Well, it was a good week for the most part, last week. My wife did a stunning job in basing 1000 pieces of 28mm renaissance in a frankly unbelievable 5 days. yesterday, I spent an equally amazing 4 hours, removing 90% of the old (and shoddy) flags from the figures and then netting them down with my trust Winsor & Newton Professional Artist's Matt Varnish, going through 600ml and undoubtedly doing myself some physical harm from the fumes, such was the volume I used. Now, all I need to do is fit the flags whilst I take a 10 day break, commencing this Friday. Ah yes, the flags... The butcher's bill for the 90-100 flags I required set me back £75. Yes, you read that correctly, seventy-five English Pounds. But., you know me, I only do things the right way. I'm very happy with my purchases, but you know how it goes... Y ou awake on a Monday morning, the Spring sunshine floods your very soul, and you innocently buy 180 or so Swiss Renaissance ...

Following on from my two previous posts about Dungeons & Starships, my wife found these during a clear out of documents etc. I didn't know any had survived and they must date from 1997. A real bit of personal history... TTFN

Well, my wife has rebased almost 1000 28mm pieces in 4 days. She just needs to add the larger bushes and then I have to replace a few pike, all the flags and matte them back down. Not bad, I'd say...

Over the next few months Christopher came to Sheffield a few more times to look for suitable properties and iron out the odd wrinkle. I also went to Birmingham and Walsall to meet my soon-to-be colleagues in the company. By now, I had taken it upon myself to get a hair cut which gave the look of a 15th Century page boy crossed with Oscar Wilde – no, not crossed like that, behave yourself. Haircuts have not featured much since about the age of 14. My Mum once said that I should get a hair cut, and obligingly I returned an hour later with what I believe in the more southern U.S states is referred to as a ‘mullet’. My darling Mother was heard to declare that I, first-born and most-favoured, with such a wonderful coiffure, had a visage resembling a bag full of spanners. Today I am still regularly tempted to sport the hairstyle of a messiah until nature dictates otherwise. Eventually a location for the planned store was chosen and from a local’s point of view, it was well off the beaten...

In the early 90s I was the keeper of our child whilst my good lady earned the crust. These were hard, hard days... I did the odd bit of miniature painting here and there whilst my offspring took the afternoon nap that separated her AM and PM rampages. I don’t recall how he located me, but one day a well-spoken gentleman from the West Midlands sent a letter asking whether I could paint a few figures for him. I agreed, and over the next few months we had a lot of telephone conversations about figures and games. This was before we ever had a telephone in the house. We were the proverbial church mice, and I to use a public telephone to have those conversations. The gentleman’s name rang bells with me, and I suddenly realised that he ran Flying Buffalo U.K, a company that imported the ‘Tunnels & Trolls’ role-playing game as well as a number of other products from the USA. In the 80’s I had regularly sent off for the latest catalogues and the excellent ‘fanzine’ that was ‘Flyi...

Greetings fellow fanatics, from what is genuinely the snowbound Dark Tower, wherein I brood upon many things. Today I am brooding on the subject of dirt in wargaming. No, not the scuttlebutt and rumour, which we all enjoy I'm certain, but rather the physical dirt and dust which accumulates on figures over time. Now, I am old and well learned on the subject of keeping your figures in tip-top condition and the one thing which perennially gets my goat, is dusty figures. Dust can be the break point for a buyer when there's a bargain to be had, and believe me, I've repeatedly grabbed a bargain when someone else has dithered because they see dusty figures. I look beyond the dust and if I see the marks of a tidy paint job, I am in with the wallet. I have literally heard gasps of disbelief as I hand over a four figure sum for boxed of dust covered models, but in the end I have had the last laugh. Take a look at the following pics (click to enlarge): In the first pi...

It's a hard week here at The Dark Tower, as I'm busy - and that's good. so no complaints you understand. But, when I get a delivery at lunchtime and I can't do anything until the day's work is done, it's rather frustrating. Today was one of those days when a couple of boxes of figures arrived. Now, when I say a couple of boxes, I should rather say 'crates': Worse still, my eldest Scottie, being wise to my wiles, decided to stand guard  over the 27kg of renaissance goodness therein. And then, as if Fate Herself was against me, my wife finished work before I, and undid the lot, commenting that had she seen this first she'd have had it, which to be honest is a great indicator that I have spent my money wisely. Only one package got damaged and that will be easily repaired, so both I and the previous owner are at our ease. I must give credit to Robert W, as he packaged each unit in it's own box, with the name written on it.  N...

Following my disappointment at the damaged book, yesterday, I feel it fair to point out how well Warlord Games have today rectified the issue thus: 'Hi Mark, Good afternoon! I am truly devastated to see that, as someone who likes to keep their books in as mint as condition as possible that is unacceptable.  It most likely did not leave us in that condition and must have gotten damaged in transit.  I have already arranged, picked and packed a replacement book myself to be sent to you today by first class post, and I hope it finds you in good quality.  Again apologies for the inconvenience this has caused you. Have a great day and if you have any further enquiries please don't hesitate to contact me here. Kind Regards, Robin Scott - Blore Warlord Games Customer Service Team ' Well done Warlord... We may yet remain friends. TTFN

Well, it's been a day of double disappointments with the arrival of my copy of Eduard Wagner's 'European Weapons & Warfare 1618 to 1648' purchased last week from Warlord Games. The package arrived today and I have to say I was pretty excited. Upon opening the package which also contained the superb 'Devil's Playground' and some figures, this was the sight which greeted me: Now, this is frankly not bloody acceptable from a company the size of Warlord, if at all, and I am as you may imagine a tad over the red line at which 'pissed off' registers. In fact I'm getting a bit closer to 'Fucking Annoyed'. Now, that is the 'tatty' part of the title, now we shall go to the 'Rubbish' part, which is the content of the book. With almost 300 pages there's about the text content of an Osprey Elite title. The rest of the book is made up of truly awful illustrations and diagrams which are childlike at best. In fact I ha...

Now, I know that often my posts can be a bit 'dark' as I wrestle with the more unpleasant sides of my life in gaming, but all things considered I have had a pretty good time. In fact, I've definitely had a damn good lick of the lolly. And that has been largely down to the people I met and the encouragement they gave, despite my inflated passion for all things game related. his meant that I was in a position that many of my peers were not - save those who formed our 'case' - and without that, I doubt I'd be where I am today. As Marillion front man Fish famously sang 'Well, I the streets back in '81...' And oddly that was my soundtrack for my gaming youth, along with Rush and Yes for the most part. The music made me think, it made me need, not just want, more from the world starting with the music. I was not a great scholar, but that was not because of a lack of ability, but rather because I just did not want to connect with those boorish and fashi...

Good day, good day, indeed! I errr, did it again… Yeah, I grabbed a bargain. I missed a load of painted 28mm Landsknechts that were on sale on a forum on Saturday, much to my chagrin. There were 150 pike, plus 18 Gendarmes and a shedload of shot and halberds to go with them. I was gutted as I’d been mooching in front of my Xbox to avoid ending up in my studio at the weekend. You see what idleness did? Well, I got a message saying the buyer i was mucking about and trying to haggle the price down after agreeing, which was in the opinion of I and a  my dear friend, Roger (who had alerted me to them, via encrypted channels in the first place) sheer lunacy. Well, I was offered the models and I said cheekily - being happy to pay 50% more - would he be wiling to take 25% more for an immediate no fuss sale. He said he would if it was cash and he would deliver today at 9:30 AM. RESULT! The price you say? £250.00  You may now swear at me and call me name...

Well, after a week of snow (not Canadian snow, I admit, but snow like we used to have when I was a lad) all is back to normal. Thank the gods that the memsahib works from home a lot more now and that she’s not on the motorway to Leeds every day. She works from home because she is a highly paid professional, I do the same because I am an anti-social slacker... The money's the same, but the motivation isn't :) Last week I took delivery of a bundle of goodies including 4 Osprey books on the 30 years war, the Pike & Shot rules, the 1644 rules, Judge Dredd RPG (original GW version) and the JD boardgames (again the GW version). The Grognard Files Podcast has a lot to answer for. If you can find someone who can get the Arch Frother to buy something old school, then you know they are truly hardcore. The 30YW books are more of a pictorial reference for the memsahib to paint my two armies from, but as I’ve never read those they are a bit of fun. You will recall that I don...

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