The lead belt is a name given to part of the English East Midlands, including Nottingham, because of the number of wargames manufacturers based there. A key factor is the location of Games Workshop, the biggest wargames miniature manufacturer in the world. Games Workshop was brought to Nottingham by Bryan Ansell in the early 1980s. Ansell had previously founded Citadel Miniatures at Newark, Nottinghamshire in 1979. Many former Games Workshop staff have gone on to found other manufacturers in the area and the 8—10 companies in the lead belt account for 90% of the British wargames miniature market. Because of the concentration of wargaming businesses the lead belt is the subject of organised tours for wargamers from North America.
From 1979 Newark, Nottinghamshire was the home of Citadel Miniatures, a wargames miniature manufacturer run by Bryan Ansell, Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. Livingstone and Jackson, with John Peake, had founded Games Workshop in 1975 as a distributor of American-made games such as Dungeons & Dragons. Citadel originally made mainly historical miniatures but a fantasy game, Warhammer, was developed for Games Workshop in 1983 by Ansell, Rick Priestley and Richard Halliwell. It proved popular, driving sales of Citadel's fantasy range, and Ansell led a management buyout of Games Workshop. [1]
Ansell considered moving his family and business to Games Workshop's base in London but after viewing the company's premises in Hammersmith they decided not to and instead moved Games Workshop to Nottinghamshire. Ansell's workforce grew from 13 to 200 quickly. He incorporated Citadel as a brand within Games Workshop and moved to a larger site at Eastwood, Nottinghamshire by the mid 1980s. The company also rented four warehouses at Giltbrook and opened design studios in Nottingham Lace Market. Ansell sold Games Workshop to his general manager Tom Kirby in 1991 and he moved its head office to Lenton, Nottingham in 1997. It has since expanded to a global company and the biggest in the industry; by 2015 Games Workshop had an annual turnover of £119m, employed 1,650 staff and operated 400 shops. [1] [2] The expanded further in 2020 with the construction of a new 177,500 square feet (16,490 m2) warehouse at the SEGRO Logistics Park East Midlands Gateway in nearby Castle Donington, Leicestershire. This will be their main distribution hub and is let on a 15-year lease. [3]
Games Workshop produces only fantasy and science fiction miniatures. Some of its designers have interests in historical miniatures and have set up their own businesses to produce these, in their kitchens or garden sheds. As a result, the East Midlands, has become a focus of the wargames miniature industry. [1] It has become known as the "lead belt" because early miniatures were made from lead alloys; modern miniatures are often of pewter or plastic (Games Workshop miniatures have not contained lead since the 1990s). [1] [4]
Around 8–10 manufacturing companies are based in the lead belt as well as a number of sole traders. These companies account for 90% of the British wargames miniature market. Associated companies such as mouldmakers, games publishers and magazine publishers are also based in the region. [1] Because miniatures tend to be cast to order rather than held in stock, manufacturers have not found it economic to outsource abroad, helping to keep the focus on the East Midlands. [4] Many of these companies employ former Games Workshop staff, the company forming a pool of talent for the local area. [4]
Ansell's father Clifford founded Wargames Foundry in 1983 to produce historical miniatures, it was taken over by Bryan Ansell in 2000 and is currently based at a converted stable in his home at East Stoke, employing seven staff and selling the largest range of miniature figures in the world. A former Citadel and Games Workshop employee John Stallard founded historical miniature manufacturer Warlord Games from his kitchen table at Ropewalk, Nottingham in 2007. By 2017 it was turning over millions of pounds each year and employed 91 staff. It is now based in Lenton and is probably the second largest wargames company in the UK. Stallard has said of the lead belt: "Americans in particular are astonished that all the toy soldier companies come from Nottinghamshire". [1] The lead belt is a popular destination for wargames tourists from across the world, one Canadian company runs regular tours of the manufacturers in the region. [5] [4] Priestley remained at Games Workshop until 2010 and has since joined Warlord as a consultant. He has said that "practically every single toy soldier company based in the East Midlands is run by people, or substantially run by people, who used to work at Games Workshop". [1]
Other companies in the region include Mantic Games, formed by former Games Workshop managing director Ronnie Renton in 2008, and Perry Miniatures founded by Citadel and Games Workshop sculptors (until 2014) Alan and Michael Perry in Bilborough. [1] New Zealand-based company Battlefront Miniatures has a large base in Beeston to take advantage of Nottingham-based experts. [1] Others include Theme 17, Miniature Figurines (in Newthorpe) and The Assault Group (in Broxtowe). [6] [5] [7] Associated companies include magazine publisher Wargames Illustrated in Beeston and game publisher and distributor Caliver Books in Newthorpe. [8] [9]
A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to study the nature of potential conflicts. Many wargames recreate specific historic battles, and can cover either whole wars, or any campaigns, battles, or lower-level engagements within them. Many simulate land combat, but there are wargames for naval and air combat as well.
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland. The region has an area of 15,627 km2 (6,034 sq mi), with a population over 4.5 million in 2011. The most populous settlements in the region are Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Mansfield, Northampton and Nottingham. Other notable settlements include Boston, Buxton, Chesterfield, Corby, Gainsborough, Glossop, Grantham, Hinckley, Kettering, Loughborough, Louth, Mansfield, Market Harborough, Matlock, Newark-on-Trent, Oakham, Skegness, Wellingborough and Worksop.
Games Workshop Group is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000.
Beeston is a town in the Borough of Broxtowe, Nottinghamshire, England, 3.4 miles (5.5 km) south-west of Nottingham city centre. To its north-east is the University of Nottingham's main campus, University Park. The pharmaceutical and retail chemist group Boots has its headquarters 0.6 miles (1 km) east of the centre of Beeston, on the border with Broxtowe and the City of Nottingham. To the south lie the River Trent and the village of Attenborough, with extensive wetlands.
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming in which military units are represented by miniature physical models on a model battlefield. The use of physical models to represent military units is in contrast to other tabletop wargames that use abstract pieces such as counters or blocks, or computer wargames which use virtual models. The primary benefit of using models is aesthetics, though in certain wargames the size and shape of the models can have practical consequences on how the match plays out.
Broxtowe is a local government district with borough status in Nottinghamshire, England, west of the City of Nottingham. The population of the district as taken at the 2011 Census was 109,487. It is part of the Nottingham Urban Area. Broxtowe's neighbour to the west is the borough of Erewash, which is in Derbyshire.
In miniature wargaming, players enact simulated battles using scale models called miniature models, which can be anywhere from 2 to 54 mm in height, to represent warriors, vehicles, artillery, buildings, and terrain. These models are colloquially referred to as miniatures or minis.
Citadel Miniatures Limited is a company which produces metal, resin and plastic miniature figures for tabletop wargames such as Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000.
The Nottingham Canal is a canal in the English counties of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. As built, it comprised a 14.7-mile (23.7 km) long main line between the River Trent just downstream of Trent Bridge in Nottingham and Langley Mill in Derbyshire. At the same time as the main line of the canal was built by its proprietors, the separate Trent Navigation Company built the Beeston Cut, from the main line at Lenton in Nottingham to rejoin the River Trent upstream of Nottingham, thus bypassing the difficult section of navigation through Trent Bridge. The section of the main line between Trent Bridge and Lenton, together with the Beeston Cut, is still in use, forming part of the navigation of the River Trent and sometimes referred to as the Nottingham & Beeston Canal. The remainder of the main line of the canal beyond Lenton has been abandoned and partially filled.
Broxtowe is a parliamentary constituency in Nottinghamshire, England, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Darren Henry, a Conservative.
Alan and Michael Perry are former Citadel Miniatures designers, and two of the most renowned and prolific sculptors for the miniature wargaming hobby. They worked for Games Workshop from 1978 until 2014, and during that time worked on most of the company's miniature ranges.
Bryan Ansell is a British role-playing and war game designer. In 1985, he became managing director of Games Workshop, and bought Games Workshop from Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone.
Rick Priestley is a British game designer and author mainly known as the creator of Warhammer miniature wargame.
Ian Marsh is a British writer, magazine editor, and entrepreneur.
Tim Pollard is an English actor and entertainer who has been appearing and performing as Robin Hood in and around his home town of Nottingham, England for over 30 years. He lives and works in the legendary city as well as representing it nationally and internationally in his position as Nottingham's Official Robin Hood.
A board wargame is a wargame with a set playing surface or board, as opposed to being played on a computer or in a more free-form playing area as in miniatures games. The modern, commercial wargaming hobby developed in 1954 following the publication and commercial success of Tactics. The board wargaming hobby continues to enjoy a sizeable following, with a number of game publishers and gaming conventions dedicated to the hobby both in the English-speaking world and further afield.
Asgard Miniatures was a company that produced metal miniature figures beginning in the 1970s.
Richard Halliwell was a British game designer who worked at Games Workshop (GW) during their seminal period in the 1980s, creating many of the games that would become central to GW's success.