Uh Oh... The Space Cadet Returns.

It was a pretty uneventful week... Until I did a deal with a friend for some figures and as a 'sweetener' he included a copy of Snapshot by GDW, which was on my hit list, and which he knew I wanted and which I didn't know he had.

It's a stand alone game which can be integrated with the Traveller RPG and which is getting harder and harder to find in complete condition.

It's a pretty straightforward gunfight through the corridors of starships (or building complexes) and is a very pleasant evening's diversion.

Needless to say, I am very happy:

I returned this morning at 6AM from walking the pack of assorted Aberdeen and West Highland terriers which we employ for perimeter security here at Fackham Hall, absolutely exhausted after a mere 6 hours of sleep.

Before I crawled back to bed for a bit of a lie in ahead of breakfast, I got the random urge to search eBay for any of the FASA starship plan sets for Traveller and found that the chap who sold me the Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes had a set of Merchant Class Ships for sale and with less than three hours on the clock. The price was ridiculously low, as these sets sell at upwards of £50 on a regular basis. So, reckoning on the fact the other bidders either worked nights or lived outside of normal civilised time zones by looking at the bid history, I stuck a large sum on the lot and went to bed, emerging 19 minutes before the auction ended.

Well, whaddya know? I won at the paltry, almost embarrassing sum of £22.00 including postage.

RESULT!

As you can see, everything is unpunched and this gives me another 6 larger ships for some close up and dirty boarding actions.

Now all I need to do is place an order with RAFM for the old Citadel Traveller figures and it's a dead cert I'll be in uncontrolled free fall on an 80s temporal trajectory.

It looks like the fat las in the disco, won't let go, and has one of her friends helping her like a white miniskirted tag team, blotchy legs and all.

I've also been mulling over the way that being a 'nerd' has become fashionable. I am pretty certain that it now means that if it's cool to be a nerd, gamers will not feel quite as 'special' as we did back in the day. It's not helping with all this Oldhammer and Middlehammer bullshit which sees people (who in at least one case were not even alive when the figures they claim to have had since they were released - YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE YOU 'WALT') trying to relive the golden era, pushing up the prices of toys - for that is what they are - which were made to be played with, and then stashing them away.

Now, I know I have played my part in that in the last 36 years, but no more. The last time I got eaten up like this I literally destroyed the world market at the time for the Sheffield Samurai, which was the opening day (and least inspiring of all of the opening models) figure at GW Sheffield (and yes, I was there - read my book) and of which I obtained well over 50 from the estate of the former assistant manager of the Sheffield store, a charming and somewhat fearsome man who in my youth threw me out a few times - quite literally, onto the pavement.

Here is that pavement:

Anyway, a U.S dealer (and an asshole in my opinion) tried to tell me these were 'recasts'. Now, I don't like that kind of talk, and had Mr Sphincter done his homework, he'd have realised that I have a particularly venomous hatred for recasts which borders on the psychotically irrational, and as you may imagine he rubbed me up the wrong way and so I had one of those moments which generally follow one of my 'little episodes' and I sold them all at £2 each all over the world and wrecked his own plans to hike them out at a lot more (I actually sold a lot of them to people who were on his list). I know, I am petty, but hey that's the way I roll...

And so I have decided to play a little game. I am tempting these Hiphammer types with assorted wares and then when they are drooling I am (as the whim takes me)

A. Selling them cheaply but not to them, rather to gamers who will use them.

B. Removing them form the face of the earth entirely, if I am in a particularly acid frame of mind.

And, it's rather satisfying, because when we were kids these toy soldier were used and abused and we paid no thought to them becoming a new form of currency to a generation who are quite often antagonistic to my own for whatever reason is en vogue at the time.

By the way people, Warhammer was not the Christ child of fantasy games. There were other systems which were played before 1982... Word.

Anyway, time passes and as it's Sunday I will be selecting a 1980s film to enjoy with a Chinese takeaway shortly, so I'll leave you with some pictures of the icy little blast we endured here yesterday as we made our way firstly over the the Bakewell Christmas market and thence to Il Lupo at Baslow where they serve the finest liver in red wine that you will ever taste in truly relaxing surroundings.

We were glad to see that the restaurant had the open fire blazing...

And the chef was up to his normal standards. My own selections comprised:

Pate

Liver in the Venetiam style

Carrots with caraway seeds

Butter glazed carrots

Double cooked potatoes

Tiramisu

On the way home I chanced upon what I think may be the smallest bespoke tailor's shop I have ever seen:

And yes, I will be going back there after Christmas for another bespoke three-piece in I think a mid weight grey Donegal.

TTFN