Well, as is the traditional start to the wargaming year, our happy band made our way from Sheffield up to York and the delights of the Vapnartak show. I confess, that I was not planning any historical purchases at all but rather, hoping for some cheap and nicely turned out fantasy stuff on the tabletop sale. That went right out of the window when, on the tabletop sale - which replaces the traditional bring and buy - I spied a 266 piece ECW army comprised of Bicorne and Renegade miniatures, painted to a strong and attractive - if not 'top drawer' - standard, which frankly, will look as good as anything that I cared to spend 500 man hours painting, when taken out at the local club under the usual dim, yellow lighting. Let's face it, at 46 years old and as a full time miniature painter, I am just not into spending my weekends painting after clocking up 50 hours in my studio. For me, it's all about gaming these days. I will acknowledge that every so often I get a bee ...

Last month marked the end of the monthly publication of Games Workshop's 'White Dwarf' magazine, a magazine which I and many others were so inspired by in the late 1970s and 80s, but which sadly lost it's way at the end of the 8th decade of the 20th century, when Games Workshop decided to concentrate on promoting it's own tunnel vision-like product range, which, whilst probably a source of enjoyment to those who came after us, left us cold and indifferent like a spurned lover. I confess that I did my best to learn to love this new magazine, but over the years I have probably only purchased two dozen copies and each time, although I tried to look upon it with enthusiasm, it left me with the same sense of emotionless detachment that you might feel upon meeting a friend after an absence of twenty years, only to find that you both have little in common. 'White Dwarf' had metaphorically become that friend for me. Today, Games Workshop launched two 'new...