Throwback – Lead Belt Nottingham 2010 – Day 3
Friday started quite early, at 9 a.m. we went for a quick shopping at Mantic, as some of us wanted to buy some Kings of War armies. In my case, it were a few zombies (I really like the versatile use of the ghouls and zombies by Mantic) and the Dwarfen kings council. On top we got these Mantic messenger bags with personal dedication by Ronnie and Alessio.
But that was just a brief stay at Mantics, as we had the second part of our meeting with Warlord Games. I had the chance to meet John Stallard, who was tied the day before (he participated in the Games Workshop shareholder meeting). It was really great to meet another former high ranking manager. John participated in the same battle report, we mentioned yesterday with Ronnie.
Throwback – Lead Belt Nottingham 2010 – Day 1
In August I have written about my anniversary in "professional" wargaming, and during my time as editor-in-chief I visited a lot of shows and convention, and we did some tours to meet with some of the manufacturers. Our first large tour of that kind was exactly 10 years ago (well in the night from the 14th to the 15th), towards the lead belt.
For those of you not familiar with that term, the lead belt describes the greater Nottingham area / Midlands, as due to Games Workshop sitting there, a lot of other tabletop companies were founded in the surrounding area - many by former Games Workshop employees.
As we were already in touch with the bigger companies for coverage, news and such, we arranged a couple of meetings in and around Nottingham and booked our stay in a hotel in Nottingham (Jury's Inn, proper stay, can only recommend). When I say we, it was Christian/Darkover (my former second-in-command), his wife Sarah, and two friends of mine from the local wargaming club; Andre (the albanian national coach, more on that later) and Lukas (my flatmate from my student days).
A trip down memory lane … first time to Warhammer World
Easter Sunday, April 4th 1999, was the first time for me to be at Warhammer World. Visiting the museum and store at the "new" (back then it was) Games Workshop headquarter in Lenton, where they are located until today.
But how did I, a merely 15 year old lad from the west of Germany get to the British midlands? My father took us for a trip to England, doing some groundhopping in and around London, and was looking forward to pay a visit to Nottingham, a city that took to him, when he was there a few years earlier, for the UEFA quarter finals second leg with Bayern Munich against Nottingham Forest. And what a happy coincedence, that there was more to Nottingham than just football. Today it is the other way around, when I'm at Nottingham, I usually drop by the stadium City Ground and bring something back with me for him.
While cleaning up and taking stock of my collection, I stumbled upon the tickets for the museum from that day, and would like to take you with me to a trip down memory lane. There were two types of tickets, one for the gamers which cost a few pounds and the ones for the "squigherders" (that was at least the name, the tickets had at Games Days for the parental chaperon) that were free, for those who accompanied the juveniles.
First Weekender of 2020
What a week, wasn't it? My Nottingham "Family Matters" Tour 2020 is covered on here and created quite the buzz, thanks for the feedback and especially for breaking the next mark on facebook! In case you missed it;
- Warhammer World 2020 - Hobby Centre, Gaming Area and Bugmans Bar
- Warhammer World 2020 - Exhibition Centre Part 1
- Warhammer World 2020 - Exhibition Centre Part 2
I am quite happy with the pictures from the miniature exhibition, as I brought a long a new gadget that I got myself a few weeks ago. A flexibel lens hood. Got it on Kickstarter, its the Ultimate Lens Hood 2.0, and went for the double pledge, that incl. one for my smartphone as well.
Warhammer World 2020 – Exhibition Centre Part 2
The third part of the coverage on this visit, after covering the Gaming Area, Bugmans Bar, as well as the first part of the exhibition hall, will go for the dark future of Warhammer 40.000. Similar to the first part, this is an addition and update to the coverage from 2018, so you'll find more pictures on these and former exhibits there.
And similar to the Fantasy exhibit, the 40.000 starts early - with some Rogue Trader era goodness and some things that came briefly after that! We have the RTB01 Imperial Space Marines, build and on sprue, along with some amazing scratch build vignettes, covering the final battle between Horus and the Emperor, there were Sanguinus was slain (there is a great poster of that fight from 1990), as well as an Imperial Navy hangar.
Warhammer World 2020 – Exhibition Centre Part 1
Part of the Warhammer World experience is the exhibition centre, with a large gallery of miniatures, vignettes and battle scenes, across multiple rooms and levels. Some parts of the exhibition are updated multiple times during the year, including guest displays. Reason enough to give it another go and browse the displays, for some close ups. To see additional pictures of these and former exhibits, take a look at my visit to the Exhibition Centre back in 2018.
As before, the exhibition starts with the very early days of the Citadel and Games Workshop works in the first corner of the miniature hall. Among those are some of the very first miniatures and books of the 80s, along with iconic vignettes from the early 90s.
Warhammer World 2020 – Hobby Centre, Gaming Area & Bugmans Bar
Here I am, back in very early 2020, once again in Nottingham and once again at the headquarter of Games Workshop, the Warhammer World. But this time not as part of a gents trip, but on a family vacation and I brought along my wife and daughter. My last visit was in April 2018 during our Salute trip, and the first time I was here was in the late 90s over Easter with my parents.
It's the sunday after Warhammer World Open Day 2020, and even within the last one and a half year a bit has changed at Warhammer World. They moved the Space Marine statue (which has been around for at least 2 decades) from the opposite side of Bugman's Bar balcony to the place next to Rhino, just below the Imperial Aquila.
Did you know that they included the Warhammer World and Games Workshop HQ buildings as an easter egg in a Genestealer Cult miniature? Well, now you know!
And I am back!
We began the new year with a brief vacation in England, with trips to London and Nottingham.
Spent the majority of the time in London, going for a city tour. We had our daughter with us, so this was a family trip and not a guys tour as some of the other journeys I have covered here. Therefore content and focus was a bit different, but I'll come to that later.
While in London, we went for some of the must-haves, parks and squares, that would be accessable with a stroller. While near Hyde Park I came across the Animals in War Memorial, and had to think of of the Man with the Donkey in Wellington, NZ at the National War Memorial. Of course, with my latest interest in the age of sail, and Black Seas, a visit to Trafalgar Square was out of question. And you know about my gusto for burgers, so having the chance to drop by one of the very few Shake Shacks outside of the United States, I just had to.
Warhammer World 2018 – Exhibition Centre Part 2
With the Old World covered in Part 1 of the Exhibition Centre article, this one focuses on the next two areas, with the (grim) dark Sci-Fi setting of the Warhammer 40,000 world, including the horus heresy and the main piece of the exhibition, Battle for Angelus Prime.
And be sure, the grim dark future of Warhammer 40,000 is not under represented. Indeed quite the opposite. The setting has outpaced the former bigger, fantasy brother in the last decade. This has many reasons, one of them surely the popularity of the Horus Heresy, which is although shown in its broad beauty, both in the newer plastics and extended Forge World resin range.
As promised above, Horus Heresy era World Eaters getting ready for battle, boarding several thunderhawks.
Warhammer World 2018 – Exhibition Centre Part 1
The exhibition hall at Warhammer World has a long tradition and has been redone in a couple of variations. For a short amount of time before the last huge overhaul, it was a medium sized room with show cabinets on all walls, covering the different armies from the Warhammer Fantasy and 40,000 ranges.
But that room is history and was replaced by a much larger installment. The new exhibition centre covers two floors and 4 areas, along with a huge centre piece, The Battle For Angelus Prime, that will be shown further below. Entry is 7,50 GBP per adult, 5 GBP for children from 12 to 17, younger kids are free. There are group and family tickets available as well.
Games Workshop has gathered some of their first products, released back in the days when they were a publishing company, along with going through their archives to bring back some of the first models. Some of these pieces were shown on Games Days (those are called Warhammer Fest now), but are now presented in the first cabinets you see when you enter the exhibition centre.
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