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I'll be visiting London in March and would love to get some tips about miniature/wargaming stores (or other things) to check out.

I'm mostly into 40k and a bit of Warmahordes and X-Wing, but the standard ranges of products don't interest me much as my LGS has those. Anything else, though - conversion parts, modelling supplies, whatever (I understand ForgeWorld products aren't sold in stores in the UK?) - and especially a place that has Vallejo products.

The only places I've heard of so far are Orc's Nest and Dark Sphere. Are they worth a visit?

Dark Sphere is amazing, definitely go there. X-Wing miniatures are a little hard to come by in the capital, though.

If you're after FW, you should try for the Open Day.

For the Forge World open day you're going to have to go a long way north to Nottingham and Warhammer world.

In London, definitely Dark Sphere, an absolute Aladdin's Cave of a shop they just have so much stuff in there.

I'll also say Dark Sphere in it's new location



They stock a wide range of Magic The Gathering, Warhammer Fantasy & 40k, Warmachine & Hordes, Infinity, Malifaux, Dropzone Commander, Dystopian Wars and Flames of War. We also have a large selection of paints, miniatures, bases, scenery and conversion bits from the likes of Vallejo, Micro Arts, Kromlech and Scibor.

Dark Sphere
Arch 186 Hercules Road
London
SE1 7LD

Tel: 020 7928 1373

Orc's Nest is good for RPG and collectable type stuff. Not so much for miniature wargames.

Forbidden Planet is good for SF/Fantasy books and comics, plus action figures and so on. Within easy walking distance of Ork's Nest.

GW The Plaza, Oxford Street is within walking distance of both the above.

If you are into historical model kits, the Hannants shop up at Hendon is conveniently close to the RAF museum, nearest tube station Colindale.

If you are going about London for a day buy a daily Travelcard which allows you to use any buses or tube trains in Zones 1-6. If you are staying longer, get an Oyster card and preload it with money. It makes individual trips cheaper and when your daily spend equals a Travelcard, you don't have to pay any more.

I'd also recommend a nice long visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum

The Imperial War Museum
HMS Belfast
The Tower of London
The National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery
Tate Britain and Tate Modern
The British Museum

London is positively seething with galleries and museums, many of which are free to visit.

Start at Borough Market, for quality food.
Via Vinopolis and the Whiskey Exchange for some quality booze.
Then on to Dark Sphere.

Everything a gamer needs within a shortish walk.

In all seriousness, London has so much to offer why spend the time going to games shops for stuff you can buy off the Internet?

Loads of free museums, galleries, sites to see, markets, etc. London is a big and diverse city. Don't expect to see more than a fraction of it.

Out East: Greenwich Observatory and Royal Observatory
Further West: Science and Natural History musuems

A walk through Regent St, Carnaby St, the Trocadero and Covent Garden, all fairly close to each other.
Orc's Nest isn't far from there, either.

All those suggestions are good - but note, the Imperial War Museum is closed for refurbishment until July. A shame, is it's right by Dark Sphere. If you fancy things military, HMS Belfast is pretty good, and the RAF Museum Hendon is fantasctic - and as mentioned Hannants is well-regarded tho I've never been there personally.

There's another, pretty good modelling shop on Lower Marsh, Ian Marsh jsut round the corner from Dark Sphere, with a good selection of other bits and military books. If you're into coffee, I heartily recommend the Scooter Cafe, also on Lower Marsh. The noodle bar at the bottom of Hercules Street is great, too.

All these things are a matter of taste of course - we love Greenwich, as we live there, but I would definitely recommend going to London Bridge, and walking along the river to Waterloo,, you'll pass the Clink, an old prison, a replica of the Golden Hind, Shakespeare's Globe, the Tate Modern and Millennium Bridge, with St Paul's opposite. You can still find Georgian clay pipes washed up on that part of the thames,,, one morning when we went mudlarking right opposite the Tate Modern, one fella found a bunch of Roman marbles...

Have fun, there will be more than enough things to see. When you get your Travelcard, look for the Number 15 route - it's run with old-fashioned routemaster buses, from Trafalgar Square to Tower Hill, for yer regular bus fare.

If you're at all interested in art, check out the National Gallery, there's a huge range of stuff in there from all styles and periods. Even for novices (like me) who only have a rudimentary knowledge of art history, there's plenty to appreciate.

The Natural History museum is great if you're into any kind of palaeontology or geology (or just looking at dinosaurs!). If human history is more your thing, then check out the British Museum, there's all sorts in there.

The Science museum is also packed with stuff (there's 7 floors iirc), everything from aeroplanes to spaceships and submarines in there. They also often have themed exhibitions on that you might want to look into.

All I would say is if you plan to visit these places is that you should set aside at least 2 hours for each, if you rush them you're cheating yourself of a great experience.

 Steve steveson wrote:
In all seriousness, London has so much to offer why spend the time going to games shops for stuff you can buy off the Internet?

I'd echo that; most of the stuff you'll see will be available at home anyway. The GW stores in particular will carry identical stock to back home.

If you want to buy stuff to save money then I'd email darksphere with an order and go in and collect it, but even as a major gaming geek myself visiting game stores on a holiday instead of sightseeing seems like a wasted opportunity. It's different if you've got some down time though.

Depending on what you're into, this is a pretty good book for ideas when travelling:
http://geekatlas.com/

Bradleys Bar on Hanway Street. You don't need anywhere else.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Orc's Nest is good for RPG and collectable type stuff. Not so much for miniature wargames.

Forbidden Planet is good for SF/Fantasy books and comics, plus action figures and so on. Within easy walking distance of Ork's Nest.

GW The Plaza, Oxford Street is within walking distance of both the above.

If you are into historical model kits, the Hannants shop up at Hendon is conveniently close to the RAF museum, nearest tube station Colindale.

If you are going about London for a day buy a daily Travelcard which allows you to use any buses or tube trains in Zones 1-6. If you are staying longer, get an Oyster card and preload it with money. It makes individual trips cheaper and when your daily spend equals a Travelcard, you don't have to pay any more.

I second all of this. Orc's Nest, FB and GW in the Plaza are all within walking distance from each other. The three main shops I used to hit when going uptown.

When walking to Dark Sphere from Waterloo you pass an Ian Allen Model Shop, well worth a stop.

There are so many free museums in London, the British Museum essential for archaeology, Natural History for dinosaurs, Science Museum, several huge art galleries and the V&A. There are many small free museums that get less attention but are in the city centre; the Petrie Egytology Museum attached to UCL, the Huntarian Museum with Royal Society of Surgeons, the Grant Museum of Zoology with UCL.

Hendon RAF museum if free and has a huge collection of aircraft. It's in North London and needs a dedicated trip, take the Northern Line to Colindale, it's a 10 minute walk.

If you want to pay there's all the attractions like the Tower of London, HMS Belfast, etc. London Transport Museum is good if you like trains and buses.

Thanks for all the suggestions! Don't know if I'll have time for all of it, but I'll definitely check out Dark Sphere.