In 1983, Sheffield discovered mecha combat... The late Pete Armstrong was a consumate figure painter and model maker, and he had found some new (to the UK) model kits by companies like Bandai and Nitto depicting giant robots piloted by humans - and aliens it would turn out - and, being Pete, had built and painted a few and stuck them in the Games Workshop cabinets and Window, because, like the best of us, he was a showman, who whilst modest, knew he was a fucking figure painting fighter ace. We worshipped him, and I am not in any way ashamed to admit it. So many of those who 'came up' in what was arguably one of the most active gaming communities in the UK, owe a lot to Pete, that cannot be over stated. You bought a figure in GW - you'd seen the model in the cabinet, painted by Pete, first. You painted your Orcs an ochre shade, it was down to Pete. You learned to get that green that was so bright it hurt the eyes - it wasn't available in a pot, you learned it from Pete,...

 And so, we head towards the end of the primer on the toy stores which directly and indirectly led to my entry into gaming, in all it's forms. Leaving Redgates, we head now to the Moorfoot, the location of the current Games Workshop, but we are disregarding the Johnny-Come-Lately because it's not my Games Workshop, neither is it where we are heading. We are instead heading to Marcway Models, a compact two floor model shop where many good things can be found.  Now, Marcway was very much at the extremes of the Hides zone of control, but it had some great stuff. I still preferred Beatties for most of my stuff but it would be Marcways where I would find, in the mid-80s a stash of Macross kits, during... Well, let me jump the Shark a little and tell you what the situation was with regards to Macross kits.   The Macross range of anime themed giant robot kits were new in the mid 80s, and Darren Ashmore (now a tenured Pofessor of Giant Robots and Puppets at ICLA in Japan, no less...