I am not designed for 04:00 starts anymore, but the memsahib is away in the capital doing what she does in Westminster today, so it is only right and proper that I rise at the same unreasonable hour. As I type, at 05:00, a chicken has been roasting for 45 minutes, destined to be betrothed to button mushrooms, consumating their marriage under a conjugal duvet of egg-glazed puff pastry, the remaining meat destined to become a riot of flavour with some black beans, in burritos when we get back from Hammerhead tomorrow. The dogs are all a bit grumpy as they have been awoken early, can smell roasting poultry, and are not getting any... This they see as unfair. It's been a busy week work-wise, with the added 'joy' of having to have some kind of injection inbetween the wrist joint, for my arthritis/sinovitis - not something I suggest you try unless you have to. That said, I also took delivery of 8 more Grand Manner buildings and have been able to plan a decent sized order with Ho

 I was speaking to a friend at 7AM Saturday, when it struck home that it's nearly 30 years since I owned Dungeons & Starships and that we are heading towards 60... Well, that and an ECG yesterday, where I was told 'There's nothing urgent' (which got me wondering what there was) had me thinking about pulling my finger out and getting a few bits done. So, I just spent two hours knocking out a table worthy 'Golden Dragon', that classic Ral Partha piece I bought a couple of weeks ago. I'm happy with him and at the end of the day, that's all that matters. I was heavily influenced by my tor-mentor, the late and much missed Pete 'Greblord' Armstrong.

 I was awake at 05:19 today so by 06:15, I was out in the games room, sorting out the boxes of Napoleonic Austrians. I thought you may like to see them arrayed in units:   A very nice force indeed, in my humble opinion.

 You know how it is... You swear off 'the hard stuff' for most of your life - I managed 44 years of being 'clean' - and then you try a small amount of something forbidden , and you are hooked. Well, as you know, I was eating a sausage butty at Recon at Christmas when apropos of nothing, the wife and I mooted doing something a bit sordid and indeed, rather deviant. Napoleonics... At first I was taken with British, but then, as fortune does, the path was shown to me in the form of Austrians. So, last night I took ownership of a very nice 28mm Austrian Corps, all metal and a mix of Perry/Foundry and Sash & Saber, comprising: 8 x 48 foot 8 x 36 foot 2 x 32 foot 2 x 30 foot 24 skirmishers 2 x 24 Cuirassier 2 x 24 Dragoon 2 x 18 Ulhan 2 x 18 Hussar 1 x 18 Chevauleger 12 guns 50 generals and ADCs I'm going to add a couple more infantry units and a couple more cavalry regiments, but it's pretty much a completed project, straight out of the gates. Well, my world is t

 Of late I have been having long and vivid dreams wherein, I am often walking or travelling with people I have known, some living, some passed, talking over things we had done or said. I confess that it's been eerie but also very liberating. These coversations have been so real that I have awoken in the morning (more usually, half way through the night) and been confused at my surroundings.  Last night I was speaking with Dave Hoyles  - very much alive and kicking - of Q.T Models/Museum Miniatures. The only thing I have noticed is that is often been snowing heavily in these dreams. One of my latest dreams was of the late Ian Smith, another the comic book artist Paul Green - who, thankfully is still with us. This pattern began a few years ago when I had a similar experience with the recently deceased Pete 'Greblord' Armstrong. It was a very cathartic experience for me, as I had much which needed to be said. I may have written of this before, but this particular dream was dif

 As usual, I've been very busy, with the added pain in the ass of sorting out my pension with my former employers, who due to my temerity in asking them to please fucking pay what they owe, went to the trouble of playing stupid and taxing me at the emergency rate. How dare I ask them to honour their obligations... *sigh*  Roll on 6th April and the hope I get something back from them. I spent this weekend replacing the flags on my 28mm Peninsular forces, upgrading them to Flags of  War prints, which are the best by far IMHO. I have 3 regiments to base, but I won't get onto those until next weekend now. Then they too will get lovely big flags. I was remarking to my wife the other day that I am probably at my happiest hobby-wise since I was about 16.  I'm racking up those fantasy and historical forces at a pace and to a quality, but more importantly I'm so pleased that my friends are all similarly rediscovering a real love for their hobby, building armies at a similar pace

 Almost another weekend gone. Alas, alas... Still, I am not complaining as I had a long weekend, last week and went to Vapnartak, as you will have read. I bagged an original Ral Partha Golden Dragon this week. Sadly the original 80s box had to be binned as it was riddled with spores. It's a classic Tom Meier sculpt, which is one of my favourite models, due to not only the exquisite sculpting but the wonderfully sly pose. This is the beast, albeit in a later 90s box... I've already begun painting it (shock, horror, disbelief!) and I'll indeed be painting it with a metallic finish as is right and proper. Yesterday, having been threatened by them for almost a year, as they sat unpainted and brooding in a corner of my studio, I cracked on with 20 feet of Hudson and Allen roads, and within 2 and a half hours, I had them to the point where all that was left to do was add grass and tufts. As usual, I began with a spray primer and then applied alkyd washes before leaving them to dr

 Morning all, Well, we decided last thing Saturday night to go to Vapnartak in York. It started well, with a decent breakfast just north of Leeds, but got a bit dodgy when we arrived and almost bogged down a Volvo in the Quagmire that is the so-called car park at the racecourse. Fortunately, a very nice gentleman, abandoned his child in the morass and helped to push the beastt he couple of feet it needed to be able to swim ashore. The show was well attended but (thankfully) seem less tightly packed, the traders and displays seemingly slimmed down. I had a good if expensive day's shopping with about 30 feet of stone walling from the Tree Fellas who gave me a generous and unasked for discount, thence over to Mr Dave Thomas with a brown envelope full of readies in return for 5th Division plus friends at Salamanca:   I also grabbed a couple more unpainted units to crack on with the Light Division. Thence it was off to the tabletop sale, where I bagged another 6 units of infantry and a