One Of Those Dream Days For A Gamer

 Despite having to struggle to keep paint fluid due to the heat, the weather yesterday, meant I was taking breaks, just to breathe and relax my muscles, taking a few moments to browse the various forae and sales sites.

I've had a Cold War bee in my bonnet for a few years now, but I've never found two opposing forces which I thought aesthetically pleasing enough. Yesterday, I hit the jackpot with both Russian and British forces in 15mm coming along at a great price.

Being a Yorkshireman, I still took a chance on someone else snapping them up (they were very favourably priced) and enquired as to a possible discount for taking both.

It paid off, and I saved a three figure sum on a three figure purchase:

In 1983, I , like so many was growing up at the apex of the Cold War, so these vehicles were cutting edge, and still hold a fascination for me. I was also reading Ringworld by Larry Niven after seeing the excitement in the gaming press about Chaosium securing the rights for a roleplaying game based on the books. 

In 1984, on a warm Friday evening, as I accompanied my Dad in his part time job as a main agent for Littlewoods Pools (essentially) collecting all the money from the people who went door to door, I was slumped in the car, with the lates Black Sun fanzine from GW, which had a fantastic promo review of the imminent release (I still have it - odd for me, admittedly). A few weeks later, I was spending afternoons during the final exams in the 5th form, laid on my bed, with milk, chocolate digestives and Marillion's 'Fugazi' playing, reading the Ringworld RPG.

For me, a priceless memory...

Yesterday afternoon, I got a chance to relive the Ringworld thing again, when I actually managed to get a sealed copy of the game, for well below market average, and only £30 more (including shipping from the U.S) than I had saved on the 15mm Cold War purchases, earlier in the day:

 

We played this a bit at SWS, amongst the junior cadre, and I still remember fondly, when Mark Bamford's Kzinti warrior, became agitated with Darren Ashmore's somewhat sensitive, vegetarian human character, who, had crashed on the Ringworld with his hamster (yes, it was in the rules) in tow.

The Kzin, took the hamster and dropped it casually, into the the food brick processor on Darren's character's flycycle, taking the resulting protein brick and force feeding it to said owner.

Now, Darren is a vegetarian in real life and back then was very sensitive about such things - the cruel tales I could tell you about brown sauce bottles and ham sandwiches at his parent's house - and so it took him very little to roleplay his reraction to the Kzin.

Ah... Great days!

And so, after a weekend during which, I had to 'pay off' one of the painters of my assorted personal projects and change my plans (no, I'm not going into the nitty gritty and it was a hard decision) meaning a surplus building in my gaming fund, I have been able to turn a negative into three positives, all of which connect with that 'Golden Age' for me and fill me with excitement.

It's not often you get a 'Dream Day' but when you do, you'll agree, it makes the hobby a wonderful place to be.

TTFN