Games Workshop

Games Workshop has declared an 80p per share dividend as the retailer continues to see strong trading momentum after a bumper year of returns.

The latest payout takes the Warhammer creator's dividend payments to 265p per share so far this financial year, compared to 195p per share by the same time last year.

The Nottingham-based business, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2025, said the payouts reflected its policy to distribute 'truly surplus cash'.

Games Workshop expects to report at least £295million in total revenue and pre-tax profits of no less than £120million for the six months ending 1 December.

Its overall sales and pre-tax profits for the same period in 2023 were £248.6million and £13million, respectively.

Analysts at broker Peel Hunt said the company had enjoyed 'a busy few weeks,' with Space Marine sales topping 5 million units and the Secret Level animated anthology series becoming Amazon Prime's top-rated show.

One of Secret Level's episodes was based on the video game Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.

Like the Skaven mounting an expedition across the scorched Dark Lands, Games Workshop Group PLC (LSE:GAW) is entering territory fraught with dangers.

Following two years of deliberations, the Warhammer 40,000 owner has formally granted Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) exclusive rights to adapt its prized intellectual property into film and television content.

With the agreement, Games Workshop is putting its reputation – and 40 years of goodwill among loyal Warhammer fans – on the line.

Turning beloved, geeky franchises into mainstream content has had a mixed history, to say the least.

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For Games Workshop, the stakes are ostensibly higher.

Since 1983, Warhammer enthusiasts have kept Games Workshop afloat by being loyal customers of its pricey figurines, some of which go for more than £100 each.

The company exists because of a tight-knit base of fans that risks being alienated if their hobby is not given the treatment it deserves in a big-budget adaptation.

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At a deeper level, the licensing deal represents an evolution of Games Workshop as a company.

The partnership is the biggest step Games Workshop has taken to becoming as much a media licensing business as it is a seller of figurines.

While licensing already forms a part of Games Workshop’s income through video games and comic books, it only comprised around 5% of revenues in the last financial year.

Given the minimal cost base associated with licensing, licensing operating profit was closer to 13% of total operating profit.

Games Workshop has long held this IP close to its chest, endeavouring to gatekeep the Warhammer brand from having its appeal diluted.

This, Coatsworth told Proactive, is why the deal with Amazon has taken so long to get off the ground.

“It wants to be sure that any partners uphold the quality associated with the Games Workshop empire. Customers love its IP including Warhammer and they don’t want to see its appeal diluted by simple money-grabbing initiatives,” he said.

But if it goes to plan, there could be more licensing deals on the horizon.

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Warhammer figurines aren’t cheap. At a 30 times price-to-earnings (PE) ratio on a £4.6 billion market capitalisation, there’s a case to be made that Games Workshop shares aren’t cheap either.

There could be even more price appreciation to come once FTSE 100 inclusion triggers passive investor purchases.

Nonetheless, one can’t help but wonder if, given the potential for licensing revenue growth, Games Workshop will attract takeover interest in due course.

A bid from all-consuming media goliath Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS, ETR:WDP) is certainly not out of the realm of possibility.

Though given the Mouse House’s comprehensive dismantling of the Star Wars extended universe, expect Warhammer fans to take up arms against the proposition.

Germany has Europe’s industrial titans. Denmark is home to one of the world’s hottest pharma stocks. France has the kings of luxury goods. Meanwhile, the latest recruit to the UK’s blue-chip index makes injection-moulded figurines of necrons, dark angels and imperial knights.

It would be easy to depict Games Workshop, whose shares will join the FTSE 100 from December 23, as emblematic of the growing unseriousness of the country’s stock market. Its central brand is Warhammer, a fantasy realm similar in concept to Dungeons & Dragons.

In the popular imagination, Warhammer is about as cool as trainspotting. But books about wizards who grew up in under-stairs cupboards and triumphed over the Dementors weren’t cool either — until they sold 500mn copies and spawned eight blockbuster films. By the same token, Games Workshop has plenty to teach the rest of corporate Britain.

Those who despair at the UK’s inability to spawn a Facebook and want our kids to learn Visual Basic in nursery, often seem dismissive of our creative industries — and Games Workshop is a creator par excellence. Over three hundred staff beaver away in its Nottingham headquarters writing storylines that draw on decades’ worth of characters and lore, and designing the figures used to enact them.

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While signature British brands from Dyson to Dr Martens have offshored production to Asia, Games Workshop still makes all its figures in the UK, right down to the paint that collectors use to customise them. Even Lego, headquartered in the similarly provincial Danish city of Billund, cannot match that.

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The company’s senior managers — whose average tenure is 20 years — are smart enough to realise that Warhammer is a hobby that many will outgrow. But rather than diversify by making acquisitions, a reliable way to lose focus, they concentrate on recruiting new devotees.

Licensing its storylines and characters to media groups and games developers (another sector where the UK punches well above its weight) helps introduce Warhammer to potential new hobbyists. Almost 8,000 schools and libraries are now members of the Warhammer Alliance, a collection of initiatives to attract young players, while the company has partnered with the Scouts and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme in the UK.

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Returns for investors have certainly been in another realm. Since Kevin Rountree took over as chief executive in 2015, Games Workshop’s share price has increased by 2,700 per cent. The All-share index has limped up just 28 per cent over the same period. Conservative financial management, a focus on cash generation rather than profits and a policy of returning surplus capital has resulted in total dividends of over £600mn.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/19769669

Ratnik Tactical, the Russian military equipment maker, said on Telegram: “The best warriors of humanity applied scrolls with prayers and promises to their armour before the battle.

“We really liked this image, and we decided that Russian soldiers are rightfully the best warriors of humanity, and can also wear such scrolls into battle. Thousands of seals have already gone to the front, and gave hope to soldiers in the darkest hour.”

The seals, with the words of Psalm 90, are similar in style to Warhammer 40k and cost about £9. The psalm is about the brevity of life.

It replaces the space marine skull with a Christian symbol and is available in normal and “sooty versions”.

The phenomenon was spotted and researched by ChrisO_wiki, a military history author and blogger on the Ukraine war.

He said on X: “The seals have been blessed by priests at the Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces in Kubinka near Moscow.”

“Again, this reflects Warhammer 40k lore, which has Space Marine Chaplains blessing purity seals ‘with chanted litanies in honour of the Primarch and the Emperor.”

He added that it reflected the huge popularity of the game in Russia and Ukraine and purity seals have been worn by soldiers on both sides as far back as February last year.

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The Ukrainians also have their own purity seals. Images shared online showed them being stuck on military vehicles.

Other soldiers sport real-life versions of the game’s battle badges and gruesome skull symbols.

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The Russian seals have been criticised by some for fusing Orthodox theology with pagan fantasy.

Alexander Soldatov, the religious journalist, said: “Amulets are not typical for the Orthodox tradition at all, they have always been perceived as an element of paganism, magic, in this case, combat magic.

“But in war, all means are good, and the Russian Orthodox Church no longer shies away from using any mechanisms, including purely occult ones.”

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Warhammer maker Games Workshop has suffered a major shareholder revolt after handing millions in bonuses to its top bosses.

The Nottingham-headquartered company saw almost 21 per cent vote against its remuneration report and nearly 27 per cent vote against its remuneration policy at its AGM today (Wednesday, 18 September).

Following record sales and pre-tax profit for the listed business, Games Workshop handed its chief executive, Kevin Rountree, a bonus worth 150 per cent of his base salary.

Its chief financial officer, Rachel Tongue stepped down from her role after 27 years at Games Workshop at the AGM and is to be succeeded by Liz Harrison, also received the same percentage bonus.

Rountree has a total pay packet of £1.87m which is made up of £787,000 in fixed pay and the same amount linked to targets.

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Under the firm’s policy, each executive director must use 67 per cent of the 150 per cent bonus to buy shares in Games Workshop after tax and hold them for at least three years.

There are few miniature painting contents as prestigious as the Golden Demon, Games Workshop’s showcase for the artistry and talent in the Warhammer hobby. After the March 2024 Golden Demon was marred by controversy around AI content in a gold-medal winning entry, GW has revised its guidelines, and any kind of AI assistance is out.

The Warhammer 40k single miniature category at the Adepticon 2024 Golden Demon was won by Neil Hollis, who submitted a custom, dinosaur-riding Aeldari Exodite (a fringe Warhammer 40k faction that has long been part of the lore but never received models). The model’s base included a backdrop image which, it emerged, had been generated using AI software.

Online discussions soon turned sour as fans quarrelled over the eligibility of the model, the relevance of a backdrop in a competition about painting miniatures, the ethics of AI-generated media, and Hollis’ responses to criticism.

Games Workshop didn’t issue any statements at the time, but it has since updated the rules for the next Golden Demon tournament. In the FAQs section of the latest Golden Demons rules packet, the answer to the question “Am I allowed to use Artificial Intelligence to generate any part of my entry?” is an emphatic “No”.

Warhammer figurine maker Games Workshop will soon plough millions of its record-breaking profits back into its Nottingham headquarters to build a new factory. The globally-dominant wargaming giant has outlined its intent to spend millions of pounds on expanding its manufacturing complex on Willow Road, in Lenton, so it can keep up with soaring demand for its miniatures.

The company behind the Warhammer 40,000 phenomenon unveiled plans to build a new factory to continue its impressive growth last month, and now further details have emerged about the expansion scheme. This proposed workshop, which is pending planning permission from Nottingham City Council, would cost £9 million to complete according to the firm's recently filed financial results.

The financial records revealed the land for the fourth factory had been purchased in 2020 at a cost of £2.7 million. CEO Kevin Rountree, writing in Games Workshop's end-of-year filings, said: "We are proud to manufacture our product in Nottingham which is the centre of expertise for our global business.

"It’s where we started and where we intend to stay." More than 350 staff currently work at the site's three existing factories to produce millions of the popular figures, with the directors hoping the fourth factory will be open by spring 2026.

The Warhammer 40k film and TV series deal between Games Workshop and Amazon may fall apart this year, unless the two teams can “mutually” agree “creative guidelines” by December 2024. That’s according to new information revealed in Games Workshop’s annual financial report, published on Tuesday.

Games Workshop granted “exclusive rights to Amazon in relation to films and television series set within the Warhammer 40,000 universe” in an agreement announced in December 2023. Celebrity champion of Warhammer 40k Henry Cavill is attached to the project, both as an executive producer, and prospective star.

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According to Games Workshop’s most recent annual report, it and Amazon Content Services LLC are spending the 12 months from December 2023 to December 2024 “working together” to “agree creative guidelines for the films and television series to be developed by Amazon”. The agreement between the firms “will only proceed if the creative guidelines are mutually agreed”.

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The report states: “Failure to protect our IP may erode our competitive advantage and/or undermine our reputation, which will negatively impact our financial performance”. This refers both to the risk from unlicensed use of GW’s properties, and to licensed use that distorts or diminishes the brand.

The deal with Amazon also gives if the option “to license equivalent rights in the Warhammer Fantasy universe following the release of the initial Warhammer 40,000 production”.

Wargaming giant Games Workshop wants to build a new Nottingham factory as it plots years of expansion to keep up with booming customer demand. The company behind the phenomenon Warhammer miniatures has unveiled plans to build a new manufacturing facility to continue its impressive growth.

The globally dominant tabletop games firm, which made £94.5 million profit in the six months up to November 2023, said it will be investing to grow its complex on Willow Road, Lenton, over the next several years. More than 350 staff currently work around the clock at the site's three existing factories to produce millions of the popular figures, but even that is now not enough to meet demand according to the company.

Games Workshop plans to open its fourth factory on land at the rear of its headquarters in spring 2026, before relocating its packing operations to the new facility. Moving these operations out of factories along Willow Road would then create space to expand its tooling and injection moulding operations - enabling production to ramp up.

Over the next five or more years there will be significant investment in machinery and infrastructure, as well as the creation of new manufacturing jobs, according to planning documents submitted by the business. "At this point in time the number of jobs and their phasing cannot be quantified," the business told Nottingham City Council

It seems like Games Workshop is just rolling out the new editions for everything this year. Talisman is back with a new 5th edition coming out July 1, 2024. And the first 5th edition expansion will be out later this year, too! But let’s get into all the details.

.So what’s new in this edition? It’s the same gameplay you remember. Two to six players are competing to traverse the land and gain power in hope to become powerful enough to claim the Crown of Command. For the new edition there’s new art and some “smart refinements” to the gameplay to make it a smoother experience.

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Oh hey, remember above when we mentioned an expansion was coming later this year? Well say hello to Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons.

Talisman is no stranger to expansions. The classic game had a TON of cool extras that really (and literally) expanded the board game. But Fate Beckons is adding something never before seen in Talisman: Co-operative game play.

Warhammer fans and AEW wrestling fans will soon be doing the Predator hand-shaking meme thanks to an upcoming exhibition match where Claudio Castagnoli and Kip Sabian will compete using Age of Sigmar’s new Spearhead mode.

The bout is one part of the miniature wargame’s big preview of Age of Sigmar’s upcoming 4th Edition - Mortal Realms Reforged during the Dallas Open at the Arlington eSports Stadium on May 16th and 17th. Castagnoli and Sabian will take control of a Skaven and Stormcast Eternals army and battle it out using the recently announced Spearhead game mode.

Sitting somewhere between lightning-quick skirmishes and complex full army battles, Spearhead advertises a gateway to large-scale Warhammer played on a battlefield that’s only a quarter of the core game’s recommendation - and not coincidentally perfect for the kitchen table. Warhammer will be releasing Spearhead boxes for many of its existing factions, and existing Vanguard boxes will be rebranded going forward. Other changes include simplified Warscrolls, a Reinforcements keyword that brings certain defeated units back to the board and several other changes meant to streamline the four-round matches.

In what has become an annual tradition, Games Workshop has announced an across-the-board price increase to its miniatures for the popular Warhammer tabletop games. Games like Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, and the recently launched Warhammer: The Old World are titans in tabletop miniatures, but are often lamented as some of the most expensive miniatures skirmish games that you can play.

That complaint isn't without merit, but the high prices also aren't without reason—Games Workshop's miniatures are certainly some of the most detailed, impressive ones you can buy, with by far the most varied range of models. Games Workshop, however, is increasingly facing competition from higher-resolution, cheaper 3D printers and an army of home sculptors selling the license to print as many of their designs as you'd like.

In a post pragmatically titled "2024 Pricing Update" on its Warhammer Community website, Games Workshop announced that prices will increase between 3% and 5% on many of its products, varying depending on what they are. The prices for some products won't increase: Paint pots, paint sets, White Dwarf magazine, and Games Workshop's Black Library fiction won't get more expensive. That hasn't always been the case in the past.

The 2022 price increase was a major point of pain, with the cost of miniatures rising by around 5% across the board, with books, scenery, and resin minis rising 10% and metal miniatures spiking a whopping 20%. The 2023 rise was an average of 6% for plastic miniatures, and another rise for resin miniatures.

US-based tabletop industry publication ICv2 has pointed out that this is the third year in a row that Games Workshop has publicly announced a price increase. Prior to these more public posts, which started in 2022, Games Workshop's price increases were mostly buried in corporate reports and generally topped out at about 3%. Though it has caused ongoing shipping concerns, Games Workshop has also—at least publicly—escaped many of the worst effects of being a UK-based manufacturer during and after Brexit.

But in recent weeks the sprawling Warhammer fandom has been enveloped in a dramatic controversy – or at least you would think so, from some news headlines.

“It’s Wokehammer! Games Workshop engulfed in gender row with fans after it said Warhammer squadron that was previously thought of as men-only has ‘always had females’,” screamed one MailOnline headline. What had prompted these claims of outrage was Games Workshop introducing a new female character into one of its science fantasy games, Warhammer 40,000. The character in question was part of a group of genetically engineered warriors called Custodes, which had, so far, not had any women models in it – but, according to Games Workshop, had always been included in the weighty narrative “lore” of the game.

The Mail had seen a number of tweets complaining about it, such as one from a games designer saying that Games Workshop was “‘gender flipping’ characters for ‘woke points’”. This was portrayed as a widespread backlash from fans. But, as a fan who frequently browses message boards for tips on playing and painting, or to look at interesting bits of background dug up by people who have bothered to read the many books published about the various Warhammer universes, my experience has been quite different.

If you actually look at the online spaces where fans of the games discuss the hobby they love, most don’t seem very bothered. On the large Reddit forums dedicated to Warhammer games, most of the posts concerning female Custodes seem to consist of fan art, complaints about those complaining or pleas to stop moaning about the insertion of female characters and start moaning about the unfair new rules, which they believe make it harder to win games (something pretty much all players complain about after the regular rules updates). Nerdy gamers are far less reactionary than some in the media would like to depict us.

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But where once those getting angry about changes bringing greater inclusivity might have been the overwhelming majority, this time they seem at best a vocal minority. That this is the mood on Reddit is even more surprising, given that the social network was once one of the primary breeding grounds for Gamergate, the toxic online movement of 2014-15 that spewed hate towards women with the temerity to create, play, enjoy and critique video games.

In the decade since Gamergate, Reddit has been blamed for the rise of Donald Trump and the “alt-right”, which is perhaps a little overblown but also not entirely without merit. The tactics and talking points employed by both the online right and many politicians have grown out from the bedrooms of those angry that women are spoiling the spaces they thought were theirs alone. The same childish hatred of “wokification” can still be seen in every other post from X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk.

But it looks like even those online spaces once dominated by people who hated change, and who wanted the culture they consumed to reflect less-progressive times, no longer have the loudest voices.

It’s a lesson that politicians might want to pay attention to. The culture wars were pioneered in online spaces filled with nerds. But the nerds seem to be moving on. Even in the world of Warhammer, one of the geekiest and most traditionally male corners of gaming, those getting angry about greater inclusivity are losing.

Rachel Tongue, Games Workshop’s current Chief Financial Officer, has sold roughly $875,000 of her share holdings in the firm, according to a share dealing notification Games Workshop published on Monday. Tongue has already announced her intention to leave the firm behind Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Age of Sigmar: she will step down from her executive position at the 2024 AGM, and plans to depart in January 2025.

Tongue joined the Warhammer 40k manufacturer in September 1996 as group tax manager, two years after the firm was first listed on the London Stock Exchange. For the last nine years she has been part of the firm’s board of directors, first as group finance director and since 2022 as chief financial officer. Her intention to retire was revealed in the firm’s half year report, published in January this year.

According to the share dealing notification, Tongue sold 7,500 shares on April 19, at an average value of $117 (£94.893) per share, netting her $879,000 (£711,697.50). She still holds 3,691 shares, almost exactly one third of her original holdings.

As a 15-year-old girl with a voracious desire to play TTRPGs and a friend group who couldn't be less interested in the idea, I struggled to organically tap into the tabletop hobby. My first contact with wargames happened on the suggestion of a teacher of mine. Apparently, her son (a fellow D&D nerd) wandered into the Warhammer store after the Age of Sigmar launch drew in him like a moth to a fantasy flame. Cue the friendly sales assistants initiating him into the wonderful world(s) of Warhammer. Yes, please. I’ll have what he’s having.

Once I convinced my best friend to stray from our usual Saturday routine of drinking bubble tea and buying tat at Forbidden Planet, the plan was in motion. I was going to the Warhammer store. Unfortunately, I didn't exactly receive the same warm reception.

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Progress is being made in representation for women, POC, and LGBTQ+ people in Warhammer games. No doubt, this is a worthwhile development (even despite the slightly scary, very politically charged backlash). Even in the absence of this, the most meaningful inclusion happens at your local store and within the community itself.

In hobby spaces like Warhammer which have developed an unfortunate boys club reputation, it's just as important to see female players around the table as it is to see female minis on it. In order for that to happen, they have to feel accepted and welcomed.

So make an effort to engage new players, be kind, and try be receptive to their questions. As turns out, it's pretty easy to stop a teenage girl from playing Warhammer if you don't.

The first edition of Warhammer 40k, Rogue Trader, was written in 1987 largely by Rick Priestley, an up and coming young game designer who had cut his teeth co-writing the original Warhammer Fantasy battles. It was a hodgepodge of ideas from many sources: Frank Herbert’s Dune, 2000AD comic strips like Judge Dredd and Nemesis the Warlock, Michael Moorcock’s fantasy and sci-fi, Philip José Farmer’s The World of Tiers, Bryan Ansell’s Laserburn wargame.

We can add to that Priestley’s lived experience in mid 20th century Britain; the long-tail of the Second World War and the end of British Empire; the ongoing civil discontent of the ‘70s and ‘80s between trade unions and the government; the UK’s ongoing military operations in Northern Ireland; state sanctioned support for the South African Apartheid government; and the Falklands war. All fed into an early 40k corpus that was politically charged and anti-authoritarian.

Since Rogue Trader was published, Warhammer 40k has been developed and expanded with a ridiculous quantity of content. It isn’t one single thing any more – it’s a complex of Warhammer 40k books, Warhammer 40k Codexes, miniatures, Warhammer plus animations, tie-in Warhammer 40k games on PC and console, even marketing materials. There’s more of it than any one person can engage with, and the focus has been split even further.

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Warhammer 40k lore has developed in directions that directly undermine its ability to criticize the real-world inspirations of the Imperium. While Rogue Trader presented an Imperium that’s arguably as atrocious as the forces that opposed it, the threats it faces have since escalated wildly, weakening the setting’s satirical base by giving the Imperium more convincing excuses to be awful.

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The irony and exaggeration remain, but they’re now the background to a battle for survival, told from the point of view of (usually) relatable, sympathetic and enjoyable Imperial characters – satirical motifs no longer pointed at a satirical target.

While the Imperium is clearly corrupt, inefficient, and ruinous to its citizens, the reality of its situation has changed a critique into a question. Are these acceptable prices for continued survival? Are these inevitable consequences of continued survival? Great fodder for sci-fi debates, but ineffective satire.

Turned up when looking for information on my previous post and it deserves its own one, especially as Bolt Thrower were never on the label.

Throughout the course of music history, few bands embody their chosen aesthetics as completely as Bolt Thrower, a group that plucked its name and aesthetic from the fantasy role playing game Warhammer.

Born in the industrial heartlands of Birmingham in 1986, this band was more than just a musical endeavor. For Bolt Thrower, music was warfare, warfare was art, and art was a reflection of the universe’s inherent chaos.

Bolt Thrower was the perfect soundtrack to this universe. From the moment they formed, the band were on a mission to create a sonic equivalent to the epic battles depicted in the game.

Their 1989 album Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness was their most explicit ode to the Warhammer world, with Jon Sibbick album cover and song titles borrowed directly from the source materials.

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However, over a decade after the album’s release, a copyright dispute with Games Workshop led to the original cover art being replaced. Despite this legal kerfuffle, the fury of the album remains unchanged – a fitting tribute to a game about relentless warfare in a universe where hope is but a flicker in the endless night.

The Old World is Games Workshop's ongoing revival of the Warhammer Fantasy setting as a wargame, after its destruction in 2015 to make way for Age of Sigmar. The weird part is, Cubicle 7 already sells a TTRPG based in the Warhammer Fantasy setting, and has for years—it's called Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and is itself a continuation of a system that first came out in the '80s. This isn't a new edition for that, and doesn't seem to be replacing it—it's a new, separate game. The obvious question is: why?

Games Workshop has finalised a deal with Amazon to develop films and television series based on the games company’s Warhammer 40,000 series. 

The deal, which was first announced in December last year, gives Amazon exclusive rights in relation to content set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, as well as an option to license equivalent rights in

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The agreement is a “game changer” for Games Workshop, according to analysts at investment bank Peel Hunt. “It has taken a fair bit of time to go through the legal process, and was not helped by the writers’ and authors’ strikes.”

They added that as Games Workshop have said their full-year forecasts were unchanged, “any upfront payment is modest”.

“This is in line with our expectations, as the value in this relationship is bringing the Warhammer world to life and to a wider audience,” the analysts added. the Warhammer Fantasy universe following the release of the initial production. 

Warhammer maker Games Workshop is to pay all its staff a £2,500 Christmas bonus as half-year profits rose to nearly £100 million.

The payout, a combined £7.5 million, is up from £1,500 per employee last year. It comes as profit grew by 12.4% to £94 million, on sales of £235 million, also up on last year.

But investors, who have become used to upgrades, were not impressed. Jefferies analysts Andrew Wade and Grace Gilberg flagged “markedly slower” growth in the second quarter.

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The shares tumbled by as much as 13% to 9224p, knocking £450 million off the multi-billion-pound company's market cap. That’s 21% off their July peak, but still up more than 200% over the last five years and 20 times the price they were trading at in 2016.

The bonus is enough for a fan of Games Workshop’s flagship — and famously expensive — Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game to build the two-foot tall Mars Pattern Warlord Titan and equip it with a pair of power claws and a set of laser blasters.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/4676182

John Blanche is discussing some of his most iconic artworks. Tuomas Pirinen also drops by for a short bit.

A few years ago, I was changing costumes between scenes in a period drama, stepping out of 18th Century workwear and into some noble's finery, when a fellow cast member told me something I had never expected to hear. They had worked at Games Workshop for many years, and they told me that when Pokémon arrived in the UK, it nearly brought the company - Games Workshop - to its knees.

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I began by digging around in Games Workshop's financial records on the government's website. I sifted through a decade's worth of documents, figuring that surely if something like this had happened, there would be a record of it.

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Success, I found it, and almost immediately something in it caught my eye: suspicious remarks made by chairman Tom Kirby in reference to UK sales. "By our own standards this has been a disappointing year," he wrote. Then he added, cryptically: "There has been some loose talk recently questioning the health of the Games Workshop Hobby." (The Hobby is how GW execs refer to the miniatures business.) "The Hobby is in rude health, and is continuing to spread profitability around the world."

Loose talk? Why would Kirby feel the need to say something like that unless Games Workshop was under threat?

I read on - and made my biggest discovery yet. It was a remark made by Chris Prentice, Games Workshop CEO at the time, in reference to those disappointing UK sales. "For some time now we believe that an element of our UK like-for-like growth has been achieved by increasing the appeal of our stores at the lower end of the customer age range," he wrote. "We do not believe that many of these youngsters are capable of truly participating in all aspects of a complex hobby, which involves reading, painting and strategic thinking.

"Consequently," he added, and this is the important bit: "we have allowed our customer base to become vulnerable to toy fads. Last year we saw a sharp decline in sales to this age group."

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"In probably May-June 2000 we made a profit warning," he says, "and we included the game known as 'the p-word' in that profit warning, saying that basically Pokémon had hit our UK business - and our UK retail business in particular - quite hard and that was going to cause a gap in our profitability for the year."

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There remained those among the Games Workshop higher-ups who believed a younger audience really was the way to go. "We certainly had one strong faction that would have argued that reducing the age profile was an entirely good thing," Prentice says, "capturing them earlier, keeping them longer, producing Junior Warhammer, let's call it - an easy clip-together version with different colour armies playable right from the box. Rather than the more complicated building models, painting... The more sophisticated hobby. And that was a tension that was in the business certainly the whole time I was there."

But Prentice's side got the upper hand and the company implemented a cross-business working party to refocus Games Workshop on who they believed the core customers really were: the older audience. And it worked. Within six months the company was apparently back in double-digit growth. "We recognised the problem, got together, came up with a plan to put it right and put it right," Prentice says.

Games Workshop’s remarkable run of success continues, as the Warhammer 40,000 maker’s sales smashed expectations yet again over the summer.

Revenue rose by 16.5% year-on-year to £127 million, and profit rocketed by 46% to £57 million as customers spent more on indoor hobbies during the summer washout.

Games Workshop said the rise was “driven by healthy growth across all channels” as it launched the 10th edition “Leviathan” Warhammer 40,000 set.

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The Nottingham-based business’ flagship Warhammer 40,000 board game — set in a distant future where aliens, humans and fantasy monsters do battle — is famed for its pricey figurine sets. Forum posts suggest that buying very basic armies for two beginners, plus a rulebook, directly from Games Workshop would have cost around £175 in 2008.

Spending that money on the shares instead would have returned around £26,000, including dividends. That’s enough to buy a custom-painted 1997 OOP Metal Thunderhawk, which became the most expensive Warhammer kit in history when it sold for £25,600 on eBay in 2021.