It's Been A Funny Weekend...

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 comparison:



Then we both fell asleep for two hours which meant that our body clocks were screwed for the day.

Sunday, we crawled out of bed at a shockingly late 06:57 and it went downhill again. We take in post for an older lady three doors away, and had been left some mail on Friday. I'd tried to deliver it twice on Friday, but there was no replay. I looked through the window and door glass, and all seemed quiet and untroubled.

Then, yesterday morning we noticed that a Sainsbury's delivery was in progress and that she was not coming to the door. OK, time to call 101...

Other neighbours went to the rear of the property with the delivery chap - and promptly came out at speed, having found the poor woman, most certainly beyond assistance, laying in a blind spot that was not visible from the front window or door. The French windows at the rear were slightly ajar and so, with the approval of the dispatcher, they had entered whilst I relayed the situation.

Well, that took care of four hours and left us with that displaced sensation such things seem to cause.

I managed to get to my studio and using the oil wash and buff technique beloved of the Gilder and Hoyles school of painting, using instead base coloured models and Rowney FW acrylic inks, got 40 of my ECW horses underway. That took two hours:




That was quite enough for me and so I crawled off into a hot bath with an improving book of army lists.

However, I then did what I guess many of us do, and looked on eBay, it being Sunday, and found 165 Ground Zero 25mm Stargrunt figures listed at £150.

Not bad, given that they were tidily painted and priced at about 50% of bare metal cost.

Now, I like the 'feasible' look of the GZG stuff and as I may have mentioned, I've been drawn to the idea of a series of games fought down starship corridors after a very enjoyable game of 'Encounter 2' put on at SWS by the esteemed gentleman wargamer, John Armatys (may his pipe always burn).

I recently got hold of 'Dark Passages' by Dropwing Game Systems, which recreate a similar feel, and I'd mulled over buying a few figures but not got around to it.

IF YOU HAVE A COPY OF ENCOUNTER 2 AND WOULD SELL IT TO ME, PLEASE SEND ME A PM OR COMMENT BELOW.

Thus, I was very pleased when I said to the seller that I'd pay £125 for them and he accepted, followed closely by 8 power armoured suits from another seller at bare metal cost:

And so, that was the weekend that wasn't. As you can see, far from the average weekend, but at least I did get manage some gaming related activity.Right, if you will excuse me, I am 39 minutes late for work and have a pile of 1/600 Mulberry harbour sections on my desk, demanding my attention.
TTFN