Well, after a long Summer break I'm back at work for the Autumn quarter, feeling refreshed and very much in control of my personal gaming plan. As I think I previously mentioned, I've decided to rebuild my entire collection over the next 16 months as well as putting the final 'buff' on the scenery collection. It means no more shopping this year - almost - but on the other hand, the whole project is funded, so it's a case of being patient. The other day I was in Element Games here in Sheffield, to grab a few pots of paint, and I was 'ambushed' by the window display which contained the Horus Heresy: Age Of Darkness set. This made me realise that it has been a long while since I have visted the world of Space Marines, and I was weakened by only owning 8 figures at present, and, having been ridiculed by Roger for this state of affairs. I snapped. And now I'm waiting for two sets. And a book. And no doubt, something else before the week is up. I confess that...

 I was at the Chillcon show, this last weekend. It's a curious show at the best of times, catering really towards the 'Hipster' gamers and 'Millennial' generation in terms of trade. The only real 'Big Hitter' company was Warlord Games who always get me humming 'You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties' as they are at every show you go to. The majority of other companies seemed to be offspring of that very same wargaming spider plant, seling the usual discounted Warlord items. Really, how many stalls selling the same stuff does a show fucking need? There were also a lot of 3D printing related companies, cupcakes (nice brownies) face painting (when you have watched adults lining up to get their faces painted at a wargames show, you really have seen the lights go out on the Age of Reason). The show suffered from a lack of catering due to the caterer du jour, breaking down on the motorway. This is easily avoided by arranging catering locally ....

 Well, I reached the venerable age of 54, when the alarm went off this morning - Hussah! So, as is the tradition, I forgive my enemies and shall release the slaves from the oubliette below the Dark Tower here at Fackham Hall - don't worry; The hunting Scotties will track them all down later, and they'll be back in the cheese and onion mines by sundown. I'm also at the mid part of my annual summer holiday, and we're off to Cartwright Hall in Bradford today, one of my favourite art galleries. We attended the Britcon show last Saturday in searing temperatures, and despite that it was a good little trade show. I was sorely tempted by a couple of things on the bring and buy but my resolve held firm.  However, that temptor Mr Dave Thomas had the new Masters Of The Universe: Battle Ground game on sale, and for some reason, I weakened and bought the core set and first wave of expansions. This is a high quality game, with superb components and miniatures which are quite intricat...

 Hi all, Well, after 7 really, really busy months, I get a chance to take my annual Summer holiday. Essentially, as normal it's 3 and half weeks of galleries, restaurants and not touching a paintbrush. It's a pretty lucky thing that I stopped when I did, as I have had to request an emergency steroid shot due to my left hand deciding that the psoriatic arthritis and tendonitist should be allowed a free run of the store. So, Monday, I need to drop into the hospital, get a needle in my backside and get some more biologicals to deal with it. By Wednesday I should be a lot sweeter of mood, because this week I've been like a bear with his balls caught in a gin trap as I pulled 11 hour days. Once that's done, I'm off to Bakewell for the weekly market and a bit of nice lunch somewhere. Today has been packed with things domestic: Woke with a scream at 04:46 Haircut (because scaring myself in the mirror is becoming a drag and besides, the world needs to be able to gaze upon m...

PHUT! - Thou Art Slain! FAST PLAY RULES FOR LARGE EARLY RENAISSANCE BATTLES Version III All units are made up of a number of bases representing historical formations. Units have a single number allocated to them, representing training & morale. This number is represented by adding up the total bases in the unit. As bases are removed, the number is reduced accordingly. Each player rolls D6 and sets aside a pool of ‘I Think Not’ counters equal to that roll +1 (1-7). Think of these as an abstract form of leadership quality, and are used to alter the turn sequence. TURN SEQUENCE Roll 2D6 per side to establish initiative - highest roll is ‘Active’ player for the turn. At this point the ‘I Think Not’ counters may be played to reverse the result, starting with the loser of the initiative roll. You may use I.T.N counters to counter I.T.N until one player concedes or they are used up. Use them wisely because once used, they are out of the game. Active player moves Passive player shoots and ...

Hi all,   Well, having managed to finally get over 2200 28mm Italian Wars figures out onto my shelves over the last week, I had to think about how to go about gaming with them.     Now, whilst I can leave a game set up for as long as I wish, my friends are all over the place (the inconsiderate swine) so we have to cram as much into a day of play as possible.  You need a system which is fast, bloody, and which still gets a period feel. The problem is that most 'large scale' rules,  are simply not capable of handling thousands of models.  I recalled how the old Wargames Holiday Centre rules for Marlburian games did a nice job in this regard, I set about mulling over a similar approach. If you want micromanagement then read no further, but, if you want to sling around a few thousand models in your scale of choice, in the company of friends or at a show, then these may just do the job.  And so, without further ado, I present... BANG! - Thou Art Slain! FAST...