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Showing posts from September, 2016

Damn You, Games Workshop!

Alright, I know I was the first paying member of the public in Games Workshop, Sheffield, back when all was sun, fun and Thatcher, but over the years I drifted away, because - and let's be candid here - they became like the embarrassing uncle at the family party. They, knew the music, but the dance was all wrong... No, let's be honest again, they started producing some shite. I was never really comfortable with Warhammer 40,000 (it wasn't '40K' back then) and the later, even darker background felt like a tight collar at a Summer funeral. I id however love the Imperial Army, Harlequins and the Genestealer Cults. The Genestealer Cults had a certain fascination, in that here were parasitic aliens, interbreeding with humans, and the human and hybrid offspring showing the same love and affection to these bug eyed monsters as they might a kindly human grandfather. Ok, I guess you'd have to think twice about the Werthers candies in the case of the bug eyed monste

Clerics For Warhammer 1st Edition

Clerics in WHFB 1st Ed Clerics are essentially the militant priests of whatever benign or malignant god they serve. Clerics Must always select WS as their primary skill and always have a BS  Clerics may wear any armour, use shields but may not used weapons with a bladed edge or stabbing point in combat. As Clerics draw their power direct from their deity, they do not expend energy to cast spells. They do however, need to test for fumbled spells. Failure has no other effect than the spell failing, primarily because their patron god is not watching them at the time, or is chasing a comely nymph whilst sipping draught ambrosia. Clerics may use a mix of standard and necromantic spells. The spells available to Clerics are as follows: Level 1 Blessing Cure Light Injury Bless Sword Magic Light Hold Undead Level 2 Aura Of Steadfastness Cure Severe Wound Banish Undead (Necromantic) Level 3 Banish Undead (Magic User) Walk On Water Level 4 Restore Life In addition, Clerics may petition their god

Thieves In Warhammer 1st Edition

I've been looking at the use of first edition Warhammer Fantasy BAttle for dungeon skirmishing. The rules are basically sound, but you only have the choice of Fighters or MAgic Users. With this in mind I've begun to work on additional classes to give variety and a more traditional feel to games. First up, I offer you the Thief class. You will see that I've split the skills into two groups. This is because a player has to choose whether they are primarily melee or ranged combat specialists, with one being higher. This also allows two distinct styles of thief class to be catered for. Thieves for WHFB 1st ed Thieves use WS to ‘roll to hit’ for successful use of the following thief skills: Fade into background Backstab Dodge Climb sheer surface BS is used for the following skills: Pick locks Disarm or arm trap Secure grapnel Locate trap Fade into background:  The thief blends in with the surroundings and may make a single move without

Anybody Looking For 28mm Marlburian?

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If anyone is interested I have a large, 28mm Spanish WSS army, using Ebor Miniatures... £320.00 which is a heck of a saving... Would consider trades for 'Grenadier Gold Line' AD&D miniature sets from the 80s. 12 x Infantry regiments (18 figs) 2 x Guard infantry regiments (18 each) 3 x Dragoon Regiments (12 horses and 12 riders each) 5 x Horse regiments (as above) 1 x Garde Du Corps regiment (as above) 2 x Guns each with 4 crew 12 12 Send me a message if interested (1) Spanish Garde Du Corps Cavalry  £23.00 each

Surrounded By Good Things, But The Lurgy Has Me In It's Foul Grip

As I type, I am in the 49th hour of a severe dose of the lurgy which has laid me low with all the symptoms of flu' and, left me feeling like the inside of a Kobold's loincloth at the end of a 12 day forced march whilst under pursuit by the local Ranger's. I feel like shit... Two days in a row, I've promised myself I'd take the rest of the week off, and recuperate, but as I have only lost 3 working days to illness since 2011, it's not something I can do easily. Thus, I've slogged on when really I should have stayed tucked up in bed . And to cap it all off, I just had the great idea of using my coffee machine to get some hot water fast, for my Beecham's Powder, only I forgot to take the previous coffee pod out first, and I am now drinking a remedy which tastes and looks like a urine sample from a Kenco coffee taster who spent last night lashed up on  bottles of 'Hooch'. Actually, it's not too bad, so if anyone reading this is a coffee t

Cocaine Is A Cheaper Habit - Really

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Well, after my splurge on 21 sets of Dwarven Forge scenery last week, my kid brother and I messed about with 3 sets yesterday, and we were really impressed with the look of it...  The layout below was  about 3 square feet in area: Anyway, I am really impressed with it and you really can't tell between the older resin stuff and new 'Dwarvenite' stuff. We also played with the LED lit parts too, and they brought forth 'OOOOOHHHs' and 'SQUEEEEEs' aplenty. Anyway, this lunchtime, another 4 sets arrived and I'm planning on another 4 this week. Then I think another 6-9 will finish things nicely. I can confirm for the record that in comparison, cocaine is cheaper and less addictive by an order of magnitude.

At The Edge...

I am an unashamed lover of all things 80s as is probably, exceedingly, obvious by now. After my recent epistle on the wonders of the toy and game stores we had in Sheffield, I was reflecting on what else I was being opened up to at the time I really got a handle on the whole gaming thing. I think it was late ’79 to early ’81 where I started to musically awaken as well as exponentially broaden my mind with the possibilities of fantasy and science fiction beyond the Saturday morning TV cavalcade and the seeming mountain of sci-fi and action comics that I partook of every week. I think it really all began with Adam & The Ants… OK, they looked pretty camp on reflection and with 35+ years of hindsight, but look, they were different and they had a sound which was different to most. There is a case, of course for drawing comparisons with  Bow Wow Wow, but given that both bands were Malcolm McLaren proteges, that’s hardly surprising. One thing which has stoo

AAAARRRGGHH!

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As the following picture shows, the Dark Tower is currently buried under 33.3KG of Dwarven Forge dungeon scenery... And plans are in hand for another 20KG shortly. Will the madness never end?

Sheffield - Designed By The Bastard Offspring of Le Corbusier and Armitage Shanks. An 80s Gamer's Paradise

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Sheffield in 1981 may have looked like the demented sketches of the bastard offspring of Le Corbusier and Armitage Shanks, but it  had a number of outstanding toy and model shops. Sadly, all except one no longer trading and the remaining one is, I am sad to report a shadow of it’s former self.  Even local the suburban shopping area of Firth Park half a mile from where I lived, boasted no less than two toy shops, both stacked to the rafters with plastic distraction. I haunted these like a lost soul, my long suffering Dad and ever patient Nan and Grandma (when she was back here from her bohemian 'Good Life' existence in Penwortham on the wrong side of the Pennines) indulging my whim. I loved both my grandmother's. They were both kind, but where my Nan had a sharply defined manner, defined by her strong Methodist background, my Grandma Hides, had a more indulgent and attentive way, made her own wine and was a hedgerow forager of no mean skill. In short she was alm

Like A Crack Whore, I am Addicted, And It's All the Fault of E.T...

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Any gamer of a particular vintage and for whom, fantasy gaming has an enduring appeal, should be able to pinpoint the most famous appearance of D&D in popular culture - namely the opening scenes of the 1982 film 'E.T' and even more memorably in the novel of the same name by William Kotzwinkle. In these portrayals, the kids appear to have a really sexy looking 3D representation of the the dungeon, which was way, way beyond anything on the market at the time. In fact, when a new kid started at our school, some months after, and, seeking to impress us hardened 14 year old gaming veterans with his own 'cred', announced that he had just such a dungeon model, we made it clear in no uncertain terms that he was 'talking bollocks'. We may have been the bullied and put upon minority in the wider world of comprehensive education, but, by golly we were the High, the Lords Of Taste, and in this case Board Of Execution in all matters relating to gaming. In fact we w

Some Factual Reading On The Subject Of Fantasy

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I devour audio books (and print books when I am not working) at a ludicrous rate. This week alone I have listened to 3 unabridged titles including 'The Hoffa Wars' which covers the rise and demise of the leader of the Teamster's Union, 'The North' by Paul Morley and most fulfilling of the lot 'Empire Of Imagination' by Michael Witwer. Witwer has produced a warts and all biography of the life and times of E. Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, and arguably the most famous gaming personality to date. Starting with the early years wherein Gary was living inn Chicago, the tale progresses through his teenage years (explaining why he had a chauffeur in later years) and his obsession with games, to his marriage at 19 and thence to the creation of TSR and beyond with all the visceral back stabbing, 'Satanic Panic' and corporate and Machiavellianism which, marked the mid to late 80s  gaming industry and led to the inevitable deat

Fresh From The Art Department...

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As she had nothing better to to, 'The Art Department' has finished the first of the packaging mock-ups for the S.NA.F.U line of static grass. Next is the weighing and making up of the first 1000+ bags.

Let Me Introduce You...

Somewhere towards the end of 1983 I was gaming two nights per week at the Rune Lords and SWS clubs. In addition, I was also hanging out with a group of lads who had all gravitated towards SWS from different directions but who were all of the same age and tastes. Keith was a cheeky-looking youth of good temper, great wit and eclectic musical taste. One day he’d be listening to Jean Michel Jarre, the next Motorhead. A week later and he would be discussing in expansive terms the poetry of Maxwell Langdown when put to music by Midge Ure. He would play any type of game just so long as it was fun. To this day he still owes me a tenner, but that’s another story. Greg was well spoken, bookish and on track for university, a good job and all that goes with it. He was a fantasy and science fiction fan. He had dark hair, parted to one side. Had he but grown a toothbrush moustache, he could have found fame in a production of ‘The Growing Pains of Adolf Hitler Age 15’. He had