Another Year Passes, I give in to the Universe, wolves run amok and other mental ephemera, including the crossing of a Rubicon.

 Well, today I have reached 55 years of age, and true to form, the weather report was great either side of the 18th, but piss poor for the day itself. With that in mind, a few days ago, I decided to call of my planned trip to Manchester Art Gallery followed by a decent lunch, and just skulk up in my studio, whilst bloody-mindedly slipping a finger to the heavens whilst simultaneously accepting my defeat once and for all.

Let the Universe have it's sick bit of fun once again. I decided to instead start work on 114 wolves for my fantasy project.

As I type, they are all sitting on my desk drying, after the initial washes over assorted base colours were applied a couple of days ago. 

Yesterday saw me visit the crematorium to leave flowers in remembrance of my father, who would have celebrated his birthday on the 16th. As a kid, it was great fun. Between the 16th and 18th, three family members had birthdays, so there was a string of parties and treats to be had. I was usually on holiday, so it was even better.

On my 16th birthday of course, I got the best present a young man could wish for other than a fully painted pre-slotta Orc army. That year was less a string of parties and more a string of panties...

Anyway, As you may know, it is traditional to declare an amnesty and forgiveness of my enemies. Not this year.

Anyone who wishes to be my enemy can go ahead and knock themselves out. I really couldn't care less. 

Feuds and vendettas are a waste of time and effort - My god, I must be ill. I'm not engaging with that anymore, which means those with issues can have them to their heart's content. Today was the day when I would know if the friend who I supposedly upset at Christmas was indeed a friend. Today came, and the Rubicon was crossed. I had decided that as well as that being made manifest, I would simply just divest myself of all that emotional turgidity caused by feuding. 

It's been surprisingly easy, oddly enough.

I got up today, did the housework, ate a breakfast of toast and marmalade, drank some good coffee and looked to the future.

Yesterday morning before setting off for a day in the Peak District with the Memsahib, I ordered the final pack of figures for my fantasy project. When I say the final pack, that would be the final pack of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 project. I may possibly have more in the future, but all the stuff I wanted back at the outset (and more) is now in my possession, rather than just on paper.

They were Goth Nobles from Gripping Beast, destined to be similar to the Eorlingas (although mine will be a bit more savvy than Tolkiens' lot and will be known as the Cunninglingas), and to face off against the Esterling types I have, which are a mix of Black Tree ad Gripping Beast, with those lovely HCH elephants. I have around 50 Dark Age Horse and as many foot, to make up that division. The beauty is that with the whole 'Good vs Evil' thing, I can buy groups of figures which are not normally seen in army sized numbers, as well as have brigades and divisions around the size of the average Warhammer army.

The last two evenings saw me at my desk sticking down and sorting the auction wins I got a couple of weeks ago. In the end I have 3 units of Easterlings, 5 of Snaga and 7 of Uruk Hai, with most units being 20 figures. This morning I've given them the usual two coats of varnish and have added them to Kayte's basing pile. She's based about 1500 so far but still has around 2000+ in the pipeline for the future. Luckily there are only 550 of those immediately to hand. 

I'd been looking forward to getting my hands on my copy of Talking Miniatures, but sadly that has not come to pass due to the original shipping date having been mis-judged (par for the course) .  I'd looked forward to a month of reading that massive pair of books.

Having buried my painter under another 1700 figures, he kindly sent me a few test piece pics the other day. I have to say, I am really looking forward to getting them from him:

The Halfling is Copplestone, whilst the Dwarves are the Oathmark plastics which just have that 100% genuine old school vibe.

Kayte doesn't know how many undead she's bought, but says she thinks it's less than a thousand so far. Whilst I am going for a generalist approach, Kayte's very much always been the Queen Of The Dead, going back to when we first met and the undead figure I gave her after our first date. Those where the days when a young man could get his ghoulies out on a first date without any kind of scandal.

But at the end of the day it's all going to be great fun. My friends have loads of armies themselves too, so the chances of boredom seem scant.

I had a very nice message the other day from someone who heard me on the Yarkshire Gamer podcast and who, after reading some of my blog reached out. I have to say that it's lovely to hear from people and to find out that you are making a positive difference to them. In fact I've had several such messages.

I am by nature a very introverted person in the real world, the brashness being an overcompensation to help me get through life. I find that a scowl and a sharp word or two has saved me several times from emotional harm, so I'm finding a new degree of inner peace by addressing things which resonate with others. I'd say that's a good way to feel and act.

I was chatting to friends and clients the other week, and explaining to the latter category in several instances, that the reason I don't trade at shows is because shows are where I go to indulge in my hobby after spending 5 days indulging others in theirs. 

This is why, you can get short shrift if you buttonhole me to talk business at a show. Pre-arrange a meeting and there's no problem, but the time I spend at a show is finite and if you blunder into my R&R, it's not going to go cordially I am afraid. Not surprisingly, my existing clients all understand this, because they know the hours I put in to their collections, and to be fair, it's great to arrange to meet them and have a chat, because hey are intelligent, funny and interesting people, which enhances my enjoyment of a show. That may seem a little contradictory, but if I said that I could not meet them, they'd respect my privacy.

In return, I make myself available for the majority of the rest of the year, no matter what time zone they live in. It's all very civilized.

My birthday is a time when I get a bit maudlin. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my birthday and love to hear from my friends, but I also remember a lot of negative things. Many are connected to gaming, such as being at a show on the day my Grandfather died - the day I really split with my parents, and again on the day my Mum died 5 years ago. It's a day when I cry as much as I smile, but in there amongst all the dross there are some great memories of long hot Summer days spent gaming with assorted friends, across assorted disciplines within the hobby.

Memory and gaming are so intertwined for me. 

As an example I am listening to the Best Of Ultravox, one of those curiously contradictory albums for a lad who was obsessed with Progressive Rock.

That one album alone reminds me of painting a Lizardman army, a 23 hour stint to paint and base an entire 15mm colonial British army (my Mum stayed up all night with me and kept me filled with coffee and cut cucumber slices for my eyes, despite running a house with two younger siblings to also take up her time) and of just sitting with friends discussing which armies we'd buy when we'd painted this or that for a pittance for older club members. Mind you, a £50 painting commission at age 15 in 1983 could buy you a lot of kit. 

I don't smile easily and I guess that by now, some of you will appreciate why, but when I do, you can be sure it's genuine and not some 'stick on smile'. I am told that I smile more than I perhaps think by some who have known me for 30+ years and that I am also not a misanthropic as I like to believe, but I could not comment with any accuracy.

Well, I must go as I have a couple of friends popping in for coffee in an hour and I want to get a few things done before they do.

TTFN