I can't believe that we are on the brink of a year since Covid-19 started it's strafing run. Kayte and I were on the road to Vapnartak, listening to the news, when it was announced that York was in the crosshairs. At the time I was just getting over what I thought was flu on steroids, and was weakened and not my usual bright self - perhaps I had had it. Lord knows I'd never felt so ill in my life. But hey, ho.. Roger was sans car at the time, and called off at the last minute so our planned meet up was canned, but I ran into an old Sheffield friend, Tony Kirk and his partner, so there was some serious catching up to do. To be honest, it was a show where I bought nothing of consequence, despite having a four figure sum in my pocket, waiting to be spent. Since 1989, I've had a system whereby, from January to March I saved money ahead of the defunct Triples show, and then saved whatever I could based on my show calendar until October 31st where I went into winter quarters...

Coming Monday January 18th 2021: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/satanicpanic/28mm-multi-part-dwarven-cavalry-miniatures-by-satanic-panic

  Well, I awoke this morning to find an email from Martin, which I would like to share with you. Here are the ladies of the Dwarven light cavalry.   These are inspired by the women of the steppes who fought alongside their menfolk as light horsewomen. I've asked him to make them split torso and to sculpt 3 more female heads - one with braided hair, one in a Phrygian cap and another in the classic fur trimmed hat.     Imagine them... Swarming around the flanks, like hellcats, lobbing well aimed arrows into the enemy ranks and shouting the ancient Dwarven warcry of "FUKKINROBBINUD!" every time an arrow finds it's mark...    

  Let me take you 20 years into the future. You sit in an armchair, snowy-haired and frail, surrounded by grandchildren and great grandchildren.   Tarquin, the precocious 9 year-old with a penchant for obscure subtitled films from Mongolia, looks up adoringly and says, “Grandad, what was like in the Cushelle wars?”   A tear comes to the corner of your dimming eyes and you begin:   “Well, it was hell, let me tell you, kids. When it first broke out, we of the generation who had lived through the 70s and 80s, with the deforestation of South America caused by our use of hair spray and the terrible music of the later years of the 1980s, which made many of us dress in black and retire to subterranean night cubs for solace, thought it was a flash in the pan.   But we were wrong…”   The children shudder involuntarily and gather in closer as you continue.   “Nobody truly went hungry, but a few middle class types whose income was so low that they used food banks...

Okay... Who's interested in these then? 6 riders 6 heads 2 armoured ponies 5 unarmored ponies Horn Banner Bow and case And as for weapons and shields... Well there are already LOADS available to suit all tastes.

 Brutalist architecture is not the first thing which you may associate with gaming... I would guess that none (well maybe two) of my friends are aware that since my early teens I have had a love of ‘true’ Brutalist architecture? Not the modern ‘fuck you’ school, but the proper full on 'Exposition Du Cement style. Growing up in the 1970 and 80s, Shefield was full of the stuff. It was grim, gritty and drab, but it spoke of the future. Where we now have the Winter Gardens in the heart of the city, there stood the truly futuristiv modern extension to the town hall, known with love and loathing by local folk as 'the Egg Box'. Built in 1977, it sort of collided with punk so that in 1978, aged just 10, I was already being drawn into the grotesque sci-fi beauty of it. You see, that was the year that I started to take an interest in things... Music and popular culture  was starting to slowly become something I was interested in, with the awful but still rather exciting to a ten y...

I remember in the early to mid 1980s when TSR was starting to expand the envelope with regards to the D&D I.P and brand, that they released a range of solid vinyl figures (as well as action figures) which were pretty good, but much larger than the usual figures we used. They were roundly derided as 'toys', but I have to say that I was impressed when I saw the range in Games Of Liverpool and I couldn't really understand what the issue was. After all, generally a dungeon battle was  not a massive affair  and the appeal of large, neat renditions of the party and their foes was apparent to me, at least. But, they sank without a trace... Now, we flash forward 35 years or so, and we are seeing similar products in 30mm scale, which frankly can't hold a torch (or dark lantern for those of the Thief class) to the larger ancestors and which frankly look like something from a Christmas cracker, punted out at a premium price. How fickle we were, but how readily we accept inferi...

I've been thinking a little of late, about how the way we roleplay has changed. Back when I started 'properly' gaming in 1981, in general terms, you began with an inexperienced character of around your actual age, if like me you were part of the 'Golden Horde' who made the hobby the phenomenon it was by around 1984. You could identify easily with how difficult it was to engage with those with more life experience in the real world and so, it was a natural and dare I say it comfortable state of affairs.   In the game world you were threatened by powerful wizards and evil interstellar empires and imminent reduction to a pile of ash by dragons. So, you did what you could to get by, make money, gain experience and go on to become a formidable adventurer in your own right. You learned that thought generally got you out of scrapes far more successfully than just lashing out and hoping for the best.  In the real world, if you were in the U.K, you faced the threat of mad po...

 One thing which has come to my attention over the last 41 years, has been the way that professional miniature painters are often looked down on by the industry, and to be frank, by the public too.  There seems to be little corelation between the effort/hours involved in painting a figure to a high standard and the prices people want to pay. Now, don't get me wrong, there are obvious limits, but why are we happy to pay £2 for a few seconds of spinning a figure, but not pay a fair price for what can sometinmes be aseveral hours work for that figure we happily parade and brag about to gaming buddies? Equally, why are ther so many people happy to pay the same for a quickly and often poorly turned out figure using washes of contrast paints as for a model which has been carefully layered up, life breathed into it and moreover with a much wider selection of colours and shades, mixed with thought and dare I say it, skill? Putting the boot on the other foot, where do part time, 'tray ...

 2021 is but three days old, and Satanic Panic Miniatures, purveyors of 28mm multi-part fantasy miniatures, have announced that the next addition to their ranges will be Dwarves modelled on the armies of Medieval Russia. The Dwarves of Kazakh-Ruzz are unique amongst Dwarf kind, for their totally mounted army and Giant killing tactics on the steppes, to the East of the Tower of the Great Wizard. Even the Hobgoblins show them respect and the Great Gnolls refuse to face them on the plains, preferring to risk the longer routes through the Great Circle Mountains. Some boar mounted Great Gnoll forces have clashed with the Dwarven host, but they have only ever fought them to a draw at best. Armed with lasso and hooked lance, mounted on the sturdy and spiteful descendants of the legendary pit pony 'Big Bastard' these Dwarves scour steppe and plain, honing mounted warfare to a fine art. They know that out there in the 'Big Fields' infantry, especially that which is alr...

Well, I've hit the ground running for 2021, with a firm plan for the year. I spent the last few days putting together armies based around the Swordpoint lists, which I've not played yet, but the basing sizes suit my aesthetic sensibilities, so that's a great start :-) For the Mongols I'll be using the Wargames Elite 28mm range of course Mongol: Assorted officers 2 x 12 Guard 3 x 12 Heavy 1 x 16 Mangudai Scouts 2 x 12 Garachu  6 x 8 Garachu in skirmish order The Mongols are organised with the Mangudai out front, Heavies in the centre behind them with Garachu to either side, the Guards at the rear. The Garachu skirmishers are on the wings to envelop  For the Russians, I went with Gripping Beast and an eye-watering butchers bill. That said they are sculpted by Rob Baker whom I hold in extremely high esteem. Russian: Assorted officers 3 x 16 Senior Druzhina 4 x 12 Junior Druzhina 4 x 12 Steppe Cavalry 3 x 10 Crossbow infantry in skirmish order The Russians are based post-in...

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