GAMES WORKSHOP RESEARCH AND PLAY CONVENTION 2026

Warhammer World Space Marine. Photo by Julie Gibbons (CCBY2.0)

We are pleased to announce that the third annual Games Workshop Research and Play Convention (note the new name) is taking place on Saturday 19th September 2026 at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester.

Games Workshop has been at the forefront of tabletop gaming for over five decades, producing some of the most culturally significant games, miniatures, and fictional worlds in the hobby’s history. GWRPC brings together researchers, players, and designers to explore Games Workshop's games and their wider legacies, welcoming contributions from all disciplinary backgrounds. For its third outing, the event will run all day from 9:30 until 20:30 and has three parts. The morning will be dedicated to talks about Games Workshop’s games, the afternoon will be a ‘playable exhibition’ in which we pair gaming with presentations, and the day will conclude with a social evening of gaming and music at ‘Grimdark after Dark’, organised in collaboration with the Dark Arts Research Kollective.

This event is free and open for all members of the public, staff and students to attend (under 18s must be accompanied by an adult). However, places are limited. Please book your ticket by clicking the link below:



Book your free ticket here (from 15 May 2026)

 

CALL FOR PAPERS

MORNING TALKS

We invite research papers from any disciplinary background on any topic connected to Games Workshop and its legacies, including its history, games, and miniatures — from aesthetics and narrative design to gender and gamer cultures, world-building, and competitive play. The theme for our evening session is Grimdark and as such we particularly welcome proposals on this topic. Potential topics, for example, include:

  • The use of global history and cultures in world-building;

  • Aesthetics – art and narrative design;

  • Gender, masculinity, and sexuality;

  • The history and development of particular games (analogue or digital);

  • Competitive gaming and gamer cultures;

  • The cultural impact of Games Workshop;

  • Miniatures, sculpting, game pieces;

  • Beyond Games Workshop – the impact/legacy of GW on the global gaming landscape;

  • Topics relating to Grimdark, including, for example, Grimdark legacies, the politics of Grimdark, uses of religion and blasphemy within Grimdark, and occultural themes and inspirations.

Submission guidelines

If you are interested in presented a paper please send an abstract (c. 250-300 words) and a short bio (c.100 words) to Paul Wake (p.wake@mmu.ac.uk) and Jenny Cromwell (j.cromwell@mmu.ac.uk) no later than 12 June 2026. Papers will be 20 minutes in length. As a reminder, this event is open to everybody and so should be accessible to all members of the audience.

PLAYABLE EXHIBITION

The ‘Playable Exhibition’ is a combination of demo games and research. We’re inviting proposals from people who are interested in running a Games Workshop (or adjacent) game (tabletop or digital) that relates to a research topic of their choosing. The format will require you to run a game alongside a poster presentation on your chosen topic. We invite proposals to both games produced by Games Workshop and games that might trace a legacy to Games Workshop. This year our theme is Grimdark, so any games/posters that address this topic are particularly welcome (proposals on other topics are also welcome). Potential games/topics, for example, include:

  • The Grimdark futures (for example, art and aesthetics in Warhammer 40,000, Inquisitor, and Necromunda);

  • Grimdark Fantasies (for example, Mordheim, Mörk Borg);

  • Grimdark legacies (for example, Grimdark’s influence on Trench Crusade);

  • Representations of historical periods in Games Workshop’s games (for example, representations of Ancient Egypt in the board game Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb);

  • The use of specific game mechanics in games (for example, push-your-luck in Blood Bowl);

  • Storytelling across a range of media (for example, the development of the Warhammer universe in video games);

  • Aesthetics and narrative design (for example, the storytelling in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay);

  • Gender, masculinity, and sexuality (for example, bodily representations in Necromunda).

Games must be suitable for ‘drop in’ play (i.e. playable in a relatively short period of time by players who may be new to the system) and should ideally be playable on a table of 3’x3’ (ca. 1 x 1 m). If your proposal requires a larger table, please note this in your proposal so that we can take practical considerations into account. Posters should be prepared in A0 format in portrait or landscape orientation (height: 1189 mm, width: 841 mm). There is no template. Make sure the text is clearly readable and graphs and figures are complete with all the necessary labels. The Manchester Game Centre will print posters selected for the event.

If you are interested in presenting and running a game, send a proposal (c. 300 words) and  details of any requirements (space/time etc.) to Paul Wake (p.wake@mmu.ac.uk) and Jenny Cromwell (j.cromwell@mmu.ac.uk) no later than 12 June 2026.

This event organised by the Manchester Game Centre in collaboration with the Dark Arts Research Kollective.

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