First, I look forward to going to Gamesday every year. Not just the social part of it, but the experience of seeing new things and the excitement of the day itself. People walking around costumes, banners flying all over the place, screaming maniacs all over the convention, etc. But this year it was SUPER light. I mean there were a total of I think 5-6 costumes, 4 banners, and sometimes quiet enough that you could hear crickets during the convention. To me, compared to past Gamesdays, it sucked because of that, not enough extra things going on.
Second, it seemed as if almost half the convention floor was dedicated to the GW and forgeworld store. I get it, as a business they want to make money. Even in years past I believe there was only one year that I can recall that GW actually did a 20% off sale on models that they had pulled off the shelves and had overstock on. But it seemed this year that they focused on selling things and cutting corners with expenses by getting rid of some fun activities (chaos carnival, big canon, movie screens, full sized marines or orks walking around) and eye candy. Getting rid of these things also means less staff they have to pay also. But in doing so, they killed the mood of Gamesday imo.
Third, there was no demon lounge. As you guys know by now, I love to paint to compete more than painting armies to play. Well, in the past few years, I looked forward to going to the demon lounge to talk with past demon winners to get ideas and insight on painting differently or to better improve my own painting style. No such thing this year. Hopefully they bring it back next year or maybe the demon winners will find a corner and do it on their own.
Lastly, no amazing looking displays or club tables. There was one amazing table this year from Iron Snakes (or something like that) where they had a huge battle barge where you played 40k. The table was big enough to put down a Thunderhawk and it made that model look tiny. Just jaw dropping. But that was about it. GW failed to put out any interesting display tables like years past. Those massive display tables brought tears to peoples eyes because they would tell stories within the display. And also not a lot of club tables this year. I believe that having clubs come in and bringing their own tables and helping run the events throughout the day would help elevate the outcome of Gamesday as a whole.
Well, I'm sure I can go on and on, but enough of me ranting. Onto the good stuff....I'll post up in another topic right after this one.