Whew! What a scorcher this last week's been. I can now state for the record, that 8 hours shifts in a painting studio at 40 degress celsius are lethal. On Tuesday, I literally staggered down two floors, to the main part of the house, feeling extremely unwell. BUT, because when you're self employed, motivation is what make the money, I worked through that hellish day as normal and so, I can say that I did indeed, earn my daily crust. Last Sunday, I finally unpacked the massive Renaissance colection I purchased a couple of weeks previously, and I confess, without hyperbole, that I shed tears. 'You?' I hear you cry. 'You, who does not shed tears at funerals, whose heart is black and had as flint?' Well, yes. I was overcome withhow fortunate I am to have what I do. I've been to the brink and back financially, twice, and here I am; I have a marriage of almost 35 years, my own wargames building, some lovely armies and a burgeoning collection of terrain of the ver...

 In Fackham Hall did Frother Khan, a mighty soldier room decree... It's taken 2 weeks to get around to opening the 28mm Renaissance collection, but here it all is:

 Good morning all, As I type this epistle to the gaming apostles, it's overcast, cool and bloody lovely! My studio is located up in the eaves of the house, and whilst it enjoys two windows, which can be thrown open to the prevailing breezes down the Don Valley, it gets hotter than the reader's wives page in a copy of Escort. So, this week, the combination of heat, fatigue, increased care requirements of Maggie (who is starting to look a hell of a lot fitter than she did 7 days ago) have made the 8 hour painting shifts stretch to ten. I'm about 3 weeks away from my annual Summer shut-down, so if I can get through the 72 hour period of extreme heat we've been forecast to have, I'll hopefuly make it to the finish line. I've been going back of late and looking at books which were 'cutting edge' back when I started out, and one which I'd completely forgotten, was A Guide To Wargaming by George Gush, which I have in it's 1980 hardcover edition, and whi...

 Firstly, an update on our Scottie. She had surgery yesterday and after 4 hours a 3cm stone was removed from her intestines. Luckily it appears her pipework itself wasn't damaged, so no resectioning of the intestine was needed. Her chemistry was back to normal, and she was given anti-emetics which kicked in by 10PM. We were informed but the surgeon that the following 48 hours were the riskiest, and that it was possible she'd need to be moved to an intensive care centre across town. By midnight we'd heard nothing, so that was sort of good news. I managed 3 hours of disturbed sleep, and as soon as I finish up here, I am off to bed for an hour. Whilst subdued, Maggie walked out of her kennel this morning. Her breathing and temperature has stabilised and her chemistry still seems OK.   The main concern wass that she was not eating, which given that she’s not done so since Wednesday morning is the main concern.   However she got through the first of the two critical nights. ...

What a week... On Wednesday out two year old Scottie was hit with what we thought was a tummy upset. 20 minutes ago, she came out of surgery, having had a 3cm stone removed from her intestine. The next 48 hours are critical, and we are somewhat fraught as you may imagine. I'm personally going up the wall, as she's helped me out a lot in the last two years. We got hit with a minimum £2400 bill, so I have started a Just Giving page. I am NOT asking my readers to donate towards raising £1000 of the bill, but if there's anywhere you can spread the word, Kayte and I would be grateful. https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/mark-hides?utm_id=1&utm_term=pNy72mRKd Thanks for yoursupport, folks. Mark & Kayte

Well, it's been a bugger of a week, here at Fackham Hall. I have developed a sensitivity to caffeine it would seem, which is devadtating for a coffee lover, and then to top things off, I have damaged my pectoral muscle on the left hand side, which has resulted in a definite lack of sleep. I went to the excellent Joy Of Six yesterday and was like a zombie, and rather miserable.  The quality of the games was as always, awesome. If you are at all snooty about 6mm, you are missing a treat. It is the only scale which gives a real sense of size and spectacle with a 'god's eye view'. If you haven't been to JO6, then you really must. They say that gaming is an addiction. For me, it's the pike & shot era which is my drug of choice. The porn addict may crave that lifetime pass to the Raymond Revue Bar, for me, it's men with feathers and slashed pants - possibly not all that different, if I recall adverts I dimly recall seeing whilst browsing the newsagent's sh...