Old School In The New Style...

I think that I finally have my mojo back...

As you'll have read previously, I had, thanks to my dreadful year involving Sheffield Wargames Society and the opinion of one member that I was the most destructive thing to happen to them in 40 years (quite an achievement when compared to other things I could think of). Metaphorically, my WRG rules have been torn asunder and my average dice ground to dust. Champagne corks have popped across the city and cheers raised as the Great Satan of the gaming table has been cast down. Oh the feel of power as they calculated  the die modifiers for that one...

Not surprisingly, I lost my drive for the historical guff and in fact for most of the hobby as a whole. So I am very surprised that I have re-found my love of the older fantasy games again and a new passion for the modern board games.

The other week I picked up a job lot of old Dwarves from the 80s and as the price was £1.07 per piece I reckoned that I could cherry pick a few bits that were especially significant to me and turn the rest back to the market to cover the costs. Well, I did this.

This done, I decided I am going to reinvest in an army of Chaos Dwarves from the Ewal Dvergar 'private production' range of models which have all the styling and charm of a late 80s Citadel model - and which match very nicely - with multi-part posing. I have hunted down a few of the old Citadel artillery pieces and I have a quite nice 200 piece army on the cards for the New Year.

I have just two days of work before I close down my studio until Jan 5th 2015, and the time between then and the 23rd will be spent painting a Malifaux crew for my own use, thanks to the kind xmas gift of one of my clients who gave me a paid week off as his xmas gift to me. And very pleased I am...

The luxury of having a week to paint at my own pace and to my show standard will be simply blissful.

I have a few sets of paints and inks purchased just for this week and I am really excited about re-visiting some materials I have not used since the 80s.

Roleplaying is coming more and more to the fore and I am informed by an associate of mine who works at the toy distribution centre at the North Pole, that Santa has me pegged for a copy of the superb 'Mice & Mystics' board game this year, because I have apparently met the criteria to be classed as 'nice' rather than 'naughty' - which would have meant I would have received a set of WRG 6th ed Ancients rules instead. *shudder*'

Well my cup of hot chocolate is almost emptied and so I will sign off for the time being...

Merry Xmas!





Popular posts from this blog

How, Over 40 Years Ago, A Guy Called Andy Changed My Life With 5 Words, And Other Reminiscences...

Image
 Of late I have been having long and vivid dreams wherein, I am often walking or travelling with people I have known, some living, some passed, talking over things we had done or said. I confess that it's been eerie but also very liberating. These coversations have been so real that I have awoken in the morning (more usually, half way through the night) and been confused at my surroundings.  Last night I was speaking with Dave Hoyles  - very much alive and kicking - of Q.T Models/Museum Miniatures. The only thing I have noticed is that is often been snowing heavily in these dreams. One of my latest dreams was of the late Ian Smith, another the comic book artist Paul Green - who, thankfully is still with us. This pattern began a few years ago when I had a similar experience with the recently deceased Pete 'Greblord' Armstrong. It was a very cathartic experience for me, as I had much which needed to be said. I may have written of this before, but this particular dream was d...
Read more

A Serious Post And Another Obituary But With Some More Positive Stuff At The End

Image
 I am at an age where I would expect the odd death of someone I know, but I am starting to realise that it's the younger end of the line which is getting culled.  This week I found out through a good friend that another friend in the hobby from the old days had taken his own life, bringing the total friends lost to 5 and drom that number the number lost to suicide in the last few years to 2. Now, I've been close to that I think, three times, but I've been lucky enough to be able to turn my illogical brain around and decide that the world and my enemies will not be happy if I thrive and stay alive. So, that has been my stated mission, to live long and be hated that much longer. The first time I was taken with thoughts of suicide, was when I was banned from Games Workshop Sheffield in the 80s (see my book or earlier posts) and my so-called friends allowed themselves to be bought off, trading silence as to what a set-up it was in return for part time jobs at the store. That wa...
Read more

The Passing Of A British Wargaming Legend

Image
It is with genuine sadness and heavy heart that I must record the passing of Sheffield Wargames Society founder member and long time Chairman, Steve Roberts.    I was 13 when I first met Steve (some 43 years ago, now). It was a chance meeting. I'd been playing Dungeons & Dragons for about a year and had taken some Citadel FTZ Zombies back to my Junior school to show my headteacher there, who'd always encouraged the creative arts in pupils.    He was impressed (as you'd expect) and told me that a wargames club met at the school now, on Monday nights run by a chap called Steve Roberts.    Well, of course I was interested, and together with my friend Alan Staniforth, I attended the club, to find there was no D&D...   What there was however were historical games, played by local kids with 'Big Steve' the only adult. But he ran that club like a champion, providing all the models and simple rules, which was just what you needed to hook kids in. ...
Read more