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...

  Now, where was I? Ah, yes... Well, to continue where I so rudely left off:  The following week Alan and I went back to Beatties. Lo and behold, the role-playing section had been moved to the front of the shop and was displayed in the open on shelves, instead of the glass display case. We were somewhat dismayed to see that the games also shared their hallowed ground with a demonstration model of the Atari 2600 game console running a continuous loop of the ‘Pitfall’ game. Of course computer games like this were never going to catch on, were they?    Unfortunately on this day we had managed to miss our usual bus after school and, had tarried a while longer than was wise at Hopkinsons’. Consequently, by the time that we reached our newest temple of all things fantastic, we were pushing our luck for getting home on time. In the same way that Scotland always fails to get to a World Cup final, fickle fate was to lay  us  low t...

  In early 1981 Alan, my then best mate, and I were allowed to start going by bus into Sheffield city centre on our own at weekends and during the summer months after school on the provision that were all home and at the tea table for 5:30PM sharp.   School finished at 3:30PM and so we would make a manic dash of about quarter of a mile to the bus stop to catch a 3:40PM bus into the city. As may be expected, given his athletic prowess Harvey managed to leave Alan and I in the dust, often managing to grab a Mars bar, chat up a passing girl or two and still get to the stop before us.   We had to be back at the return stop for 5:00PM to be certain of getting home by the appointed time, no mean feat at rush hour I can tell you. In those days a bus ride anywhere in Sheffield cost 2p if you were under the age of sixteen.    On average we were given £1.00 per day as dinner money. We quickly worked out that if we ate as many bowls of cereal and slices of toa...