Warhammer World 2020 – Exhibition Centre Part 2

The third part of the coverage on this visit, after covering the Gaming Area, Bugmans Bar, as well as the first part of the exhibition hall, will go for the dark future of Warhammer 40.000. Similar to the first part, this is an addition and update to the coverage from 2018, so you'll find more pictures on these and former exhibits there.

And similar to the Fantasy exhibit, the 40.000 starts early - with some Rogue Trader era goodness and some things that came briefly after that! We have the RTB01 Imperial Space Marines, build and on sprue, along with some amazing scratch build vignettes, covering the final battle between Horus and the Emperor, there were Sanguinus was slain (there is a great poster of that fight from 1990), as well as an Imperial Navy hangar.

A mixed cabinet with miniatures from the Rogue Trader as well as the 2nd Edition of Warhammer 40.000. A lot of Goblin Green base rims!

I took a couple of pictures of the classic Chaos Space Marines, as we saw and will see some in my Old-/Middlehammer project on Abaddon's Black Legion.

The main event of the exhibit certainly is The Battle for Angelus Prime from 2015, that was updated multiple times, incl. the addition of Primaris units. I have covered it extensively in the 2018 article, but it is so impressive, that it surely can go with a few more pictures as it is the largest diorama, ever build by Games Workshop so far. It shows an epic battle between the Ultramarines and a Chaos Space Marine army devoted to Khorne. This epic diorama covers both stories and the stair case goes around it. It even has a change of lighting, swapping between red and blue, similar to the Night and Day change at the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg.

Another Space Marine force, this time the Blood Angels fighting a daemon army is seen at The Battle for Signus Prime. Warhammer Community covered additional information on this scene, relying heavily on the range of Forge World.

Horus Heresy is a strong topic within these halls. A unusual organized and structured impression of the World Eaters, here shown pre-heresy at the Muster Tredecimmia from 2016.

And we stay with the Horus Heresy, with 2016's Burning of Prospero, a scene showing the attack of the Space Wolves attacking the Thousand Sons on their homeworld. As Forge World released further units of both armies, those were added to on multiple occassions.

Smaller, but still in the timeline of the Horus Heresy, here is the Battle at the Gates of Nyrgon City from 2018 shown with Adeptus Titanicus models.

A lovely set up of the Imperial Fists. The Emperor's Legion VII, in beautiful bright yellow. We will see more of them on here, that is for sure.

The Battle of Vesh'Yo from 2015 is a long inhabitant of the exhibition, showing the combined forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus and Titans against a Tau fortress. Of this battle a lot more pictures can be found in the 2018 coverage.

A smaller diorama, showing the intensive jungle fight between Catachans and Dark Eldar is Outpost 402 from 2018. A part of the building process is shown in the Diorama Book.

With the recent release of Necromunda Dark Uprising and the included plastic terrain, the Underhive is very prominent in several forms at the current exhibit. From larger scenes to small vignettes, Necromunda received quite a lot of gritty, dark attention.

The Assault on Zybos from 2019. We see the Imperial Fists for the first time since the original Siege of Terra on a diorama at Warhammer World. But the situation is mirrored. The old one, sporting a massive Warlord Titan on it, had the Imperial Fists standing on the defence walls of Terra, on Zybos it is the other way arround, they attack a fallen forge world.

The Siege of Khanoris from 2017 shows the Blood Angels once again, but this time in the current time line, fighting the Necrons on a snowy world.

Similar to the fantasy halls, these are not just about dioramas, but the displays cover novelties, Golden Demon entries, individual miniatures used for product pictures and changing guest displays.

This is Ork Town, originally made in 2010 by Forge World for the Imperial Armour Volume 8 - Raid on Kastorel Novem, was reimagined in 2015. It of course has a strong Blackhawk down feeling to it, and that reference was picked up multiple times in wargaming scenarioes.

And to be honest, this is how I imagine parts of the underhive as well. Not deep down in the sewers, but on the outer rim, near the ash deserts.

Magnir's Crag was created in 2009 for Games Day and has been updated multiple times since then. It moved around Warhammer World multiple times as well. It used to be on the ground floor, next to the store / entry, but yet doesn't look dated, with the attack of the swarm on the Space Wolves fortress.

And I want to close with this great guest display of a Genestealer Cult army, using extensive conversions and kitbashes from multiple armies. Lovely, gritty project.

Yet, even with both (or all four of them, if you include the 2018s pictures), there is still more to see and especially with the changing guest displays reasons to go their often. But I hope that you have an idea now, of what is waiting for you behind those doors. I understand that the tickets aren't that cheap and especially if you want to bring along your family might add up (but they offer a family ticket). The exhibition did cost money back in the 90s, but they put a lot of effort into this and it is much larger than the former free exhibition of the 00's. The Battle for Angelus Prime is a very appropiate center piece for that miniatures hall and I hope that we will see something even more impressive in a few years.

Depending on how thorough you want to be, you can spend between half an hour or up to two hours in the exhibition. As the ticket is valid for the entire day, take all the time you need. Look at the ground level, grab something to eat, finish it and head back in. I guess a regular visit would be between 45 to 60 minutes. Games Workshop sells the Warhammer Diorama book, that covers the large setups in this exhibition as a softcover for around 16 GBP. So this is a neat idea as a souvenir for yourself or for someone who couldn't make it to Nottingham. And as I mentioned above, it is tricky to take pictures, so the ones in the booklet were shot under better conditions than mine. The book is available as a bundle with the ticket as well.

It is a rather large exhibition, from the point of a miniatures hobby, but yet they have to manage the space carefully. You get a timeline of sort for some of the ranges, but I have to say I miss a bit of "behind the curtains" in Warhammer World. I'd love to see more about the production, on the three ups, the design process and such. That would round the experience pretty well from my point of view. Other than that, the history of Warhammer World is not that present. You don't see the development of Games Workshop as a company. A few products from the early days, yes, but not the growth, not the company it self, the location and such. Maybe that would be something really nice for the Warhammer World or Warhammer Community website, as I think with the huge emotional involvement of ourself in this hobby, nostalgia takes a big piece of that too.

Well, that was my latest visit to Nottingham and Warhammer World. I don't expect it to be the last and as promised I'll write something up, that is aimed to help you with your (and your friends or families) trip to the lead belt. Hope you enjoyed the coverage again and see you soon!

Link: Games Workshop Warhammer World Exhibition Centre