It's only Tuesday but I'll be very, very glad to see the week off, I can tell you. Yesterday, my wife was whisked to hospital by a Paramedic with a suspected allergic reaction. As it turned out, said fellah was a gamer we've known for about 20 years which made the memsahib relax somewhat. At 8PM she was still at the hospital, having said I should stay at home and work, so I got a lift over there thanks to my Dad, and found her in the accuse case unit. At 23:30 she was admitted to a ward with angioedema, and I left her at 2AM having fragged my brother out of his bed at midnight to go and make sure our 4 dogs were put to bed. Good on yo bro' Neither I or my good lady were certain we'd see each other again as the swelling of the blood vessels was spreading to her lungs and breathing was increasingly difficult. At 4AM my brain shut down and I crashed out having not eaten since Sunday night nor slept in 21 hours. Anyway, Kayte was allowed home this...

I spend my working hours plugged into documentaries and podcasts covering all types of subject, and yesterday I was tuned into a paranormal podcast which was discussing the 'Satanic Panic' of the 80s. which I remember all too well. Now, as well as the worry that heavy rock music was tempting teens into worshipping Satan, some of you will recall that Dungeons & Dragons came clearly into the firing line of the Religious Right spearheaded by the wonderfully named Tipper Gore. Even here in Sheffield, UK, there was a flurry of anti-D&D sentiment with the local press echoing the worries of the Church Of England that sweet teens like me would be drawn into a life in which they became Satan's minions. Of course because I was into Iron Maiden et al, I was doubly doomed. Forget the fact that I was way more literate than my peers as a result of the time I spent with my nose in books, no, I was going to hell and had a first class ticket. Bu**er! Anyway, I've cover...

It's been a while since our fortnightly gaming group got together, and as I'd purchased all those RPGs this week, it seemed a good idea to reconvene in a relaxed atmosphere and start to roll up some characters Well, we had a fun night last night, rolling up Golden Heroes characters. Kayte ended up with a 7 foot character who is super agile, can go invisible and has a cybernetic flight unit and criminal connections. Alison ended up with a hard as nails criminally connected death machine. Andy has a cybernetic brain, tough skin and is a chemistry genius with super powered sidekick. Dave ended up with a bloody tycoon Industrialist, with amazing toughness and a bank balance which means he never carries cash. I rolled up a deliberately non-superpowered character, who is totally average across the board, but has high level government contacts. He will be known as Stupendously Average Man (SAM) will be there as an NPC plot device. The rationalisation and back story were ...

When I was but a small Limpet, I fastened myself regularly (usually daily in fact) to one of the two sales counters in Games Workshop (back when it was a true gold mine of gaming goodness sandwiched between Hagenbachs and Cantors - very useful if you were shopping for games, sandwiches and a little occasional table for the living room, at age 13) drawing the attention of the staff who were fierce creatures capable of destroying the young in one or two words or with a look. I recall that an eyebrow was once raised at a less hardy mollusc, and they vanished in a small sulphurous cloud. In short, it was a hard, hard place and one which to this day, I'd trade two days of my life to be able to spend a day in again, just to experience it. It always seemed to smell of ground coffee and Poly S acrylics, and on a grey Wednesday afternoon in early Autumn it was indescribably comfortable to just browse all of the wondrous products. Perhaps the only place these days, that can match those...

I realised the other day - not for the first time- that I am not getting any younger. With just 5 weeks until I hit my half-century, I thought I'd go back through my 40 years of gaming and look at some of the games I'd missed out on playing, ignored or just simply snubbed, out of a sense of youthful arrogance. The one thing I did raise in doings so, and upon reflection, was that my peers were a pretty staid and boring bunch when it came to gaming. Nice chaps for the most part, but so many of them played a single or maybe two systems, at a time when there were so many games you could all own half a dozen different systems and be pretty certain that you'd get a game. Now, some of my friends, such as Roger and Leccy were as addicted as I to all forms of gaming. Hell, if it involved dice, figures and a tape measure, we were 'up for it'. Darren, was also pretty game for a game, but the majority were either historical gamers of the old school, D&D or Runequest p...

I collect games and miniatures as many of you know. I am always willing to pay a fair price for something I want, as are many others. However, I have noticed that there are prices being asked all over the place which are not only high, but almost bloody criminal, without recourse to any due diligence or scruples on the part of those asking them. In my opinion, some of the highest prices for supposedly rare lead on eBay. are being asked by Cougarrinard, Goldfishblue, Hygienic Porridge and Melgil, but there are others too. Where and how do they come up with their asking prices? Perhaps they undertake naked midnight vigils at the grave of Gary Gygax, but I think they just invoke the Gordon Gekko principle and hope for the best. Now, look, you can argue that demand guides the asking price, but when they are buying at pennies and selling at many times the price to several decimal points in many cases, it's falsely inflating the market. And now that they have hoovered up the majo...

WANTED: I am looking for the following: White Dwarf 1-99 - Will pay £500 Gamma World RPG collection - Will negotiate price based on what you have. Golden Heroes based set, Queen Victoria & The Holy Grail, Legacy Of Eagles and the Supervisors Kit for which I will pay £70-£100 Paranoia RPG collection (NOT the modern version by Mongoose) Any 70s and 80s starship models Encounter 2 sic-fi boarding action rules Drop me a line at mhys09133 AT blueyonder DOT co DOT uk  if you have them. TTFN

Well, as I am having to be patient as I wait for my 28mm ECW to arrive from the painter, and as I am planning for the Autumnal campaigning season, it seems like the perfect time to continue with my raising of the sartorial standard at shows. To this end I have purchased a few items that will, I feel bring a touch of elegance and style to the hazy days of gold and brown. First up were a couple of casual 'weekend' shirts, one in a nice crisp cotton with blue and white stripes and the other a rather racier cotton flannel in a rather fetching gold and burgundy country check. They are from Samuel Windsor who make the most excellent moleskins, shoes and casual shirts. I've not tried their formal shirting, because frankly I am something of a snob in that regard  and  prefer T.M Lewin for my French cuffed formal shirts, which I'd generally not wear to a convention. Now, I know we traditionally see a lot of waistcoats at conventions, but these have in most cases (an...