Today marks the anniversary of the passing of Pete 'Greblord' Armstrong.  Pete was one of the first people I met when I got into fantasy gaming, when Games Workshop opened it's doors in Sheffield in the early 1980s. He was also the first GW figure painter and wrote the painting guide which appeared in the early Citadel and RAFM catalogues. He was an innovator back when the standard paint job was a simple block finish in enamels, and he was the inspiration for many of my generation. Pete was also I believe the last manager of the flagship Dalling Road Games Workshop store. I emulated his style and made his life a living hell sometimes both in and out of Games Workshop. To get a grudging affirmative grunt from Pete when you showed him a figure, was high praise indeed. I lost contact with Pete in the late 80s and the next time I saw him, I was the owner of Dungeons & Starships, when he walked through the door on a visit to his family in Sheffield. I never told him, bu...

After a week of watching and biding my time I just won a 583 piece Mike's Models Wars Of Religion collection at the very reasonable price of £510.00. It's bang on what I personally love to see... Vintage figures, well painted and based on green filler. I was pacing the room, with a very large rum (or two) having made sure none of my friends had thrown their hat in the ring, because I'd have been obliged to not bid, as a point of honour. Anyway, here are the pics: TTFN

Always happy to help out a friend, I'm doing a shameless plug for my mate David Woods of the Dear Tony Blair...' blog, who also just happens to be the manufacturer of the Noggin The Nog 28mm miniatures range... Check out David's range and also think about backing the Noggin Boardgames on Kickstarter www.thelittlesoldiercompany.co.uk

I just realised that it's been almost two weeks since my last post. What with flu and my workload, I've simply lost track of time. I have been listening to more of the Grognard Files Podcast and as usual, enjoying it immensely. I'd love to collaborate with Dirk company if the chance came up. It really does hit that sweet spot in the memories of gamers of a certain vintage, and it's been responsible for me reacquiring several games as you know. Now, I have always been a bit of a snob where Runequest is concerned, choosing to only buy/collect original box sets, but it struck me that it's a waste of time and money as they are increasingly fragile and using them just exacerbates the entropy. I no longer need to prove my credentials by having that original item from my early days. I have moved on and will leave that kind of thing to those rather pitiful types who can't see the fun for the collection. So,  after shaking my fist at the screen as I listened to that ...

Well, this week has been very very unpleasant. I managed to get flu after venturing to York last weekend, and have been quite poorly, with today being my best day yet. I'm far from perfect but I am on the mend. It must have been bad, because I actually contemplated a day off work on Wednesday so ill did I feel. My good friend Roger gave me some sage advice on Thursday, insisting take a bath with an 80s RPG book. And loom, was he right. 45 minutes with a Twilight 2000 module did me a power of good. Last night I finally managed to place my order for £870 worth of Connoisseur Italian Wars in the form of a Swiss and a Florentine army, based on the old George Gush lists - because I like them and they are a good 'go to' starting point for the period which at least do try to match historical compositions. In the end the butchers bill shaped up thus: Swiss: 1 x 96 pike 2 x 72 pike 2 x 36 shot 2 x 30 halberds and two-handed swords 5 x knights 6 x mounted cro...

I remember the days when I would feverishly count the weeks and days until the start of the wargame show season. The year began with a brilliant show here in the North where the club organised events for those attending for the weekend, where traders smiled and made money, and there was a positive atmosphere everywhere. The club organising the show made a LOT of money, so much in fact that the society became one of the wealthiest in the country, actually paying a dividend to the members in the form of two Essex army packs and latterly a £50 voucher to be used at a local game store. But along with this wealth came hubris. As time passed the club did less to entertain those attending and did less to help traders set up and take down. They failed to listen to those attending, those in the industry and in one memorable instance stated 'Traders are idiots.' Basically, they lost the plot. Venues improved, standards slipped. Manufacturers stopped attending because despite repe...

It's been a while since I put fingers to keyboard due to heavy workloads (no complaints from me there, as it pays the tailor's and vintner's bills and funds my rakish lifestyle) and a shorter than normal working mont, what with it being February. Last week, I managed to get my hands on a rather nice copy of the Twilight 2000 RPG in it's 1st edition along with 7 supplements for slightly more than £100. This was more than I think reasonable, but the condition was nice and they were there for the taking. T2000 or (WW3 The RPG as it's known in these parts) has been a favourite of mine down the years as it tied the two sides of my hobby together very nicely indeed and, being well written presented, is one of those games you can sit and read just for the hell of it. The later edition of the game was 'sexed up' and for me, it lost some of it's feel. I've not found the time yet to indulge myself in it's pages yet , but it's on my 'to do...