by no means a battle bunker. That said, it does possess at least 3 large gaming tables with ample room to manoeuvre around the edges without getting in the way of customers. I find the latter can be an issue in some GW stores.
I was there to purchase a copy of the new Space Marines codex. They had several nice displays laid out and an ample pile of the new codex ready to be taken from one of the displays. Allan (staff member, possibly the manager?), whom I spoke to was ace. Particularly when I mentioned my fetish for Death Guard. Had a nice chat about pre-Heresy armies and graviton guns. He's clearly done his homework, is mature, and is very involved in the hobby.
Below is one of the display armies that I snapped: an Imperial Fists force with some neat scenery. I always think yellow is a terrifically hard colour to work with, and this army has totally pulled it off. The impressive "chips" in the armour were abundant on the miniatures and it was clear this was a labour of love. In the background, you can just see the cropped lower half of some of the new boxed sets of marines. They're a bit more grim dark than the old boxes I think, and the prices are also getting expensive now: five pounds per marine in some of the boxes is creeping up to high levels. That said, there was no shortage of customers and the store was feeling nicely packed (not jam packed) after the first 30 mins from opening. All in all, a very pleasant store, well maintained, well positioned, with excellent displays and wonderful staff. I really enjoyed the experience! Thanks Oxford GW!
Games Workshop Oxford is just down the road (in the adjacent building in fact) from the Wesley Memorial Methodist Church (if you know Oxford at all), sharing a building with a dry cleaners and a betting shop. Its kind of tucked away, but still very accessible from the major arterial routes that snake through the old city. The store is quite spacious in some regards (certainly bigger than the likes of Chadstone, Australia) but is by no means a battle bunker. That said, it does possess at least 3 large gaming tables with ample room to manoeuvre around the edges without getting in the way of customers. I find the latter can be an issue in some GW stores.
I was there to purchase a copy of the new Space Marines codex. They had several nice displays laid out and an ample pile of the new codex ready to be taken from one of the displays. Allan (staff member, possibly the manager?), whom I spoke to was ace. Particularly when I mentioned my fetish for Death Guard. Had a nice chat about pre-Heresy armies and graviton guns. He's clearly done his homework, is mature, and is very involved in the hobby.
Below is one of the display armies that I snapped: an Imperial Fists force with some neat scenery. I always think yellow is a terrifically hard colour to work with, and this army has totally pulled it off. The impressive "chips" in the armour were abundant on the miniatures and it was clear this was a labour of love. In the background, you can just see the cropped lower half of some of the new boxed sets of marines. They're a bit more grim dark than the old boxes I think, and the prices are also getting expensive now: five pounds per marine in some of the boxes is creeping up to high levels. That said, there was no shortage of customers and the store was feeling nicely packed (not jam packed) after the first 30 mins from opening. All in all, a very pleasant store, well maintained, well positioned, with excellent displays and wonderful staff. I really enjoyed the experience! Thanks Oxford GW!
2 comments:
Given that this is there biggest release in this calender year busy is probably not what they want. Packed with screaming nerds was there goal.
On the prices, I bet the UK prices seem nice after being in down under. Here in the states the ~60 dollars for the codex is a big turn off for me. I am sure it is lovely and all that but it is just a book for a game that will be spending most of its time sitting on a shelf when it is outdated in just 4 years. A point that was reinforced yesterday as I was digging through storage boxes in my garage for my 3rd ed rulebook.
Thanks for the story. Out is exciting to see and hear about your positive experience.
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