Gosh, is it really 42 and a half years since I began gaming? I fear it is. If I stop and think that I am heading towards 60, I have the mother of all panic attacks. So little time left for gaming and just quietly going about my business.  I've suffered severe insomnia of late, so this has been one of the recurring '3AM Specials', those thoughts which crop up in all their technicolour glory in the dark pre-breakfast of the soul which is itself a product of not being asleep when you should be. I was just thinking, as I knocked out another 4 Denizen Miniatures, Federation Marines, listening to some Jethro Tull (to which I was introduced almost 40 years ago by my B.F.A.M, Roger and which made me buy 'Original Masters' as a primer) that the weather outside in all it's Autumnal misery made me yearn for one of my old solo trips into Sheffield city centre circa 1982 to gaze in wonder at the door furniture I always promised myself I would buy when I grew up, in 'Kno...

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   Since 2011 Conflict In Colour has become an established, client-focussed bespoke painting service for discerning collectors or manufacturers of miniature figures. With over 20 first and second places in major competitions since 1981, you can be certain of the highest standards of work coupled with the use of the very best professional artist grade materials available.   Conflict In Colour is a full-time business and not something done for a few hours per week in front of the T.V, or farmed out to mercenary brushes. With the same artist painting all of your models, you can be sure of quality, consistency and accountability with integrity. Monthly accounts are available for those long term projects and large collections. Since 2012, all of my clients have been on regular monthly accounts, and many of my current accounts have been with me since the very start. No gimmicks, no 'fast fixes', no long tariff lists, no compromises. 2 regular mo...

 Well, it's 3 weeks since one of my 5 Scottish Terriers gave me a taste of what is considered one of the strongest sets of jaws in the canine world, when I stepped in to split two 'intact' boys for whom the testosterone was getting too much. Anyhow, I spent a Sunday night in A&E, followed two days later by hand surgery and 3 different antibiotics because the little darling (Bartholmew Bones McCoy) had seen fit to use his 'acidic venom' mutation on me. It was a pretty nasty set of wounds, and even on day 12, it was looking like this: Luckily, my nereves are intact but I will have a 'jangle' for at least several months and the scarring under the surface will change the shape of my thumb apparently. I got my stitches out a couple of days ago but it's still not healed. That said, I managed to paint with the injury, by the careful selection of dressings and a set of patient nurses, as well as the ingenious use of latex gloves. It's meant long days, of...

  Once again Terrain mats for games / Terepszőnyegek készítése have done themselves proud with yet another 15 foot teddy bear fur mat for the Rumpus Room.   This time, it's a winter grass finish.   I'm very pleased indeed with both product and swift delivery to the U.K.     Do yourself and your collection a favour and get some fur to fight over .

 The following models are all from the estate of the late Joe Dever, creator of Lone Wolf. This is his Crystal Elf army, which I own, and wish to see go to a great home, as frankly I have too many things on the go, what with this project and that, and all of them are large projects. I am looking for bare metal cost (or less) in most cases, to give folks wanting to own a bit of Joe's collection a chance at a non-extortionate price. These are NOT Flintloque. They pre-date those ranges and are much nicer WYSIWYG - There may be the odd damaged weapon, but these are seriously famous models and 30 years old and the pictures form part of the description. The Elven Queen and consort on the Peacock Throne 3 x mounted Generals/Heroes 5 x Characters on foot 7 x 36 figure Spear units 1 x 33 figure Spear unit 2 x 36 figure Archer Units 2 x 20 mounted Dragoon Archers 2 x 20 dismounted Dragoon Archers 2 x 20 Cavalry with sword 2 x 20 Cavalry with lance 5 Guard Cavalry 4 x Assassins £1700 plus shi...

 I was ploughing through eBay the other day apropo of nothing in particular, when I came across a rather nice find in the sahpe of a shed load of ready built Metcalfe 1/72 (HO/OO) carstock buildings. Now, these are not cheap, with a pair of terraced houses costing around £7. Being an old school gadfly of a gamer, I could imediately see the potential for battles along British streets with 20mm models, so I was in like Flynn and the bidding war began, and ended last night with a £135 winning bid. Here are a couple of shots of what I won: As you can see there are around 60 dwellings and shops. One or two need some TLC, but crucially, none were ever stuck down to the model railway display layout from which they came. The owner/builder has also weathered them so scenarios set in the working class North will feature a-plenty. So, let's see: The Miners Strike VBCW The Winter of 79 The Volgan Invasion of the UK, 1982 Operation Sealion 70s Police action 80s and 90s riots Cthulhu Takes Heckm...

 Well, we had a pleasant day at Partizan today, well in terms of the show anyway. It was great to see Tim Gow and John Armatys, together with young Andrew Bishop, with their Hostage Rescue take on Cluedo. Shaun from the bunker had his excellent 20mm War Of The Worlds display game going full throttle, but we still got a quick chat (always a pleasure). Trade seemed brisk, and Dave Thomas was beating customers off with sticks as they swarmed the D.T Megastore down in it's usual corner pitch. They were so busy that even Phil was working! The general standard of display games was good, but not of the standard Partizan used to offer, many were about on par with my own table, but nothing really shone. The gimmick of gamers standing around in mess dress has worn itself out now.  There was a simple but very eye catching Hastings game, where the sheer 'wall' of troops atop the hill really drew the eye. There was a nice ECW skirmish, two different games involving Ottomans and as I say...

 Well, it's been a veritable bugger of week here at the Dark Tower, after a promising start last weekend. As you wil recal I had begun work on my 25mm 80s sci-fi project, and by Sunday afternoon, I'd got 8 troopers and an officer painted...    ...and was - as the televangelists caught with hookers say - 'relaxing' with Call Of Duty when two of my Scottish Terriers decided that they would settle old clan scores with a to the death duel in the living room. Now, Scotties are loving dogs, but are passionate wen it comes to holding their own. This occurs mostly in the males, who have lots of testosterone in a small frame.  "Off with their gilhoonies!" you cry... Quite so, but Scotties are also much more prone to some very nast cancers (as I found out in 2020) when they are castrated, so we'd decided that Rex McHubbard and Bartolomew 'Bones' McCoy would not suffer that fate. This has led to a Highland feud which spiralled out of control and which went ...

 As I wanted a glossy version of the Valour & Fortitude rules, so I spent the equivalent of 4.7 minutes of electricity on a copy of Wargames Illustrated, which I have rarely boughtt in the last decade or so. And I have to say that for a few minutes, I wondered if the magazine was missing from the plastic wrapper, with a rather piss poor advertising pamphlet. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed. Why do people pay £6 per month to read articles which are essentially a series of nepotistic, back slapping; sort of an incestuous Lead Belt circle jerk? Needless to say, I won't make that mistake again. I've spent the weekend, skulking in my studio, after a 49 hour week, the weather being poor enough to get me actually painting something of my my own, a rarity, as you will know by now. I've been patiently waiting to begin work on the Denizen sci-fi models I bought te other week, and having finally opened them on Friday night, I set out to recreate the paint jobs which sold m...