Warhammer Osu Store - opening 13/7/2024

[Jye Nicolson]

does anyone know the location ill have to go down and say hello myself

https://maps.app.goo.gl/hfPjThuakiS5Di4W8

[Jye Nicolson]

I managed to get back from Tokyo in time to swing by, I guess they open till 7 on Saturdays?

It's a decent sized shop, there's two play tables big enough for Spearhead/Combat Patrol/Warcry/Kill Team etc. You could probably drop in and play a game of that size without much worry, and it's easy enough to get to from Kamimaezu eki. There's also the painting space etc you'd expect. I think it's bigger than the Osaka store, maybe a similar size to Harajuku.

The manager, Fumi-san, seems like a nice guy! He was aware of Nagoya Miniature Wargaming Club and Gifuhammer, so I made sure to tell him about the Underworlds club too.

They had a bunch of the limited minis (like Stormcast, Sargent Ripper Jackson, and of course a Primaris Lt) and Store Opening dice for sale. I got a free mini of the month and some other stuff with my purchases, not sure how much was store opening and how much is the normal stuff but they had plenty there if you're dropping in.

They also had a few battleforces and collector's boxes (they even briefly had the Soulblight Xmas battleforce). The GW sticker price limits the savings a bit but it was still good to see.

Edit: got a freebie poster with Space Marine chapters on one side and Stormcast Stormhosts on the other. The mini of the month is a Kroot, after I just got done painting a million of them

[Jye Nicolson]

@The Other Dave and I played a few games of Underworlds in the store yesterday, and they seemed very happy to have us.

Place was pretty busy but we were the only ones playing so I don't think it's too hard to get a table. I think you'd probably need to talk to them and plan ahead of you wanted a bigger game but in principle I think anything two Kill Team boards or smaller should be easy on an ad hoc basis.

(poor Dave's dice didn't show up till the third game so I got away with some fairly unoptimised Rivals play with my beloved but overly fussy Sigmarite Electricity Weirdoes. The goblins managed to put a stop to that though. Good times regardless!)

[The Other Dave]

@The Other Dave and I played a few games of Underworlds in the store yesterday, and they seemed very happy to have us.

Place was pretty busy but we were the only ones playing so I don't think it's too hard to get a table. I think you'd probably need to talk to them and plan ahead of you wanted a bigger game but in principle I think anything two Kill Team boards or smaller should be easy on an ad hoc basis.

(poor Dave's dice didn't show up till the third game so I got away with some fairly unoptimised Rivals play with my beloved but overly fussy Sigmarite Electricity Weirdoes. The goblins managed to put a stop to that though. Good times regardless!)

One out of three games is eminently respectable, and winning with the goblin pain train is always fun! I think Mollog will be resting in the case for a good little while yet though.

Agreed that it was a nice atmosphere at the shop - I've never lived near a bona-fide Warhammer store ever, so I don't know if that's standard or what, but at the very least it should be a convenient place to pick up a small-footprint game from time to time. No table fee, just walls of tempting merchandise.

Apparently the first month or so will be store-opening mode, after which they'll start doing events and such.

[Konrad]

I happened to be in Osu picking up some new shoes and dropped in. Wow! Those toys are expensive. The last time I bought anything GW was a box of skulls at Joshin for like 3600 yen a year or two ago. Same box was 4500. I didn't even ask what the paint was going for. Free tables! Anyone want to play a game of 1st ed Space Hulk? To bad they look a little small for Gorkamorka.

[Jye Nicolson]

I happened to be in Osu picking up some new shoes and dropped in. Wow! Those toys are expensive. The last time I bought anything GW was a box of skulls at Joshin for like 3600 yen a year or two ago. Same box was 4500.

Say what you like about GW, they don't undercut their third party retailers Anything you can get from Ring Tail or Meruhen you still want to, no change there.

That being said I wouldn't expect Joshin to be much cheaper on new stuff (and their points are pretty stingy ime) so I don't think you'd be much worse off dropping into GW for some Nuln Oil or whatever.

I spent a bit this week to welcome them (and because I wasn't getting that box of vampires anywhere else). I'll probably pick up a little something every time I play there (not least because I like the excuse), but I expect the real value for them is if anyone is curious about what we're playing, there's a wall of starter sets just behind us they can be directed to

[Konrad]

I happened to be in Osu picking up some new shoes and dropped in. Wow! Those toys are expensive. The last time I bought anything GW was a box of skulls at Joshin for like 3600 yen a year or two ago. Same box was 4500.

Say what you like about GW, they don't undercut their third party retailers Anything you can get from Ring Tail or Meruhen you still want to, no change there.

That being said I wouldn't expect Joshin to be much cheaper on new stuff (and their points are pretty stingy ime) so I don't think you'd be much worse off dropping into GW for some Nuln Oil or whatever.

I spent a bit this week to welcome them (and because I wasn't getting that box of vampires anywhere else). I'll probably pick up a little something every time I play there (not least because I like the excuse), but I expect the real value for them is if anyone is curious about what we're playing, there's a wall of starter sets just behind us they can be directed to

Yeah, I can gripe all I want, but I'm going to need another bottle of Agrax Earthshade. That stuff is magic in a bottle. I remember reading somewhere some ex GW guy saying that the strategy is that the stores are more showrooms to guide people to the online store than a full-service retailer. Probably the smart way to look at it these days.

[The Other Dave]

Yeah, I can gripe all I want, but I'm going to need another bottle of Agrax Earthshade. That stuff is magic in a bottle. I remember reading somewhere some ex GW guy saying that the strategy is that the stores are more showrooms to guide people to the online store than a full-service retailer. Probably the smart way to look at it these days.

There were definitely some folks using the store computer to place orders, yeah.

[Jye Nicolson]

What struck me with both the Osu store but also Akihabara (where in theory space is no object) is that you *can't* just walk in there and pick up a whole army, maybe with the exception of Space Marines. The path to getting started is very slick, there's some of the nicer models for each faction to tempt you with a centrepiece or some elites or what have you, but to complete an actual list you'd be headed to the webstore before long.

This seems particularly notable for AoS, where there's a Spearhead box for nearly everything but Endless Spells, faction terrain etc are not on shelves. That might have some intersection with the edition change (if they refresh those kits they'll end up back on shelves, at least for a while) but clearly being a one stop shop is not the plan.