Well, it's the last day of the week and indeed the month, and one I shall be pleased to wave off into the sunset. The building work has ground to a halt unexpectedly and thus we have no rooms in the downstairs part of the house, including the games room outside, untouched by the mess. My builders are good, but I do sometimes question their methodology - particularly when it scuppers my gaming plans and desire to entertain a group of friends here at the Dark Tower... Last night, apropos of resupplying the wagon train, I was leaving Sainsbury's  when I noticed a massive pile of 80s fantasy and sci-fi books on the charity book table, all stores seem to have these days. I grabbed a full set of Hugh Cook's 'Age of Darkness' and David Eddings' 'Malloreon' in 80s jackets - as is right and proper. As I was moving them out of Dust Central this morning, I happened across one of several copies of Mary Gentle's 'Golden Witchbreed' which to me is one of ...

 Well, we enjoyed Partizan as always, catching up with gentleman wargamer and Preux Chavalier, David H and Ken Reilly of Yarkshire Wargamer fame, as well as chatting with the Mosborough gang and the godlike Robbie Baker amongst others. We also caught up briefly with SWS Commisar General, Tim Gow who was sporting a dapper Summer ensemble. My only complaint was that I kept getting badgered by people on business matters, which really buggers up my day out when I am at a show. There is a reason I don't trade at shows, and that's because there is a division between my 'day job' and my hobby, and that will always be the way of things. I'm sorry folks, but I go to shows to see friends and buy things, not to talk business. Rule of thumb: If we haven't agreed a meet before a show, in writing - Leave me be as I am notoriously short of temper in such situations. It was a warm day and a busy one, breaking records yet again. One or two games caught my eye, and the WoFun mode...

Hi All, I've been pretty quiet of late, due to a combination of being very, very busy and having to undergo a procedure on my left hand, which was 'fun'. After said procedure, all I wanted to do, was to visit one of my favourite restaurants, the 'Cavendish' in the grounds of Chatsworth House for four courses of culinary pleasure and the attentive care of the staff, who, I can assure you, are as good as any nursing staff in that regard. I received a package of my own Satanic Panic Miniatures back from another painter last week, which frankly are not up to snuff. Good manners prevent me from naming the painter, but I'm now having to paint in the eyes and beards, and generally tidy them up for the table myself. Ho Hum!  My Old School fantasy project really is taking over and I am getting buried under the sheer amount of lead, waiting to be primed, packed and sent to my painter. I think I have about 1500 waiting to be processed in this manner and I really need to...

  Coming soon from Satanic Panic in a 'mini' Kickstarter...   Snake People   This set is a genuine Old School set of sculpts from the hands of Grenadier sculptor, Gary Hunt who now works in the toy industry as a sculptor for Weta.   I'll let Gary tell you more in his own words:   'I must have sculpted these around 1992, practicing to hopefully get a job with GW or Grenadier . I got a job with Grenadier. It was my dream come true.    I worked freelance, from home for 3 months in Bournemouth, on Mongols, evils monks, dinosaurs, demons, sorcerers and magicians.    I then had a holiday in Thailand for 3 months.. so inspired, planning and designing my next sculpts. When I returned, Grenadier was no more! My dreams were broken... and as we'd been discussing a royalty scheme I got nothing...     I moved to London and got a job sculpting toys instead. '   So there you have it folks, genuine early 90s sculpts which would never have...

 Well, that's another weekend which has vanished under a hail of work... Still, I have managed to base all of my o/s 28mm ECW skirmish and 3 units of Essex Miniatures, Knights Of Evil for my fantasy project, so it's not been all bad, I guess. I was sent a somewhat angry message the other day, regarding a pic of my painting trophies and suchlike, demanding to know why I was showing a picture of someone else's awards.  I sent a meek and mild email back asking if he was referring to one 'Gylfi Viorsson', to which an affirmative was forthcoming with an 'how dare I?' sort of rant. Well, I explained, 'I am he... So, fuck off.' And then, feeling a little abashed at my sharpness of tongue I explained the reason. You see, when I was in my very early 20s and at a loose end due to being ostracized from my peer group to some extent, for daring to have a differing sartorial and musical outlook (How dare I?), I entered my 'wandering troubador' stage of lif...

 AT LAST! We now have a bedroom again, the remedial work is done and the glazing and blinds fitted. Now we are taking a 9 day 'breather' to recover, but also because I have a medical procedure to endure on my hand... BOOOOO! Then our builder will be returning to renovate the living room, fit what used to be the dining room but which is now a sort of 'dead space' with cabinets, retro tiling and a breakfast bar, turn the front garden into hard standing and resurface the two back gardens with resin, before redocorating throughout. Hopefully, this will future proof the Dark Tower. We maximised the storage space in the bedroom at the cost of floor space, but, it's called a bedroom for a reason, and now looks like a 70s starship interior crossed with Bag End - It's all very cosy, and has smart speaker, internet radio and lighting for all moods. At the centre is a contemporary four-poster, where I fiully intend to sprawl like Kublai Khan in Xanadu. I'm also looking...