Following yesterday's announcement regarding the cancer-causing effects of cured meats, North Korea has unveiled to the world it's latest fiendish weapon of mass destruction, believed to be tailored for use against the West. Officially known as the  슈퍼 큰 죽음 소시지 로켓 or syupeo keun jug-eum sosiji lokes, NATO has designated it SKJSL-15. Western sources have informed us that NATO is to work with a major German sauerkraut manufacturer to develop high altitude detonation kim-chi based weapons to act as a deterrent, but full roll out is unlikely before 2017. In the meantime, NATO has advised all civilian defence agencies to stock up on mustard and ketchup and prepare for the wurst . TTFN

Thos of you who are fans of Pop Art may be pleased to know that an exhibition of the works of Peter Phillips will be held at '99 Mary St' here in Sheffield from Friday October 30th. Peter Phillips is contemporaneous with Blake, Lichtenstein and Warhol, and this is a rare chance to both view and buy his work. I will be attending the private viewing later this week, and will report back shortly thereafter. TTFN

I was laid there in bed, unable to sleep because of the damned arm problem I have and it struck me that we are a hypocritical group, we wargamers... In the real world, nobody wants war, because let's face it, people get hurt and you have a right old time trying to get brick dust and the blood of your family out of 2mm static grass. And then, on the other hand, we celebrate wars and battles that happened sometimes a millennium ago. What's that all about? Face it, celebrating death and destruction is tantamount to a crime against humanity. At an occult level it is a ritualistic act, inciting chaos upon the world. It also suggests a collective mental illness. Think about it... TTFN

18 months ago, I spoke out against my then local club. At the time I was on the committee and frankly was getting stuff done. Communications were fast and bridges were being built into the community as a small band of club members, actively tried to engage with new potential members and attendees of the show that club puts on. We were featured in the press and on the radio, and what's more we also sought to bring back some of those whom, it seemed had become disenfranchised. We even got a few junior members and it was frankly looking good. And then I opened my mouth and maybe, somewhat without guile aired a few points which were frankly pissing me off, in a private social media group consisting of other gamers of long acquaintance as well as a couple considered to be 'worth keeping an eye on'. Sure enough, the shit hit the fan and the rest is history. I vacated my position and there was some rather toxic rhetoric bandied about including a rea

The arm and shoulder problems are still not diagnosed. There is still a possibility that I have brachial neuritis - which is rare - but having been called in to see my G.P yesterday with the promise of a 'shoulder injection' I instead left with the promise of an MRI scan of my neck and brachia as well as a prescription for neuro-inhibitors (I believe that is the term) which whilst they nock me for six, did actually let me get 5 or 6 hours reasonable down time last night. Better than nothing, I guess... After the swathe of work I  have got through in the last month (I have my decks cleared right through until 16th November, now) I am going to award myself an additional week of vacation, once I get the workflow for December prepared in a few minutes. Anyone who thinks being a full time figure painter is a doddle, should think again. It's hard graft - if not, you're not doing it properly. I managed to get a couple of hours this morning on my OO gauge railway, and the

I am not the happiest of bunnies at the current time. I have an unidentified issue with my right arm and shoulder, causing three distinct types of pain, crepitus and the sense that I have electric shocks, numbness and cramp to boot. Despite wasting a week seeing 2 registrars, 1 consultant and ER doctor, as well as two physiotherapists,  nobody can tell me what it is. When I tell you that on a scale of 1-10 the pain is 11, and negating my arthritic pain, you may appreciate why my posts have been somewhat sparse of late. But, when all is said and done, I still have to work as self employment is a jealous master and leaves no room for being ill. And so, after a pre-dawn start, I have today completed some pretty darned fine units comprising 15mm Italian Wars and Muscovites as well as some bloody amazing 10mm Copplestone Dwarves and GW Trolls. So without further ado, here's the eye candy... In other news, I a

This will be a brief post as I am not up to scratch at the moment. It's been a looooong wee this week, but I have been able to finish the painting of 50 early 16th Century Gendarmes for one of my regular clients. The models are mostly Essex, and are shown here with the high gloss lacquer that I give to all of my work before matting down with Winsor & Newton prof artists varnish. They should be based later this week, ready to ship to Canada when I get back from my 3 week sabbatical in mid November, along with some rather nice Italian pikemen and Swiss mounted crossbowmen. http://www.conflictincolour.com TTFN

Saturday was a change for me. Normally, when my wife makes her bi-weekly visit to Mum, I get a few like-minded souls around and we play some board games and shoot the breeze about whatever we think deserving of our scrutiny and/or ridicule. But, as this week saw me take my Anti-TNF, Methotrexate AND have my flu shot, together with having had what seems to be a trapped nerve in my shoulder for 4 weeks, I was not feeling that sociable. More importantly, my concentration was not what it should be and it would be rude and indeed unfair to potentially spoil a day's gaming for my friends. Thus, I had decided to just mooch around the tower and doze in a chair, perhaps with a book and one or more terriers, as befits a man of middle years. However on Saturday morning, the mini-flu was all but gone and I was restless. I decided to ask my beloved to drop me four streets away at my own parents home and try to scrounge up some breakfast and leave some more dishes for my Dad, thus h

It's been a long time since I posted to this blog. I've been busy with orders for my clients, working double shifts to let me have 17 days off in November. Whilst all of my clients are happy for me to have a holiday, I don't see why they should suffer from a lack of my talents whilst I do so. And of course, with recent news, I've been been really soul searching about what I want from my hobbies, what is relevant to me with regards to my hobbies and what is a waste of my time. Wargaming is becoming for me, something of an irrelevance. I spend all my days painting for others, and as I have mentioned in previous posts, the last thing I really want to do is spend my weekends painting some more. The club scene for me is fucked... I know, I know... There are other clubs in the area, but in what appears to be wargames Stockholm syndrome, I'm never going to settle elsewhere. I confess that whilst I have not played any part in my old club for well over a yea