Posts

Taking A Holistic Approach To Old School Wargaming

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It's no secret that I am a bit unconventional in the way that I create my personal universe and how that in turn infiltrates and indeed infuses my gaming. I surround myself with a lot of 80s cultural stuff, such as an immense collection of 80s comedies and sci- fi movies, music, books, advertising and sometimes, as today, a bit of 80s technology. For the most part it never gets used, but lurks on a shelf in my studio and will be looked at and the spirit of  80s coaxed from it in an almost occult and ritualistic manner. Today I was browsing in a charity shop for the usual 'scoops' of games and books, when I walked past a stock room, the door of which was open. Well, what caught my eye was a genuine 1979 Sinclair Microvision 1 3/4 inch screen portable T.V. I asked if it was for sale and was told 'Yes, but it's not been tested.' to which I responded that it was fine, I'd take the risk. The lady then passed me another box containing the Sincla

Where have the days/male grooming products/armies gone?

Talk about a busy week...  All the windows and doors have been replaced, with the exception of the kitchen window which the company is going to replace free of charge, and will be about 4 weeks down the line. The current window is only 3 years old, so it's not as if it's urgent, unlike the rest. Work has been a bit heavy too, which was just what we needed before spending our weekend de-cluttering under the house and the bedroom, filling an 8 yard (standard builders size) skip with stuff we have never unpacked since we moved here from our previous larger house. When I say 'filled', I mean just that and it must weigh about 6 tons. We kept about 1 ton of stuff, which we'd simply forgotten we owned, such as my wife's photography stuff, several hundred CDs and the like. I threw out 9 bin bags of clothing which is now too large for me - well, it went to a charity shop as much of it was really good quality stuff such as merino wool jumpers (6 of those) shoes, two bespo

Double Glazing & Doubled Dutch

   It's been 'one of those weeks'... We were due to have all our double glazing and doors replaced on Monday with the exception of our kitchen window, which was replaced 2 years ago, but alas they called on Monday morning to cancel. Accordingly, I got on the old talking bone and set about them, pointing out that they were a 'big name' and I had, based on that, paid in full in advance. Furthermore I had three other contractors waiting in line to come in behind them. They apologised and rescheduled for the 24th...  I hit the roof. They rescheduled for the 20th... I descended back through the roof like 747 with terminal systems failure. They said, 'We'll see you Wednesday'. Well, the arrived yesterday and brought the correct anthracite door and bay windows for the front, and also the same colour for the sides - which should have been white.  AHA! So that was why they had rescheduled and not been honest about it. A second hole appeared in the roof.

It's Fun & Games Until The Netherlands Get Involved

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Oh, but the Napoleonic virus is in my veins as I feared. And so I must stoically accept my fate like a doomed albino prince. Now, I am going to take a somewhat altered position on my previous statement about avoiding Waterloo like the plague, so sit back, grab the popcorn and watch me weasel my way out a sticky situation like a politician caught with their trousers down in a Soho basement.  I have been opposed to Waterloo per se, as it's been 'done to death' like a Bangkok lady of negotiable affection in the tourist season. But, I accept that it does have some interesting orders of battle to allow the use of armies other than  British, French or Prussian. I have developed an interest in the Allied contingents involved and to this end my new project will hopefully be to represent the 1st and 2nd Netherlands Divisions, the Brunswick Contingent and 3 Netherlands Cavalry Brigades present at Quatres Bras and/or Waterloo. I'm not scaling units to the OOBs, but th

Shiny, Shiny, Bad Times Behind Me...

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 So, sang the coquettish Kayte Garner of 80s 'Urban Vagabond' group, Haysi Fantayzee - I am a lifelong fan. In a week that has seen the fan base of ex-Marillion frontman 'Fish' go at it with each other over his farewell, tour, and the mardy, Hibernian himself go on a rant through the press because some of his fans (your correspondent included) are not happy with how it's all gone down. Mullets are being pulled out by the roots, white Hi-Tec boots are being scuffed and frankly it's all very grubby. I have become so disgusted by it all that I have given away my collection of autographs and tour shirts, because as I said, it's all grubby and sordid and not at all what I expected from someone who had a great influence on my as a teenager and beyond. Well, I have been putting some time into my gaming projects rather than wading in the grubby streams of Progressive Rock. Yesterday, I grabbed a random unit from the massive hoard of vintage Minifigs and Hinchcliffe

Come On Sheffield - CLAIM BACK YOUR SHOW DATE!

Sheffield was, until a few years ago the home  of one of the kargest and longest running shows in the UK, until Triples died a death from a combination of poor decision making and the resulting poor footfall after it clashed with a sporting event which closed down many of the roads - with the expected results. And then along came Chillcon which was not even locally run, and which started strutting around like a Liverpool 'Bucko' on shore leave with 6 months pay in his breeches.  Last year we saw a glimmer of hope with Steel Warriors, organised not by Sheffield Wargames Society but by 3 of the SWS members who had been responsible for the rise and fall of Triples (let's concentrate on the 'rise' part of that statement, because many in the trade focussed on the latter part which I am sure as an impassive observer, knocked a lot of wind out of the sails of the Steel Warriors show.  Now, it seems that a booking agent has taken over the Ecclesefield school gym, used for t

Time To Reach For The Gloss Varnish & Gush After A Grand Day Out At Hammerhead

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 Hi all, Well, Hammerhead was a great day out for all the right reasons. My daughter and S-I-L wemt down with our 3 grandsons who were introduced to friends and luminaries in the hobby, acquitting themselves very well indeed. They spent a lot of money for two 8 and one 10 year olds... We spent the morning 'herding cats' as they zipped around with £75 between them with instructions to spend it. Shaun Mclaughlin of The Bunker was having a good chuckle at my haggard appearance and poor Jerry Miller kept seeing me in passing until we handed the boys back to their mum & dad and I could actually conclude my business with him - Sorry, Jerry.  Kayte and I really enjoyed the day and spending some quality time speaking to friends was a joy.  Having an hour of general chat with Ken Reilly was a real pleasure, and I had to admit that the Funcken books on our table were Kayte's and not mine - For my shame. Robbie Baker was his usual friendly and effusive self, and he confifed his