It always amazes me, when people look askance or doubt your veracity when you own large armies. Similarly, I look aghast when faced with people who believe that 30 figures constitutes use of the epithet 'army'. As I have said many, many times in the past, although I was a roleplayerright at the start, I was fast off the blocks when it came to tabletop gaming and the possibilities for fielding massive armies on the tabletop battlefield. My generation grew up with plastic soldiers from companies like Airfix or Matchbox, often in numbers which presaged the life of penury so many of would be faced with when we discovered the fresh new hobby of wargaming. That said, I think it meant that we grew up with a different set of optics and in a time before £3.00 became accepted for a single 'rank & flank' style toy soldier which, costs pennies to produce, even in these times of financial madness. Of course, if you are using a third part service for casting, the base cost goes ...

Having no siblings until I was five, I got used to and enjoyed my own company.  At primary school, I had a few friends, such as Paul Heeley, Matthew France when I was at Firs Hill, and then, when I was at Limpsfield (a groundbreaking 'community school' run on an experimental framework, the name of which escapes me at 06:30) Alan Staniforth, Andrew Moffatt, Vinny Wilson, Carol Herbert (who killed my Lone Ranger doll in a mining accident) and Ian Vollum (or so I thought, but when we met in a nightclub aged 18, he had no memory of me - or so he said, despite being in the same class and hanging out at school every day for 3 long child years). UPDATE: 24 hours after this post, I was speaking to Ian, and reminiscing about things going back to being 11 or 12 years old. And as for the meeting in the Limit, nightclub, I was apparently 'a bit scary' which back then, with a 14 inch mohican and/or assorted leather clothing and makeup, is understandable.   When I moved to comprehens...

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It's January, a time when I used to begin another 'campaign season' in the hobby by planning what I would like to buy at Triples in March. Alas, Triples no longer exists, but I do still plan a January to October 'campaign season' every year, for what it's worth, and I often begin with reflecting on how it was when I had £3 per week spending money and a head full of white metal dreams and printed paper aspirations. I had some excellent times in the early 80s, along with some awful times, but the latter took place in the  real world , so I wasn't really that bothered, because when life got shitty, I simply grabbed my denim jacket, hairbrush and whatever money I could scrape together, and went on a rampage in the world imaginary. Now, when I refer to Games Workshop in an 80s context, if you don't know what it looked like or that Warhammer was but a glint in a Nottingham accountant's beady eye back then, then go out an get a hold of 'The Dice Men...

Well, as I type it's the 4th of January 2026 and I am recovering from buying 9 kitchen knives with a £450 price tag. We've all done it I know, nipped into a bistro attached to a cutlery manufacturer and design museum (how niche is that combo?) for a quick coffee and a cake, and walked out with some kitchen weaponry, you've always dreamed of owning? Well, that was the situation on Friday. In my defence, I have already bought and paid for all my gaming stuff - well, 98% of it - for 2026, and paid the painter in full for enough work to apparently keep him fully occupied for 2 years by his own estimation. I say he'll crack it in 18 months, but it does mean that your correspondent has to seriously consider adding anything not already painted, to the collection. Now, I don't know exactly what my painter already has, but  off the cuff ,it's 450 Dark Elves, 5 Dark Elf War Eagles, 220 Chronicle 'Small' Orcs, 10 Ackland Orc Wyvern Riders, 50 Angels and Gargoyles, ...

 Well, I have six days of my month-long break left, and it's been over three weeks since I posted on the blog, primarily because I just couldn't be bothered due to Christmas gigs and plays, such as Kate Rusby's legendary Christmas show, and an excellent production of A Christmas Carol at the Crucible Theatre with a full calendar of restaurant bookings which continues today. Several of those bookings were cancelled and alternative bookings made because, having paid deposits and submitted menu choices, they were changed at the last minute. Look, if you are going to insist I order my meal 3 months ahead of time, and take money from me, then I expect you as a restaurant owner to keep to your part of the bargain. Fail to do that and whilst you will get my deposit, you will lose the rest of my money, my goodwill and as an added bonus I will name you and take my business elsewhere. This year's losers have been The Devonshire Arms at Baslow, for the reasons above, and the Caven...