Welcome Back Warhammer – Games Workshop Roars Back to Life
It’s been a hard long year, but all signs point to Nottingham powering forward full speed ahead.
This week we got the announcement for Be’Lakor coming this weekend. Not only is the First Prince going to come smashing into the Grimdark and the Mortal Realms, but he’s coming in part 3 of the Broken Realms series – named after himself of course. If your head is spinning, remember that Broken Realms: Teclis arrived TWO WEEKS ago!
This situation has a lot of moving parts, but let’s look at several of them.
The world is forging ahead on vaccinations and the two nations that are leading the pack are the United States and the United Kingdom. Lockdowns and work stoppages are falling quickly and both the UK opening up businesses April 12 (today), and the vast majority of the USA is already there.
With the announcement of Be’lakor, this makes if 5 weeks in a row of new releases for GW, across all their ranges, from 40K, to AoS, to specialist games. The company’s hundreds of stores are opening back up and it looks like the race is on.
We are a long way from the months of bi-weekly releases and severe shortages and allocations that defined the Autumn and Winter. I would assume that GW has a lot of product backed up from everything from manufacturing to shipping and distribution delays they are trying to get out the door as fast as possible. They will want to throw everything and the kitchen sink onto retail shelves to recoup the slow times of the past six months and make up financial ground. They will also be wanting to build up the momentum as they ramp up for the traditional “big release” season of early summer.
We are about to see a global footrace begin in business. While the past year was brutal and many many companies were smashed, or worse, the race will be on for all businesses to get out the gate before competitors and grab that marketshare from a world of consumers who have been cooped up for a year in their homes and are itching to get out there and spend. There are already signs of a sharp uptick of consumer activity and spending in many sectors from travel and retail, and hiring is heating up fast.
Like this, but with dice and minis.
A century ago, the Roaring Twenties came in the aftermath of four grinding years of World War 1 followed by two more of the Spanish Influenza. It looks like the 21st century world may about to repeat the pattern, kicking off in 2021.
Get ready to get out there (when it’s safe), and you better bet all your favorite hobbies, activities, and friends will be waiting for you!
