Well, it was off to Recon in Pudsey yesterday for the annual Christmas wind down day at a show we both enjoy. However, the show seemed to have less footfall, which seems to have come about since the even was taken over, and indeed the general feel of the show was subdued. Here are a few thoughts from a show veteran who was involved with Sheffield Triples in it's Imperial Period and who ran the bring and buy at that show for over 20 years as an independent service provider.   1. The mix of traders is piss poor with way too many MDF and 3D printing businesses.  2. Resellers are a fact of life these days, but when will a show organiser (particularly if they themselves are resellers) show some backbone and not just let in everyon who is selling the same corporate shite?  3. Holding a painting competition is a pointless waste of time when it's a single table on a landing, with two entries.  4. Anyone who remembers Recon in the 80s and 90s will remember how well laid...

 Well, I am finally beginning my first holiday in a year, and by the gods, I need it. a whole month of doing what I please when I please and replenishing the batteries. My Summer month off was cancelled when on the 3rd day of our break, the Memsahib suffered a heart attack. So, simply pottering around, dining out and going to various concerts, recitals and theatrical productions with the woman who's my been best friend and fiercest critic for over 36 years is something I am going to savour.  Tomorrow sees the annual pleasure trip that is Recon in that notorious West Riding fleshpot, Pudsey, at the Civic Hall, a lovely venue which has held a Recon show (or two) every year since the 80s, and it's always been a show I've loved. It was a much 'meatier' show, back in the day, but it's free to get in and has a bring and buy, so it ticks all the boxes.  Moreover, they hall is always festively trimmed which gets the old festive juices flowing and has me feeling reason...

 The latest master castings for the first of a truly massive Old School inspired range have been spotted over at the Satanic Panic Miniatures Facebook page. The first releases are some classic Champions of Misrule and a Warrior regiment, the first of their long awaited Regiments of Repute line.    All the minis have cast on head variants with appropriate additional sculpting for a 'proper' fir. The shields are loose, so you can have an army which has every miniature a unique model with the minimum of fuss.  

 I've been looking around the games room in the last week or so, and wondering if I could make more use of 280 square feet of usable floor space. I'm starting to tire of where the hobby is going now. All of this 'we have to like everyone (no you don't, you're human), 3D printed stuff that is often brittle and soulless and the dominance of what was a cottage industry with real passion by companies with an eye on income over product quality or longevity. So, with my painter paid for painting almost 4000 figures, I've called a halt to work because I'm really not feeling a love for my lifelong hobby at present. My friend had suggested we fight every battle of the ECW, but after I invested heavily (I never go into something half-heartedly) I realised that for all our overtures, we haven't played a game in 3 years now, and in all reality, probably never will because, well, I don't really now, but we won't. This saddens me to a degree I can't articu...