How Did You Do Yours?

I've been reviewing a life in gaming of late, in light of completing my Big Fantasy Project - IE: getting 6000 or so models fully painted or at least paid for and in the queue with my painter, and I can see two distinct purchasing patterns right from the outset.

I was fortunate that in the mid 80s whilst at school, I was able to earn £50 per week painting whilst friends slaved for £7 - £10 a day in a weekend job.

This gave me considerable freedom to travel the UK and buy what I wanted.

Now this took two formats as already hinted at:

1. Walk into a GW branch be it my local Sheffield branch, Manchester or Leeds or go to Games of Liverpool and literally buy every model of a type at the counter, clear a shelf of multiple boxed sets or latterly just sweep a couple of freshly filled rails of blisters into my own shopping basket.

2. Place a mail order and buy 10-20 of each pose much as I would do for my historical armies, giving me at least a number of mono-pose units or a mix of complimentary poses (not as easy as it is now).

This means that I have armies with both lots of variety and others which were not really bought as armies by gamers - Lizardmen, pre the Trish Morrison ranges for example, with large mono-pose regiments. And who had Undead armies before Forces Of Fantasy?

I like both methods as they sort of date the buys and the armies.

Did anyone else take this approach? From 1983 I basically only bought with massed batttles in mind, my RPG stuff lingering in cardboard box limbo or being co-opted into the armies.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Leave your praise and vitriolic commentary here...

Popular posts from this blog

How, Over 40 Years Ago, A Guy Called Andy Changed My Life With 5 Words, And Other Reminiscences...

Image
 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
Read more

The Passing Of A British Wargaming Legend

Image
It is with genuine sadness and heavy heart that I must record the passing of Sheffield Wargames Society founder member and long time Chairman, Steve Roberts.    I was 13 when I first met Steve (some 43 years ago, now). It was a chance meeting. I'd been playing Dungeons & Dragons for about a year and had taken some Citadel FTZ Zombies back to my Junior school to show my headteacher there, who'd always encouraged the creative arts in pupils.    He was impressed (as you'd expect) and told me that a wargames club met at the school now, on Monday nights run by a chap called Steve Roberts.    Well, of course I was interested, and together with my friend Alan Staniforth, I attended the club, to find there was no D&D...   What there was however were historical games, played by local kids with 'Big Steve' the only adult. But he ran that club like a champion, providing all the models and simple rules, which was just what you needed to hook kids in.   Steve allowed us
Read more

A Serious Post And Another Obituary But With Some More Positive Stuff At The End

Image
 I am at an age where I would expect the odd death of someone I know, but I am starting to realise that it's the younger end of the line which is getting culled.  This week I found out through a good friend that another friend in the hobby from the old days had taken his own life, bringing the total friends lost to 5 and drom that number the number lost to suicide in the last few years to 2. Now, I've been close to that I think, three times, but I've been lucky enough to be able to turn my illogical brain around and decide that the world and my enemies will not be happy if I thrive and stay alive. So, that has been my stated mission, to live long and be hated that much longer. The first time I was taken with thoughts of suicide, was when I was banned from Games Workshop Sheffield in the 80s (see my book or earlier posts) and my so-called friends allowed themselves to be bought off, trading silence as to what a set-up it was in return for part time jobs at the store. That wa
Read more