This made the front page of Reddit, it is real, and it happened- Nazis, hate, and politics (along with PETA) have no place in Warhammer.
November 17th: This post has been updated with a response by the organizers of GT Talavera with their side of the situation.
November 19th: This post was updated with a response on hate and Warhammer by Games Workshop.
So what happened? Well, it has been alleged, amongst other things, that there was some clearly identifiable Nazi-esque iconography that was openly worn at a recent Warhammer 40k tournament in Spain that was, for a time, overlooked or ignored.
We hope that changes now.
According to Wilbur the Red’s site and confirmed by none other than Goonhammer here, you may want to take a closer look at the designs on hobbyists’ clothing at the next events you go to:
(Goonhammer) Editor’s Note: After publishing this article we have received multiple comments to the effect that a player wearing clearly identifiable neo-nazi iconography participated in the Talavera event, and was not removed despite complaints from other players. We would like to unequivocally state that turning up to an event wearing such iconography should be grounds for immediate disqualification, and the TOs should have taken action in this case. This does not affect any of the players covered in this article, but we would not have covered this event had we known about this ahead of time.
We would like to emphasise that nazis of any stripe are not welcome in the hobby or on this website, and can fuck off.
We agree.
So you’re probably wondering what the heck happened as this has made it all the way to the front page of Reddit. According to Wilbur’s article seems that a player was wearing the following article of clothing and referred to himself as an Austrian Painter…
After we ran this article, we received a response about this incident from the “El cobrador del waaagh” club, the organizers of the GT Talavera. We have agreed to publish their statement in whole below.
Please keep in mind that, being an event in Spain, English may not be their first language when reading their statement.
“I am writing on behalf of the “El cobrador del waaagh” club (organizers of the GT Talavera) and I am writing to clarify what happened in the GT Talavera “The Return” in reference to the Nazi who participated.
First of all, I would like to make it clear that the club repudiates the Nazi mentality in all its aspects. We are a club made up of people with different political ideas (some more liberal and others more conservative), different religions (Catholic, agnostic …) and from different countries (Spain, Argentina, Panama …) to which our passion unites by Warhammer 40K. With this I think you will understand that Nazi ideas have no place in our group, because they are contrary to everything we stand for.
As a second aspect, I would like to highlight our deep sadness to see that has not bothered to contrast the information that comes to him through emails. I understand that the fairest thing would have been to contact the organization and listen to our version of events (which I will present in the following paragraphs) and with both information to be able to have an objective opinion.
The facts were the following;
During the second day of the tournament one of the participants showed up wearing clothes with Nazi symbols, one of his opponents refused to play against him and demanded that we expel him from the tournament. Two members of the organization (one of them a lawyer by profession) met alone with the player in Nazi clothing, exposing him the situation and our dissatisfaction with him showing this symbolism in the tournament. This individual replied that he had no problem in playing against anyone and that he had behaved correctly throughout the tournament, but if we wanted to expel him he would call the police himself. At this point we want to emphasize that in Spain it is not a crime to display Nazi symbols as long as it is not accompanied by criminal conduct (and I want to emphasize that we do not believe that the law is fair or correct, but that’s how it is written), instead if the organization expels to this person for his deplorable ideas (Nazism), it is the organization that is committing a crime of ideological discrimination and it could perfectly denounce us and would have the law on its side. At that moment we find ourselves tied hand and foot.
Once reached that point, if any player does not play their game, the opponent automatically wins it 20-0 (this is if they are on the bases). It is something very unpleasant, but in such a difficult situation we believed that we had to follow the rules of the tournament and emphasize that the organizers were the most upset with this situation that we were forced to take.
These types of people are “professional” provocateurs who know perfectly how far they can “tighten the rope” without having legal consequences for them, in this case the person behaves correctly at all times, leaving us without weapons to expel him by not having a criminal behavior.
We have taken note and in future editions we will write legal tools in the tournament bases that allow us to expel people like this with the law on our part. In the 10 years that we have been playing tournaments, we have never faced such an unpleasant situation and did not realize that it would be necessary until now, which we deeply regret. Once said incident has been commented, we would like to let you know that all these emails are born from a harassment campaign that we have received from groups of people with animosity towards the club and the event.
Another point that we would like to clarify is our policy of not allowing “recast” in the tournament, as a lot of confusion has been created on this point. The organization believes in the importance of intellectual property. The aforementioned groups have come to denounce that we allow this type of recast as long as they are from a specific manufacturer, with whom they say that we are associated in that business (something totally false, since there are no exceptions in this policy and we do not have joint ventures with anyone). This falsehood has been launched without scruples and with the clear intention of doing harm. This event is carried out jointly with Invasion Talavera (hobby shop) to which these lies can do a tremendous damage to its image in front of GW (its main supplier). They want to sink the business of two families deliberately and with falsehoods out of sheer evil.
I’m sorry if this statement has been too long, but I think it is important to clean the image of the event of all these falsehoods, since we are a group of friends who only get together to carry out a tournament for others to enjoy, without any profit in it. These situations make us wonder if it is really worth spending so much effort and time that we stop being with our families on something that can so easily discredit and dirty.”
Rules Against Extremist Groups At Events
So there is one thing to be said about free speech, sure, and we’re definitely not telling anyone what to think or believe in at all. However, wearing things like this to a hobby event is not okay for a number of reasons.
Heck, most big conventions even banned wearing military uniforms of ANY nation in the last 100 years, etc, for example. Non-withstanding the obvious political considerations of said uniforms or clothing as pictured above.
We did a big post on all the guidelines the bigger hobby conventions have in place in regard to cosplay, however, those guidelines touch on issues like this one as well.
Plus, as Wilbur referenced on his site, it only takes one person or one event like this to ruin things en masse for a particular group, hobby, venue, etc…
Here’s what he was talking about via @IamRageSparkle on Twitter.
And then THEY bring friends and the friends bring friends and they stop being cool and then you realize, oh shit, this is a Nazi bar now. And it's too late because they're entrenched and if you try to kick them out, they cause a PROBLEM. So you have to shut them down.
— Michael B. Tager is leaving cause X is the worst (@IamRageSparkle) July 8, 2020
The reason we are talking about this occurrence is that we have a responsibility to help protect the hobby we have dedicated a better portion of our lives to here. We were one of the first places to warn the hobby about Arch and hate back in late 2017, after which we were condemned as a fascist by a content creator wearing a commissar’s uniform, of all things.
Of course, we all know how it went with Arch by now after his continued outbursts may have eventually led to a response by Games Workshop about hate and who the Warhammer hobby is for:
Speaking of Games Workshop, they made the following statement about Warhammer and Hate, presumably in reference to this recent occurrence in Spain.
The Imperium Is Driven by Hate. Warhammer Is Not.
“There are no goodies in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
None.
Especially not the Imperium of Man.
Its numberless legions of soldiers and zealots bludgeon their way across the galaxy, delivering death to anyone and anything that doesn’t adhere to their blinkered view of purity. Almost every man and woman toils in misery either on the battlefield – where survival is measured in hours – or in the countless manufactorums and hive slums that fuel the Imperial war machine. All of this in slavish servitude to the living corpse of a God-Emperor whose commandments are at best only half-remembered, twisted by time and the fallibility of Humanity.
Warhammer 40,000 isn’t just grimdark. It’s the grimmest, darkest.
The Imperium of Man stands as a cautionary tale of what could happen should the very worst of Humanity’s lust for power and extreme, unyielding xenophobia set in. Like so many aspects of Warhammer 40,000, the Imperium of Man is satirical.
For clarity: satire is the use of humour, irony, or exaggeration, displaying people’s vices or a system’s flaws for scorn, derision, and ridicule. Something doesn’t have to be wacky or laugh-out-loud funny to be satire. The derision is in the setting’s amplification of a tyrannical, genocidal regime, turned up to 11. The Imperium is not an aspirational state, outside of the in-universe perspectives of those who are slaves to its systems. It’s a monstrous civilisation, and its monstrousness is plain for all to see.
That said, certain real-world hate groups – and adherents of historical ideologies better left in the past – sometimes seek to claim intellectual properties for their own enjoyment, and to co-opt them for their own agendas.
We’ve said it before, but a reminder about what we believe in:
“We believe in and support a community united by shared values of mutual kindness and respect. Our fantasy settings are grim and dark, but that is not a reflection of who we are or how we feel the real world should be. We will never accept nor condone any form of prejudice, hatred, or abuse in our company, or in the Warhammer hobby.”
If you come to a Games Workshop event or store and behave to the contrary, including wearing the symbols of real-world hate groups, you will be asked to leave. We won’t let you participate. We don’t want your money. We don’t want you in the Warhammer community.
For those heroes out there running their own Warhammer events, we’d love for you to join us in this stance.
Over the years, we’ve been fortunate enough to support events like AdeptiCon, the Las Vegas Open, Blood & Glory, and many, many more with terrain, prizes, and goody bags. We’ve also provided staff to help with organisation and rules queries, and to judge painting competitions and run seminars.
If you need help running an event, including creating a safe and rewarding experience for your attendees, we’re here to help. Just drop our Events Team an email at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you, and we’re ready to offer any support we can.”
Make no mistake, Warhammer and the hobby of tabletop miniatures is not for Nazis, Politics (such as PETA’s shenanigans), or hate of any kind.
The time for action is now, with no quarter asked for or given. Keep our hobby and its communities safe from hate-filled incidents like these, and we will all be better for it!
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About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
