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I play guard (I still don't like calling it Astra Militarum) and hoping to find a club or people who play in London.

I mean... greater London has 6 GW shops.

That's where it started so I think there would be alot, at least compared to us here in the north with only like 3 shops and 3 times Britain's size in this province.

I've got a gaming group. Also - check out the HATE group on facebook - hackney area tabletop enthusiasts. Usually easy to get a game.

Not so much, most people prefer snooker or fox hunting. Children sell matches or flowers on the street mainly, when they're not sweeping chimneys.

Or so I gather.

More seriously I do wonder how people can play in London, from what i've seen houses are as small and crowded as New York or Tokyo.

There are lots of shops to play at in London. Dark Sphere is another in addition to those above. There is also First Founding games club out towards the west of the city and several groups in the north.

Hi,
I'm in London at it seems pretty popular. Most people play in clubs I think because as you say, space is at a premium. Luckily my kitchen is large enough to convert our dining table to a 7x4' (in fact it was one of my considerations when we bought the house ;-).

Depending on where you live there will be somewhere not far away to play.

In the GWs you can play but it can get a bit crowded as none of the stores are huge. The flagship store (on TCR) is largish but really only has one active gaming table.

There are tons of tables for hire at darksphere and most times I visit there is space but they have x wing and magic tournaments amongst other things so book a table ahead of time or risk being disappointed.

I've gone to this group a few times:
https://www.meetup.com/The-London-Warhammer-Gaming-Guild/
and there are some really nice players there. Ranging from those who just want to throw a few dice around to those who are practicing for tournaments.
I've been to a couple of other clubs in north London. They sometimes take a little weeding out and none are 40k exclusive but all have been very welcoming.

And remember Nottingham and warhammer world are only about 2.5-3 hrs away by car and some of their weekend long events are a lot of fun. Most players are not super competitive but you will often face decent but interesting lists. You will also get the occasional player looking to trounce everyone but laugh it off, get a beer and look forward to the next game. I've been to 3 and each was better than the last.

Where abouts in London will you be? I could recommend loads of clubs in east London/Essex. As far as I'm concerned it's very popular. If you're in the East of London there's a gaming event on this Sunday called Skirmish (at Sidcup) I imagine there'll be a 40k game on, there usually is.

There's hundreds of players in London and its surroundings, you'll have no trouble finding a game.

Looking at your little flag you're an Aussie too. England is tiny, and most people consider a 30 minute drive to be a long one. Wargaming as a whole is plenty popular over there, and there's a whole ton of clubs and stores in London or a short travel fron there where you can pla.y AND more importantly, GW don't have the Australia Tax, so are generally cheaper even when you take into account currency conversion

England is tiny, and most people consider a 30 minute drive to be a long one

Not so much this, as traffic is frequently so poor in urban areas that what should be a 30 minute drive often takes an hour and a quarter if undertaken at the wrong time of day (i.e. going to school time, going to work time, coming home from school or work time, it's raining, there's an R in the month etc.)

I'll give you an extreme example, albeit not a particularly rare one. A few years ago a friend's husband had to be rushed to hospital, so as I was free to went up to stay with them for a few days in their London flat to help out with their young baby girl and help my not particularly mechanically minded friend get their two cars back into driveable condition (a veritable "it never rains but it pours" story if ever there was one.)

I left to come home, a journey of 150 miles or so, at the same time as my friend left to collect her husband from the hospital, around 5 miles away, both in a cars (because the tube is no place for someone who's been in a hospital ward for a week.) This was on a Friday afternoon, they beat me home, but only by around 15 minutes.

 Azreal13 wrote:

England is tiny, and most people consider a 30 minute drive to be a long one

Not so much this, as traffic is frequently so poor in urban areas that what should be a 30 minute drive often takes an hour and a quarter if undertaken at the wrong time of day (i.e. going to school time, going to work time, coming home from school or work time, it's raining, there's an R in the month etc.)

I'll give you an extreme example, albeit not a particularly rare one. A few years ago a friend's husband had to be rushed to hospital, so as I was free to went up to stay with them for a few days in their London flat to help out with their young baby girl and help my not particularly mechanically minded friend get their two cars back into driveable condition (a veritable "it never rains but it pours" story if ever there was one.)

I left to come home, a journey of 150 miles or so, at the same time as my friend left to collect her husband from the hospital, around 5 miles away, both in a cars (because the tube is no place for someone who's been in a hospital ward for a week.) This was on a Friday afternoon, they beat me home, but only by around 15 minutes.

I used to regularly drive from London to Liverpool. The journey was 50/50 time wise. 50% driving from my house in London to the edge of London 50% driving most of the length and breadth of the country.

Knowing how the local train stations match up between you and the venues will help a lot.
London is huge, or tiny, depending of your definition. Some of London counts as Surrey and other counties.
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/566137.page

mongoosecat200 wrote:
England is tiny, and most people consider a 30 minute drive to be a long one.

Quite true, but I constantly remind visitors to London, that London is not like England and England not like London. London is large for a city and travelling 10 miles south in a car across the city to my friends takes more time than going 90 miles north to my parents house.
As a rule of thumb (for north London at least) if London is a like a wheel with spokes, if you are travelling in or out from the centre use public transport, if travelling laterally then you can use a car (very dependent on transport links though). If on occasion I decide to drive to work (2-3 miles towards the centre for me) it far quicker to take a spiralling route to avoid some of the more congested arteries into the centre.

Drager wrote:I used to regularly drive from London to Liverpool. The journey was 50/50 time wise. 50% driving from my house in London to the edge of London 50% driving most of the length and breadth of the country.

This isn't an exaggeration, depending on time of day and where you are located, its quite normal.

Skinnereal wrote:Knowing how the local train stations match up between you and the venues will help a lot.

This is key. A 5 mile trip can take 10 mins or 45 mins depending on transport links. Research these things before choosing a home if you can.