A Colonial in the Mother Country – Warlord Open Day 2021

By Scott Roach

Before I begin my experience, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr John Stallard, the Managing Director and his excellent staff at Warlord Games for making this first experience a memorable one (Oh and no, I don’t get any kickbacks or benefits from Warlord Games). It was also great to catch up with Jon Russell (That’s us together at the top) who I met (virtually) during a Podcast hosted by my “Valhal Brother” Mitch Reed.

I have, where possible tried to capture the names and responsibilities of the staff in my pictures. Apologies for any I get wrong!

So here we go!

As many of my North American colleagues would agree, the UK is the Land of Miniatures with some of our favourite miniature makers located there. To be able to get across the pond to an open day is both rare and in these days of Covid has been even harder. Well with mask in one hand and sanitiser in the other I set off to Nottingham to attend my very first open day experience.

As I said, Warlord Games is in Nottingham which is located in the Midlands region of the UK. As well as several other well named miniature makers, Nottingham is also home to the Legend of Robin Hood although I didn’t see him or his Merry men!

The day kicked off with people arriving and gathering ready for the festivities to commence. Warlord was very good in arranging parking close by. Cars rolled in from all over and as 10am drew close the Warlord coordinator asked everyone to line up, ensure they had a face mask when in the building and if they wanted the factory tour to get their name on the roster. After that we were on our own.

The setup for the day was pretty well laid with covered areas set up for game demonstrations. While each area was prepped for rain, thankfully the unusual fine weather was kind enough to stay that way for the entire day.

The Game Demos.
As you entered through the gate, off to the right was a large covered building area with a couple of larger game demos. To the left of the gate was another covered area were several tables set up to demonstrate a few Warlords many game systems. So to get rolling I headed to the left.

With the small demos checked out I decided to see what waited for me in the large tent! There were two large tables set up for games demos. The first was a game set up for Bolt Action Tank Battles. This game was a mix of Soviet Late War Armour facing off against some iconic Late War German Armour.

Saving the best for last with the demo tables.

A beautiful table set up to demonstrate Pike and Shot.

Andy Bartlett from the ‘friends of General Haig” wargamers club had set up a scenario from the English Civil War to demonstrate the rules for Pike and Shot.

The scenario.

While the Manoeuvre and fighting was great. What really grabbed my attention was the superb detail and effort put into the village at the rear of the battle area. Andy had added some very nice buildings, terrain and towns folk including some interesting ones. The village certainly added to the story unfolding on the hills in the distance.

I chatted with Andy about his club and their games and then was happy to make my way up to the main building to see when I could do the tour.

Waiting for the Tour

While waiting for the tour to begin I had the chance to look at some of the display cabinets leading up to the main office area. Here there are some beautifully painted models. Complete sets, small dioramas and one offs like OddBall’s Sherman.

The Tour.

First stop was up the stairs to the office of the big Kahuna himself. John Stallard welcomed the small group of 10 I was in, introduced hid Chief finance Officer and talked briefly about Warlord Games. We were invited to ask any questions and to look at the smattering of very interesting items around his office. No surprise there is a gaming table in the centre with figures painted and waiting for dice rolls.

From here we were ushered into the holiest of holies… The room of new ideas!!! Well I am sure they have a better name for it. In this room is where to me the creation of the ‘new’ comes from.

Darek other than being the photographer for Warlord games is an excellent painter and modeller. Here are a few of Darek’s pieces. I like the twin fuselage He111 for Blood Red Skies and the Light house with working lights.

The tour moved on from the room of new ideas to the Resin Casting room. Here we were briefed on the resin casting process. The two different types of resin casting and the time it takes to cast and cure. I was a little surprised at the rate of production for the resin work.

From the resin room we moved downstairs to the Plastic and metal casting room. On the way we passed the storage area.

Jon explained that all the miscasts and any excess leftovers are ground down into a powder, stored and then re-used.  So as anyone who knows me knows I am a metal figures guy. I much prefer metal and resin over plastic in most cases. So was very happy to cross the room and go and see the metal moulding process. This was excellent and I was very happy that the demo was done by Pete Hely a fellow Aussie. Pete hails from good old Brisbane Queensland, my own home state back in OZ.

So with the metal casting room demo done and getting the Open Day Figure 2021 from Pete we made our back out to the game demo area. From here we were free to wander around, talk to the staff and buy from the onsite shop. The line up inside the shop was pretty long so I decided to wander back over to the ECW game and take a few more pics.

The onsite shop
Eventually the shop slowed enough for me to take my chances. The shop setup was pretty good. Lots of display cases to get the imagination going as well maybe a bit of inspiration to try a new game.

 

Well folks that about sums up my first Open day. Overall, it was a great day. The staff were excellent and the activities a lot of fun, especially the Pike and Shot game. The tour was great and I was impressed with the relax atmosphere and welcoming team. If you ever have the chance to get along to one of your favourite miniature sellers open days then do it.

And of course what would be an open day be without making use of those good sales offers!

Until next time or until the next open day.