Greetings all! I want to begin by sending sincere birthday wishes to Roger for Sunday. Happy birthday sir!  Now, onto the main event as it were... As I've written before, I am now at the 'polishing' stage of my fantasy project and so, I'm looking for those odd units which add 'flavour' to the proceedings and really hark back to a time when there were not these ridiculous, single-race, insipid armies. With this in mind, I started looking at the Ral Partha Legacy ranges which still have some of the most imaginative models, almost 45 years after I first found them in the cabinets of Games Workshop, brought to life by the talented brush of Pete Armstrong. Elven Knights on giant bees... Fairies riding Muntjack deer... Titans in classical Greek armour... Bugbears, bandy-legged and saucer-eyed... Bring them all on! I also had a look at the venerable Hinchcliffe fantasy ranges, available once again from Mike over at Broadsword Miniatures, and I was drawn to what I thin...

 I've been reading the excellent 'Talking Miniatures' set of books, and the common threads which run through the stories of those interviewed also seem to be shared by myself and those of my acquaintance; a collective experience which I don't think is as common in the modern hobby. The first explorations with traditional plastic (and in some cases metal) toy soldiers, Airfix and Matchbox kits and exposure to a series of groundbreaking TV shows which at the time were fairly new and sparking imaginations. The future with it's grubby, dark and let's be honest depressingly pessimistic settings was stil a couple of decades away. Brightly clad knights, gleaming white starships and clean, aesthetically pure settings were where it was at, and we locked right into it. Our future was bright, and all that... I really find the modern trend towards negative-feeling settings for fictional games to be depressing. True, we live in tryingly depressing times, but wasn't that ...

 Saturday was a busy day. Autumn is my favourite season, so I like to mooch around the countryside looking for decent places to get a seasonal lunch, some highbrow, others less so, but all serving good earthy flavours. When we returned to our humble home here at the Dark Tower, having looked at a few prospective locations for a house move, I wandered up to the studio and set about getting the rest of the stonework on the 28mm city walls I bought, done and dusted. I' hoped to get a few pices done, but in 3 hours I'd done 6 walls, 2 masive towers, a gatehouse, the royal gates and the royal quarters. So, in total I've spent two days and apart from the woodwork and bit of detail such as door handles and frames, the massive city walls are adone - well ahead of my December target.  For reference purposes, the figure in the first pic is a Games Workshop LOTR figure, so you can see how large this is, and can imagine I am sure, how epic it will look on the table. In other news, you ...

 Well, the official notice has been posted... The Steel Warriors show in Sheffield has been cancelled for 2024 du to health issues amongst the organisers. I'd been looking forward to running a display game there, so the search is on for an alternative. https://steel-warriors.co.uk/

 Oh, it's a grim day as I look out of the window this morning, partaking as I do, of a crumpet with a smear of peanut butter and touch of honey - a heavenly combination which I heartily suggest you try. Of late, I've been looking at the modern modes and fashions for painting, and I think on the whole they are messy and actually look awful. The big no-no when I was a whippersnapper was patchy layers of paint. We strived to get smooth strong, opaque layers or clean transparent glazes. Now patchy layers seem to be accepted as the new generation, either too lazy or impatient are led by the nose by YouTube gurus into paintwork perdition. We have various 'speed' paints, which, in an era when the average size of an army is equivalent to a small bag of jelly babies, (or indeed the number of women in the world not filing a claim against Russell Brand) seems ridiculous, that frankly are not cutting the mustard. Look, I remember when (and it's not that long ago) acrylic paints...

 Serenity Flatts is up for sale! MASSIVE 28mm Wild West set-up Everything you'll ever need apart from the grass mat! £2500 Buyer to collect (Sheffield UK) Would consider a trade for a 1920s onwards American street set-up of the same quality and quantity. Get in touch if genuinely interested...

 I was at my desy this morning at 07:30, against my own self imposed rule, adding the alkyd washes to the remaining pieces of city walling and attached buildings. I promised I'd not be up there beyond 10:00AM, so I was pleased when I was finished 8 minutes early - HUSSAH! Now, I just have to think about what I need in terms of siege engines. It can get a bit silly and to involved when it comes to sieges. I still go pallid of visage when I think of the WRG siege rules. *shudder* I have 3 siege towers already, and I'll look at adding assorted penthouse, rams and the like for the look of things as well as some scaling ladders for the attacking forces. I have a feeling that Irregular Miniatures will get an order for this and the obligatory vats of oil for the defenders, as well as gulay gorod if I am feeling generous of mood. I do think I'll increase the number of siege towers with one of the classic Hinchcliffe models, which even today, is a stunning piece at a healthy 18.5cm ...

 A very good morning to you all. For once, I'm late to the party. I speak with regards to the sixth edition of Car Wars, which I confess, I simply disregarded in 2020 when it was Kickstarted. Schoolboy error! As I mentioned the other day, I had managed to get the Double Ace set and had bought the other add-ons, apart from a single item which had to be bought from the U.S. Fortunately, a friend over the pond was kind enough to take delivery of this deck of cards for me and is forwarding it on (together with a rather smart Car Wars 40th anniversary badge) to me because Steve Jackson Games don't ship to the UK anymore. Now it's just a question of waiting for delivery, although the expansions I ordered have arrived already, and I did buy two extra two player starter sets as ZATU Games have them at a £30 discount at present and one can never have enough cars, dice and turning keys, not to mention additional rule sets. One of the things I didn't like the look of when I saw th...

 Hi All, Well, my next Satanic Panic Miniatures project is picking up speed again after the hot weather, which I am told prevented Chris over at the casting company from working - and I don't blame him as it was hellish . The Orcs are looking great: I'm currently, slowly rebuilding the S.P.M website and have just moved the doamin to a new service provider so that I can begin the hard work of rebuilding a store function. Of course I can do this only when I have spare time, so it may be a slow job. Yesterday, I made a final list of the figures I want to complete my life's purchases. After 44 years of actively gaming, I need £475 of castings and then the painting of the same, to have everything I want and indeed, I can think of. I never thought I'd say that, quite honestly, but it's true. I looked at several other things I thought I may be interested in but drew a blank... Anyone who knows me will be saying 'Bollocks!', but it's true. In fact, for a few mom...

 Just a quick update on the immense fantasy project.  I just received some pics from my painter who has completed about half of the Halfling brigade and a few of the Centaur herd: They remind me so much of the stuff that wowed me as a kid, painted by the late Pete 'Greblord' Armstrong. I really wanted to have some figures which invoked the feel of and paid their respects to this early innovator in painting and I was pleased to credit my painter with so doing. I'm getting close to the 2000 painted figures mark for this project and have now planned another 600 to take the final tally to 4000 pieces. The Halflings are mainly Copplestone Castings with some Grenadier (again Mark Copplestone) cavalry and a single Gripping Beast, whilst the Centaurs are Essex Miniatures - which I love.

 I'm back at my studio desk now, having done a re-fit of my work area and also ordered all of my materials for 2024 whilst I was at it. I've been really busy this last week, and I've started work today on the stonework of the city walls I bought over the holidays. The walls are going to look great and they're massive as the following pics show: I'll post more pics as it all starts to come together, but so far I'm really pleased with the standard of the 3D printed walls etc. Just as a point of interest, those large towers are 36cm high! I've been mulling the joy I had as a kid, reading my newly bought Car Wars set and the hours of fun we all had playing it. I clearly remember reading about in a darkened room, on a warm sunny afternoon, then setting off next day to grab a copy from Games Workshop. Of late I've been looking at the 6th edition which has been around for 2 or 3 years now. After due diligence and consideration, I managed to bag the Kickstarter ...

Well here's a good one...   I thought I'd take volume 1 of 'Talking Miniatures' in the bath this afternoon.   I popped it on the windowsill, from where it fell...   And punched a hole in the bath. I found the hole after filling the bath - you can imagine the rest.       The Memsahib is being very understanding about it

    Autumn is here, and as is my wont, I embrace it with a display in the windowsill, very much in the spirit of our cousins across the Atlantic. Indeed, I was up at 6AM yesterday, removing the more staid floral display of the earlier part of the year, to dress the house for the dark season ahead. Celebrating Fall is my way of adding a  gentle warmth and vivid colour to my world and soothe my soul. I find it a transcendental experience. As I type, my 7 month old Scottie, 'Penelope' is fighting with one of the many dog beds scattered around the manse, I am looking at an expanse of warm floral hues to a garden beyond, which is still bursting with the colours of Summer all offset by a sky which is grey and Titian in equal measure. Ahhhhhhh, perfection. And what in the name of Christ on a bike has that to do with gaming? I hear you splutter... I sense an eyebrow or two being raised in certain parts, and care not an iota. You see, that soothing transcendence is what I have alw...