I was chatting with my better and less opinionated half this morning about how one of my clients had been quite guarded when they first came on board. It turned out, that they had previous issues with so-called professional painters in the past and were rightly wary of getting taken around the corner and having their financial (and metaphorical) trousers taken down. This really pisses me off, as someone who paints every day over 46 weeks of the year and who has done so for well over a decade and for 30+ years on an ad-hoc basis before that. As I have covered previously, there was a certain painter whose 'schtick' was the dead relative ruse, which when the same relative dies three times, becomes a bit of an obvious load of bollocks.  I tried to help him out and stopped him getting himself de-bagged, but he then went back to his bad ways and the rest as they say is history. When you do something for a living or purport to be 'professional' you should by instinct, treat y...

 Join Peter Hook for an evening of stories, tales and anecdotes from his days in Joy Division, forming New Order and being a key player in the Manchester music scene.   Hosted by his friend Clint Boon of Inspiral Carpets, the night will be a personal reflection and an opportunity to hear and ask more about 'Hooky' and the punk Rock scene.  Peter has kindly offered to hold this event to raise funds for Sheffield based charity Support Dogs, an organisation providing life-changing assistance dogs for those affected by autism, epilepsy and disability.  www.supportdogs.org.uk Tickets:   In Conversation With Peter Hook

 Well, two boxes arrived yesterday, containing the toys for my 'England Invaded' project, inspired by the Battle Of Dorking and the Facebook articles by the Perrys. I've started off gently:   British 2 regiments of hussars 2 regiments of lancers 1 regiment of yeomanry 4 guns 2 battalions Scots Fusilier Guards 1 battlion Grenadier Guards 12 battalions line infantry Prussians 2 regiments of hussars 2 regiments of cuirassiers 1 regiment uhlans 1 regiment dragoons  4 guns 15 battalions of infantry Down the line I will add a few more units. I'd like to get hold of some of the HLBSC or Northstar Household Cavalry (if you have some....) , and some civilian clothed volunteers for the British, and add some Jager and more dragoons and uhlans for the Prussians. I'm handing it over to a great painter at Partizan, and so I can effectively tick this project off my 'to do' list. I've been busily amassing and beginning to paint over 100 Battletech mechs and a load of ve...

 I have done a lot in the hobby at all levels, but those early days were probably the best, as, along with Alan, we groped around and found out about this still young and formative hobby, with all the wonders it brought. We were a long, long way from drawing together all the threads, probably 6 months at least, but we didn't know that we were literally 'there' at the point where gaming was becoming something, albeit a deliciously underground something, and at the point where Games Workshop, really was just that. We felt like kings, with around 50 figures between us, and a few D6, playing the 4 Heritage mini-games time and time again, often mixing the encounters from one with those from others or (and remember that we had not yet discovered White Dwarf or any mags beyond Military Modelling) using the characters from each, in a similar way. While my family watched the wedding of Charles & Diana, I sat in the dining area in the family caravan (it was a bank holiday) and to...

 

 Satanic Panic Mniatures has just launched it's final Kickstarter for a collection of old school inspired 'face' shields    http://kck.st/42WLX3W

  On this, our first trip into town after school, since that fateful clash with Geoff (Or ‘That Bastard’ as he had become known), Alan wanted a record from Virgin Records, which lay in the shadow of that russet monolith. Sheffield had more than its fair share of interesting architecture back then. Of particular note was ‘The Hole In The Road’ essentially pedestrian underpass that allowed several lethally busy streets to be navigated by the simple expedient of going underneath them. Built in 1967 T’ Hole In T’ Road as it became known locally was a roundabout at the junction of four main roads. The middle of the roundabout had a hole in it like the summit of a volcano, which allowed light to pass into the large pedestrian underpass below.    This underpass contained shops, a large fish tank and even public toilets. It was a great place to skateboard or in my case imagine I was deep in the dungeons of a fell necromancer. I’ll not waffle on about it any further but make...