The players have demanded organized play for 40K and Age of Sigmar – Reports say GW has listened. Here’s the details!

This week the GAMA tradeshow is occurring at Bally’s casino & resort in Las Vegas. This is the major north american industry tradeshow for game manufacturers.

Games Workshop is in attendance this year (see the floormap) and isn’t just manning a booth. They held multiple seminars including one Wednesday, March 16th titled “Build Community”

There was apparently some big news in there. BoLS has been told the following was revealed during the seminar:

GW will be returning to Organized Play!

Details of the Organized Play program are sketchy, and I’m sure the full program will be rolled out over the next few months. But here are the broad brushstrokes of what was reported from the seminar:

The Program will include Organized Play Systems for both Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar.

There will be a “campaign system” for each game.

Prize support is a part of the system.

The system will engage players at the Store, FLGS, and Convention level.

and the big one….

The Age of Sigmar campaign will include some type of “points” system!

This is HUGE NEWS! Games Workshop slowly but surely pulled out of the organized play scene over a handful of years roughly 5-6 years back leaving FLGSs and the entire tournament scene to fend for themselves. Their absence has been keenly felt in an industry with all other major manufacturers pushing forward full steam ahead on the Organized Play front. Privateer Press has a fantastic system up and running with new exciting annual league rules, unique prizes and evolving styles of play. FFG is charging in like a bull with organized play systems for all of their growing systems with lavish prize support (remember Massing at Sullust). Outfits like WizKids do the same with exclusive Organized Play models released each year.

There are a lot of directions GW can go in rolling out an Organized Play system, but it looks after years wandering in the desert that they are coming home – and with a points system for Age of Sigmar!

~More on this story as details come in.