I decided to start a blog. Although I used to code web pages and sites back in the late 90’s, all this blogging stuff is new to me so go easy as I learn it all.

About me

I’m getting on a bit. By that I mean I’m old enough to have bought the Warhammer Fantasy Battle box set back in 1984. Back then my brother and our pals used to have games on an old 6′ snooker table – well, it had green felt 🙂

Nowadays, I work too much. I do 50-60 hours a week for work. I have a wife and a young lad. They take up most of my time. So, when I get chance to do some painting, I don’t take too long on each figure. I work out a nice quick way of doing them. And (shock horror) I sometimes use “dip” – although I paint it on.

Overall though, the figures look decent to my aging eyes when seen at gaming board distance – although the camera gets a little too close for photoing and they sometimes don’t look too good at that view.

I haven’t had a proper full size game of Warhammer or 40K in years now, but Mantic’s Deadzone has piqued my interest. Although some of the models are rather cheap and take some cleaning up and gluing together, they’re coming across as intersting and the range is expanding nicely.
I’ve also been playing Mantic’s Kings of War which has given a new lease of life to all the old fantasy figures I own which haven’t really been touched for years. I backed the Kings of War 2nd Kickstarter. The game is just brilliant now that it’s in it’s 3rd edition. It reminds me why I loved Fantasy back in the late 90’s with Warhammer.

Since Summer 2015 I’ve also been having a look at Bolt Action – A World War 2 figure game (still 28mm scale) which has the game size that 40K used to be a decade and a half ago. It’s also so nice to be able to buy a single cheap box of troops and it contains enough to make 3-5 full game units. Now I’ve got to learn how to paint much more historically accurate figures rather than my own made-up Sci-fi or Fantasy paint schemes. I’ve also added the rules for Iron Cross to the WW2 mix to try out – and thoroughly enjoyed so far. Using GF9’s Tanks models and a few Flames of War infantry has allowed us to have much bigger games of Iron Cross at a vastly cheaper price, not to mention, my lad has enjoyed playing Tanks.

Gates of Antares is another game I’d highly recommend. It’s basically Sci-fi Bolt Action but is far more fun that Warhammer 40k. The models are fantastic as well.

If you’re looking for other miniature game suggestions, I’d also point you in the direction of Frostgrave. A cross between a tabletop skirmish game and a game of D&D. Another set of rules that I really think is great is Dracula’s America. It can be used as a plain old Wild West skirmish game, or you can add in undead and other gribblies. Well worth it.

I’ve also enjoyed Maelstrom’s Edge from Spiral Arm Studios. For me, it’s a cross between Warhammer 40K with rules and suppression closer to Bolt Action. The figures also look fantastic and are all made on hard plastic sprues (and some newer figures in beautifully made resin). Even if you don’t play the game itself, the figures are fantastic for all sorts of Sci-Fi games.

If you want to avoid painting, then try out X-Wing. The game is great. My young lad loves playing it. A simple star field mat underneat the figures and the game looks fantastic. However, as it’s from FFG, there seems to be a glut of cards for it, which makes it overwhelming. My son and I stick to low card count games, and some of the good fun scenarios included with the larger ships.

Games Workshop have produced a new game called Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire. The models for it are great, as are the rules. Take a look at their site to get an idea of the game. So far, we’ve played a few games and really enjoyed it. Great to see nu-GW making some good choices. Edit: This has seemingly become a card chasing game in what amounts to limited edition releases. I lost interest.

I was sad to see last year that my favourite hobby shop in Ashby (Scunthorpe) RA Models, closed down. Nothing else in the locality provides anything similar, so it’s online buying only now.

I’ve started to dabble with Star Wars Legion and Dropzone Commander. I really didn’t want to get into any new games, but I’m going to give them a go. I’ve painted a few Star Wars figures so far, but not any complete units. Dropzone Commander is interesting as it’s the smallest scale I’ve tried to paint at 10mm. For my old eyes and shaky hands, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.

And if you’re wondering about the strange title, “Gimgamgoo” was a character name I had for a long time on World of Warcraft – it’s a name I use on a load of forums too. He may also be roaming the Guild Wars 2 MMO with some of his Hawkwinter namesakes as well.

Enjoy the journey.