Well, the last few days have been an eye-opener... It's been a loooooong time since I undertook a large project for myself in any scale, and as you know, if you follow my gaming life, for the last 6 years I've sent everything to a painter, since Lockdown meant I amassed a stash of money through the lack of shows. 2026, has resulted in attending just one show, with absolutely zero desire to go to any others for the time being, the idea of those moon-faced, wholesome idealists we seem to be plagued with these days along with over priced tickets - no the organisers do NOT bring people in, it's the xhibitors who don't get any financial recompense, and the traderts who pay for the pleasure of having sometimes sweaty and unhygienic souls pawing their wares before reaching into the coin purse to nbuy one figure, expecting the trader to act as if they are being showered (see the irony?) with largesse comparable to a trip to Harrods by a Saudi prince. Yesterday, I received an u...

 Now, for someone who's been on the bleeding edge of the hobby for so long, and a lifelong creature of the swamp that is the convention scene, I discovered the Sheffield Triples, sort of by accident. As previously related, I'd got my feet in so many gaming doors in a short time, that I began to feel like a baseball booted centipede.  It was a surprisingly muggy Spring Saturday morning when Alan and I stepped from the 278 bus in Sheffield city centre and walked along the road below the Royal Victoria Station Hotel towards the Castle Market and and the gallery where, at Hopkinson's toys, we would find our weekly fix of gaming goodness.  It was as we walked the last few yards at ground level that we bumped into 'Snitch', Sean and Craig our younger friends from the Monday night club run by Steve Roberts at Limpsfield School. We asked them what brought them into town so early, as there were not known as early risers which often played havoc with our weekend and holiday g...