Tempus Fugit Or, It's Me Versus Mortis, And He's Not Taking Me Alive...

 I appear to have reached a new stage in my hobby, what I am calling my 'Imperial Phase'.

I have literally gamed and lived within the hobby for over 45 years now. I have painted for fun (and since I was 14, profit) , gamed, written rules, a book (another is in the works) run one of the most successful bring and buy's at a major show for nearly two decades, and managed and then owned a bricks and mortar store.

And, I am tired... 

But in a good way.

Yes, with the exception of loathing the integration of 'politics' and 'identity' (which have no part in playing with little metal dollies)  into what is supposed to be a refuge from the real, my tiredness, is because I have pretty much exhausted my options for 'something new' .

 I learned about 5 years, maybe a decade ago, that the industry, now ruled by 'big box' companies pushing (who could have seen that coming, 25 years ago? Let alone 45.) over-produced, high priced rules and chasing of the gamer's coin with what in many cases are over-hyped 'new' periods and a constant flood of often mediocre products (which invariably get sucked up and spat out almost immediately on eBay or social media 'Need to pay my bills' sales posts. Handy hint:  if you can't pay your bills, stop wasting fucking money on toy soldiers.) are not doing this for the sake of the hobby.

They are not like the old 'honest', small businesses, run by people with passion. Only 30 years ago, and that's not long when you've lived it, you could walk around a show and chat with genuinely passionate gamers who made their living selling a product they were engaged with and invested in.

No fancy boxes, no banners and very little reseller activity, and fuck me, but those shows, were busy. I don't mean just a show like Triples or that one down South, but even shows in Lancashire (joke). 

Even the smallest shows were busy, busy, busy and the variety was astounding. I remember just one Triples, I think 1983, when it was still at the Victoria Hotel (yes, it was 83 the year before I won my first painting competition there) where I walked around the show with my newly acquired blue cantilever toolbox, buying stuff all over the place. It was only on Sunday night, after two days of toting the monster around, popping my purchases in it, that I got home, had my tea, and reflected on what I had bought.

There were dice from several suppliers, including the new round D6, several hundred Laserburn 15mm sci -fi, 1/300 sci fi from QT, Models and some of their small range of dungeon adventurers, Heroes Miniatures 25mm Gothic Horror & Post Apocalyptic ranges, Irregular Miniatures bits and pieces, Armoury acrylics, Warrior Miniatures Landsknechts and several rule sets from several different companies. 

That's more than I have bought at a show for the last 5 years... And I was a 15 year-old schoolkid. 

 Oh, I almost forgot, there was a 1:1 scale, full weight, model kit of a .45 Magnum too (that caused a little trouble down the line, but that's for another time).

I walk around shows now, and spend more time talking to friends I've made from all over the country across 4 decades. These are people I am interested in speaking and listening to, or with whom I have shared games and experiences. I am not gregarious by nature and I am certainly not someone who feels they have to love and know everyone (for which I was recently scolded and told I was rude, but hey, I ams, so fuck 'em) because that's just not possible, and you waste time on strangers that could be spent with people you care for and actually like.

It's been this year however, which, has made me really drill down on what I want to do with my hobby for the rest of whatever time I have left. (Doubtless, some may wish it's not long, but hey, fuck 'em) 

I have had some long conversations with old friends, myself and the Memsahib, and it breaks down like this.

I have had two main gaming themes which have been a core part in my life. in 1982, I got a real interest in the Renaissance, as outlined in my previous post, and from early 1983, my roleplaying became an interest in taking fantasy miniatures gaming to the same level as my historical massed battles, with the AD&D massed battles system in White Dwarf but moreover the original and purest edition of Warhammer, which at first I actually thought lacking, but which over time grew on me, as the game itself mutated into a grim, dirty and uncomfortable setting for someone of my tender sensibilities. I have no truck with Warhammer after 3rd edition, and even that, I find not to my tastes. No, give me 1st or 2nd ed, without all tha 'you must use GW miniatures' bollocks, and I am a happy man (a rare thing I know - 'happy')

And, I have a fond memory of John Armatys, playing a game at SWS with his Peter Laing, late Victorian British in Home Service Dress, facing I think Prussians.

Now, I loved those models with their smart toy soldier looks, and seeing the Perrys on Facebook, playing a similar game using their own ranges, inspired me to read The Battle Of Dorking and get all moist about using such figures with my robust collection of Grand Manner buildings as a sort of homage to John's inspiring game.

Now, this of course bridges that gap between historical and fantasy, so there you have three distinct 'periods' which I know with certainty I can soend a lot of time playing and playing and playing to the 'nth' degree.

I have crossed the Tiber of wargaming, and indeed the Rubicon and have arrived at what I feel is the purest distillation of my interest.

The Renaissance, has to be 15mm, and where possible the Mike's Models ranges. But, I will also accept a dabble of Minifigs and Asgard as they have a lot of emotional connection for me.

The Fantasy is mostly pre-slotta Citadel and Chronicle, with a dash of Ral Partha and a soupcon of modern models which have that whiff of the past about them.

The Victorian stuff is all Perry and I have been restrained and limited myself to 30 units per side. It's enough for a nice looking, multiplayer game here at the Dark Tower.

And that is it for me... It will probably come out around a modest 15000 figures, if I allow myself a little diversion into a couple of skirmish ideas (Border Reivers and 1920s Horror, set in the Peak District). 

There are my ACW and Renaissance naval projects too, but they are simple diversions for me and don't actually register on the scale, collections-wise.

And, as odd and sort of scary as it feels, I'm pretty content with my decision.

This all mixes with my decision to probably go to only two or maybe three shows a year, going forward. After all, why pay money to look at stuff that does not inspire you? A long way from my average of 20 shows per year, in the 80s and 90.

I may even revisit my plans to host a couple of shows in Sheffield. I'd planned and fhad funds in place for when I decided to take a break from Satanic Panic Miniatures, but a friend talked me into getting back into the saddle with that as a hobby again, and so I'm now waiting for the first massive range of SPM:2.0 sculpts to be finished. I'm not going to try juggling that with staging a show.

I'm clearing out all of the surplus and diversionary stuff. My Crusades collection should be being collected today and I have a very nice 28mm Roman & Dacian collection which is now unrequired, which I am looking to sell to a new and loving owner.

My 25mm ECW arrives at it's new home today, and the first 35 15mm Hovels buildings were delivered yesterday and are awaiting a good wash and the obligatory pre-painting clean-up.

I was a little 'down' when I first realised I had hit a gaming wall, but in actual fact, I am all the richer for doing so. It's making me really drill down into the richest seams of almost half a century of gaming and extracting the purest parts of it all for me.

I am actually now impatient to get this all done. The fantasy is down to about the last 1200 models or so with the painter, who delibvered another 150 Chaos Warrios at the weekend, and I got around 200 Broo and Chaos beasts based up on Sunday and out to the games room. The Victorians are all with the painter, and I'm now looking for a reliable and decent 15mm painter who can handle the first 3000 Renaissance figures for me.

It's all funded and ringfenced, so that's why I am so impatient to get it all done and in the games room, because then the real pleasure can begin.

Well, time flies, and so I better go and do my day at the coalface of creativity.

TTFN