Thursday 9 June 2011

Iron Haven, New Games Store in Exeter, UK

I spent much of last weekend having a blast at Exeter's newest gaming store, Iron Haven Games, which had its opening weekend. The venue is located on Exeter's Marsh Barton industrial estate at the Exeter Business center so is a little out of town, the big advantage of this is its really easy to access from the M5 motorway and has loads of free parking, its also just off a regular late night bus route.

This weekend the venue was packed, with anything upto 20 gamers at any one time, the hard work which the owners, Craig and Fred have already put in paying off, with the 6excellent 6x4ft tables in near constant use. More tables are being added to further increase the stores capacity as a gaming venue. Indeed though its already awesome its still far from finished with loads of wall decor to go up, and talk of an outside marquee and BBQ in the near future to add to the appeal.



There are plenty of different games being played, including 40k, WFB, Warmachine, Infinity, Malifaux and Dystopian Wars to name but a few.





Though the site and webstore is not up and running properly yet they are already taking orders through their forums as well as at the store, and carry a small permanent stock. Anything you want is generally ordered in straight away and the guys have been careful to negoiate very fast delivery from their suppliers. These include amongst many others Privateer Press, Spartan Games and perhaps most notably Battlefoam. Iron Haven Games is one of only a very small number of UK stockists of Battlefoam, and unlike Wayland Games offer a discount on it! I'm sorely tempted...

There are also plans in the works to release their own range of products including bases - but for those you'll just have to wait an see.

Iron Haven Games will also be hosting events in the near future including leagues, tournaments and campaigns for different game systems and hobby events. My own gaming club, Exeter Inquisition has also changed venues to the new store, with clubs nights running on Tuesdays every week.

I don't really know what else I can say about it at this point, but if you find yourself in the area you should definately pop in and have a look! They are open Tuesday to Thursday 5:30pm-10:00pm and 10:00am-6:00pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and you can find directions HERE.

6 comments:

Andy - bG said...

I'm very jealous that you have something like that near you. We've just got a regular old GW with a couple of tables in it, so can only get a very rare game, and no other systems.

Luis Nieves said...

It looks like a great spot. I think this sort of set up is starting to make its mark in the UK and I'm sorry that I don't live close enough to be able to benefit!

Col.Gravis said...

It is awesome to have a decent, and non GW, gaming venue, Exeter is actually fortunate enough to have two, though I've found the older one somewhat less welcoming in the past, hence I'm very keen on the new one.

Cpt.Harris said...

I'm in the same situation as Andy - bG... Just a regular old GW near me, and in the last few months they've stopped letting us 'Veterans'play games in store - they're more interested in getting the young teens, i.e. 12-16 year olds, in their stores so that mum and dad spend money on the newest biggest thing for their child's army! Very jealous of you, good sir :)

Admiral Drax said...

Hmmm... looks fun. If you're around over the summer, Gravis, I could pop up for a friendly...

- Chris.

Col.Gravis said...

Admiral Drax, absolutely, sounds good to me!

Cpt.Harris they've stopped you from playing out right? That sucks, but sadly is'nt too surprising amongst some stores. Though I have to say GW Exeter is fortunate to be run by a first rate manager and staff at the moment.