This will the be the eighth Christmas for Playing with Lead. Not too shabby, eh? I am surprised I manage to find things to write about sometimes, I'm not a YouTube personality constantly being invited to shows or being sent freebie items all the time to review, so sometimes I do just end up waffling about absolutely nothing. I am sure I have probably also repeated myself on the odd occasion.
This month I did do something exciting though. In the grand scheme of things, loads of people have been and there are posts and videos all over the web about hobbyists making the journey, but to us it was exciting. Like a trip to a tiny wargaming Mecca, we went to Warhammer World.
The Illustrious Opponent, myself and a couple other friends all set off super early on a Saturday morning to make the trip to our Wargaming Disneyland. As it was December it was all decked out for Christmas, with decorations and Christmas related merchandise available to buy. (Not enough though in my opinion, where is the Abbess Sanctorum tree topper?)
We took the obligatory shot in front of the Rhino APC and Space Marine, posing like an ageing soft metal band in the drizzling rain. We actually took this photo at the end of our day and as you can see we are still pretty happy.
The place was busy, obviously, but we did manage to get around the exhibition and see all the amazing dioramas on display. I really enjoyed it and I do think it is worth the entry fee. I would say a couple of negatives though. From my perspective, there was not enough historical models on display, one tiny room at the beginning showing some of GWs earlier work and a couple of cabinets dotted about showing a bit of history. This did mean though that I got to see the actual model from the battle report that inspired my entry into the world of Warhammer 40K
Yep, the original Tycho model back from White Dwarf 166. It was inspiring back then and great to see in real life.
A couple of the armies on display had been made up from different studio armies, their colour schemes being slightly different shades. Maybe the studio painters didn't write down their paint recipes before passing on the baton to another crew? This is me being picky though. It was still great to be among all those dioramas and one highlight was a 10 year old boy and one of our party enthusiastically discussing how awesome Orks are and how no-one else understands this.
The displays were impressive and I took an awful lot of photos, most of which don't really come out well as the rooms were actually really brightly lit. A combination of glass cabinets and lots of lights do not great photos make. It does mean though that if you actually go there, everything does look really great.
I must add that we did not just visit Warhammer World that weekend. We had a great welcome at Warlord games store and made some purchases there. We also went to a small independent gathering of traders on Sunday afternoon including Warp miniatures and Ramshackle games among others. We also had a super quick run around Nottingham Castle that was a great deal of fun.
So, that's it for now, folks. May I predictably take this opportunity to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas, or if this festive period is not your jam, then may you have an opportunity for a rest from the business of life. If you are exchanging gifts, I hope you get that hobby kit you've been using all your maturity to resist purchasing yourself. I am sure you deserve it, even if you already have a stack of unpainted lead to deal with already.
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