As part of the recent Bootleg BOYL road trip we stopped off in Nottingham to take a look around Warhammer World. Usually I am too occupied at Foundry to venture off on a tangent but this seemed like a good chance to see what it's all about. A bit of a pilgrimage, after all there are some treasures there. Here, then, is the obligatory photo dump.
Inside the doors of the exhibition are a couple of cabinets with what I had really come to see- the famous box dioramas! Suffice to say they held my attention a lot longer than anything else there. It's great to see these are being well looked-after and are still as glorious as when they were photographed for White Dwarf or, in this case, the third ed rulebook.
They include the fantastic Warhammer Quest diorama from Mike McVey. I must have spent days gazing at the photos in the magazine so this was a wonder to behold in person. There were even some details I had failed to spot in my thorough perusal of the photos! It was also a lot deeper than I imagined, allowing an even greater sense of perspective with Mike's clever modelling.
Beyond this the exhibition quickly deteriorates (IMHO) into cabinets full of modern plastics, nicely painted but just a bit bland to my eye. The big scenes are obviously designed to excite but a close look reveals most of the figures on the enormous displays have very basic paint jobs consisting I suspect largely of contrast paint. There was a special exhibit, however, on dragons through the ages which had some gems. That chicken dragon really is huge. Not something I'd really be keen to own but impressive for the ambition behind it.
Here's a more modern attempt at a big dragon! The Lord of the Rings miniatures were a particular highlight with the finely detailed Perry brothers sculpting and some exquisite painting.
Some more dioramas, 40k this time. How well I remember that glorious imperial hangar from WD.
A handful of classic 40k in amongst the modern stuff. That apothecary and librarian with banner were on the hobby products flyer that came with Heroquest and Space Crusade so they were probably my first glimpse at Space Marines. I had to grab photos so I can try to emulate the paint jobs with my own marines when I find the inspiration to crack on with them.
Sadly none of the 'true size' scenes now survive, but it was a surprise to find artefacts like this Terminator helmet still tucked away in corners. Another treasure I remember from WD.
Of course it was obligatory to sample the famous Bugmans' XXXXXX. Not a beer the dwarfs would favour I fear, it was an insipid pale ale but there you go. They also serve fishfinger sandwiches (paninis no less) in Bugmans', how classy is that? Served with chips though, not the fried egg and remoulade that used to be my after-heavy-drinking snack of choice!
Happy to have seen it, especially the classic dioramas, but for the Oldhammerer there's definitely more to see in the cabinets at Foundry!
Witness the Wonder of Warhammer World!
