Some End Of Year Musings

 Well, I have six days of my month-long breal left, and it's been over three weeks since I posted on the blog, primarily because I just couldn't be bothered due to Christmas gigs, plays such as an excellent production of A Christmas Carol at the Crucible Theatre and a full calendar of restaurant bookings which continues today.

Several of those bookings were cancelled and alternative bookings made because, having paid deposits and submitted menu choices, they were changed at the last minute.

Look, if you are going to insist I order my meal 3 months ahead of time, and take money from me, then I expect you as a restaurant owner to keep to your part of the bargain. Fail to do that and whilst you will get my deposit, you will lose the rest of my money, my goodwill and as an added bonus I will name you and take my business elsewhere.

This year's losers have been The Devonshire Arms at Baslow, for the reasons above, and the Cavendish Restaurant at Chatsworth, because, franlky, this season's menu is just uninspiring. £500 has been distributed to two other locations which we've mulled over but never actually visisted yet. Both came up trumps and we are repeating the bookings this week before returning to work.

For casual but good dining, The Hide which, has just been added to the Chatsworth stable - formerly the Highwayman hotel is excelent, as is The George Hotel at Hathersage where the crayfish and haddock arancini were stunning, the porchetta with its pork ragu stuffing divine and the Winter Pavlova so addictive that the UN should take steps to control it.

 What about wargames I hear you cry?

Well yes, but even I tire of toy soldiers sometimes.

Oh go on then... 

I have been busy planning more armies whilst trying to avoid going into my studio. However there was a literal elephant in the room, in the shape of 3 vintage Grenadier Miniatures, Barbarian War Mammoths I bought from Noble Knight in the U.S to go with my large Copplestone Barbarian army, the final piece in the puzzle that has been 'Project Weird Shit' or for those who enjoy non-historical gaming my Sword & Sorcery collection.The PWS epithet was a fdriendly nose thumb at my associate, the esteemed 'Yarkshire Wargamer', Ken Reilly who has a 'No Weird Shit' policy.

I set out to prove that Weird Shit done properly can be great and free from the corporate fuckery of the modern fantasy gaming scene.

I used the odd hour or two, ten hours in total, to build and paint the three mammoths to a pleasing standard which is redolent of how we painted stuff 40 years or so ago... And it was nice just to be able to paint without any expectations. 

Thje crew are in the package of 350 Copplestone Barbarians which are off to my figure painter after the Christmas break.

The 27th saw the annual Christmas game here at the Dark Tower, which was a 5 player session due to a late minute health issue which prevented 3 friend, one of whom was a player, from attending.

The game was a fantasy clash between old school Chaos and High Elves, both of which have been completed this year. It was a hard fought game with 600 models going at it to take and hold 3 stone circles, with some nasty use of the 'Create Bog' spell dividing the battlefield and making one end of the table a 'closed universe'

As usual, we used the home brew rules I've been working on for 3 years and it looks as if they are getting to the point where they can be properly laid out and made commercially available.

We had a great game and I knocked up what I thought was a pretty good Texas style chilli for lunch. 

 

Now, my table is a large one. Not the largest, but it can accommodate 8 players. I reckon there were only 600 pieces on the table and the table was full enough and with enough units of troops for all, with a few spare.

This got me thinking about the size of future projects. It's all well and good, saying 'Go big or go home', and this is something I do believe in, but there has to be a point where acquisition is simply a prestige scenario, where the models you own just sit on shelves as a bragging tool.

I realised that 200 units of 28mm 30YW - around 6000 models, was ludicrous. I had fallen into the very trap I outlined above.

And so, going forward, my armies will be capped at 500 pieces, meaning that in a 'two sided' period, there would be a cap of 1000 pieces.

1000 is a limit of course, not a target.

My plans at present are all 28mm and the list is as follows:

 

Samurai 946 pieces

Late Roman 404 pieces

Pictish  464 pieces

Barons War 984 pieces

Normans 344 pieces

Saxons 402 pieces

Sassanid 316 pieces, and 6 elephants 

 I'm also mulling over Early Imperial Romans & Celts 

 No, scratch the 'mulling'. In the 24 hours since I typed that, I have decided to get the Romans & Celts ordered and be damned.  That adds around 990 pieced to those totals.

I have a small shop to do for suitable buildings. I have been mulling over a section of Hadrian's Wall with attached Mile Fort. After all, it can be used for other things too. 

Speaking og Hadrian, have you ever noticed in passing, that Hadrian looked a bit like Pete Townsend?

 

Yesterday, we trekked over for a New Year's Eve 'mooch' to Brierlow Bar Books just outside Buxton for a browse and a rather good lunch. In my case it was blue cheese and roasted pepper on wholemeal, with a tomato, basil and cayenne pepper soup - all home made of course, with a pot of Englsh Breakfast tea, followed by a slice of apricot and cashew cake, accompanied by a large cappuccino. The Memsahib partook of a gorgeous egg and cress mayo 'doorstep' with seed and grain topped side salad and a pot of Earl Grey. Total bill, just over £32.

We were abed by 11PM last night having watched a bit of non-NYE TV and so I awoke refreshed this morning, celebrating the start of another gaming year with yet another pair of boots (Ariat, because they are great)...

 ... and throwing cautiuon to the wind and be damned, I bought a vcopy of the Hail Caesar 2nd ed rules and a few books on the armies and opponents of Imperial Rome, this kicking off 2026 in a positive manner, despite the fact that we fully intend to not go to many shows - if any this year - as they are just a waste of time and effort. The shows are starting to feel a bit clicque' these days. Same faces, same exhibitors and the same old, same old traders. And the memsahib is also a little concerned that I may speak my mind  (to put it politely) to a few relative 'arrivistes' who pissed me off during 2025. She is probably right of course (she usually is) and I don't want to set her back in her recovery from the heart attack in the Summer...

So, as I have a lunch over at Rileys at Cawthorne booked for today (my styling will be 'Hygge-Casual') I better sign off and finish my army shopping.

 

Happy New Year and TTFN....