Proxies at GW Store Events

[Captain Krox]

Hey everone,

I've never played a game at a GW store, and since my gaming group is getting smaller and smaller, I think I need to either expand or abandon the gaming aspect of the hobby.

I'm going to play a few games at my local store, and was wondering how strict they are on proxies or 'counts as' models.

I was thinking about building some of my Skinks as Chameleon Skinks, just painted differently from the regular skinks. Also, I want to custom build a Scar Vet or Oldblood as a leader, since I don't have any leaders as of yet. I'm waiting for more of the resin models to be made too..... All things would be from GW bits and parts, just not the "official" version.

I'm curious to hear about your experiences.

 

[Leokill27]

Ive only ever used normal skinks as chameleon skinks!

Really, they shouldnt have a problem. You are playing a GWS game with GWS models, for them to expect or even punish you for not having / using the models as they were crafted, is silly.

Ive used salamanders as razordons and empty monster bases for kroxigor in the shops, never batted an eye

However, if you use models from places like privateer press or avatars of war, they may well not like that

 

[Questioner]

And don't mention Ebay. Unless you want to swear...

 

[asrodrig]

Leokill nailed it. My store frowns upon empty bases, but proxying with extra models is usually cool. I've seen people use Guardsmen as Assassins for their Grey Knights army, and Ogre Bulls as Ogryns in their Imperial Guard armies, and the GW site even has an article on building your own custom Heroes out of spare bits, so that should be more than okay.

 

[Goat1of4]

As a small business owner (not a gaming store) I would say as long as you respect the fact that they are trying to make money they will be OK with it. Not mentioning e-bay is a good example. If the store sells it, don’t tell people where they can get it cheaper. When you do upgrade those skinks to chameleons try to buy them from the store, or at least some of the paint you are using.
If you can’t afford to buy new models (a position lots of us are in) make an effort to buy some dice, a book, a magazine or even just a pop. Brining in a 12” section of fence for the store helps as well. When you make an investment in a store they will often make an investment in you. Some examples locally are store paints anyone can use when in the store, Leave a bit-take a bit box and the owner coming out to jumpstart your car. The last happened to me the other night.
A side note, or soap box. We are in a unique position in our hobby in that there are no Big Box stores. When you walk into a store that has Warhammer it is almost guaranteed that someone in there loves the game. That’s not true of all or even most hobbies anymore.