Take that... And This... Aaaaand THAT!

 

 

Back in the day, before Games Workshop was a one trick pony, we gamers of all stripes would scour the pages of White Dwarf in search of the next hit of the hobby drug.

Whilst GW itself stocked most things, it was Games Of Liverpool that had some of the most interesting stuff in the shape of the Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU) line with titles such as MERC, Swordbearer, Bushido and the eye wateringly complex Aftermath and Space Opera.

The FGU lines were always good looking (check the Space Opera line) and often, just that bit different to other offerings.

Bushido, was a meticulously done game set in mythical Japan, and packed with detail so dense as to be capable of giving you a headache and word blindness in 4 minutes 32 seconds.

FGU also produced what has been arguably to this day, the best superhero game in the shape of Villains & Vigilantes. Stirring stuff...

FGU is still going strong and at the weekend, Roger asked me if I'd listened to latest Grognard Files podcast which, was covering a game called Flashing Blades. I said I hadn't but was saving it for Monday and my first working day listen of the week.

Now, I like this podcast, although it's getting a little less interesting than it used to be, and sometimes strays 'off mission' - I guess because the hosts were not as embedded in the hobby as many of us were in the day and have let their old school powder get a little damp. Still, for people from the wrong side of the Pennines, they put on a good show, and it's normally a fun listen. 

I was heartened when they told me, that they had intended to write a book, but saw that I'd done it first and decided not to bother. If you haven't listened to the Grognard Files and have an interest in RPGs , go and listen to it.

Anyway, they were discussing FGU's 'Flashing Blades' a 3 Musketeers inspired RPG which, only comes in at around 50 pages but which punches way above it's page count. 

So, after listening to the podcast, I decided to mosey on over to the FGU website and lo and behold, Flashing Blades is still available in print format, but shock and horror, there was no option for shipping outside the U.S.

So, I reached out to FGU Supremo, Scott Bizar and was told that FGU certainly does ship to the U.K and pretty much anywhere but that they only charge the actual postage so process these sales manually. How very, very refreshing.

So, it was back to the webstore and a complete set of Flashing Blades and supplements:

Total: $36

 Now these are 1980s prices as far as I am concerned, so it was back into the store and the decision to also buy the Daredevils system. 

Daredevils was a classic Pulp genre game and again, was a well thought of game back in the day, with authentic Pulp styling and presentation.  So, seeing that the range was also still available in print, I bought the lot:

 

Total: $51

OK, this game cost more, but there's one more book and the rules are a boxed set - YAY!

So, I was looking at a bill of $87 for 11 RPG books, but then there's postage, which we have to accept is not cheap internationally these days, but what the hell... The postage bill was $88 and Scott was helpful in pointing out that I could drop a book and save on postage, and that using one of his own boxes rather than a USPS standard mailing box would protect my purchases better in transit. Proper old school customer service!

So, I was looking at a grand total of $175 which, even allowing for Paypal's exchange rate (because I forgot to select 'use card issuer's rate') this came out £141.00 for 11 books and boxed games.

WOW!

So, that was £12.81 per item, shipped to the U.K, a truly pocket money purchase and let's face it, loads of lovely old school illustrations and products created with love and enthusiasm.

So, thank you Roger, for nudging me to listen to the latest episode of GF and to the GF crew for covering a game that had for me dropped between the floorboards.

More importamtly, thanks to Scott Bizar and FGU for making me feel 13 again...