New Ennis Gamers Guild Builds Warhammer Community

0:00But no, there's no real age range, there's no... Everybody's welcome. Popularised by Henry Cavill, Warhammer is a game that many people have heard of, but not a lot of people know that much about. Denook and Hobby have started running monthly events, in which beginners can come along, play some Warhammer, and learn a thing or two about the game that Superman has taught us so much about. So how did the idea for this event come about? We actually took some inspiration from the Treaty City gamers, because they've been doing gamer clubs for a long time, and bringing a lot of people together for tabletop games. So I've decided it was a great inspiration to get one going in this as well. We'll be working in tandem with them, so I figured I got a lot of help from them, and we're going to see how it goes. We're going to have a major amount of tabletop games, specifically Warhammer, which is a War strategy game, where you have painted miniature models, and we set them out in a competitive game to see whose army is the strongest.

1:04And we're going to have a lot of people there who just chill out, play a couple of games. We might have a few competitions, and maybe some giveaways if we can think of what to give away. There is a surprisingly large amount of, I call them, closeted nerds. We have a lot of people who have been into it, and a lot of people are really into Warhammer, a lot of people are into big-carried games. We also do a lot of the board games. People are really interested in picking up niche board games as well. For this event, so people who can just come and do that, bring their own armies, you're going to have stuff. It is recommended people bring their own armies. We do have a very welcoming community for beginners, so a lot of people do bring spare armies, and people are always welcome to bring spare armies and test out to see what works best for them. And if they want to bring in things to welcome new beginners to teach them how to play. I think these are massive. Especially after lockdowns and such a couple of years ago,

2:07I think social events like this are massively important for the town. We don't get enough of people coming together for community games anymore, as much as we used to. I think this is a standing point for where we can really come back together as a community. So how did you get into events and games such as Warhammer and stuff? I've been gone to this shop here for a few months now, and I thought I'd just help down out with the shop as a... with the events as a whole. Yeah, and is the games like this, like how did you actually get into playing them, like was it when you were younger, is it recently? I got into painting and collecting Warhammer models when I was 13 years old. It was June COVID. A friend of mine got me my brother into it, and I took to a little bit more than my brother did. So I've been really interested in Warhammer and other games like that for the past few years. And events like the one that's happening this weekend, like with loads of people, how important do you think they are?

3:10Like are you looking forward to it? What's the appeal for people who wouldn't know otherwise? I'm looking forward to it anyways. I feel like an event like this gives people a chance to meet up with each other, play against people they might have met before, meet new people, and get to know how the game works in a community environment. Would you say it's complicated game, or is it easy enough for beginners to get into it? There's a lot of rules to Warhammer, but once you know what you're doing after maybe a game or two, it kind of feels very simple. So I've someone who's getting into Warhammer and stuff like that more recently. How are big events like this? How do you feel as a beginner? No, there's a lot. I'm really looking forward to it, because I'm not the most social. I don't have the most friends, but it'd be nice to meet people that are into this kind of stuff. And actually, it'd be able to learn a bit more,

4:11because I am a beginner. I have loaded models, but I've never actually played the game. I want to collect the models and build up a little army and stuff, but I've just... Yeah, it would be really cool to see everyone else's and get inspiration from that. That'd be really cool. What do you think as a beginner is the biggest barrier to actually getting into it? Just getting into the shop is just getting in and sitting down, even if you feel a little uncomfortable the first day. But everyone here is really welcoming and just really nice. And they include you in everything if you want to play a magic. They'll even try and teach you how to play a magic, and they'll teach you if you really want to. It's brilliant for that. So, what would you advise these anyone who's just nervous about getting started with something that has such a big rule to it? Just come into the shop and just talk to the others if you can,

5:15or just sit there and watch. That's what I did for the first few days. I just sat and was an awkward person in the corner, but eventually came out and started talking to everyone, and everyone's really nice. We have plenty of people who are... The social recluses, myself included. A lot of us do all of our games in our miniatures at home, sitting on a computer, staring at a screen all day. This is something to let people get out and socialize and meet new people and meet new gamers. Everybody can come friends again and learn new games if they like and play some of their favourite games as well. There is a massive, I would say, white adult male community to it. But no, there's no real age range, there's no... Everybody's welcome. Everybody of all ages. The best example I could give is we get a lot of kids into the shop.

6:15I've invited all of them to come to the event. We'll get people of ages, everything from 14 to 60 plus. And I'll be able to get everybody in.