A weekend away

I have just got back after a long weekend visiting my parents in my hometown, which, combined with a busy period at work and all the usual Christmas functions, means not a lot has happened on the gaming front over the last week or so.

However in addition to seeing friends and family, and maybe drinking a touch too much, there were some hobby related activities.

Mum and dad wanted me to go through a couple of old boxes I had left with them to check whether I still wanted what was in them. I uncovered a treasure trove of old gaming goodies including old gaming books, Magic: The Gathering cards, RPG character sheets, and character sketches. Most things got sealed back up ready for another day when we're passing through with the car, though I couldn't resist bringing a couple of things home.

PEW PEW PEW

This includes some classic White Dwarf magazines from way back when I first started with the second edition of Warhammer 40,000. Looking through these is great fun and reminds me about how of a real hobby magazine this was  before it became just glorified advertising in later years (though I should note that I understand it is returning to more of hobby magazine in its most recent incarnation.)

I repeatedly pored through these magazines like religious tracts back in the day, and, looking through them again, I'm struck by how much of the miniature design of this era influences my tastes even today.

I also had to include this classic Games Workshop action shot.

Look at that table...

I also managed to squeeze in a visit to "my" gaming store, the wonderful Mark One Comics and Games.

Mark One was an important part of my teenage years. The kindly owner Chris was incredibly patient as my friends and I spent hours hanging out in the store, thumbing through role playing books, picking up miniatures or looking through gaming cards. He would also generously sponsor local gaming events and tolerate us generally cluttering up the place.

To this day I always make a special point of visiting when I am in town and spending some money as a bit of a payback. Not that this is hard, because Chris runs an excellent gaming store, with a great mail order service. In my mind, it still represents the high-water mark of what a gaming store should be.

Finally I had these waiting for me when I got back home, with only a little bit of water damage from their book depository journey.

EXPLOSIONS!

I have been looking forward to giving Team Yankee a crack, and although it is unlikely I'll get close to reading through them this side of Christmas, these will definitely be something to get into over the break.

However first up is finishing the Yellow Sign Radlanz gang. I've been making a little more progress on them, but hopefully I can get them knocked off this weekend.