Trip to Warhammer World.

Hi folks,

Been far too long but I've finally got my act together and written some blog posts. Recently, Alex, Matt, Scott and I had a trip to the new (to us anyway) Warhammer World in Nottingham, UK. I thought I'd post a brief summary of the day as it turned out to be a great trip. We had envisioned arriving and playing 3 games at 1850 but what soon became apparent was we would not have time for both that and everything else we wanted to do, namely the store, exhibit and lunch. Ultimately we settled for two games which gave us time to peruse both the store and exhibit at our leisure.

Games

Most of my hobby time over the past four weeks has been spent getting an 1850 Dark Angels doublewing army up to tabletop standard. I won't feature proper shots here as they're far from finito but there are a couple of in-game shots later. Both games we played were maelstrom for simplicity. My list was as follows:

(RW detachment)

Sammael

5 black knights with 1 grenade launcher

4 Ravenwing bikes with 2 plasma guns

4 ravenwing bikes with 2 melta guns

Land speeder typhoon.

Land speeder vengeance with assault cannon.

Nephilim with lascannon

(DW Formation)

Librarian (ML2) in Terminator armour

5 Deathwing Knights

5 Deathwing (Sergeant with sword, TH/SS, LCs, Chainfist, assault cannon)

5 Deathwing (Sergeant with sword, TH/SS, LCs, Chainfist, plasma cannon)

I played my first game against Matt's semi-dirty Daemon list built around Fateweaver, A GUO, Winged DP, 3 units of lesser daemons and CSM allies consisting of Typhus, 4 terminators, 2 obliterators and some zombies. Suffice to say I lost by a reasonable margin, with the first turn going against me proving key as it resulted in me being castled up in the corner for the first few turns. HIghlights included a nephilim taking out Fateweaver on the turn of its arrival, Black Knights plasma-killing a winged daemon prince and Typhus carving through many a Deathwing Knight.

The second game a win against Scott's Tyranid army, which was principally a nidzilla list with a Flyrant, Crone, Swarmlord, podding Exocrine, Trygon Prime, Mawloc and Tervigon. It went fairly similar to the previous game with me not getting first turn and ending up castled. The Dark Angels proved themselves to be proficient monster hunters though with the Vengeance killing the Swarmlord in a single volley of fire and Deathwing Knights carving through an MC a turn. Highlights for Scott included deepstriking a Mawloc and killing 5 Deathwing and 2 Black Knights in one turn. Nasty. 

Overall both very enjoyable games. I really enjoy playing with mixed Dark Angel lists and hope to use them more in games in the near future as a result.

Venue

The entrance has completely changed now and once walking up winding steps/ramp from the main door you enter straight into the main GW store, which you must walk through to access the other areas. It's worth noting the SM statue is now inside the lobby, the Rhino to the side of the entrance and a new AoS statue where the SM statue used to be. The gaming area is smaller now and all 3 stores (GW/FW/BL) are pretty open plan and glass fronted so they can be seen from the whole room. The FW store is particularly impressive with most of the models from the HH and the large models on display. That Warlord is just insane! Speaking of which, I got a glimpse of a hugely impressive army of Ultramarines, Knights and titans that appeared to have just been photographed for WD. Bugman's has also changed a little bit with the rear area being refurbished. I have to say, the one consistent let down have with WHW is the food and drink. Both Matt and I had overpriced bottles of beer rife with sediment and the burgers/chips are always far too greasy.

Exhibition

Now, when I learned that GW had reorganised the 'museum' and were now charging £7.50 I immediately thought 'cash grab'. However, it's so rare that I get to go to WHW I decided I had to have a look-see. Having done it, I must say it was the highlight of the trip. What they have done with the exhibition areas is astounding. I will share a few pics (I'm sure a google search will reveal much better ones) and let the pictures speak for themselves, especially, the diorammas. The Khorne Vs Ultramarines display is literally half the size of my house and must be seen to be believed. Amazing stuff, and I'd highly recommend it.