In these days where, if you fail to throw yourself at the feet and mercy of self-appointed, so-called champions, the essence of many things, wargaming included is being lost in what seems to me at least, to be a stupid amount of PC posturing, which seems to be focussed in one direction. Diversity! We hear this thrown about and indeed, diversity is a wonderful thing - unless it is used in only a single context and not in the plural meanings officially recognised. Hey, but we are an inclusive family aren't we? Frankly, no we are fucking not! And here's why... Go to a wargames show in the UK, stand in the best vantage point you can find, and turn slowly around. Count how many Black, Asian or Oriental faces you can see... Good luck with that. 'Of course, we would welcome these groups' will be the average response (and rightly so) probably followed with 'But you just don't see X/Y/Z people at shows, do you?' And so they prove once again just how diversity inc...

 So, we've seem so far, that I had a lot pf places to get my 'fix' of toys and models, and as you will recall from the first instalment, it was one of these lifelong (well I was only 12 going on 13  after all) haunts which gave forth my first whiff of wargaming models, and I was now buying the odd pack of figures (not blisters, but the baggies used by Citadel for trade stockists) and using my model paints - enamels back then - to give them rudimentary paint jobs. I was going into Beatties and Redgates and looking at the boxed games including War Of The Ring, D&D and Sarforce: Alpha Centauri (a scenario from which had of course, given the name to the Sheffield synthpop pioneers 'The Human League') but I could not make that link between the miniatures and these strange new products - and it was frankly a little fucking frustrating. I was looking everywhere, even in Sheffields 'Underground' book store 'Exit Books' just down from West Bar... I knew i...

 And so, we head towards the end of the primer on the toy stores which directly and indirectly led to my entry into gaming, in all it's forms. Leaving Redgates, we head now to the Moorfoot, the location of the current Games Workshop, but we are disregarding the Johnny-Come-Lately because it's not my Games Workshop, neither is it where we are heading. We are instead heading to Marcway Models, a compact two floor model shop where many good things can be found.  Now, Marcway was very much at the extremes of the Hides zone of control, but it had some great stuff. I still preferred Beatties for most of my stuff but it would be Marcways where I would find, in the mid-80s a stash of Macross kits, during... Well, let me jump the Shark a little and tell you what the situation was with regards to Macross kits.   The Macross range of anime themed giant robot kits were new in the mid 80s, and Darren Ashmore (now a tenured Pofessor of Giant Robots and Puppets at ICLA in Japan, no less...

  We probably all know of the London toy store, Hamleys, but those in Sheffield will wax lyrical about Redgates. Let me assure you, that when Hamleys opened in Sheffield, killing Redgates, it was a case of Southern bullshine, obscuring solid Northern gold.  Any child who remembers Redgates will tell yanyone who cares to listen, how truly brilliant that store was. Four floors of quality toys, usually the entire range of any product line, and many ranges which would not become fashionable for 2 decades. They were ahead of the curve in so many ways. And so, having been wowed by Beatties and these newfangled fan tasy games in the glass cabinats in the RC car section, lets walk 500 yards down the road and perhaps back in time 4 years or so. Redgates was the best prof of life test a child could ask for. If your pulse didn't quicken as you passed the large glass windows of this department store dedicated to the edification of children, you were dead. It was that simple. Now,  Re...

 Well, as we alight from the 'City Clipper' on Pond Street and head back along the bus shelter which fronts the Peace Gardens (an ironic name, I assure you), we se Beatties of London, a Mecca for all kinds of serious hobby products, and today we may find something new. It's been a couple of years since we slipped the timestream where we had just come out of the Co-Op with my nan, and on this overcast day, we are here with my best mate at the time, Alan Staniforth, about to run across Pinstone Street to Beatties: The pic above is a little later, after the long, wooden bus shelter was pulled down and replaced with these horrible tube steel and perspex monstrosities, but we can see Beatties, so lets cross the road and try not to stand out in our skinny fit jeans, denim jackets and wannabe, Hippy pretentions which at this point are starting to show, as we seek to emulate people like Stanny's elder brother Dave, who was a biker and in our eyes, rather cool and getting us int...

 Well, after a 15 minute ride on a 47 bus, we have arrived in Sheffield's Haymarket and two shops beckon which, directly led to me getting into wargaming, although there are also a couple more smaller places in the market itself, but they only have the odd diecast car and Timpo Swoppets copy, so we'll not waste time there today as my nan has to do the weekly meat and fish shop, and I reckon I can get her to spend some money on the family's golden-haired-first-born... Actually, once I ntroduce a location, it may be best if I move across the mutliverse to offer snapshots of how it was but also look at where a place tied into my hobby. Feel free to ask questions in the comments if you wish.  Sheffield market had an area known as The Gallery which was two stories up, a quadrangle of shops comnnected by aerial walkways, which also connected to Woolworths, British Home Stores and several other larger businesses, but the reason I liked it (Woolworths will play it's part later,...