Of late, I have been going through something of a reappraisal of what I want from gaming.  Increasingly, I think I simply want to escape from reality in that same way I did as a teenager. You may be shaking your head ruuefully at such a folly, but I think you are wrong to doubt this can be achieved. You see, the escape is in your head, it's in the 'vibes' you create when you look at or touch something that really resonates with you. I've been much taken with a thought that the less contact you have with an army, in terms of it's creation/completion, the less attachment and thereby pleasure it will provide. I can buy, use and discard models in a fashion that would give the impression that Cresus lives, but that's far from the truth of it. I just don't form attachments to many physical things, historically, and so I cycle through a lot of stuff, with some of it forming links that are too strong even for my psychopathic tendencies to resist. A prime example ar...

We have broken through the half a million views on this blog in the last few days. Thats's not bad for the rambling sof a bitter old gamer. THANK YOU ALL! Well, despite last minute flu, I am back in the saddle on Monday, somewhat, if noit totally rested. I've actually considered cutting back my workload, but to be honest, I'd get bored, so the world is stuck with me for a while longer. We pushed our recovery from the damn bug yetserday, and this ended up with the Memsahib collapsing as we entered the restaurant we had booked. Thankfully, the staff were their usual concerned and efficient selves and the memsahib will live to bite another day. They even went so far as to make sopme pretty major changes to their ordering policy to accomodate the poor lady. I doff my hat to you all at The Cavendish, Chatsworth. Long my your lunchtimes prevail! I've been busy shopping over the last few days. This morning, my painted Horus Heresy army arrived, and very nice it is too. Also de...

 Borag thungg, Earthlings! It's been an odd Christmas, as my family has ceased to collectively celebrate the season with the passing of my Nan and latterly my Mum. I have always loved Christmas, from my earliest years, but I think I am finally starting to thing 'What's the fucking point?'   Christmas Eve, I would go on what became known as 'the mooch', visiting game stores and meeting up with friends for the last time for a few days, when we we would seemingly be so unfairly 'forced' to do what our parents wanted. One last chip butty before an avalanche of comestibles, and maybe get a chance to see the GW girls dressed in something seasonably raunchy - we were young - and generally enjoy that building excitement before the big event.   In the evening, there would be a massive buffet at our house - my mother for all her faults, put on a great spread and I could sometimes wangle invited for friends, stuffing ourselves until we were like Mr Creosote.   In ...

 I am looking for parts for the Citadel Giant: These heads, along with the two unencumbered right hands and the three 'victims, as well as the sheathed dagger. I will pay a good price for any of them         Colour photos, reproduced with the kind indulgence of Richard Hale, Copyright SOL  

 Hi All, Just a few pics of the set up for the Christmas game here at the Dark Tower. Almost exclusively a 'cavalry' game, with a 'few' wolves and wolf riders.

Well, I am a week into my Christmas holiday and frankly, I am knackered. But I'm knackered in a good way. My studio is all cleaned down and ready for my return in early January for the most part. I have been reflecting at some depth on the whole 'If you play fantasy, you are not a proper gamer' chain of thought and indeed my friend's suggestion that I simply go with fantasy. Well, you know, I am now seriously mulling that as a viable hobby path, albeit mindful of the fact that I will be wasting the decades I have spent building a deep knowledge of and indeed, deep roots in the historical gaming hobby. So, perhaps I will indeed go down that road in 2025. I certainly get a lot of pleasure from the sword and sorcery genre. I am not intereted in those systems which try to dress Orcs as WW1 Tommies - or as I have termed them (and I claim this as copyright: M Hides 2024 and as trade dress of Satanic Panic Miniatures) 'Fantastorical' ™ games. The Christmas game is 10 d...