Question for Captain Blood

[War In 15MM]

I was recently looking through the Workbench and noticed a piece you wroting addressing "Aladdin's Cave in London."  In that piece you said you found 4D when you were checking to see if a hobby shop was close by a meeting you were attending.  I live in the U.S. but will be visiting London with my wife in May.  Everything I have found so far leads me to believe that other than the Orcs Nest there aren't any hobby shops that sell Pulp/Adventure miniatures in London.  I would love to find a place or some places that sell (s) Gripping Beast/Woodbine Design, Perry Miniatures, Foundry, etc.  Apparently, U.S. hobby shops are carrying less and less of the metal miniatures from England because of the shipping costs.  Can you give me the names/locations of London shops that carry great 28s?  I would really appreciate your help.  If you prefer you can contact me at my vanity website at www.warin15mm.com  Thank you. Richard

[Captain Blood]

Sorry to disappoint you, but London - one of the world's most populous cities - is really poorly catered for with wargames shops. Most Brits buy their figures online or at wargames shows.

Even Orc's Nest is not that great to be honest - it carries most (but not all) Copplestone, a smattering of Westwind, and various fantasy ranges, plus lots of rules, boardgames etc. But that's about it. There used to be several good wargames shops in London - now there are none. Apart from about 100 GW stores, obviously. Perhaps there's a connection 

To be fair though, there used to be very few wargames shows - now there's one almost every weekend somewhere in the country - and that's where people buy stuff.

Shame you're coming in May not April, or you could have hit Salute and shopped til you dropped 

There is Leisure Games in North London, which I've never been to, but lots of people seem to recommend. They say they carry Artizan and other ranges, but worth checking before you visit to see what they actually have in stock. (http://www.leisuregames.com/index.html).

My local wargames shop claims to stock Artizan, Copplestone, Westwind, Perry, and various others - and usually has about 3 blisters from each manufacturer in stock 

4D Modelshop is a terrain builders paradise, and a 10 minute walk from the Tower of London - so worth a look if you make terrain and you're taking in the tourist sights.

On the wider front, I'd certainly recommend a visit the both the National Army Museum in Chelsea and the Imperial War Museum in Kennington. Both free to enter.

But shops selling wargames figures? Meh. Nothing much doing I'm afraid.

[shady]

There's a decent (though not as good as it used to be) games shop in Aldershot, which is about 45 mins by train from Waterloo. If you drive, there are some interesting military museums in Aldershot/Farnborough. i would warn that Aldershot is a horrible looking town centre, though.

If you aren't going to a wargames show, the other alternative would be to buy online and get the stuff shipped to your hotel. That's what I tend to do when I need something from the US, and since I go to the US fairly often.

[War In 15MM]

Captain Blood and Shady, thank you both very much for fast reply.  I expected your answers to be what they were, but I needed to try; always a hope.  I really appreciate that you took the time.   Richard