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I will be in London in late May. Are there any stores that are a 'must see' in London. I'd like to get some FW stuff and love historical wargames. We are staying in a hotel close to Hyde Park and will be walking or taking the underground to most places. Suggestions are appreciated (bonus if you can provide an address).

Thanks!!

Nothing in London leaps to mind as must-see, GW-wise. You could take a train to Nottingham in under 2 hours and go to GW HQ, Warhammer World and Maelstrom HQ.

There is a GW store on Oxford Street, in the Plaza, and the guys in there are pretty friendly. They have their games night on a Thursday. I've stopped in twice in the last year for a game and felt pretty welcome, though getting beaten by a 12 year old was... interesting

Buy yourself Oyster cards. They are £3 each.

You pre-load them with cash and the fares on the buses and tubes are much cheaper than if you buy paper tickets. It's also quicker than queuing for a ticket machine every time you travel.

Yes, and Oyster card will also get you through the turnstiles quicker than using the crappy paper tickets and make it less likely that someone like me will beat you around the head for holding me up.

(Londoners are friendly!)

Hey - you her for work, or just a holiday? As far as friendliness goes, think of London like you'd think of New York City and you won't be far off. People generally ARE friendly and polite, just not on a busy street in rush hour....

Anyway, there aren't actually that many gaming hotspots in Central London....

GW Plaza - this is in the Plaza Centre on Oxford St, between Oxford Circus and Tottemham Ct Rd tubes. About 15mins walk from Hyde Park. Occasionally good for a game, but just another GW store really.

GW Covent Garden - this is underneath Covent Garden Market in central london. Just follow the sound of the opera singers in the market square. Much smaller and cosier store, rubbish for games but the staff are nicer.

Orcs Nest - this is a RPG, boardgame and miniature shop on Endell Street in Covent Garden. Doesn't sell GW, and has no space for playing, but a good selection of other stuff.

Basically, you could visit all three of the above stores in an hour walking around Soho/Covent Garden. Easy.

Then...

DarkSphere Games - http://www.darksphere.co.uk/ - are underneath Waterloo station on the South Bank. They're very small, but have a 40k gaming night on a Wednesday. They sell non-GW stuff as well.

But really, since you're here, find time to take the train to Nottingham and go to Warhammer World. Two or three clubs run out of WW, so give them a call when you arrive and see when the best time for a pickup game is. Nottingham is about a 2hr train ride from Euston station.

Oh yeah, and GET AN OYSTER CARD! First thing you do, as soon as you get off the plane and head for Heathrow tube station. They'll save you a huge amount on travel.


Oh, and if you fancy a game, I'm sure some of us on here would be happy to arrange one. I'm always up for a random game...

Actually, me too.

I have more or less finished moving into my new flat now, and brought some of my terrain out of storage at my parents' house...

(Just got to get some armies painted now...)

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll be there for a week long vacation. Unfortunately I won't have my minis with me, so any stops will be for shopping. I'm going to try to check out those independent shops. I love to find stores with gaming stuff I can't get in the States or online.

I was in London a few years ago and I think it's a great city. I've been to New York and, IMHO, London is much better.

If I was coming to London I would go to some of the military oriented museums rather than wargame shops.

National Army Museum
RAF Museum
Tower of London
HMS Belfast
Imperial War Museum

Or maybe some culture.

I wasn't planning on going to London just to check out game stores

I've scheduled visits to the Tower of London, Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, and a general sightseeing bus tour. I have more stops to plan. I'm just looking for a shop or two if I need to kill some time or there is one close to my hotel.

Great Call KK, Imperial War Museum is also really near to Dark Sphere (a small but perfectly formed shop).

The other fellas have listed nearly all of the shops worth looking into with the exception of Forbiden Planet. Its just up the road from Orcs Nest, just head east 200 yards from there on Shaftsbury Avenue.

Not really war gaming but full of almost everything else thats geeky and cool.

I also recomend you visit orc's nest, it is close to the centre of london and has some cool stuff to look at.

Check out Wrigley's Museum or something like that in Picadilly. Museum of weird stuff.

Fifty, do you mean Ripley's believ it or not museum?

4M2A wrote:Fifty, do you mean Ripley's believ it or not museum?

I do