In the last 40 years, there have been many changes in this fine hobby, but one which really grinds on my nerves is the dumbing down of armies. How? I hear you say... Well, when I was but a lad, every period had it's enthusiasts within a club, to whom you would be directed, or to whom you might speak when you saw a game in progress which made your heart miss a beat. I recall, that the first time I saw Lloyd Powell with his colourful 25mm Medieval armies, John Armatys with his Marlburians or the entire club's senior membership with their vast ACW displays. The amount of scholarly knowledge was astounding, and although you could be given a long reading list, they personal 'off the cuff' knowledge was unbelievable. Armies looked like the illustrations/photographs/descriptions and so you got a really good grounding in the look and feel of a period. Remember that the most recognisable feature back then was the Osprey book; we'd not yet reached the age of the spo...

I was pretty burned out by Friday night, what with the heat, workload and arthritis in my hands, giving me varying degrees of discomfiture. So, after a Friday evening with wine and a few episodes of a charmingly funny sitcom from the 80s,; 'Keep It In The Family' (watch it, it really does make you laugh out loud) we were braving the outside world at 9AM on Saturday to collect our new Volvo XC40 (Inscription Pro trim for those interested in such things). That went well, so observing the current guidelines, we went to check on the memsahib's 79 year old mother who, has been managing alone for the last three months, but who was getting a bit stir crazy. We returned home in the early afternoon, partook of a little lunch and the sat down to read. The memsahib was nose deep in the Volvo manual (she being the driver) whilst I was reading the crushingly heavy deluxe edition of the Metamorphosis Alpha rules. Here are the original A4 and the larger deluxe version for comparis...

Wow! Is it really three weeks since I put finger to keyboard here? Well, I apologise, but I have been exceedingly busy, painting for clients on average 11 hours per day and at weekends, I've been working on getting my ECW all sorted and ready to go to the painter of choice, which whilst it sounds easy has literally taken me a month. You see, I am a martinet, a dyed in the wool, mercurial aesthete of the worst kind when it comes to my ECW figures. I have bought, sifted, sold on and replaced, until I have a nice and (to me) aesthetically pleasing selection of models. The majority of the foot are Warlord metal models which are a pain in the arse because you have to stick headgear on them all. I went with Warlord for the dragoons too, as they are a nice looking unit, but the sculptor seems to have a thing about having them charging, swords drawn like the fucking Blues & Royals. Obviously he had a Naseby fixation, but generally, I prefer my dragoons looking like lurking, slouc...