Games Workshop is the largest and the most successful tabletop fantasy and futuristic battle-games company in the world. In addition, we hold a global licence from New Line Cinema for a tabletop battle-game based on director Peter Jackson's BAFTA and Academy award winning film trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. Our business is about helping mighty armies to meet headlong on the field of battle. At ou
r HQ in Nottingham, in the UK, we design, manufacture and retail the vast range of Citadel Miniatures plastic and metal soldiers and rulebooks, which are the foundation of an almost infinite hobby. The UK manufacturing operation in Nottingham is complemented by a production facility at our despatch warehouse in Memphis, TN, USA. At the heart of the Hobby are the millions of gamers aged 12 upwards, who spend many of their waking hours collecting, creating, painting and building up the armies which they will go on to command on a carefully prepared table top battlefield. Tabletop wargaming
It's all about two people facing each other across a battlefield, each attempting to move their models into position to fire upon their opponent's force or attack them in hand-to-hand combat. The victor is decided by a combination of skill and luck with the players rolling dice to determine whether an arrow hits or a foe is struck down. The Company
Games Workshop is a publicly quoted company with direct sales operations in the UK, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Australia. With over 70% of sales coming from outside of the UK the Group is now truly international. GW remains a vertically integrated company, retaining control over every aspect of design, manufacture, distribution and retail of our models and rulebooks. Products are sold through our own chain of 340+ Hobby centres and by more than 3,700 independent toy and hobby shops around the world. These outlets are complemented by our growing mail order and online sales businesses. The retail operation is supported by Games Workshop's own monthly magazine White Dwarf, which is distributed by major newsagents across the world. White Dwarf is currently published in 5 languages, and special editions are also produced for the US and Australian market. The Hobby continues to grow strongly, and we believe that the prospects for the business with our boundless energy to succeed are as gloriously rich as ever. The Hobby
Investors and potential investors in Games Workshop need to understand what we mean by the Hobby. It is not a pass-time and therefore not usually analogous to watching TV or playing computer games. In our case, as with most hobbies, it involves commitment, collection, craft or manual skills and imagination. Someone who is involved in the Games Workshop Hobby collects large numbers of miniatures, paints them, modifies them, builds terrain and war games with them in our imaginary universe. This involves huge amounts of time. Games Workshop Hobbyists play war games with large numbers of metal or plastic miniatures they have carefully chosen and, usually, painstakingly painted, on a table top face to face with their friends. It is a social and convivial activity loved by Hobbyists the world over. Our job therefore revolves around our ability to recruit new gamers (of all ages) and keep them in the Hobby. We publish many games systems giving potential Hobbyists a range to choose from and alternate systems for experienced gamers. We categorise these systems as 'core' (Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000) or 'specialist' (Warmaster, Mordheim, Necromunda and similar). New Hobbyists are likely to start with core systems or The Lord of The Rings Strategy Battle Game, which as well as a being a challenging adventure is also an excellent introductory game.
