Hi everyone,

 Life is very hectic, so I am being a tad lazy, by reproducing my weekly missive to my old friend Roger, who decided to escape the Steel City and so, our friendship is one of most correspondence. I've trimmed out some private and personal bits, because frankly they are nobody's business but ours. They are nothing 'special' they are simply the ramblings of one old friend to another and can be a bit sentimental at times.

It’s been VERY busy here at the Dark Tower atop Fackham Hall, and on Monday I have the first of 4 days of ‘doubles’ as I try to mitigate my bank holiday breaks. 

I had to spend the weekend (or part of it) prepping up work ready for Monday, but I managed to do some stuff for me. Most importantly, I’ve cracked on with my fantasy stuff.

After collectively spending two days on the box of skeletons I paid £65 for the other week, I have them smartened up and ready to go. Admittedly these are not fancy paint jobs, but when you have 500 models at a reasonable standard all together in an army, they look just fine.

My days of proving my brushmanship in competitions are over. I'm all about the gaming as I enter my Autumn years. Here's a 'before' and three 'after’ shots:


My wife, Kayte,  could not understand why I was just using static grass for the bases. I pointed out that they will look nice and 'old school' on TSS tiles and they are fast to do, whilst looking effective.

I have another 400 or so arriving this week which will need similar TLC:


Speaking of Kayte, she's been recovering from a severe bout of bronchitis and a chest infection. She has been abed, but before she was laid low, she completed a piece of terrain which these old eyes think is very nice indeed:


As part of a massive drive to get a decent selection of terrain, I bought a two foot high fantasy tower the other day, and started on it today, with a sand base coat and then alkyd washes to get a natural stone look. Now I just have to wait a week whilst it dries. Mind you, it’s the most ‘artisty’ I’ve felt in years, so it’s all for the good. The pure joy of having people ask what alkyds are and why they are so special, has left me with an old school sense of being a smug bastard who understands the contents of an art shop ;)

Dave Hoyles of QT/Museum Miniatures turned us onto alkyds in the mid 80s and I've not touched them myself since 1988 - oddly enough, when I painted a QT Indian army.


This is a big bastard at just shy of 2 feet high!





We’ve decided not to go to Partizan as it was hours after that show last year that my Mum died unexpectedly, and despite the fact that she did not like me (and told me so - you know how mothers are, and we had a long and fearsome history - but she was my Mum) I just can’t get the enthusiasm up for walking around, with no bring and buy, looking at 35 stalls selling Warlord Game stuff, and paying for the ‘pleasure’. 

I’ll be going to Britcon in Manchester in August as it’s free, very sociable and of course there’s a two minute walk to Chinatown and a ten minute walk to Manchester Art Gallery and some stunning exhibits. I get to chat with a few old acquaintances , there’s a bring and buy and a nice selection of trade.

As a result I decided to purchase an Oldhammer Dark Elf army I bought from a chap in the U.S. It was expensive enough that even I had tears in my eyes and had to coax my wallet out from behind the sofa. As you can see, it’s a small but perfectly formed little purchase:



Other than that, I’m trying to pull some disparate and desperate types together to take a display game out on the circuit. I want to recreate an 80s fantasy display. You know the type of thing… Not todays style of games, but something that looks like a group of mates got together and pooled their resources on 80s style terrain, with 80s figures and 80s rules in the 80s. It may even be a case of 80s knitwear and T-shirts, all round.

Right, I need to go and bathe and read the Summer issue of ‘The Chap’ before I settle to watch and 80s film with Kayte and then embrace the cares of Morpheus for 8 hours.

TTFN







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