New shops, new toys

The family decamped to Wirral this Easter to stay with my Mum for a couple of days.  This gave me to chance to visit a couple of new shops in Merseyside.  Both were very much fantasy-focussed so I didn't spend as much as if they'd been selling historical models but I did make a couple of buys:

The Scythe and Teacup is a gamer cafe just outside the city centre of Liverpool.  Tucked away behind an anonymous doorway on a backstreet, it's part greasy spoon cafe, part shop, part games club.  There was an interesting range of Euro games and card games, some miniatures (the usual Malifaux and Dystopian Wars stuff plus some more unusual figures) and a tiny amount of Ral Partha resin terrain.  I was tempted by the latter as I'm always on the look-out for items to use in Song of Blades and Heroes or Pulp Alley games but on this occasion nothing caught my eye that I didn't already own.

I did pick up a Ral Partha scorpion-man though.  He joins the lead-pile and and will eventually see action in Gloranthan SOBH games.

On Saturday afternoon I combined a trip to the local tip with some garden waste with a visit to the Miniaturium in Wallasey.   This is an interesting little shop, only open for a few hours on a Saturday, that sells Malifaux, Bushido and Dystopian Legions miniatures whist doubling as a workshop and outlet for the owner's large scale sculptures.  Sadly none of those games are my style - I prefer my wargaming a bit less dystopian - but I did pick up a couple of chained coffins from Malifaux manufacturer Wyrd Games.  They do nicely as scenery or plot points in SOBH or Pulp Alley.