Welcome to Black Mantle’s very first blog, and what better way to kick things off than by sharing our experience of attending UK Games Expo for the very first time?
Now, unless you’ve been living under a Dreadnought’s foot for the last nine years or so, you’ll probably know what it is. But let’s just say, for argument’s sake, that you’ve never heard of it before.
UKGE, as it’s famously called, is the largest hobby gaming convention in the UK, and this year alone there were almost 90,000 attendees across the three-day event.
The event was enormous and absolutely jam-packed with trade stands, gaming demonstrations, independent vendors, and anything else you could imagine as a tabletop gaming fan.
The four members of the Black Mantle family who attended this year were myself (Hayden), Woody, his wife Charlie, and my fiancée Rosie. It also just so happened to be Woody and Charlie’s second wedding anniversary, as well as mine and Rosie’s third anniversary of being together. Could there have been a better way to spend the day!?
We left Nottingham at 8am and, after a fairly quick and easy journey on the M1, arrived at the NEC just before 10am. However, it wasn’t until after 11am that we actually reached the event halls. We had to queue for a good 45-60 minutes before we managed to actually collect our tickets and lanyards so we could go into the event.
Eventually, we waded our way through the crowds and were finally inside! People had told us how big this event was, but it was far larger than we ever expected and spread across four giant halls.
We started slowly working our way through the halls, looking at as many stalls as possible and taking photos with pretty much everything we saw.
Before long, we bumped into our buddies from Trident Future Works and checked out their stand. We’d chatted a lot online previously, but it was our first time meeting them in person. They’re great blokes who have made some fantastic kit, and if you haven’t checked them out already, I highly recommend that you do.
After this, we simply wandered around with no real sense of direction or idea of where we were heading. Eventually, a wild Lady Gizelda appeared! A friend of Black Mantle and someone who has been incredibly supportive of us, she stopped for a chat and some photos before we all carried on our way.
After all this socialising and battling through the crowds, we were pretty hungry and decided to look for some food. We also wanted to find a cake stall because there’s nothing I like more than cake... but we were seriously disappointed when it seemed there were no cake stalls to be found!
Instead, we settled on some Greek gyros, which Charlie described as one of the worst meals of her life. So, on the food front, things were looking bleak.
After lunch, we got back to exploring. We picked up a few bits from Element Games, and Rosie actually bought her very first set of Warhammer models. She decided to go with a box of World Eaters for no other reason than, “They looked cool.”
We also grabbed a few cake-flavoured candles from Gametee, who make the best-smelling candles we’ve ever found. So although we didn’t get to eat any cake, at least we got to smell it!
Woody and Charlie bought a few items for their Lord of the Rings diorama project, and that was pretty much all the money we spent. Thankfully, we didn’t end up quite as bankrupt as I had previously anticipated.
It wouldn’t be a Black Mantle day out without catching up with our buddies Stu (TheNarrativePainter) and Rob (Garf40k), two incredibly kind and talented people who have supported us from the very beginning. Garf is one of the most skilled painters we know, and he told us about the models he had entered into the painting competition. Unfortunately, he didn’t win this year, but we’re all confident that one day he will!
The thing I enjoyed most about UKGE was simply being surrounded by so many like-minded people who all share the same love for the hobby. There’s something incredibly inspiring about seeing the level of creativity and passion within the miniature painting and board gaming communities.
I never imagined there would be so many independent board games and tabletop games on display, many of which people have clearly spent thousands of hours developing. Seeing attendees willing to sit down, learn the rules, and give these games a try was genuinely heartwarming.
If you love miniature painting and anything related to this hobby, then you would absolutely love UKGE. If you haven’t had the chance to go yet, I highly recommend making the trip next year.
It’s busy, it’s sweaty, and you can expect to spend nearly £4 on a can of Coke.
But is it worth it? 100%.
Until we next meet...
Hayden
Black Mantle
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