Non-Sports

Warhammer 40,000 vs. Other Large Games: Collectibles or More?

Playing games is a passion for millions of Americans and countless others around the planet. Playing games is also ageless. Adults who continue to play the same games they learned as a teenager or in college can develop a very expensive hobby, passion or habit to feed. So what happens when there is a cross of role-playing game and a board game or tabletop game that turns into a convention and tournament? Meet Warhammer 40,000!!!

This was a personal discovery and journey that culminated on recent trip that was part work and part relaxation in New York and New Jersey. Sometimes you find the darnedest things while traveling, but I was not expecting to run into a Warhammer 40,000 mass game-play convention while staying at a hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This was the Frontline Gaming tournament held at the Harrah’s Casino in June of 2021 and it was eye-opening just how popular this was.

This event took place on Friday, June 11th, and Saturday, June 12, 2021, with the top 8 qualifiers (Elite 8) playing for single elimination on Sunday, June 13, 2021. While this may sound like heresy to some of the die-hard gamers there, without staying to watch the winner, what struck me was just how much time, energy, effort and money can be poured into going to a tournament level event for Warhammer 40,000.

Having seen Dungeons & Dragons over the years at stores and gaming shops, and having seen some RPG tournaments in the 1980s and 1990s, it was amazing just how vast this gathering was. Warhammer 40,000 is very different from D&D on the surface because of the tabletop war-game layouts being right in front of the gamers rather than just some miniatures against whatever a dungeon master is throwing at the players.

The Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game takes place in the far future in a grim set or worlds where armies fight annihilation with humans fighting aliens, heretics, mutants and machines. It’s simply a battle of life and death — a future that no one would want to see. That said, there were hundreds of young to middle-aged men (and some ladies as well) who were all there to play, watch, or add moral support to those who were knocked out of the competition.

Games Workshop Group PLC is a London-listed company which owns the Warhammer universe and has other intellectual gaming properties such as Middle-earth, Age of Sigmar, and others. While the rows and rows of tables were full at the Atlantic City tournament, it was obviously not an inexpensive gaming hobby. Similar to Dungeons & Dragons and other RPG/table games, it was obvious that each player may have spent hundreds of dollars purchasing and countless time customizing their set-ups. It was truly fascinating.

While the Elite Edition of Warhammer 40,000 will cost $99 versus a $50 price on the Recruit Edition, the paints and tools set will cost another $45, and the Command Edition costs $165. Then there are extra dice kits, Datacards, and packs of miniatures and figures for the game that can be added on all at extra costs. And at the tournament, I was able to take some photos before the hall had cleared out upstairs as the players were taking their prized pieces out of the hall.

The goal of Collectors Dashboard is to evaluate collectibles as an alternative asset class. This may be one of the instances where hobbies are hobbies and games are games, but vast sums of money can be spent. It is easy to spend thousands of dollars on a passion — and it is very reasonable to expect that some large sets have been sold for large sums of money (see eBay data below).

If you venture on to auction giant eBay, it is obvious that thousands of dollars can be spent for larger format and other limited edition pieces by true die-hard Warhammer fans. The same can be said of D&D listings and other vintage games and the collectibles around them.

A smaller area in the hall held other games being played and it was possible to get a photo of a Hoth setting for the Star Wars fans. These are the smartphone photos I was able to get as the tournament was winding down.

And lastly… one of the kids holding up a sign to commemorate the Frontline Gaming tournament.