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  4. Man can't live on bricks and mortar alone, desperately need conversation.

Man can't live on bricks and mortar alone, desperately need conversation.

  • GM

    My  birthday was followed by having the workmen arrive to fit a new back door and ramp. It had been scheduled for sometime and we were wondering if it was ever going to be done.  However, whilst it was being done and finished, I have been absent from the forum for quite a while. Although probably only 3 or 4 days, plus the birthday 2, I suddenly realised just how much I need this forum.

    It's not just the modelling, looking at all the great painted figures and models, it's the conversations that we have on this forum. Friendships are being formed in a way that I've not encountered before and I find myself wanting to know what Bill, John, JTam, Grumpy and everybody else who will fill the page if I list them all, have been writing and discussing. I want to know how Laurigami, I think I have murdered the spelling, is getting on with all the modelling and painting of the models and buildings.

    I finally managed to stop having to look after our 3 pets whilst the workmen were here, the dogs were magnificent but the little black ninja would have sneaked out to the front garden given half a chance. It seems as if we had appointments galore and , if I found time to come on the forum , it was just for an occasional click of 'like'. It now looks as if the Maybury family can finally settle in our lovely little 'nut hutch', and normal service can once again be resumed.

    One thing I can definateley say is that I have truly missed you all and am pleased to be back. Lots of love, Geoff.

  • JTam

    Hi Brother, 

    Good to have you back!

    What is a "Nut Hutch"?

  • William Redford

    @JTam a speedo?

  • William Redford

    @Geoff Maybury have to admit, I worried a bit. :) Though I did the same for @JTam when he was on vacation a while back. 

    I got a promotion at work so am training in my new role, while finishing out work in my old position. So its kind of exhausting. But on the brightside, I am still working from home and now work 7-3. 

    This past weekend, I moved my son to his new apartment at University of Maryland. Then on Sunday the Indonesian Embassy had a festival for the 77th anniversary of Indonesian Independence. There was a celebrity there (Krisdayanti) and vood and other entertainment. They have it every year, but the last 2 were cancelled due to covid. It was fun, but super crowded this year, and the cost of all teh food almost doubled. My favorite (Gado Gado) was $8... 2 years ago but was $13 this year. We spent $160 on food and didnt really get a whole lot. 

    Other than tht no real updates here in Maryland. :)

  • VS

    @Geoff Maybury family, beach, pool and barbacue, recharging in preparation for the next school year. No workmen around here, so instead of painting miniatures, I was doing roof maintenance and wall painting. 
    Now, you are allowed to laugh, I am a tall big guy, so while I was on top of the roof, my elderly neighbourgs brought some chairs and drinks into their garden to see the impending disaster.
    Waiting for a paint order from Green Stuff World, to finish my halfling army (when you get excited and order 120 halflings from WA, you need a lot of paint).
    Next, the Conquistadors (only 44, anxious for the Cavalry).
    Comicly,I paint a lot more when I am not on vacation.

  • GM

    @Vitor Soares Isn`t that the most truthfull thing that seems to hapen in our lives. I did far more before retireing, than now. Eileen jokes we should never have retired we might have got more done. Summer of 2020, I reskined the shed roof, and built a steel shed, the neighbours  were watching from bedroom windows for me to do the same.  I don`t think we are suposed to climb ladders after a certain age. Look forward to seeing your painted armys, all I managed this last few days, were some flash line cleaning, and arm conversion milliput jobs, on my Rubbicon Vietnam Marines. I`m so keen on starting to paint these, 45 well posed figures to do, then the "Kong".

    Finding time is the only problem, I want to have some social time on here, and model  how some of you guys manage God Knows, all the best Geoff. 

  • VS

    @Geoff Maybury I am a long time from retiring, at least 25 yeras more. I am lucky because I very rarely bring work home, except during test correction periods, and my wife needs her eight hours sleep, so I have saturday and sunday mornings all to myself. 
    The hobby balances out work\life stress, and on vacation, we probably do not need it so much.
    Also, I work during the school year in a different island from were I live, so I play a lot of solo games during the school year.

    So, this forum is also a strong connection I have with the hobby.

  • Steven StGeorges

    @Geoff Maybury 

    Retirement is coming ever closer with each passing year, 7 left actually. Working from home since May 2020, I did lose my mancave to turn it into another family room/office and District Social Club where I used to play wargames with friendly neighbours is still closed so I am hosting some games in the meanwhile... The Hobby is quite a part of my life once again, even if most of my miniatures are 40 years old (and even more), professional life is making inroads in mostly everything (I am working from 9am to 10 or even 11pm, even on weekends) but we managed to spend a week in Lisbon and another in Belgium last May and we are going to visit Egypt another time next October. Kids are going to help scratchbuilding new stuff for my RT/OPR setting and maybe to prime minis, but my storage cabinet of shame is becoming quite an issue from wife point-of-view... 

  • VS

    @Steven StGeorges hope you liked your week in Lisbon,  we portuguese always like to receive people here. 

  • GM

    @JTam Well thats a strange one a "Nut Hutch" is were we affectionally live, in our bungalo surrounded by squirrils that we feed and were in 2019 on boxing day I had a silly accident  that turned worse. Rather than let it rule me, I gave it the tipical  dark humour and glass half full nature I have ,and we got on with our hetic, but happy lives In life as I said not long ago to a friend, we have light and dark but it shapes us,  

  • GM

    @JTam That my brother was the real joy of my birthday card that your sent the dogs and the squirrils , we laughed and laughed it was so perfect for me I treasure our friend ship thanks J-Tam.  I don`t do selfies haven`t had a photo of me since 2021 so here if I could shrink it would be my "av" pic. 

  • GM

    Iv`e got a beergut that I hate, thats the only thing thats changed really ,I can`t run, but my march is fast, I still get down on my neighs,to play with the animals and go round the carpets . My weight increase is due to the fact I don`t exorsise the same way, and have yet to get it right. The ramp that the building work is being done for, is so if I do have a day I can`t wear the leg I cn use my wheel chair. Took 2 years to sort it but.  

  • GM

    This is the foundations, the ramp, well thats "STILL" to come, who`ed write this farce, it`s like a "Brian Rix" comedy, or "Some Mothers Do Have Em". Sill life goes on, happilly thank goodness. Don`t anyone feel sad or upset for me, we don`t , life nearly Killed me, and it didn`t, I had 11 months of pain after my fall,  and became pain free from the recovery of my op, 4th  11th  2020. I had my new leg 11th of Jan 2021, and never looked back pain free and walking. By the way J-Tam she was a Military doc, one of the best wasn`t I the lucky one.

  • VS

    @Geoff Maybury I understand your situation,  I had a serious knee injury at 18, I tore my knee ligaments and cracked my kneecap. It ended competitive sports for me and had to do twelve months of physio to walk semi normally again.

    I tried to come back,  but once ypu ligaments go,  it is over really. Even though I was still young,  the hobby really helped me.

    Still played at an amateur level for some years,  but my wise wife put an end to it.

  • JTam

    @Geoff Maybury 

    I'm glad to hear you're pain free and mobile again.  

    Military doc?  Makes sense, they've gotten lots of practice with limb wounds these last two decades.  

    Beautiful garden and beautiful doggo :)

  • GM

    @Vitor Soares @JTam Hi both, yes Victor  I think our hobby at times of pain and stress, is a great leveler, and I`m so pleased you wisely listerned to your wife. Hard as it is to give up our chosen path, there truely is more to life. I`m glad you have too found this to be right.

    J-Tam cheers our kid, yep totally pain free. from recovery. Iv`e been very lucky Iv`e no phantom limb sensation pain, but funnily what I call "Miss you old friend " ,ithes, and scratching feelings in my gone heal and toes. Soon sorted by an imaginary scratch from Eileen and a good laugh. My surgeon was the best, she gave me my life back, and I will be forever in her debt. Of course besides my gorgous wife Eileen,the other best reason to get on my feet, was the "Muckhaters" Tia, Narla,  and Dinky yes they`re our great kids and we love em to bits.

    Well strange enough this afternoon I return to apiece of modeling that was one of my first posts the Therapy Centurion seems most of the Anzaks Beasts carried smoke chargers afterall so later I`m fitting them and blending in the paint work I love the detail on this Rubicon Kit the first done by me in years. Even if not modelling now all the time, the forum as given me, and I hope others, a purpose to enjoy life, where glue and paint, give way to words. Cheers both off to model, catch you latter.

  • GM

    @Steven StGeorges I find that it matters not how old most of your collection is. but how much you love them, and the joy they, and related books give you. In other people at times you get a why do this? aproach only a gammer understands the fun relaseation and pleasure we get from our small figures. I hope that you continue to enjoy the life that our hobby gives us, and who Knows, when you do retire, perhaps a new "Man Cave", if not at least some display cabinets floor or wall. Cheers Geoff

  • Steven StGeorges

    @Vitor Soares 

    Not my first trip there my good friend... but still a pleasure to visit the city and most of her monuments while eating typical portugese pastries, like my favourite Pan de Dius. 

     

  • VS

    @Steven StGeorges Pão de Deus 🙂

    Glad you liked it. Like we say in portuguese, If you are not up for the eating and driking, you are not up for fu##ing. We do like our food and drinks. 😁

  • JTam

    @Geoff Maybury 

    That Centurian is coming along nicely!

  • Steven StGeorges

    @Vitor Soares 

    Oh yes Pão de Deus, I am confusing my native Occitan patois (so Pan de Dius) with another latine languages.. 🙄

    And you are right about the food and drinks:

    like a very tasty piri-piri portuguese roast chicken at the Bom Jardin

    ..or our daily dish steak "à la portugaise".

  • Steven StGeorges

    @Geoff Maybury 

    I am mostly fond of the memories my minis are conveying (for more infos just read my Introduction message in Landing Zone thread)..

    I still do enjoy the Hobby, having good chats with gamers that do share such interests, most of youngsters are totally ignoramus about (excepted for Blanche and Goodwin) and inclined to ridicule past models (but always prone to making a show of them as part of their armies), old-school attitude (airbrush is better than casual brush, buying terrain is better than scratchbuilt terrain.. ad nauseam) or ancient lore/background.. 

    A new ManCave ... who knows. I could buy another garden cabin and move all of my stuff there (but will have to add thermal and weather insulation and connect it to power grid... 

  • VS

    @Steven StGeorges I would just like to had that those are everyday portuguese dishes.

    I am lucky apparently, almost all of the younger people getting into the hobby that I know have a very positive and constructive attitude. And to my surprise, more interested in the historical than the sci-fi or fantasy genre.

    The concept of man cave is very foreign to the Portuguese, I do have an ample space for the hobby, but I happily share it with my wife, and most of my friends, with different hobbies, are the same. 

  • William Redford

    @Steven StGeorges All that looks glorius.. here i was kind of excited about either going to Mcdonalds or making a peanut butter sandwhich after work.

  • Steven StGeorges

    @Vitor Soares 

    I am used to portuguese dishes since I'd grown up in the same district than a large Iberian dispora as a kid in Bordeaux. Portuguese, Spanish and French languages were used on an equal footing back then ... 

    I did attend some "friendly game" last March, most people were 18 and 35 years old with brand new armies (read current GW models). From the very beginning, things went awry: I am a smoker and quite an avid coffee addict while all of them were not... 

    I tried to have friendly chit-chats about the Hobby (in general) and game lore (W40K), every single time most of my interlocutors were unable to understand me since I was making reference to very old and obscure stuff from long forgotten versions of the game. My army was old too (models prior to 2000) when compared to theirs, some had fun telling me how goofy such or such model was when compared to the all-new Primaris... but some asked me if they could buy some.

    I knew a bit about W40K current edition but most of my opponents' armies were following some competitive set-up (read tournament).. and they were only into GW stuff so talking about indie games was almost forbidden so experience was quite less fun and funky then I had expected. 

    When playing with my Ontarian friends, things are totally different since they are as old as I and most do share the same love about the "Fluff" and quite a different way to understand the game (read they do not use competitive army lists); every single time I had a lot of fun playing and hours of interesting chatting -with a smoke, a good cup of coffee and steak'n'kidneys pie.

    So go figure.. most of Oldhammerer in my province did quit the Hobby since they were unable to find out nearby players sharing the same understanding of Wh40k or Battle and ready to try other rules like Stargrave or 5 Parsecs from Home or playing with models from other manufacturers (Infinity, Northstar, etc...).

    Historical wargamers (whatever their age or social setting) are working the same: friendly interesting people with a positive attitude and behaviour. 

    The very concept of Mancave is more or less tied to Northern America. In Europe, we are more inclined to turn our garage/attics into hobbyzone or annexing a small place in the kitchen/livingroom to do the same... for about a couple of years, I am sharing Hobbyroom with wife (she's into scrapbooking, watercolour painting and homemade fashion jewellery), quite a small room but I can live with. 😅

     

  • Steven StGeorges

    @William Redford 

     Love you😆

    Mmm but a plain peanut butter sandwich without jelly? 😬

  • William Redford

    @Steven StGeorges yeah. I know I am strange... I like peanut butter. I like jelly. But I don't like them together. 

    your experience with the younger gamers is part of the reason I don't play at my lgs. I am glad that I have an active game group... so I don't really have to interact with people as much any more. Though the group has been mostly rpgs for the last couple years. But! With a certain pirate Kickstarter releasing some time soonish, thst may change. Especially since I bought enough to give 2 of my friends a ship and crew. Do they won't have to buy anything to get started with me. 

  • GM

    @William RedfordThis afternoon we have a christmas gift to enjoy, a cream tea. really looking forward to it, then we are going to "Kidderminster" to feed Eileen's big baby her, 28 year old horse Duke.  Eileen and her ex bred him way back, now he is retired like us but looked after by his old rider, pictured sitting on him at a show of which they have done many together and been extremely successful.   Once a week we make the trip over to see them and follow up on their health. She is the young woman who bought our cream tea gift. Its nice to get out in to the real country side altough we are not a large village. Duke is in a very picturesque region of the countryside. 

  • William Redford

    @Geoff Maybury he is beautiful. That sounds like a great tradition. 

  • Steven StGeorges

    @William Redford 

    Not all younger gamers, my friend, but strangely most of Quebecers I played with were along the same lines: competitive players, competitive armylists, competitive models, mostly ignorant about past versions of the gamelore and so forth...

    Maybe Montreal Islanders are considering themselves as some high flyers, I don't know. I used to have a lot of historical/not-historical wargamers in my vicinity, but now most of them have moved house save for a handful of them, as said above I am hosting game till the reopening of our Social Club.

    Pandemic just killed my rpg groups (one with wife and other adults and the other with kids and some of their friends), but Heroquest then small wargame games like Stargrave/Frostgrave with wife and kids have kept our minds off things.. 

  • William Redford

    @Steven StGeorges So.. move to Maryland. You can join my group. And we have steamed crabs!

  • Steven StGeorges

    @William Redford 

    Thanks for such a kind offer my friend.... but crabs... 😅

    Sorry I am allergic to fishes, crustaceans, sea salt .... and minor peanut butter intolerance 😅

  • VS

    @Steven StGeorges I am also an Oldhammer exile, I drifted towards historicals when they killed it. I am lucky because in Portugal 40k is not implemented at all, mostly because of the prohibitive prices that are GW model.

    I am no longer a smoker, but coffee drinking, as you know, is one of the pillars of portuguese culture. 😁 So that is not really a problem.

    What I find here is that the age gap is the main issue, the digital generations have trouble finding the rhythm of tabletop games. Rpgs nowadays era helping, but slowly. 

  • GM

    @William RedfordThanks Bill, he`s an, Irish Draft 1/2 Thurabread, 16 hand, whose sire was "The King of Diamonds. Henersy Earl Grey,was his compo name, but to us he`s just, big sh*t. or Duke if he`s behaving.I never new horse life to I met Eileen and I did not Know they could reach 28 and beyond.

    Love the food guys wow, beats our beans on toast.

    @Vitor Soares Covid ruined it here for gaming and Iv`e not had a game or RPG since 2019, to be honest don`t yet see a return which is sad. I like old school, 1st Shadowrun 1/3. next original Twilight 2000, then Primival, UK and Europe then States, Stargate,finally Against the Dead.

    I agree there are a lot of rule and power gamers out there, I go for RPG style, no points, and out  numbered gaming. 

  • William Redford

    @Geoff Maybury The last time I was on a horse... I dont think I actually was capable of remembering stuff. 

     

    Edit: I guess this would have been in Nebraska... I was probably a year or 2? So this would have been around 1977..

  • Grumpy Gnome

    This thread is like comfort food for the soul... 👨🏻‍🍳

    Home of the Grumpy Gnome

    https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/

  • VS

    @Geoff Maybury I like D&D and Pathfinder, and play some 5 leagues from the border and Ironborn, both solo. Here Covid actually helped RPGs, a lot of people started playing a lot more online with friends.

    I have been playing Rangers of Shadow Deep and Frostgrave a lot with some friends and the wife.

    When I am not wargaming, of course 😊

  • Steven StGeorges

    @Geoff Maybury 

    Good old GDW Twilight 2000 rpg... damn' had quite a lot of fun back to the 80s. 🧐

    Do you think mixing T2K with Zombicide could be a good ideam?

  • Steven StGeorges

    @Vitor Soares 

    Oldhammer is still alive and kicking my friend; since it wasn't a really cohesive movement but more like an amalgam of various schools of thought. For instance, some -that I could call the OldUltras- are only playing with vintage minis and games (so WB 1st to 3rd and W40 1st to 2.5/3rd), while others are going to join any agnostic game as long as fun is part of it. Anyway even within Oldhammer ranks, one could find out some über competititve players, using über unbalanced armylists and sourcebooks (like Realms of Chaos for example)... Chaos in general had turned into quite a pain in the bottom in WB 3rd, Chaos Warbands rules were fun -I did act as DM/Storyteller for my club for years- but Chaos armies were totally the opposite (especially when gamers had decided to use their warband as the main nucleus of their current army... things had tended to turn into Monty Hall on the battefield thanks to Chaos rewards).

    Drinking coffee is quite common in latine countries ... like hanging around, usually on a terrace while savouring coffee.. and a smoke. 😁

    Age gap is not really a problem to my humble mind, as long as we are understanding each other thanks to positive and constructive chit-chats. ☕

  • VS

    @Steven StGeorges I am actually in a terrace enjoying a cold beer beforepaonting some more halfling shirts.🍺

    I understand what you are saying, but people here that play 40k are very, very rare, let along older versions. The last time I talked about Warhammer Fantasy Battles, they had to Google it, they thought I was messing with them. 

  • Steven StGeorges

    @Vitor Soares 

    halfing shirts ... not skirts?😉

    I must admit I was only partially aware of the state of the game in most of the peninsula.

    Following the Movida, some -very few but some nevertheless- spanish players were used to attend game conventions in Aquitaine, my native region back to the late 80s/early 90s.

    Fact is the French Gaming Community as a whole was considering Aquitaine like most of Sud-Ouest (South-West) as a Recreational Wasteland regarding historical/non-historical and rpgs -larping was another story thanks to our quite rich historical heritage.

    So outside of Bordeaux and Toulouse, one was facing quite a hill of beans. Having access to physical games and minis was about the same with only one brick'n'mortar shop opened from 1979 to 1988; group purchases were the sole way to enjoy physical stuff that always came from Paris till some clever guy decided to open a south-western chain just 6 years before the Magic landslide. 

  • VS

    @Steven StGeorges unfortunately, shirts. Sleeves to be exact, 120 of them 😊 that is the price to pay for getting enthusiastic and buying three boxes.

    I understand perfectly what you are saying about living in a hobby wilderness. I live in the Azores, live in one island, work in another one. Nearest shop? Lisbon. Nearest quality shop, not completely WH 40k? Galiza, in Spain.

    My group, when we are together, organizes group bulk buys. We used to buy from the UK, but then came Brexit... And I would prefer not to discuss things that might offend people.

    Needless to say, Spanish and German shops got a big boost, Italian post-offices are a nightmare (and this is a Portuguese that lived several years in Spain, Britain and Croatia, so I know burocratic nightmares) and french shops, in my experience, have horrible customer service the moment they see you are portuguese. Polish shops are nice, in my limited experience.

    When I came to live and work here, it was just me. Now we are seven with some on and off five more guys. And a fair number of interested students. 

  • Grumpy Gnome

    If anyone needs some suggestions on decent German online companies to use please feel free to PM me.

    Home of the Grumpy Gnome

    https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/

  • Steven StGeorges

    @Vitor Soares 

    12 people and maybe more interested in, Victor you should float an idea about some gaming club and group purchases... 😁

  • VS

    @Steven StGeorges I already do the group purchases 😂

    A gaming club would, probably, drive some of them away, it sounds too much like an obligation or something you really really have to attend.

    We probably do more games this way, even though I spend most of the time away. Last March they called me while I was correcting papers to clarify a rule. It was one in the morning. 😂

    I am, in fact, lobbying in my school to establish a gaming club. If I succeed, it will probably be the first school gaming club ever, in Portugal. We will see. 

  • GM

    Oh this really is a soulfull joyous thread, it has it all guys,Steven  we mixed a zombie rage senerio into Twilight, Russsion Bio weapon dropped just out of Kurks in the docks by the river got very bloody only time we mixed Russian and Nato forces to break out of the city. Forgot that to now, I wonder if the game notes are still packed with my rule books, 

    Sorry about Brexit Victor, I really see your problems, we to have been affected. To get any item from Europe is stupidly expensive post wise lost a lot of conversion company parts.

    Grumpy me old mate really is like comfort food for the soul brilliant.

    How hard is it to game on line guys? is it something we could achive or ridiculusly expensive and hard.?

  • GM

    @William Redford Eh my mate thats a cracking photo start em young? great to see.

  • VS

    @Geoff Maybury it wouldn't be hard, or expensive, the main problem would be, at least for me, time. I live in a completely different time zone. 😊

    Could be arranged, of course. 

  • William Redford

    @Vitor Soares @Geoff Maybury My group switched to online for about 4 or 5 months when Maryland had the "no gatherings" law in place and you could only leave you house for emergencies or if you were a first responder. I HATED playing on line. You still got the game, but there was none of the usual BSing around with your friends or getting to eat something bad for you because its your one game night out (pizza, burritos, subs, burgers, etc...) 

    I was ready to just quit gaming altogether, and will not go back to online... 

     

    But speaking of food. The last game session we had we made table nachos (though we called it "bar nachos" as it was made on my buddy's bar top. 5 feet of nacho goodness.. My Glucose monitor wasnt thrilled about them, but I was pretty pleased. :)

  • Steven StGeorges

    @Geoff Maybury 

    Quite a nice Zombie/Twilight 2K mix my friend, back to the day a couple of fellows from my old wargaming club came back from London Games Day with the silly (but so brilliant) idea of  adding Zombies to Avalon Hill' Squad Leader (or Advanced SQ)... Twilight 2K was not popular in France, thanks of 1st edition background and fact GDW never had never released a sourcebook for France/Belgium..

    @Vitor Soares 

    So called it a Social Hub instead with free beer and apetizers 😄

    @William Redford 

    We are from the analog age my friend... 

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