So I found myself in the UK again this summer, excited to go to BOYL at Wargames Foundry again. We had a blast last year and while I’ve shared some pictures, I haven’t done a full writeup yet of that trip! (https://bonespoonminis.io/cons-of-2025/) I’ll get around to it eventually, maybe, probably.
Anywho, I was gutted when I heard the Wargames Foundry location would be closed and no BOYL would be happening! Luckily for me, The Wardollies Collective and Lead and Steel teamed up to do a one-day Bootleg BOYL, which overlapped with my trip!
So I found myself on a Saturday driving along the country roads to Nottingham. I did Warhammer World in the morning, which I’ll document in another post soon.
The Venue
It was fun to revisit Nottingham for the day after our trip last year. It’s a sizeable city but downtown is pretty manageable and it was a beautiful day to walk around. I was sure to hit up the Bell and the Trip for a pint as I wandered about, and walked along the canal to Warhammer World from downtown.
But Bootleg BOYL you say! So instead of the cool country location of Wargames Foundry, they selected a community space Fisher Gate Point right near downtown Nottingham (very convenient). It was a cool venue- a little cafe on the first floor with coffee and beer, a couple spare rooms, and a big hall upstairs. I get the vibe from the posters that a lot of community events and concerts are run here. Wargames Collective and Lead and Steel did a good job bringing this all together.
I was all set to represent the eastern seaboard abroad.
The Vendors
The vendor hall was a modest affair but with some heavy hitters from the oldhammer perspective. I spent a while in the hall chatting with folks and grabbing a fair few things!
I hadn’t heard of M-E-P (MEP?) was there with a great range of digitally sculpted and printed weirdos in an oldhammer style. I grabbed some statues to help decorate terrain and such, as well as a little Dune academic bust I might paint up (for six pounds- bargain!). BMT3D had an amazing range of traditionally sculpted, metal cast weirdos. I loved these. I had just bought the Rogue Trader book (more on that later) and the range is sculpted inspired by the art within the book! I got a pack for space weirdos and such, which was fantastic, you can see the page a couple of them are taken from above. In addition, he had vehicles like the (in)famous deodorant tank! Finally, Saytr Studios was over from Michigan- one of the few others from across the pond! His oldhammer project is amazing, again traditionally cast and sculpted metal miniatures that expand upon but blend in perfectly with the old ranges. I grabbed some ogres and trolls!
There was also a con-exclusive mini that I might use for Trench Crusade. There was only one left, and another gentleman and myself had not gotten it yet – so we diced off and after 1 tie, he won! However, he was very gracious and gifted it to me (possibly because it was obvious I had traveled some way). Too kind of him- I will put this to good use!
The Games
And now the most important part, the games! GMs signed up to grab a table at the event, but there was no proper sign up or anything like that- just show up and start chatting and play!
A huge range of oldhammer was on display- necromunda, rogue trader, WHFB 3rd edition, 2nd edition 40k, Blood Bowl, and more! There were a ton of great armies and terrain out. The hugest board was a giant crazy Necromunda post-apocalyptic run by Curtis (@ramshacklegames – check out his stuff). There were like 10 people on this zany board that seemed like it spiraled out of control, haha! It sure looked great- and I spotted some hive scum stickers!
I had a great time chatting with folks, including a nice bloke from near Sheffield who was playing Rogue Trader. He had been a longtime DnD player but was getting more into true wargaming, especially a lot of the weirdo and narrative stuff! He was also a big Hive Scum fan so we were chatting about that a bit and the Historicon episode when @wyrdstoned and @tylerisalright at painting road-tripped down to historicon! Fun to see how this is helping unite nerds around the world and give us common touchpoints for each others gaming crews.
Rogue Trader
So I was spectating a bit at a fantastic little Rogue Trader table run by Warfactory (https://www.patreon.com/cw/WarfactoryMiniatures). He was running different scenarios, the first one I saw was the Rynn’s World scenario from White Dwarf 94! The Crimson Fists had to delay the Ork attack long enough to escape into the tunnel and back to the city, preferably blowing the tunnel behind them! The marines laid down withering fire, then made a break for it! In the end only one marine was trapped on the wrong side of the collapsed entrance!
I sat and spectated and got invited to jump in on the next game! I was jazzed- I had never played Rogue Trader proper before! We streamlined a few things (running instead of reserve moves, simplified forces) but it was easy to pick up!
We did The Farm- the scenario in the original RT rulebook!
I led the Crimson Fists under Pedro Cantor. We needed to hold the farm until we got word that Imperial troops were ready to rendezvous, then escape from the west edge of the table. We deployed in hidden formation as the Orks entered from either side.
Heavily outnumbered, my Sentries opened fire attempting to delay the orks. Ork bolter fire dropped my sentries (T3 and a 5+ is not so good!). I unveiled the main squad, hoping their firepower could make the difference- despite some plasma missiles we failed to turn the tide!
Marines, we are leaving! We got word that it was time to leave so we made a break for the west edge against the smaller ork force. But even with cover from the fields we kept getting gunned down! Finally Cantor was robbed of his last wound, despite his refactor shield! I no longer had enough marines to satisfy my objectives of escaping, but soldiered on.
The gunfire continued as more Orks poured in, dropping marines! Finally only one was left, inches from the tabled edge, and was gunned down! So close! With that the marines were tabled.
Huge thanks again to Warfactory for running this- the minis were incredible- some originals and some prints, for a perfect classic look. It was a fun narrative scenario even though we were tabled!
Overall, bootleg BOYL was a fun little blast and a great Saturday outing. I hope BOYL continues in the coming years, perhaps at Wargames Foundry’s upgraded (or new?) location. It sounds like it will. But I was super glad to have the opportunity to pop over here for a great day of gaming!
-BS