We set off nice and early on the Friday with a view to get to Foundry at around 10:30 knowing full well we could be there for some time and barring a bit of traffic we landed pretty much on the dot.
Our first glimpse from the car
It must be said that I don't think I've ever visited a "shop" in such magnificent surroundings, so we trundled up to the shop door and rang the bell (like the old fashioned school bells) before realising the door was open (it sticks quite a bit, Bryan later told us it was an original door from the 1830s so we'll let it off).
"Ding-a-ling"
Upon our entry we were, to be quite frank, blown away. The sheer number of miniatures is astounding and we knew we were in for a long but wonderful day. We'd of course seen images from Oldhammer day but they didn't prepare us for just how much there really is so we took some snaps of everything, including the Oldhammer miniature cabinets.
Yes, that is a very big smile on my face
A real treat for me, the first plastic miniatures produced by GW/Citadel
The first port of call was the mythological Greek range which will come in very handy for Crooked Dice's 7th Voyage as well as Amy's fledgling Nature army for Kings Of War. We then proceeded to spend the next couple of hours looking over the racks and finding so many miniatures we wanted to pick up (gladiators, pirates...) but would have to leave till our next trip. We then had a much needed bite to eat before delving into the other half of the shop where my bank balance really took a beating. Within the Fantasy range are some Dark Elves, the Godless, who will make perfect Black Numenoreans for my Lord Of The Rings army, they even use a single eye as a marking on their armour and shields. My cousin also picked some of these up for the same reason and Amy grabbed herself some of the Mer-People, again for use in her Nature army.
Now that we'd shopped ourselves silly Martin (who was a font of knowledge about the Foundry ranges and the history of the place) offered to take us on a small tour to which we couldn't say no.
The clock tower being restored but now in working order
The courtyard
The master mould room
What will be the gaming hall
One of several rooms of production moulds
The casting room
Upon our return to the shop some of the miniatures they had cast up for us were ready and they also found a command unit for the Godless that had been MIA for some time which we added to our growing lead pile. At this point Bryan Ansell popped in the shop and we chatted with him for some time, mainly about the history of the building and surroundings which lead us on to the church which is situated in the grounds, a wonderfully old building which we had a look around.
When we got back to the shop Bryan offered to take us on a little tour and to see if Kev (the Goblin Master himself) was about. As we walked around Bryan filled us in on the rich and quite incredible history of the house and it's owners throughout the years and the changes it had gone through.
The hidden garden
The famous fresco
Kev was indeed busily sculpting away on the new Warmonger range of green skins and beastmen and happily answered our questions while Bryan showed me some of the work he'd completed so far.
A table full of green skins of all shaped and sizes
Beastmen
Goblin Dinosaur rider anyone?
The many shields Kev has sculpted so far
The Goblin Master himself. Bryan doesn't really keep him in a dark hole, my camera just went a bit haywire
On the work table at the moment
Concept work from Bryan
Once we had returned to the shop for the final time we carried on chatting with Bryan for a while before saying our farewells and thanking both him and Martin for such a wonderful day.
It was then time to hit the road and get a good nights rest before the Mantic open day on Saturday.
To be continued...
Phil
