'You Can't Beat The Classics' & Other Weekend Mumblings About Pipe Tobacco, Bugbears & Prog' Rock Legends.

 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 think is one of Peter Gilder's nicest sculpts - ever.

His gargoyle is a lovely little piece, looking suitably ferocious and dynamically posed, leaping from a rock and stump.

But, the beuty of Giilder's figures was that they could be re-posed to create lots more movement and this little chap is no exception.

It was a 10 second job to clip off the base and set it aside. Then a single snip, separated the tail and left legto allow a little subtlety of pose.

The faithful drill was then applied to various parts of the little fellah's body and the base (if you do drill the base, make sure you have it held tightly with a clamp or hands of steel, as it can spin off and kill you!

Now, I want my figures to keep the traditional vibe, contemporary to the time they were first released, so I decided to go with metal rods for flying bases, which will be painted the traditional and approved black.

You can get a lot of poses from the same model, and here are the first two I did. So far, I've converted 7 and I have them at different heights, swooping, diving, soaring left and right. When I have all 12 done, they'll look fantastic and a testament to the skill of Mr Gilder.

 I'm hoping that I can finish the city walls this weekend, with a concerted push and gritted teeth, although I confess, against all odds I'm actually enjoying it, because I'm so motivated and absorbed, to a degree I've not been in years.

I've also been working diligently on a few new bits for my S.P.U.R.S fantasy rules, which just continue to evolve and take shape quite nicely.

I sent 108 of my Satanic Panic 'Lesser Goblins' off to a painter this week, and I look forward to getting those back, towards the end of the year. I'm loving the idea of seeing units painted by different people, applying their own artistic imagination to models in my collection.

Speaking of Satanic Panic Miniatures,  yesterday I added yet another range, in the shape of 20 classic Bugbears, together with another 7 shield variants. They will make a wonderfully ferocious unit, and a change from Trolls or Ogres:

 Of course, they'd also be great for skirmishes or RPGs, but I am going to build a tribe for tabletop battles.

As are many in my age band, I'm a lifelong fan of Canadian rock band, Rush, who sadly are no more after the passing a coouple of years ago of Neil Peart. However, front man Geddy Lee is coming to the U.K for 5 dates in December on a spoken word tour to promote his forthcoming autobiography, 'My Effin' Life'. 

Sheffield was the first UK date Rush played, so it's only fitting that we get to see Mr Lee on stage here.

I bagged tickets on the pre-sale and despite the eye-watering cost, as another friend and fan pointed out, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to get to ask Geddy Lee a question and have him read to you, and I should stop being tight :)

So I now have two gigs on two consecutive nights, and then I begin my three week Christmas break.

My quest to rediscover that same sense of wonder I recall from the early days of my journey on gaming's highway continues. I'm quite focussed on scent triggers at present. A laundry conditioner I was sniffing in Sainsburys the other day, sent me straight back to to the early 80s, and yesterday as I worked, I was recalling the scent of pipe tobacco and freshly washed carpets, which hark back to the days of the Triples show at the Octagon Centre. That said, the pipe tobacco was a wonderful scent at all shows, now sadly missing. 

The wargames show which deploys a tobacco flower scent through a few well placed diffusers, will I am certain, strike it rich as we of a certain generation are taken back to simpler days and reach into our wallets to indulge our gaming whims in a haze of reverie... 

 

TTFN