#RPGaDay2022 - Day 3 - When Were You First Introduced to RPGs ?

So, my first role-playing game I ever played?    As with all vague and annoying people, I shall give THREE answers!

My first experience with the GM-Player dynamic with role-playing was Model Club at Easton Area Middle School.  After a lull of putting together a Warhammer (the mech, not the GW line), I got to talking with my friend Charles and he offered to show me what it was using Battle Road.

Battle Road was an "Adventure Gamebook" which meant it was a Choose-Your-Own Adventure format book, but some decisions were left to driving and gunnery checks, which required a die roll. About as a basic a concept that could be done (and tons of requisite flavor text), but I was slowly hooked.

The first "real" RPG I played was June of 1989.  We had just finished 9th grade at the "Intermediate School" and finally got to go to the high school the following September.  My friend George had an end of school cookout of some sort and the game was Paranoia.

Charles ran the game with George, Scott, and myself the players.  Details are sketchy, but I remember being a Commie but somehow I only burned two clones!  LE-R-OY became LE-O-OY a session or two later.

And the third game would be Red Box D&D. Not including details or a timeline, because that fits better to discuss Day 10 next week.

(Kickstarter) Car Wars 6th Edition Double Drum Arena Playmat on Indiegogo

 With the latest edition of Car Wars, Steve Jackson Games upped the scale of the game, to better capture the "fun" that the Hot Wheels/Matchbook viable rulesets take advantage.  Increased costs is one negative, but one of the positives is projects like the Double Drum Arena Playmat, now on Indiegogo.

The original Double Drum made its debut in the Car Wars: Arena Book, and was only 32" x 21".    For the versatility that track will provide, the $70 pledge is a bargain (the $100 MSRP is borderline, but I'm also incredibly cheap.)

Still Faster Game Time Than Car Wars

 

Insta/Twitter: @tabletopinquirer  

Car Wars Unboxing

As much as I love the concept of Kickstarter, very rarely do I take the "all in" approach.  I rarely have the time, the money, or the space to handle such grandiose pledge levels.

Except for the Pocket Box Games of the 80's that Steve Jackson Games launched.

The options and pledges escalated well, and I bit the bullet and got the $200 Car Wars level.

Here's what came to my door earlier this month:

Breaking all this down, I have a beautiful feeling that I'm completely overwhelmed in Car Wars.

Bundle #1

• Car Wars
• Truck Stop
• Convoy
• Car Wars Expansion Set 1
• Car Wars Expansion Set 2
• GURPS Autoduel
• Car Wars Arena Book
• 1 Empty Pocket Box.

Bundle #2:

• Crash City
• Car Wars Expansion Set 3
• Car Wars Expansion Set 4
• Uncle Al's 2036
• The Best of ADQ V1
• GURPS - Zombietown U.S.A.
• 1 Empty Pocket Box

Bundle #3:

• Car Wars Expansion Set 6
• Car Wars Expansion Set 8
• AADA Vehicle Guide
• Uncle Al's 2038
• Autoduel Champions
• 2 Car Wars Pocket Folders
• 2 Empty Pocket Boxes

 Bundle #4:

• Car Wars Expansion Set 5
• Car Wars Expansion Set 7
• BOAT WARS!!!!
• Uncle Al's 2035
• Uncle Al's 2039
• Car War Pocket Folder 
• 1 Empty Pocket Box

Of course, I miscalculated/misread the campaign and forgot that the Car Wars pledge level included Illuminati Expansion Sets 1-3, so silly me ordered an extra of 1 and 2!

In addition to all this, I also received my two extra pocket boxes in a separate shipment from Texas.  Perhaps I should have ordered more.... At least I took care of storage by pledging the Bag of Bags Kickstarter.

The cost of the Car Wars book on Steve Jackson Warehouse 23 costs around $100... and that's for PDF!   Throw in all the Pocket Box games and this truly is a bargain. 

Now I just need one blizzard this winter to get the time to go over everything... mwhahaha!

(Kickstarter) Car Wars 6th Edition by Steve Jackson Games

The biggest news out of a Black Friday of sales and specials is, of course, the Kickstarter for Car Wars 6th Edition.

The scale bounces up from the tiny chits we know and love to 1/64 scale (25mm-ish 1/72 is 20mm)

A Black Friday-only pledge level include a very special Uncle Al's Upgrade pack with more cards.  That becomes a $15 add-on after the 29th. 

I may have pledged for the Black Friday Four-Player game (Maja is a big fan of the card game) but I'm still not sold on the "oversized" scale, Gaslands be damned.  

(Kickstarter) Pocket Box Games of the 80's by Steve Jackson Games

Steve Jackson Games has unleashed a wave of nostalgia over 80's gamers:  a Kickstarter to reproduce many of their Pocket Games from the 80's

At $20 a pop (with a little discount if you order four or more... S&H still to be added during the BackerKit), you can get your hands on the following games:

1. Illuminati
2. OGRE
3. G.E.V.
4. Battlesuit
5. Car Wars
6. Truck Stop
7. Crash City

Stretch Goals will allow for Undead and Necromancer to be added to the selections, as well as  custom eye-in-the pyramid dice to be included in each box.

Add-Ons will allow for even more copies of games, empty boxes, and PRINT copies of the AADA Vehicle Guide, Convoy, and the original Uncle Al's catalog. 

Nostalgia is hitting me pretty hard on this one.  The tax return can not come fast enough.

Mandatory Holiday Swag Post 2015

The It's a funny thing, as I reference last year's post with a similar name.  Just as much chaos as last year, just as much celebrating, just as much automatically waking up earlier each day (on a four day weekend to boot!), but in the end,  this year's festivities just seemed to work so much better.

A little bit more rest for the wicked this year, it seems.

This year, my wife was a bit more proactive with me getting her a wish list that didn't have hundreds of items on it that she and the local FLGS owner could decipher and put in an order two weeks before Christmas, only to have it show up via UPS at 3:30pm Christmas Eve.

This time, I cobbled together a quick personal Amazon wishlist of nine things that intrigued me.   She made her order through Amazon, and her selections arrived in three shipments, all within the the first week of December.

So let's start off with the oddball stuff...  My sister and brother in law thought best to go back to my thrash metal days with a brand a coffee sold by the drummer from Anthrax:

A Slayer ornament to remember the reason for the season:

...and a Cthulhu Coffe Mug.

My wife's cousin and I exchanged similar gifts.  He got me Cardcassonne and he got Tsuro.

Upon opening up my gifts from my wife, I discovered she didn't just get me four or five items from my wishlist.  She ordered the whole damn thing.

Next time I'm putting twenty on the list.

Dungeon Roll.  Maja likes to play it when we visit friends, and the lastest printing made the chits twice as big.

Cthulhu Invictus and the Cthulhu Invictus Companion. I'm a huge fan of Golden Goblin Press and jumped onto their De Horrore Cosmico Kickstarter without even owning the books.  I've now remedied that situation.

I haven't played Car Wars the Card Game since after my Senior Prom in 1992, and I decided against tacking it on my Car Wars Arenas pledge.  This too has been remedied.

Out of all the Ospreys on my main wishlist, I picked this one for some early research for a very longterm project.  I'm much more into the New Guinea side than Gallipoli, but entire book is very nice.

I've also bit the Frostgrave bug with my next gift.   A mage centric version of Mordheim, where everything could be expanded or improved upon, but you know what? Nothing necessarily needs to be changed to make the game a playable and fun experience.  

Before Frostgrave, there were the AARs of  Song of Blades and Heroes and it's offspring from Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog.  

Which leads the surprise winner of the haul, Osprey's Of Gods and Men, another whim item.   As I'm looking for a ruleset to use with the Frost Giants and Viking Mouslings from the Bones III Kickstarter.  I like the basic mechanics and the three levels troop types (Gods, Legends, and Mortals).

Since Andrea Sfiligoi wrote this and Song of Heroes, I expect some similarities in style when I get to reading that.

Finally, I got a Reaper Bones 'Telephone Box' to complement the pile of Dr Who stuff my six year old got from friends, family, and Santa.

The biggest gift I got was from my in laws:  A complete beer homebrewing set.  All the boxes are on a pallet beside my painting bench.  I guess it's a sign from God that I need to stay in the basement all winter long!

A four day weekend, a pile of food left over after two fourteen person feasts at the house on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, my wife loves all her gifts, three viewings of Star Wars (once with the girls), and the household animals are behaving?   Close to the best Christmas I've had since I was a kid.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Car Wars Arenas Arrive!!

After dealing with a school open house with enough parkng for a quarter of the parents, and the discovery of the source of the newest plumbing leak (the stainless steel washer hook-ups aint so stainless anymore), I took a few second to apply some paint to the palm tree jungle and herd of spiders on my workbench. 

I waited until today to open up my package I received in the mail yesterday.  Hoo-ray for Car Wars!


With my snazzy new Car Wars patch and Munchkin paraphenalia

Seven map sheets, all double sided, stats on all the arenas provided, a Car Wars patch, and a few promotional cards. 

Knowing my wife and kids, they will appreciate the bubble wrap it was packed in far better.

That's a lot of snazzy double-sided maps!

Steve Jackson has pulled off every Kickstarter backer's dream, a product that's arrived a month early! 

To continue my good fortune, my copy of Star Patrol: Carrier Commander should be in the possession of the USPS today and arriving at my house, possibly before Thanksgiving!  I could say that communication from the designer could be considered overbearing, but given the tiny margins for error for a $3 game (postage included), that's far preferred.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, another disappointing update by RAFM for the CoC 7th Edition minis.  While I had gathered from the last update that they would direct all attention to shipping out product, the entire last week has amounted to organizing product.  Items might be shipped after Thanksgiving.    I've been completely patient with the campaign, but I don't think I'll be seeking out any RAFM prodcut after this scheduled disaster.

Rest of the Year Planning.. and BEYOND!

After my Viscount Eric Day of Gaming 2 was a resounding success (to me), I began wondering just what I should try and accomplish until my personal gaming year ends in September.  After discovering that the next Mepacon will have a Star Wars theme, I'm wondering what I can do in the kid track.

Let's recap my gaming missions from last October:

1. Car Wars:  Came soooo close to playing on the game day.  Food trucks still on my mind.  Would have to make a game day with a singular purpose.
2. Gnome Wars:  This has been a bloody disaster.  Between the real lives of the gnomies messing up the HMGS cons, and the girls liking skirmish or even D&D style than moving mountains of lead, we haven't progressed at all with any of the campaigns, and I haven't begun touching up the figs.
3. Cthulhu:  After some winter hibernation we've made some headway.  Four updates to the campaign log is huge compared to our normal progress.
4. Samoa:  Dead in the water.  
5. Home:  Ditto
6. My Girls:  Zombie Dice, Uno, a Frozen version of Candyland, plus anything else Daddy brings out, they've been game.  Painting has been great as well.
7. Magic: Played a few games, jumped into a pre-release. Bought some old cards cheaply.  Outside of better organization, I'm good with that for now.
8. Gnomish Space Marines:  Still working on it.  No ETA for playtests, 

About par for the course, so with only a few months left, let's reassign the priorities.

1. Car Wars:  I pledged for the Kickstarter, we need to have a Car Wars game, or two, or three in an air conditioned space.  Time to have Steve host a day!
2. Gnome Wars:  Touch up the current minis and continue writing my gnomish history for the blog.  People seem to like it!
3. Call of Cthulhu:  Continue advancing with Masks.  Barring an expeditious retreat from Egypt next session, enough sessions to get to Kenya.   
4. Gnomish Space Marines:  Continue writing.
5. Battletech:  I jumped back with both feet, let's enjoy the swim.
6. My Girls:  More painting, and I think I found a skirmish campaign to start up after vacation, although the Father's Day game is always Daddy's choice.
7. Mepacon Fall:  Yes, it's past my September deadline, but if I'm to fully participate in the Kids Track, it's perfect time to figure out (a) what to run, if it fits the Star Wars theme, and assemble it, if need be and (b) see if we can do a "how to painting session with some donated figures (Brigade perhaps. Gnomes are perfect size for kids painting.

(Kickstarter) Car Wars Arenas Extras Continue to Swell

When I first mentioned the Car Wars Arenas Kickstarter I mentioned how I appreciated the simple, bare-bones approach to the project, as compared to the crazy-awesome bloat of the Ogre Designer's Edition.

I think I spoke too soon, and although I have some trepidation, it may be a good thing.

I have it on good tin-foil-based authority that Steve Jackson is personally adding a series of bonuses to convince me to upgrade my pledge for just Car Wars Arenas ($20 + 6 S&H) to a $40 or even higher level.  And it's almost working. 

Let's review the civilian (non-retail) options over the Duellist tier:

$40 - Elite Duellist:  two copies of Car Wars Arenas
$40 - Ace:  one copy of Car Wars Arenas and one copy of Car Wars Classic

This is were the getting gets good.  With this pledge level you get the product PLUS
* Uncle Al's Catalog from Hell pdf for free!
* The first four issues of Autoduel Quarterly (vol 1) in pdf for free!  Additional stretch goals have been set up to release further volumes (4 issues each.. it was quarterly you know) in pdf for free.
Both pledges have an additional S&H charge of $10.

The newest pledge level has my attention, and the only thing that has kept me from upgrading instantaneously has been the 10-day road trip to Disney World with the kids the week immediately after the Kickstarter finishes.    That there is beer/grillin' money for our house rental, and a possible admission fees for the Biggest Ball of Wax in North Carolina.

$65 - Pro Duelist: one copy of Car Wars Arenas, one copy of Car Wars Classic, all the stretch goals mentioned above, and one copy of Car Wars: The Freakin' Card Game!  ($10 S&H).   I haven't played Car Wars the Card Game since after my Senior prom, 1992.   Playing another nostalgia card on top of the already existing one.  Well played, Steve.   And remember, all Car Wars products on Warehouse 23 on sale for the rest of April, and those sales are being added to the campaign funds to calculate reaching stretch goals.

I have visions of my wife finishing Christmas shopping for me early this year with this campaign, but unless I celebrate Ultra-Orthodox Coptic Christmas in July, I know it would never arrive on time.  This ain't my first Kickstarter.

More Car Wars Arenas Goodness... and a Sale!

While I will vocally poo-poo Steve Jackson Games decision to charge separately for domestic shipping, the remainder of the Car Wars Arenas Kickstarter has been going swimmingly.    Not only was the goal reached with twenty days left in the campaign, but SJG has thrown a few bones at the Car Wars fans.

#1 - All Car Wars stuff at Warehouse 23 is 25% off for the rest of April!  Yes, almost everything there is in digital format (save the Car Wars T-Shirt) and they removed the Car Wars Classic boxed set from the web site, but when the pdfs vary between $2.24 and $5.99 and that includes some of the old boxed sets, it's a steal!

#2 - All sales from Car Wars stuff at Warehouse will be added to the total KS pledge for calculating stretch goals.  Promote their e-commerce site and help reach the goals for double sided maps faster?  Very fnord, SJG.  Very fnord

Uncle Al's Catalog from Hell Added to Kickstarter

While I didn't expect much fanfare with the Car Wars Arena Kickstarter, this was an unexpected and surprising announcement.

All pledges of $40 or more will get a pdf copy of the Uncle Albert's Catalog from Hell.  The mother of all Uncle Al catalogs has not been available until now!

 

They also tweaked the $40 pledge levels so that you can get the Car Wars Classic & Arenas boxed set OR two box sets of Arenas.  Not too shabby.

(Kickstarter) Car Wars Classic Arenas is LIVE!

Steve Jackson Games has officially launched their Kickstarter campaign for Car Wars Classic Arenas!

 

Twenty bucks (plus S&H) nets you five 22"x34" one-side maps covering areas from the old Arena Book and L'Outrance that have never been printed to proper scale before!

 

Forty bucks (plus S&H) nets you the Arenas PLUS a copy of Car Wars Classic.  Most of the higher pledge levels are for retailers.

 

 

As I post this, they've already accumulated $15,000 out of the $50,000 initial goal in just a few short hours, so the stretch goals should be easy to obtain.  They've learned from the glorious monstrosity that was OGRE and set simple stretch goals that are still exciting, if DOUBLE SIDED MAPS excites you.  There's also a goal for an Arenas 2 Kickstarter only release that includes two more maps (four if a further goal is met for Double Sided.  If they reach $180,000 backers could received the 10 arenas from the boxed set,  8 more maps from Arenas 2, extra counters for debris and such, and some custom dice.   

 

I already have Classic Car Wars, so I'm sitting at the $20 pledge level.   May go up as things progress to it's completion on April 29th.

(Kickstarter) Car Wars Arenas

As we carefully balance between the dread of winter and the dampness of early Spring, an infernal stomach bug hit the house again.  I finally got hit with a huge dose of it, but as I was laying on the bed, hoping the stale giner ale stayed where it was meant to, I discovered this on Twitter.

http://www.sjgames.com/car-wars/games/arenas/

A Kickstarter campaign for five maps that have never been printed in full scale?  Only twenty bucks?  No stretch goals to work on the OGRE/GURPS Goblins Designer Pogs game?  More than a two week campaign?  I'm  assuming as such, but that's awesome!

RPGaDay #10 Favorite Tie-in Novel/Game Fiction

Game fiction.  The bane for those were perfectly happy running a campaign using the base information, only to have some author's ego upset the balance of power for future supplements

I never got into the Dragonlance books, Forgotten Realms was a joke and let's not get into the "official" fiction lines for games such as Vampire.  The only fiction line I regret not reading is the Battletech line, and only if I had played more of not only the game, but the Mechwarrior RPG. 

Even as a Talislanta fan, the Tales of Talislanta fiction collection published by WotC was nothing more than an afternoon of amusement.

Which leaves me with only one choice, very similar to Day 1 of this:

Car Wars: Battle Road by Steve Jackson

 

I have a tough enough time reading books I want to read on the subjects I know I love, much less someone else's fiction based on a campaign world that I already have a specific world-view.  At least a sourcebook on the matter is a bit more matter-of-fact, even if I don't like the direction the book goes.

RPGaDay #1: First RPG Played

So, my first role-playing game I ever played?    As with all vague and annoying people, I shall give two answers.

My first experience with the GM-Player dynamic with role-playing was Model Club at Easton Area Middle School.  After a lull of putting together a Warhammer (the mech, not the GW line), I got to talking with my friend Charles and he offered to show me what it was using Battle Road.

 Battle Road was an "Adventure Gamebook" which meant it was a Choose-Your-Own Adventure format book, but some decisions were left to driving and gunnery checks, which required a die roll. About as a basic a concept that could be done (and tons of requisite flavor text), but I was slowly hooked.

The first "real" RPG I played was June of 1989.  We had just finished 9th grade at the "Intermediate School" and finally got to go to the high school the following September.  My friend George had an end of school cookout of some sort and the game was Paranoia.

Charles ran the game with George, Scott, and myself the players.  Details are sketchy, but I remember being a Commie but somehow I only burned two clones!  LE-R-OY became LE-O-OY a session or two later.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

I admit I like to cryptically blame or complain about work for my gaming woes.  When you work for an insurance companies Medicare division, the old folk's Annual Enrollment Period is certainly, as the kids put it, cray-cray.    Adding three more interim employees in my section to manage and a few more job duties simply creates more fun.

Unlike the rest of the world, my insanity actually ends in December.  Although I'm still on permanent overtime, my workload shifts from crisis management to clean-up and hopefully ramp-up for next year my mid-January.   So outside of a foray into the bowels of Target for Christmas shopping, I can start planning out gaming days.

Off the top of my head, I've got the following

• Mepacon Spring 2015 - Yes, it's way far out, but I anticipate after a big announcement post Thanksgiving, I'll be proposing something new for the con, something my may make me take up the the sacred title of con staff/volunteer again.  More to come as things get clearer.
• Cold Wars 2015 - Still going with the guys for my weekend away, but thinking about going as a civilian.   More to come on that as well...
• SATLOF - Our groups annual Saturday After Thanksgiving Leftover Feast, a day a gluttony, alcohol, and games.  I've got a few options to volunteer (I'm so not a fan of Redneck Life and I've been far worse with my write-your-own cards in Apples to Apples than anything Cards Against Humanity can do.)
• Gnome Wars - When I was talking with my friend Brian at Mepacon, he was interested to come up and game at Emerald Vale, so we may make commandeer a table for some Gnome Wars.  We have a lot of catching up to do with Tanga and Western Front Great Wars games.
• Call of Cthulhu - January?  I'm hoping for some nice weather and a mother-in-law who loves her grandkids to pull this off, but Masks must advance.  I also have to catch up on the Actual Plays so comments like, "I wonder if anyone will like Nichols' new investigator" make much more sense.
• Car Wars - Hopefully, my basic set is sitting in the office at Emerald Vale, so I might begin to ponder the Great GenCon Food Truck Rally.  I know I have six players at the mere mention of it. The questions of where, when, and who will back the board might need to be answered.
• Magic - Booster drafts on Friday nights might be more workable than Sunday, depending on how the kids behave.
• The Kids! - Zombie Dice, Jungle Hunts, and Astro-Surfian Gnome Action are in their forecast.  I've got two weeks of vacation piled up and a winter full of snow days to use them. 

My Gaming Plans for 2015

I've got a house, two girls with piles of activities, and increasing job duties at work.  What can I actually shoot for in 2015?

Car Wars:  Very little has gotten me excited about gaming like the prospect of designing a Car Wars game based on the Food Trucks around GenCon.  Can't wait for the reprint of the basic game!  I am looking at hall rentals to make this a Steve Jackson-esque con, akin to my birthday one.

Gnomish Catch Up:  The painting assault of 2014 needs to continue into 2015.  Without any major project to work on, I'll be skipping around in the current queue for a bit, but a good portion of the year should be the restoration of damaged Gnome Wars figures and some detail on my half finished Germans that have lingered like that for years.  I also plan on a Krig Rumet that supports mini wargaming, so I can my Oesster Surfian Campaign, a Rommel Great War Campaign, and finally finishing up Tanga.

Call of Cthulhu:  We had huge gap between sessions, but interest in our Masks campaign is at an all time high (it is the only game in town for many).  Do I dare tempt fate and say that I would like to play in, or run if need be, a game of Invictus?

Samoa: The Next Step: The great thing about painting up all the Samoans is that I can pop them of the shelf and have a skirmish any time I want to.  Village raids were commonplace, so a few huts and that's all I need.  Of course, I could work on the Siege of Apia, or I can delve into the what if category with a few more German troops and some very surprise Great War New Zealanders.

Home:  Despite some drawbacks with 5th Edition D&D, it has given me some ideas to adjust for my "Home" campaign.

Magic:  Possibly, some day, maybe, I'll play a game of this again.  Till then I'll peruse the books at the FLGS and pick up a few nostalgic cards before I feel nostalgic a decade from now and they turn from pricey to prohibitive.

My Girls: Both girls will be attending both Mepacons this year, so I guess my events will evolve from all-ages to kid centric.  Plastic tanks and giant princesses shall rule the day, and I once I find a nice pre-D&D rules-lite system I may do some two-hour time slots.

Conventions:  Beside Mepacons, I am only shooting for Cold Wars this year and I might be a paying attendee.  I don't feel inspired to run anything this time and I only have a month and a half to think of it.   It might be nice to simply be a player and have a little more freedom

Late Edition to the Master Plan:  The Gnomish Space Marines.  My latest ebay purchase of random sci fi figs did rekindle some attention for my gneric sci fi game.  I'll still need a few cheap auctions on eBay, or bite the bullet and order some scrunts from Bob Olley, but after everyone dies enough time during Masks, some light hearted fun may be in order.

GenCon Recap

No, no, no... I didn't leave my family in a lurch and go to GenCon over the weekend.  As I've said before, it's just too big for my sensibilities.  If Gnome Wars would ever do, say, Kickstarter, and someone was providing badges, rooms, and transportation, I would be an idiot not to go, but it's not on my gaming bucket list.

There are a few GenCon related things that took my interest.

The once highly anticipated turned "Is it ever coming out?" Robotech Tactics was supposed to arrive with a few units at GenCon, while the slaves, er, employess at Palladium slogged through shipping all the Kickstarter orders.  Alas, the container shipping over from China was pegged for a US customs inspection, destroying any hope of that occuring. Of course the mere idea that product is on US soil  might be confused with a Sasquatch sighting at this point.

I spent a good ammount of time just following the twitter feed of friends, associates, and semi-famous people who attended the con.  LOTS of 5th Edition D&D, in hour, two hour, and four hour timeslot.  Lots of comments on how FUN everything was, and little in the way of mechanics, except for the comment, "This is what my group expected 4e to be."

I also had friend shoot me this picture, with the caption, "Thought of Gaming with the Gnomies."

Super Dungeon Explore

Not much in the avenue of future announcements.  Steve Jackson Games announced THREE different versions of Munchkin. While Munchkin Gloom elicited a 'oooh' for its reverse Munchkin idea, the big one to make me go "Homminahomminahommina" was Munchkin: Kobolds Ate My Baby.   What evil blackmail does John Kovalic have on SJG that he'll stay employed forever?

The biggest announcement for me didn't even happen to someone who was at the con! Bob Olley announced a new Kickstarter and gave a tempting picture of a Victorian Steampunk Prussian solider.  The concept artwork for the non-steampunk Prussian soldiers  made me do a little dance.

Although it orginates from the UK, it makes me wish we had pursued Lon at Brigade Games to launch his own KS for Gnome Wars to expand the line.

(Edit: The Kickstarter went live late this morning:  link  The 8-figure Steampunk unit are about $52 with S&H to America.  The 15-figure regular Prussian unit runs about $95.  Brigade is waaaayy cheaper, but they're beautiful sculpts.)

My biggest highlight of the con happened a week prior, when Steve Jackson Games posted a fairly innocuous tweet.

Of course, I misread this as one of the events SJG was sponsporing was a Food Truck game.

SJG +Trucks = Car Wars

Squeeeeeee!

Now, I realized the error of my ways, but I  have now a new mission in life.  In celebration of Car Wars Classic becoming available, I will begin building a Car Wars scale map of the Indianapolis Downtown around the convention center, and run an entire game of Food Truck Wars.

Large vehicles, massive weaponry, explosive propane tanks on board, what's not there to love?

As I posted this through social media, I had five instant players, so this is going to become my new project. Of course, once we find the scale map we're using, we'll need to find a location for this shin-ding, maybe.. some assistance from the SJ MiBs to run other games, and we have the makings of ViscountCon II.  More to come, hopefully.