Although I'd got my first whiff of the hobby via the Heritage mini games based loosely on D&D and the D&D itself, it was literally a month or so before I was finding out about historical gaming, which, despite what my other posts may convey, is always going to be every bit as important to me. For me, the two, nay three, if we give sci-fi it's own niche in the evolutionary ladder go hand in tentacles. I sometimes get typecast by folks as being a fantasy gamer who dabbles in historical, or the reverse. But the the truth is that I am a trans-genre, an oddity of my time I suppose, when gamers were in individual camps, sometimes quite vehemently and venemously so. I remember the first time I took the late Tony 'Spike' Atkin to Sheffield Wargames Society and he obviously and visibly had a good time, so much so that he was heard to quip that 'Wargamers aren't the wankers I always thought they were - well not quite as big wankers'. He did have a point I sup...

  It's been a weekend spent pottering around the manse, punctuated by a Saturday night watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show, with original cast Q&A session and a 'shadow cast' performance in the manner of the 19th century Tableaux tradition. And, despite a mere 6 hours sleep, here's the first 15mm sci-fi force finished. I set out to do these for my own 'taste', not going for the level of finish I provide in my 'day job'. But, the end result has been quite nice, and very much in keeping with my desire to rediscover my own 80s aesthetic. The Hov-Cav are all GZG, apart from the Independent Power Armour (AKA The Light Ale Infantry) which are Brigade Models. Each vehicle is shown with it's crew. I'm certainly enjoyiong the creative process (at a personal level - like I said, I keep job and hobby compartmentalised) and have so much more to go at with the sci-fi bug.  I'm already working on the second force...      

In 1984, I first really got an interest in wargaming the Renaissance. Some older friends in the 5 clubs I gamed with every week, were ECW re-enactors, By The Sword Divided had been on TV for a while, and I had fallen under the Mephistophelean, the Machiavellian, grasp of Lloyd Powell, whom I looked up to as one of several role models, who collectively shaped me into the misanthropic and opinionated ne'er-do-well I am today. But more importantly, Lloyd really got me interested in the Italian Wars and Wars Of Religion, and even today, over 4 decades later, when I need to check something about that wide period, I will still pick up the phone and call him at his repose in the Tower Of Doom overlooking the Rivelin Valley, from where he plans the reintroduction of the Feudal system and the arming of certain government agents with the longbow and shoot to kill instructions. But, I digress, as always... I love the colour and pageantry of the period and I have developed a acute aesthetic se...

\ \  25mm vintage ECW collection for sale.   £2500 and can deliver to Partizan. Will consider part and full exchange for 15 or 25/28mm AWI, Ancients, ACW,  Renaissance, Samurai.   This is arguably, the definitive vintage ECW collection. The figures all have modern paintwork, very much in the style of Peter Gilder et al, as befits a collection of this type. 358 cavalry (716 piece equivalents) 1162 infantry (1162 piece equivalents) 11 artillery pieces (22 piece equivalents due to size of models) 4 baggage wagons (32 piece equivalents due to size of models)