Gaming allowed me a lot more freedom than most of my non-gaming peers. Once parents got their head around the idea that their sons (it really was a male dominated hobby back then, so judge me not, Millennial cherubs) were not actually summoning up daemons in their bedrooms (a couple of years later when the hormones kicked in they probably would've preferred the infernal to the carnal) most gamers I met had a pretty easy time of it. You see, at clubs and shows we were in the company of the true first generation, many of whom were parents themselves with young families. (Most didn't even muck about when they went away for a weekend with the club. I have a list of those in Sheffield who did, which can be yours for £5 in a plain envelope.) In those days, we were not obsessed with every adult who spoke to a kid being a 'kiddy fiddler'. On the contrary they would have happily torn apart anyone with sweaty palms and a penchant for little girl's bicycle seats. They ...

It's been a funny couple of weeks, since my dog was euthanised. I've been in a sort of limbo whilst still functioning and also engaging in my hobby. For a few days I was totally bereft in a way which I have never been, even with the loss of family.  I can say without hyperbole that there were several moments where I simply said out lout, 'what's the point?'. I even said to my wife that I could very easily just 'stop it all, and move on.' Anyone who might be reading this who knows me, will know that I am vehemently anti-suicide and that despite some dark moments in my life, I've not just grabbed the nettle, but have then gone on to stick it up the arsehole of existence, without courtesy. Thankfully, my wife was there for me, as was a friend who is still himself getting over the effects of serious illness, and who I though I tried not to burden, I was fully certain was there if I needed him. Friend is probably too light a term, to be plainly hone...

Friday was one day I do not want to repeat... One of my dogs, Dougal ( 'my' dog) was diagnosed with a second strain of cancer on Wednesday. Today, he had deteriorated to the point thathad to have him euthanised, which has left me quite literally hurting all over. This was Dougal at 8 weeks old, a Scottish Terrier who was so very different from all of our other pack members: And he grew into a stunning boy: So, I need a couple of days over the weekend to get my head in a better place. I'll lose myself somewhat (says he, hopefully) in building Warlord plastic cavalry, of which 5 boxes have arrived out of 11 in total. However... As I travelled home, Martin sent me the sketches for the 6 stretch goal hobgoblins and the heads. So, after that bit of morbid news at the start, here you are: I don't think I was able to properly appreciate them yesterday, but Martin has really preserved the classic look whilst adding models which the olde...

It's an odd world we live in at present. Or is it? I've noticed that there are many things which remind me strongly of the 70s and 80s, and as you may imagine, I've embraced that feeling and run with it. As I have joked, I spent a lot of my teenage years on lockdown, due to my Mum grounding me for some ludicrous infractions. Home late for tea, would get me a 7 day stretch, whilst being in at 21:10 instead of 21:00 would get me a 14 stretch. If I argued I would get a 28 days at Her Majesty's Displeasure. I've covered this at length in my book together with the mechanisms I developed for getting 'sprung'. My compadre, Roger and I have really got our mojo on for the ECW again, as have my wife and indeed my younger brother. This was something we did a lot of in the 80s when I was not doing time or hanging around the figure bar at Games Workshop. We've been real martinets about it too. You see, we used to just base stuff for WRG, then we sort of wen...

I confess, that with my workload averaging 10-12 hours per day, I am not finding much time at all for enjoying my hobby. That said, there are no conventions, no way to get together face to face (you can forget remote gaming, because I am old school, and whilst I embrace technology in general I will not sully my gaming with Skype, Roll20 or the like) so my focus is somewhat different. I am horrified that we may soon be able to go back to meeting in large cattle shed-like halls and spread something between each other (you will recall my comments on that twat at Hammerhead who got way too close to me with his foetid, grease laden outpourings) and thus I have essentially written off 2020 - quite happily, I might add. To be perfectly honest, I have pretty much allocated my annual budget already, but not in the somewhat 'shotgun' way I'd planned at the start of the year. Rather, I've spoken with Rodger, the memsahib and my brother and we are all very focussed on where we ...