Wow, those Grand Narrative tickets sold out fast!
When it comes to official events run by Games Workshop, I tend to take the stance of I can take it or leave it. Does the idea of playing official tournament games run at Warhammer World against some amazing looking armies and new opponents sound like fun? Well, sure it does, but it doesn't set a fire in my belly so to speak. Does the idea of attending an event with the industry's most prestigious miniature painting competition as a highlight sound like a good day out? Yes, but it can be a bit unjustifiably pricey. I'm a parent with a mortgage to pay, a child to feed and a wife to support, I don't typically have the time or money to throw at an event, a hotel and train tickets all the way from London to Nottingham, as such I have never been to Warhammer World other than to do the odd pilgrimage when one of my friends are driving down there and have invited me along.
But the Grand Narrative... this was different.
See, as you may have gathered from the two campaigns I've run at my gaming club, I am absolutely in love with narrative gaming, and whilst I do enjoy the odd competitive, tactical game now and then, in my heart I play to tell a story and witness epic moments in my army's history. There is nothing more satisfying than watching my Overlord fall back before swooping in to cut down a Genestealer Cult Patriarch, or having my Skorpekh Lord come back from the dead to kill a problematic Chaos Sorcerer that everyone had trouble killing, so you can imagine my absolute excitement when I read about the previous Grand Narrative events held in the USA and my uncontainable jubilation when I heard the event was finally coming home to Warhammer World in the UK.
There were, however, three problems. Firstly, I didn't exactly have the disposable money for the event, a hotel and travel. Secondly, I needed to arrange the time off work. Thirdly, and I can't stress this point enough, I had to get permission from the wife since she would be looking after our daughter were I to disappear for three days. Fortunately, through a lot of hoop jumping, promise making and money management, I was able to overcome all three of these obstacles, so I was all set to book the tickets. However, therein lied one, final obstacle - getting a ticket before they sold out.
Now, Eventbrite, the site who were handling the ticket sales for the event, decided to rather inconveniently set the time the tickets went live at 7pm, and I'm typically on the underground going home at that time, but I was determined. So I informed my wife that, on this occasion I would be a little late home whilst I camped in a coffee shop next to my station before jumping on the underground and continuing my journey, and at 7pm on the dot I clicked for one xenos ticket and checked out... but I didn't realise that Paypal was the only payment Eventbrite took - curses!
I had to think quick as my payment plan did not involve Paypal, in fact on the contrary I was planning on using a credit card to fund the event ticket temporarily and then paying it back shortly afterwards. Fortunately I had stockpiled some money for an annual travel card I buy, so I had to race against the allotted time I was given to move that money into an account Paypal was linked to, then I had to contend with security procedures, jumping through several apps to do this, etc. Long story short, I am now going to the Grand Narrative in November!
Out of interest, I did check Eventbrite again when I emerged from my journey on the underground (about 45 minutes) and every single ticket had sold out, so looks like I made the right call. I am super excited for the event and I am looking forward to getting my starter pack in the next few months! Now to work out a narratively themed army to take with me...
If you are unaware of what the Grand Narrative comprises of, click the below link for last year's lore update on the Warhammer Community site.
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