2014, has on balance, been a really awful year. True, I have acquired a few nice armies, but as many of you will know, due to my personal opinions, I have had a rough year with regards to acquaintances and friendships. Some have been irrevocably sundered, it appears. Anyway all this has had me suffering some really severe mood swings, to the extent that my G.P decided that it was time to see a consultant with regards to getting some cognitive behavioral therapy. Oh the joy; what with dealing with the effects of pretty bad arthritis in my hands (yeah, I know, I'm a full time painter, etc, etc) and this, I'm generally a pretty unhappy bunny. Today has seen consecutive visits to three hospitals, starting with a hydrotherapy session at the first venue. Let me tell, you that an hour in a pool leaves you knackered when you spend it doing various exercises that would be a doddle on land. On the upside - nurses in swimsuits! Thence it was a quick trip 5 miles across town to ven...

Just a reminder that a growing and very informal group of gamers are meeting fortnightly in Sheffield  at: Shiregreen Working Men's Club 136 Shiregreen Lane Sheffield S5 6AD Minimum age is 18 but children are welcome with constant parental supervision The venue operates a strict Children's Charter, which is clearly posted near the entrance to the building. Any kind of gamer is welcome. What is most important is a 'let's play games' attitude. The next few meetings will be held on the following dates: July 30th August 13th August 27th September 10th September 24th So, once again, if you are interested please drop by from about 7PM on a meeting night and see what's going on.

So often, I focus on the less pleasant aspects of the hobby, and thus, it is a very pleasant change to be writing in praise of one of the 'Old Guard' British companies. On Thursday afternoon, I sent an email to Hovels enquiring whether I could collect an order the following morning. Hovels as most will know make very pretty buildings for all scales, and whilst they are no longer considered the 'cutting edge' by today's young upstarts, for my generation they were and still are the Rolls Royce range for buildings, because they look good in the flesh (OK, resin), have a great range, and when painted really do 'make' a battlefield. In the 80s and 90s, to own a complete town made from Hovels was a status symbol. Anyway, I got no response on Thursday evening, but as I went to make my early morning coffee on Friday, I checked my e-mails and found a response from Carol at Hovels saying that not only was she sorry for having not replied on Thursday, but that ...

Some of you may recall a little incident about 14 months ago where I had the only real catastrophe I've ever suffered in my work, as a full time figure painter. You may recall that a batch of work suffered a 40+ foot fall onto concrete from my studio. It was as, as I said at the time, my fault entirely, and I had a lot of work to do at no charge to make amends for my stupidity, at the time. You may also recall that I place great emphasis of the subject of only using what I consider to be the highest quality materials rather than what is the most cost effective? Well it seems that my insistence is well founded. A builder was working on the adjacent property to my own, installing a new roof, and found something interesting in the guttering... Yes, it's a base of the unlucky troops. Now, the only way that it could have got into the guttering is if carried there by Magpies, but that just adds to the tale. These troops survived a 40 foot fall, were carried ...

I'm something of a gaming culture vulture. I'm not only interested in the games themselves, but also the people, trends and history of this fine hobby. Anyone who takes in the various shows, will now see not only couples but in many cases large family groupings at shows. This was not always the case however... If one, looks at photographs (remember those?) from the 1970s there will be a noticeable swathe of middle aged men and young boys (no, not like that) with just the odd female in the shot, usually looking either over-enthusiastic or in the majority of cases attentively bored. Back then, culturally, it was more often than not the preserve of the male to go out and protect hearth and home from rampaging 25mm invading hordes, and for the 'little woman' to prepare food and raise those children who were either too young to wield dice or whom wore dresses (don't go there eh?). Another reason for the lack of female companions in those early years, may be due t...