Earlier this month, I got to embark on a pilgrimage that was 5 years in the making. As some might recall, I am a giant nerd that plays a tabletop wargame called Warhammer, which is published by the British company, Games Workshop. This company is headquartered in Nottingham, England, with a huge facility called “Warhammer World”. It is a massive hobby store with a large shop, huge display gallery, a Pub inside the store, and a large gaming space where nerds like me can come together and play a few games. Here are a few photos to give you an idea of how marvelously nerdy this place is.
5 years ago, when I was a young and spritely 33 years old, some friends and I decided to make a trip to Warhammer World to celebrate my 35th birthday. The long lead time was done to make sure everyone had time to finance the trip, but also to make sure everyone could get all the wargaming models painted and looking pretty for what is arguably the biggest and nerdiest stage the hobby has to offer. It was a wonderful plan and a lot of preparation went into making it a success.
As luck would have it, my 35th birthday fell in March 2020, and literally the day before we were supposed to fly off to England, the entire world shut down courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the trip was cancelled, and my dreams of nerd glory came crashing down all around me.
Fast forward 3 years later, I am living in Mauritania, and for some reason, the Foreign Service is rife with fellow nerds, and I have myself a steady hobby group going. One day, a fellow embassy enthusiast and I were talking about how great it would be to make a trip to Warhammer World, when I shared my sad tale of the trip that was never meant to be. Immediately, he said we have to take the trip, and from there the plans went into motion.
As luck would have it, I had an extra R&R ticket to personally burn since I didn’t use one when I flew my family back to the U.S. last spring for my CME training (MED paid for my ticket), and my travel companion was due to PCS out of Mauritania to his next assignment in the late summer. We decided to kill two birds with one stone, where I use my bonus R&R ticket, and he just uses his PCS ticket and costs constructs his route back to the U.S. through England. The plan went off without a hitch, and thankfully no worldwide pandemic occurred just before we were set to leave.
WE HAD A WONDERFUL TIME. First, Nottingham is an absolutely charming city. Although touristed, it isn’t a main hot spot like London or Edinburgh, and going after peak season, let us really enjoy the city without crowds. Lots of great little shops, pubs, restaurants, and things to do. We rented a place in the city center and had a blast exploring. We also got to take in a T20 Cricket match with England playing New Zealand. I am not sure why cricket never caught on in the U.S. it’s definitely more action packed and offense oriented than baseball, and even though the home team lost, it was a fantastic time.
Warhammer World itself exceeded all expectations. The staff there were so friendly and accommodating, and let us play on some of their nicest tables they created. For those unfamiliar with the hobby, I will let the photos here do it justice. Everything you see is hand assembled and painted by yours truly and my amigo.
The last bit of the trip was a stop over in London where I get to check out our humongous and beautiful new embassy there, which has killer views of the River Thames, and tour their health unit. The London Health Unit serves as our Medical Evacuation point for half of Africa and all of Europe through most of central Asia. We deal with these fine folks out in the field quite a bit, so it was wonderful putting names to faces. FUN FACT: U.S. Embassy London has a pub where you can get a very thematic beer called Special Relation-Sip, brewed for the embassy. It was a really cool experience, and although huge embassies like this aren’t that appealing to me, the history of the mission and its location are definitely appealing.
Sadly, my brief getaway to Nerdvana had to come to an end, and as always it was closed out with the ceremonial stuff of the fridge with large amounts of quality meats/cheeses. It was an unforgettable experience and I will definitely be back to Nottingham. –Nick
