Warhammer: Why Organized Play Matters
Games Workshop is bringing back Organized Play for your FLGS with new kits. Here’s why that matters.
There’s a new Organized Play Kit coming soon with the latest Chapter Approved – War Zone Nephilim: Grand Tournament Mission Pack. That’s great and all as the kit will support up to 32 players for a local/store based Tournament. It’s also good that the kits will have support for players with special card packs from the new GT pack.
On top of all that, you’ll also be able to get certificates for First, Second, and Third Places as well as for Best-Painted army. There will also be a trophy for the Store Champions, too. And if that wasn’t enough, participants will also have a chance to score a Golden Ticket to the Grand Narrative event in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico in November.
And all that’s just on the 40k side. Warhammer: Age of Sigmar will also get a new OP kit, too. It’s also going to feature a ton of the same stuff as the 40k pack with special Mysterious Terrain tokens for each of the 32 players. And there’s more stuff coming for Kill Team, Warcry, and Warhammer Underworlds on top of everything else. It sure seems like Games Workshop is going to be making a big push to return to Organized Play. So why does all this matter?
Organized Play Matters
Aside from all the swag you can walk home with Organized Play matters for an entirely different reason: Community. Unless you have mastered the ability to play two armies at once, Warhammer is a pretty community driven hobby. You’re typically going to play head-to-head against someone. While the game itself is inherently competitive (because there will be a winner and a loser — unless you get a draw) that doesn’t mean that Warhammer as a hobby isn’t built around community.
Where ever you play at, who ever you play with, that’s your local community. It might just be you and a friend. Or it might be you and 50 other friends. You might play at home, in a basement, or in decked out game room. Or you might play in a back room at a local store, front and center in the shop, or anywhere your store has space for you. That’s your community and that’s your play space. Organized Play matters because it brings communities together.
If you’ve never been to an Organized Play Event for whatever reason that’s okay. I would encourage you to go to one. It can be intimidating to go and meet a bunch of strangers — I get that. But you’re already going with something in common and that’s your shared hobby of Warhammer. And don’t worry about striking up a conversation with these strangers because I’m willing to bet there will be someone there who will be more than willing to talk your ear off about all sorts of Warhammer stuff.
Playing in an event is also a great way to meet new people to play and to play against new armies you might not have seen before. And you’re going to get to do it all within the structure of the event. So you don’t have to awkwardly walk up to folks you don’t know and ask for a game — you just go to your table and play your opponent. Although it doesn’t hurt to say hi and introduce yourself first!
If you’ve been to an OP event before then I know I’m preaching to the choir. You’ve probably got lots of stories of people you’ve met and played against. Heck, you might even be a regular at the store you played at now. That’s great! That’s building community and that’s why OP matters.
My advice for you is to look around at the next OP event you go to and look for a new face. Not to “club a baby seal” in your next game, but to make them feel welcome! Saying hi to the new guy (or gal) can make a world of difference. Everyone had to be the new guy at some point so why not speed the process of becoming a regular along a bit. You might have just made a friend for life!
Organized Play matters because it builds community. And building community keeps players coming back to play more games. We all win when the community is healthy and playing games together.
I’ve met some of my best friends by playing complete strangers at a FLGS. I’m sure some of you have, too. Let us know how Organized Play helped open those doors for you in the comments!
