Stahly: I’ve spent a couple of days in London as part of my holidays, and as I hinted at in my last post, I spent one day at Warhammer World together with Garfy. We took a lot of photos of all kind of stuff we found there, so this post is probably the post with the most pictures ever. So whether you have never been to Warhammer World or want to refresh your memory, click “more after the jump” for a report of the day.
Stahly: Garfy kindly agreed to drive me so he picked me up at 9 o’clock in the morning. Warhammer World is located in Nottingham, which is a three hour drive from London. Thus we had a lot of time discussing our latest projects and talk about the hobby and the blog.
Garfy: At the time of our visit, the area around Warhammer World had some road closures due to road works. I’d missed a turning due to my iPhone’s sat nav and by the time I had doubled back and got on the right road the road was closed. So had to go all the back and find another route in. Probably added 30 minutes to an already long journey.
Stahly: We arrived around lunch time and the weather was ugly, so we headed straight into Bugman’s bar to catch some food and to try some of the legendary Bugman’s XXXXXX. It’s an ale with a strong after taste, quite different from the German beers I’m used to. I haven’t become a big fan of it. Been there done that I guess. I was pleased that Bugman’s Bar offers some healthier alternatives to their (in)famous burgers, so I had a chicken salad with a nice honey mustard dressing.
As we had our food, we kept our eyes open and spotted quite a few people from the design studio. We’ve seen Dan Harden and Glenn More from White Dwarf passing by, as well as Alan Bligh from Forgeworld and Alan Merret (head of IP).
Garfy: I’m not a fan of Bugmans either what with me being soft English southern shandy drinker. But it was really cool to see people who work for GW milling about. While Stahly was in the gents I saw Jervis Johnson as well. Bugman’s Bar is quite possibly the greatest bar in the world for the simple fact it’s always has hobbyists in there and it’s decorated with Warhammer items such as mounted orc head trophies and shields. The fact they serve food and drink is a bonus!
Stahly: We went then to the gaming area. Apart from the regular tables, there are quite a few themed gaming tables which are beautifully made. A couple of them have already been featured in White Dwarf, but there were some that we didn’t know. I really liked the one with the Imperial Fortress and the archaelogical excavation of some old Eldar structure.
Garfy: I really wanted to play a game with Stahly on one of these amazing tables. We’ll have to save that for the next time we meet up. The tables are really cool. I’m not sure about the table with the glued on opened drop pods… they should have mounted them on bases, or not mounted them at all. I guess gluing them down makes it theft proof. It was great to see some games being played, even though it was during the day on a Thursday.
Stahly: Next we went to the hobby centre. In front and inside of the shop were some lovely models on display. I especially enjoyed the Eldar and Blood Angels, which had a lot of Forgeworld kits and bits mixed in.
Garfy: Warhammer World has it’s very own Games Workshop store. The models in the cabinets are lovely. Lots of creativity and gorgeous paint jobs. I bought the new apocalypse warzone book: Damnos an a couple of paints.
Stahly: After I picked up a Forgeworld type 2 Wave Serpent from the shop we made our way to the miniatures hall. In the staircase we found a replica of a chainsword, that was made for the Space Marine video game, a huge Ultramarine figure and some models from Joe Tomaszewski’s (head of the ‘Eavy Metal team) collection. Apologies for the bad picture quality, they really don’t do these stunning models justice.
Garfy: This is such a nice bonus area. It’s on the way to the miniatures hall and you’re greeted with so much cool stuff that Stahly outlined above. I really like the chainsword. I wanted to borrow it and stand on the rhino outside screaming “drive me closer, so I can hit them with my sword”.
Stahly: Finally we arrived at the miniatures hall. Thousands of miniatures painted by the ‘Eavy Metal team crammed into display cabinets, an awe inspiring place. Seeing the models photographed in the various GW publications is one thing, seeing them in flesh another. You can really see how the ‘Eavy Metal team has stepped up their game. The paintjobs of the recently released models are mindblowing, I was most impressed how thin and evenly the paint coats were applied.
Garfy: I’ve seen the miniatures hall quite a few times and everytime it’s a different experience. This time it was my favourite yet because I was enjoying it with Stahly and the centre display ‘Magnir’s Crag’ is just jaw dropping. You feel so inspired looking at so many well painted models all in a single place. Absolutely awe-inspiring.
Stahly: There was also a cabinet that presented a closer look at the history of Citadel Miniatures. There was also an Orc & Goblins army from the (infamous) red period on display, in case you’re interested in how green Goblin Green bases really were.
Garfy: A lot of the models in this historic section I remember staring at in White Dwarf as a kid. The Warhammer Quest diorama by Mike McVey is outstanding.
Stahly: In the centre of the room there was the breath-taking mega diorama “Assault on Magnir’s Crag”, which was created by the design studio for Games Day UK 2009. It has been covered quite a few times in White Dwarf and on GW.com, but you really have to see it with your own eyes to fully appreciate all the work that went into this masterpiece.
Garfy: Oops, you can see me bending into the shot below. I was taking a picture of the Thunderhawk gunship. This is a great opportunity for anyone to see this piece that didn’t get to see it Games Day. It’s a real show stopper.
Stahly: We could have spent a couple more hours in the miniatures hall, but all good things must come to an end so we had to leave Warhammer World to avoid the rush hour. As the weather cleared up, we had a look at the life-size Ultramarines rhino and the famous Space Marine statue in front of the Warhammer World.
Garfy: No trip to Warhammer World isn’t complete without the obligatory Space Marine statue shot. The rhino is also crowd pleaser.
Stahly: After another three hour drive we arrived at Garfy’s place to have dinner. I got a good look at Garfy’s man cave and collection. We shared to painting tips and techniques, before Garfy brought me – full of inspiration – back to my hostel.
All in all, I had a great day at Warhammer World, so if you are anywhere near, it’s a great place to pop in and spent an afternoon. It’s a kind of hobby pilgrimage every hobbyist has to do one day.
Garfy: It was a pleasure to invite Stahly into my home and share some hobby tips and tricks with each other. The only downside to the whole day was not having enough time to get everything we wanted to do done. I drove Stahly back to where he was staying on Borough High Street near London Bridge… it’s such a small world, he was staying above the the pub where I used to go to a gaming club in their basement. Cross Gaming Club in St Christopher’s Inn. Amazing. I’m hoping to visit Stahly next year in Germany where we can partake in some more hobby… maybe German Games Day and Golden Demon?
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I've been a long time (10+ years) player and I've recently moved to London. I also made my first trip to Warhammer World about a month ago and it was quite inspiring. I'm looking to get back into gaming and wondering if either of you could recommend a gaming club near Islington. Thanks!
I still have not been either. After reading your report I am seriously considering going down to have a look on the next free weekend that I have available. It looks absolutely awesome to see all those models. I loved seeing the older models as well. Excellent post 🙂
For someone like me who has only really been into GW products in the naughties, it is really good to see the diversity and simplicity of what Games Workshop produced back in the day (going to be careful so I don't get shouted at by you veterans, oops!) Looking at those old models I get the sense of a calm and accurate GW rather than the fast paced, model throwing loonies they are now. But I suppose that's why we love them, we would be complaining if they weren't constantly updating themselves. Good review Garfy and Stahly, wish I could have been there!
Wish I'd have known you were there, I'm only 10 mins away,would have brought my unpainted army down n some brushes 😉
Imagine Stahly and myself painting your army… I hope you're not in a rush for it 😉
Seriously though, I did put a message out on the Facebook page if anyone was about to come and say hi. Admittedly this was during the day on a thursday.
Great post guys.
epic stuff there guys i live 45 mins for warhammer world but have never been though i can see that will change in the near future keep up the good work
ha, brilliant. To think they have this room. I had no idea and if i lived anywhere near Nottingham I'd go for sure. That said I don't know anybody who likes warhammer personally.. humm
One question then, how on earth do they get the paint that thin? Paint thinner maybe? Wet pallet… I'm stumped!
Glaze medium is great stuff for thinning your paints. Vallejo glaze medium is really good, but failing that GW's Lahmian Medium is pretty good.
Lahmian medium, and lots of it.