Rachael Simpson-Jones paid a visit to Warlord Games to find out about the company’s retail expansion plans and what makes its wargaming ranges stand out from the rest.
Warships gather in the choppy waters off the coast, bombers soar overhead to replenish their payloads back at the airfield, and in the ruins of a once bustling village, an enemy battalion is wiped out by a well-placed mortar. No, it’s not the latest blockbuster war movie from Steven Spielberg or Ridley Scott – it’s just another day at Warlord Games’ Nottingham base, which plays home to its manufacturing hub, warehouse and dedicated public shop.
Founded 16 years ago by managing director John Stallard – a 25-year veteran of Games Workshop until his redundancy from the company – Warlord Games specialises in highly detailed, affordable, historically accurate wargaming models: soldiers, ships, tanks planes and so on. John has long had a passion for tabletop wargaming, so he used his £40,000 of redundancy money to create the first ever Warlord product: a box of plastic Roman soldiers. They were a hit. Celts for the Romans to battle with swiftly followed, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Nowadays, the company creates metal, plastic and rapeseed-based resin miniatures and has a team of 97 people, 10 of which are based overseas (five in the US, two in Germany and one each in France, Spain and Poland). Warlord also has a sister company, Skytrex Miniatures, based in Loughborough. From the off, John’s aim was to create a range that combines the excitement of Airfix, with its stunning cover art, along with the classic elements of tabletop gameplay and the educational nature of history books: indeed, many sets contain engaging guidebooks detailing the background of the soldiers within, their most important battles and notable individuals.
Later in the feature, from our September Games and Puzzles supplement, Rachael spoke in depth with John about Warlord’s past, present and future.
Warlord staff unfailingly put consumers first, taking a ‘do first, ask permission later’ approach that has seen the company win no less than five customer service awards from specialist magazine title Wargames Illustrated. Faulty product is exchanged on a no-questions-asked basis, and each box contains a small note showing who it was packed by. It’s a small gesture, but one that shows the big heart behind the company and the passion of its people.
One of those people is Craig Nixon, Warlord’s new business manager, who has been with the company for five years this month, and in his current role for five months. Craig is laser-focused on opening new accounts, particularly in the aftermath of Covid, which he says hit Warlord’s customer base quite hard. Since he moved into this role, he and his team, Jonathan and Bojan, have opened some 100 new accounts and counting, but he feels there is vast potential for further expansion in this under-indexed category, especially within indie toy shops looking to explore exciting new categories and attract new demographics, such as Toymaster members, garden centres, museum shops and more.
There’s much more to read. Find the full article here.
