(Painting) B1-Series Battle Droid Trooper (WotC)

Found this bad boy in a box.  I know I had snagged up a squad of these plastic WotC droids from back in the d20 days of Star Wars, but I thought I did the minor details and a quick wash.  Given the minimal I do to them, if I do find more, I certainly can't complain.

This is also a reminder to myself that, although I'm rushing to finish up a squad for some upcoming Fistful of Lead - Galactic Heroes action, I probably could have just used the rest of these guys first, and added them to the lore of my Death Planet Iota game. 

Another D&D Survey

I swear every couple of weeks, Wizards is either conducting another D&D survey, or Twitter is all up in arms about the results of said survey.

WotC has another survey available here, if you are so inclined. 

I had some grumpy comments about previous surveys, but I'll replace those with a very old-school Wizards logo.

Waterdeep: Dragon Heist Meets Magic: The Gathering.... at Least in Promotion

Since the first Hurloon Minotaur was blocked by a giant Plague Rat, gamers have dreamed of Magic: The Gathering becoming an RPG setting.  Within recent years, Wizards of the Coast have even released more and more elaborate campaign material to run your D&D game in one of the settings of the never-ending sets.  But with the upcoming release of actual published material for Ravnica on the horizon, I argue that as much as Magic is becoming part of D&D, Dungeons and Dragons appears to have embraced the Magic marketing models.

Depsite a multi-system upbringing, one of the most intriguing things was looking up the upcoming releases in the "TSR Previews" section of Dragon Magazine.  Even in 1988, TSR had a prodigious release schedule, chock full of paperback novels and role-playing games for multiple systems.  Just looking at Dragon #137 the September books shipping (aka release at GenCon) included the Greyhawk Adventures hardcover, GAZ5 The Five Shires, FR5 The Savage Frontier, the Forgotten Realms City System boxed set and TWO Top Secret sourcebooks. I now remember where all my lawn mowing and leaf raking money went into the Fall.  Sure, there were multiple iterartions of Buck Rogers and odd board games like Magestones, but TSR was a cornucopia of product, and at least two or three items every month caught my attention, if not my Velcro wallet.

Fast forward thirty years, and Wizards releases what could be considered a trickle of material.  As I look at the monthly releases (which have already been teased on Amazon for six-plus months), I see a handful of $50-60 hardcovers, a smattering of accesories whose prices make this old miser flinch, and a disorganized assortment of third party licences.

But even someone as clueless as me could pick up on the growing hype for the latest release:  Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.

The "mad romp through the streets of Waterdeep" is a hardcover campaign for levels 1-5 and people I know who wouldn't even touch a Forgotten Realms pamphlet, much less something broader like The Tomb of Annihilation seem enthralled by this product.

Tuesday, I was struck with a barrage of social media posts from various FLGS, flouting their recently received shipment.  No, it wasn't Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (that arrives on September 18th), but it was boxes upon boxes of the D&D Icons of the Realms Dragon Heist minis produced by Wizkids.  Coupled with the support product (dice, maps) and the promotions for pdfs of the book and loadable maps on Roll20, I finally came upon the realization.  D&D products aren't just a huge catalog of products and what sells sticks to future production, D&D books are now an event.  I'm amazed at how many people are finishing up old campaigns and clearing schedules to indulge in the full glory of Dragon Heist.

It's actually RPG-version of a Magic pre-release or release weekend, dice and accessories replacing fat packs, promos, and card accessories.  People come from far and wide to immerse themselves into the game at whatever level they're comfortable in, be it the main $50 book, some minis, or the $500 Platinum Edition.    When one measly softcover book for a Pathfinder or Starfinder game sets you back over twenty bucks, this is looking to be a better and better option.

I'm actually quite impressed by entire model, and if it results in good sales for Wizards, it means more events, so be it.

And I'll ponder a new copy of FR5 through RPGnow.  Softcover copy and pdf for $11.99 pre-shipping sounds like a steal.

This Elmore art inspires my gaming more than anything this century #oldfart

Magic: The Gathering - Arena of the Planeswalkers Board Game at Five Below.

Outside of helping Maja write an actual graphic novel using Rory's Story Cubes, it's been very light gaming-wise this weekend. 

With the kids off to an amusement parks Halloween festival with family, my wife and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary a day late, with childless lunch at TGI Fridays and an exciting hockey game between the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins and the Syracuse Crunch. 

Unfortunately, even in our relaxed state, we're so efficient getting out the door and eating that we had 90 minutes to burn before puck drop. 

Working on a rumor I got last week, I suggested the chain Five Below, which, if you don't have girls under 13 in your house, is effectively a store where everything is five dollars or less, and 80% of the merchandise drives young girls into madness.

No need for Shopkins, cute t-shirts, and forty horrible shades of nail polish, but my wife confirmed the rumors by pointing out this before I could find it:

This is Magic: The Gathering Arena of the Planeswalkers board game.    Over two years ago this was solicited through the hobby store channels , and I asked two questions:  How much was it, and how deep was this getting distributed, because the company was listed under Hasbro rather than WotC.

Two years later, it's on clearance at Five Below for five dollars, well under the $30.00+ retail price I've seen on FLGS shelves. 

To be honest, even before reading the rulebook, it's not a bad deal.  Thirty plastic figures (ten of them with a "speed paintjob" from China), some battleboards, some dice akin to BattleMasters, and a shiny black d20 equals an impulse buy that might be useful. 

For five bucks, I'm surprised I only bought one.   Sure, it's toy company quality sculpts that might be a smidge small for 30mm, but I can think of nowhere else where $15 would net you six hellhounds and a vatload elves, phoenixes, and various warlords and beasties. 

I'll even try it out to see if it plays okay...

It's no Kay-Bee Toys deal for Star Wars Figures and D&D modules from the early 90's, but I'll take it.

FYI:  No Five Below in your area, I did find it online at Target for a little over $17.  Still not a bad price....

The Apothecary: WotC's Oldest Item? (Throwback Thursday)

Winter 1992, I was a few scant months short of graduating high school, and with the completion of my 30 page paper on Anton Chekhov for AP English, I was showing up to school for a few quick games of Wrestlerama with my friend Scott during Senior Study Hall, biding the time for track practice to work on my hurdling.

Yes, once upon a time, this fat due was a skinny dude who hurdled.  Won half of my races that year, and got second in all but two.  Not a schlub, and only an occasional mope (There is a difference).

Anyway, it the midst of winter THIS showed up in the mail.

I had signed up for Bard Games Black Savant newsletter and maybe got one stock issue.  This was the biggest news of the year (And Gary Gygax was coming back with Dangerous Journeys that August).  Talislanta and the Atlantis books had a new home by some upstart jackwads who called themselves Wizards of the Coast.  Can West Coast people sound anymore pretentious?

But Talislanta had a new home, and one where the first Cyclopedia was still available!  And a third edition, which in hindsight was the best of the editions.  Just the right amount of everything in the book, even if it didn't work perfectly.

Wizards (definitely NOT WotC) was also releasing their own book, The Primal Order, which, to the layman D&D player, was a crunchier more logical system to creating gods and pantheons compared to, say, the D&D Immortals Boxed Set.  I fiddled around with my copy for a while and it just wasn't my tastes. Ultimately they ran foul by touting it's universal system, by statting out deities in other game system, specifically the litigation happy folks at Palladium.

Despite the articles touting their RPG products, the writing was on the wall, er, second page, of the newsletter.

Three words:  Robot Board Game

One more word:  Garfield

Now, perusing the Internet, sources are  telling me that subsequent issues all appeared as part of Cryptch Magazine, although I swear possessing a paper catalog later on down the line that mentioned Richard Garfield's second game, a card game called Manaburn, which was collectible(?)   As Manaburn evolved into Magic: The Gathering and took the world by storm, WotC ironically enough, shelved their entire role-playing division in 1994.  Even more ironic, Jonathan Tweet, one of the Tal 3 authors, was part of the team that wrote D&D 3.0 after the now juggernaut WotC bought TSR.  I knew there was a reason I didn't despise 3.0!

The Great D&D Counter-Reformation

I'll admit when push comes to shove, if a gun was put to my head, I would prefer AD&D 2nd Edition to any other iteration of the game, with the Rules Cyclopedia "Basic" game coming in second.   As I harp on every other month on my Apathy of New Releases posts, I am nowhere near the demographic that WotC has been shooting at for the last 15 years.

I understood the financial necessity of 3rd edition when I was a retailer.  By the time Fourth Edition rolled around, I was completely uninterested in spending money on books I wouldn't use and the unnecessary extra accessories and maps I didn't need.    I ran 3rd for store events and found it serviceable, and I did give Fourth a go and found it uninspired and, well, overwrought crap.

I've actively avoided the whole D&DNext (5th Edition) situation, but this past week, geek web sites have compiled data from WotC press releases and Amazon placeholders to determine the release schedule for the Fall.

I'm not impressed, but I am curious. 

Hopefully, next month's Game Trade will start the pre-orders for the new books, and I'll go over them in better detail then, but from a preliminary look, I've surmised the following:

• Most hardcovers look to have a 20% price increase, AGAIN.  Fifty bucks for a core book does make more sense than some random supplement.  A $50 Player's Handbook would make a poor gateway purchase, if not for the...
• Beginner's boxed set for twenty bucks or so that gives the very basic classes, basic combat, and a few races to mix things up.
• And if THAT wasn't mildly appealing, the rules will be available on PDF from WotC, for free, and from what I'm read, it's not some generic d20-style universal document.  It is conceivable that you can get the pdf and play D&D for years without paying WotC one red cent. 

Wizards may have learned some lessons from the previous edition.  They may be willing to sacrifice some initial tithes to the Church of D&D to prevent further schisms that helped create the demoninations of Castles and Crusades and Pathfinder.    In a hobby when Edition Wars over printings of products erupt, a peace offering to the players to ease the eventual financial heartbreak of a new edition should be appreciated.

• Oh yeah, the artwork sucks even more now.

The Apathy of New Releases (July '13)

Although there are gamers everywhere pinching pennies to ensure they just enough fundage to survive a pilgrimage to GenCon, the September and beyond releases are being solicited.  If you have regulars that take the trip, their enthusiasm can carry over to your open gaming area, and a store owner is wise to keep an ear to the ground to supplement the idle chit chat with physical product to tempt the ones who stayed at home.

My Must Have Want List
Nothing.  Almost feels good to be back to normal

My Money is No Object Want List
While I wouldn't buy them sight unseesn, even if I had hit the powerball, I might be interested in Pelgrane Press'  Trail of Cthulhu: The Final Revelation as well as the Dystopian Legions new Ironclads (i.e. big-ass tank).

The Imaginary Store List (The Pegleg Gnome)
For a store, the first thing I noticed was a LOT of re-solicited items or "Offered Again"   Overall, the new item count is down and companies like Avalanche Press get a much larger portion of the book.  I don't know if the companies pay for this,  Alliance just received a restock, or Alliance wants to move some product before blowing it out, but it's always a nice change.
AEG
Alderac has a new L5R expansion plus three new stand alone card games. While the games range from $10-20,  I'd like to see some buzz from GenCon or anywhere before I invest in the six unit displays.

Arcane Wonders
Mage Wars: Conquest of Kumanjaro
I really thought that Mage Wars would vanish from the surface of the planet.  In a world of high quality board games, it had looked mediocre on its best presentation.  Reviews have not been too promising and I've only seen it at cons, and discounted heavily too boot.  An expansion for the game boggles my mind.

Ares Games
Sails of Glory
Assembled cardstock ships representing the historical Age of Sail, rather than the one from the Pirates line?

Atlas Games
Ars Magica 5th Edition:  The Contested Isle - The Hibernian Tribunal  $29.95

Catalyst Games
Battletech Introductory Boxed Set.                                                     $59.95
Leviathan Captains Box                                                                      $59.95
Sigh, it's a sad day when even Battletech is a $60 boxed set.

Cheapass
Captain Treasure Boots
Fish Cook
Veritas  
Then again, when a company called Cheapass Games puts out new products are all $15.00, it makes sense.

Cryptozoic
Street Fighter the Deck Building Game                                                $40.00
This is either going to be respectable or drop like a lead balloon.

Cubicle 7
World War Cthulhu   The Darkest Hour                                              $39.95
A new campaign setting, using BRP.

Evil Hat
FATE Core System                                                                            $25.00
From Kickstarter to reality.  It does happen!

Spirit of the Century  Beyond Dinopacalypse                                       $15.00

Fantasy Flight Games
Star Wars X-wing Miniatures  Game: B-wing Expansion Pack                              $14.95
Star Wars X-wing Miniatures Game: Hwk-290 Light  Freighter Expansion Pack   $14.95
Star Wars X-wing Miniatures Game: Lambdaclass Shuttle Expansion Pack           $29.95
Star Wars X-wing Miniatures Game: Tie Bomber Expansion Pack                        $14.95

Goodman Games
Dungeon Crawl Classics #79: Frozen In Time                                                       $ 9.99

John Wick Presents
Wicked Fantasy                                                                                                   $49.95
John Wick envisions a Pathfinder campaign with new visions of the races, each with a "Wicked" twist to it.

Konami
Yu-gi-oh! Tcg: Judgment Of The Light Booster Display (24)
Yu-gi-oh! Tcg: Number Hunters Booster Display (24)

Koplow
Transparent Polyhedral Colors Dice  7- or 10-Piece Assortments                $6.00 or $8.00
This doesn't psyche the average gamer if they look at the Game Trade Monthly. (Stock see-through dice in different colors? Excellent!)  As I've stated before, retailers need to stock more dice, both individual and in sets. They are an impulse buy in the store's equivilant of the candy display at the register.    All the recent sets being promoted were over $10 a piece!    Six bucks is less than two packs of the latest CCG, and everybody loves dice.

Lostshade
Do my eyes deceive me.  A company selling just bases?  A wee bit costly, and no description telling me what they're made of, but it's a start.

Osprey Publishing
The Book of Camouflage                                                                             $9.99
I'd be more worried about this book disappearing off the shelves *rimshot*

Bolt Action: Armies of France and the Allies                                                $24.95
Myths and Legends: Thor, Viking God of Thunder                                       $17.95
Zombies: A Hunter's Guide Deluxe Edition                                                   $19.95
I do like Osprey's attempts to move into gaming and non-traditional wargaming subjects. 

Paizo Publishing

Pathfinder Adventure Path: Wrath Of The Righteous Part 2 - Sword Of Valor  $22.99
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Mythic Realms                                                    $19.99
Pathfinder Campaign Cards:Wardens Of The Reborn Forge                             $10.99
Pathfinder Flip-mat: Speedy Tavern                                                                 $13.99
Pathfinder Pawns: Reign Of Winter Adventure Path Pawn Collection                $19.99
Carboard stand-ups?  I usually just list the Pathfinder stuff without paying much attention, but 100 stand-ups for twenty bucks isn't as outrageous as the other things I was complaining about.

Pathfinder Player Companion: Mythic Origins                                                   $12.99

Pelgrane Press

Gumshoe: Ashen Stars - The Justice Trade                                                       $16.95

Gumshoe: Trail of Cthulhu - The Final Revelation                                              $22.95

Spartan Games

Another series of heart palpitations for those stores that stock Dystopian Legions, Dystopian Wars, and Firestorm Armada.  It's the first time I've seen the actual tanks for Legions (Ironclads) and would love a size comparison to justify the $67.50 price tank.  They are pretty sweet, however.

(EDIT: I found some pics, and they are indeed HUGE!  Work won't let me go to the Spartan Games website, so I'll set up a Gnome-centric review of them when I get home.)

Steve Jackson Games

Munchkin Pathfinder                                                                                     $24.95

Munchkin Tricky Treats Booster                                                                    $ 4.95

Wizard of the Coast

D&D Premium 3.5 Edition - Magic Item Compendium                                  $49.95

Is this one of the 3.5 books with a limited initial run.  Can one not just go over to eBay and snag one up cheap?  As usual, I'm confused.

Magic the Gathering CCG Deck Builders Took Kit 2014                              $19.99

Wizkids

Hello Kitty Shuffling the Deck Card Game                                                      $9.99

Family friendly, Hello Kitty.  Probably a big win at such a cheap price.

The Hobbit - Journey to the Lonely Mountain Strategy Game                        $49.99

Marvel Heroclix - Wolverine and the X-Men

Pathfinder: White Dragon Evolution Boxed Set                                              $39.99

Trains and Stations Strategy Game                                                                     ?

After all the other train games, plus the Ticket to Ride series, this is what Wizkids wants to go into.  Again, color me confused.

The Apathy of New Releases (February 2013)

It may be 8 degrees here in Pennsylvania, but at Alliance, their Game Trade Magazine is focusing on a lot of post Easter sales.  There's a few oddities in this month's issue, but I'll cover them in the store section.

My must-have want list
Nothing.  There are enough things just off the traditional distributor model that I want, let's not add anything this month, m'kay?

The money is no object list
I've been hearing a lot about Fanticide since July.  This is the first time I've had a chance to look at the minis, and I barely see the appeal.  The one thing that jumps out at me is their Flying Monkeys warband.  For $90.00, I would need to know why this is superior to the Eureka Flying Monkeys.  Luckily, they offer individual blisters of the minis, so I may need to add Fanticide and Eureka monkeys on my Cold Wars shopping list and make a review.

Pic from www.agamemag.com

One of the Offered Again (O/A) items in the book are State Maps for Catan   Multiple states are listed and I'm interested in the Penn-Jersey version for $30.00.  Insert your favorite wood for sheep joke in your favorite/least favorite region.

The Imaginary Store List for the Pegleg Gnome
Two things stand out in the latest issue of GTM if I'm a store owner.  First, there is a much larger percentage of product (O/A) offered again.  This is a confusing term as they do us this to cover items that were never solicited in the monthly book, as well as "friendly" reminders to stores to restock their established lines, like Munchkin.   Most of the O/A items in this issue are newer product that may have hit the weekly email solicitations that stores get, but there was little chance of customer feedback.

Second, numerous companies are releasing playmats, I assume for CCGs. I haven't seen a proliferation of these at this magnitude since the Spellgrounds were made in the early days of Magic.  Don't know why they started up again, and most of them are listed as "PI" which means the stores are getting less than their normal discount rate to purchase them.  If they are affordable, at least they can be set up to only take up a minimal amount of shelf space.
AEG
Legend of the Five Rings CCG Torn Asunder Boosters.

Cryptozoic
REINER KNIZIA’S THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY  BOARD GAME   $40.00

Cubicle 7
The Doctor Who RPG:  The Fourth Doctor Sourcebook.    $39.99
PATHFINDER: FACES OF THE TARNISHED SOUK   $39.99

DGS
I mentioned the Freeblades Fantasy Skirmish game two months ago.  Still haven't seen any other news or pictures about it, but here's another solicitation for individual figures.  Still can't wrap my head around a militia spearmen costing as much ($5.99) as much as an apprentice knight.

Expeditious Retreat Press
ADVANCED ADVENTURES #26:  THE WITCH MOUNDS              $12.00
ADVANCED ADVENTURES #27:  BITTERROOT BRIAR                 $12.00

Fantasy Flight Games
ONLY WAR WARHAMMER 40K:  RPG: HAMMER OF THE EMPEROR   $39.95

Gale Force 9
Deep Space Battle Mat                        $39.95

Goodman Games
DUNGEON CRAWL CLASSICS #75: THE SEA QUEEN ESCAPES $9.99
DUNGEON CRAWL CLASSICS #76:  COLOSSUS, ARISE!             $9.99

Mantic 
Two goblin units, some Goblin Mawbeast set with five figures for $45 bucks and a Goblin War Trombone for $19.99  I'd give the trombone a shot just for the name.

Margaret Weis
MARVEL HEROIC ROLEPLAYING:
AGE OF APOCALYPSE - HUMAN HIGH COUNCIL SUPPLEMENT     $19.99

Open Design
PATHFINDER: COURTS OF THE SHADOW FEY          $24.95

Pathfinder
PATHFINDER ADV PATH REIGN OF WINTER PART 3 - MAIDEN, MOTHER, CRONE           $22.99
PATHFINDER CAMPAIGN SETTING: CASTLES OF THE INNER SEA
$19.99
PATHFINDER FACE CARDS: SHATTERED STAR ADVENTURE PATH
$10.99
PATHFINDER PLAYER COMPANION: QUESTS & CAMPAIGNS
$12.99
PATHFINDER TALES: PIRATE’S HONOR
$ 9.99

Pokemon Compnay Int'l
POKÉMON TCG: BLACK & WHITE  PLASMA STORM Booster/Starter

I've seen a pile of people's FLGS in the past month and almost all of them have some group of pla ers in the back of some picture with Pokemon cards.  This game will not die and there's no reason not to profit from it.

Wizards of the Coast
AD&D 1ST EDITION PREMIUM UNEARTHED ARCANA HARDCOVER  $49.99
If it's updated with the errata as promised, this could be awesome.  Between this and the pdfs being available, it's a good week to be a grognard.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: DUNGEON COMMAND - BLOOD OF GRUUMSH   $39.99
Forty bucks for 12 cheap plastic minis and some rules/handouts.

AXIS & ALLIES AIR FORCE:  BANDITS HIGH
            BOOSTER WOC A07030000..............................................................$24.99
            TWO-PLAYER STARTER SET WOC A07040000 ............................$39.99

Wizkids
Another wave after wave of stuff....
MARVEL HEROCLIX: IRON MAN 3 MOVIE
DC HEROCLIX: TEEN TITANS THE RAVAGERS FAST FORCES PACK
DC HEROCLIX: TEEN TITANS SET

Wizards Finally Puts PDFs Back Online

I've got other posts to announce, but this one was the biggest surprise.

Wizards of the Coast, in conjunction with DriveThruRPG.com, has released 80 of its books as PDFs. These titles stretch the history of the the game, and range from $4.99 to $17.99.

For starters it is nice to have these available again in digital form after a lengthy. All PDFs are rumored to be improved new scans, not the pencil marked versions that were available before. Even better, the PDFs are searchable.

Of course, the biggest problem for me has been getting on the site! www.dndclassics.com has been down due to volume all day.

The Apathy of New Releases (April 2012)

Today's Post: Plastic Minis Cost What?

With all the excitement from Cold Wars, I almost forgot it was time to review the next month of solicitations from Alliance via Game Trade Magazine.


MY WANT LIST:
The AD&D Premium HCs.  Yes, I mentioned these last month, but they're formally solicited in this month's book.
"In 1974, the world changed forever when Gary Gygax introduced the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. The legacy of his innovative ideas and the extensive reach of his powerful influence can be seen in virtually every facet of gaming today. To help honor his work and his memory, Wizards of the Coast has created limited-edition reprints of the original 1st Edition core rulebooks: the Monster Manual, Player’s Handbook, and Dungeon Master’s Guide. These premium versions of the original AD&D rulebooks have been lovingly reprinted with the original art and content, but feature an attractive new cover design commemorating this re-release.
Available in limited quantities as a hobby channel exclusive in North America, your purchase of this monumental book helps support the GygaxMemorial Fund - established to immortalize the “Father of Roleplaying Games” with a memorial statue in Lake Geneva, WI. Scheduled to ship in April 2012."

DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE WOC A0239000 ...............................$44.95
MONSTER MANUAL WOC A0240000...............................................$34.95
PLAYER’S HANDBOOK WOC A0241000 .........................................$34.95

These shoulld go quickly, and I don't know if I will have the funds next month, but unless they make them a gaudy mess, they should look beautiful on my book shelf... until my children cover them in yogurt.

The "If I hit the Mega Millions on Friday" Want List
Besides getting the three Premium books, everything else I'd want to see


The List for The Pegleg Gnome's Game Shack

*WORLD OF WARCRAFT TCG:  AFTERMATH - TOMB OF THE FORGOTTEN - Boosters Only

*Heavy Gear and Dust Tactics roll in with  ambitious solicitations, the only thing different from the normal onslaught of  figs is DUST WARFARE: CAMPAIGN BOOK -OPERATION ZVEROGRAD supplement
for Dust Tactics $19.95.

*Games Workshop:   So Games Workshop has revamped the Lord of the Rings and is releasing new product. The army units cover orcs, dwarfs, elves, and men.  The price seemed a big steep, $22.25 for 12, so I wondered, what do other companies charge for plastic boxed sets?  The good news is, there are plenty of only companies soliciting plastics, so we can compare properly.

*DC ADVENTURES: HEROES & VILLAINS VOLUME 2
Featuring stats fully compatible with Mutants &Masterminds, Volume 2 of Heroes & Villains covers characters from the League of Assassins and Legion of Super-Heroes to Zatanna and Zauriel.  $49.95

*MANTIC: DWARF KING’S HOLD: DUNGEON MONSTERS SET four Undead Ghouls, three Undead Zombies, three Orc Axes, and 10 Undead Skeletons unpainted, plastic miniatures, complete with bases. $24.99.  So for $25 you can get 20 figs, probably not the greatest sculpts ever seen, but Mantic doesn't seem to produce crap.  Their Twilight Kin (elf, dark elf?) box set is $25 for $10, but that is a hybrid plastic/metal.

*MARVEL HEROIC ROLEPLAYING: CIVIL WAR - X-MEN   $19.99
*MAYFAIR:  AEROPLANES:  AVIATION ASCENDANT
"Aeroplanes explores the dawn of commercial aviation, an exciting era between 1919 and 1939. Experience
the difficulties and triumphs of commercial airlines in Europe, pioneering airports and service in continental Europe and around the world! Can you balance your investment in aeroplanes, customer service, and routes well enough to become the premier airline of the era?  $50.00"

We've exahusted train games, and or have we just evolved into plane games?

*PAIZO PUBLISHING:

1. GAMEMASTERY FACE CARDS: RISE OF THE RUNELORDS ADVENTURE PATH $10.99
2. GAMEMASTERY MAP PACK: LOST ISLAND $12.99
3. GAMEMASTERY MAP PACK: MARKETPLACE $12.99
4. PATHFINDER ADVENTURE PATH: RISE OF THE RUNELORDS ANNIV ED HC  $59.99
5. PATHFINDER ADVENTURE PATH: RISE OF THE RUNELORDS PAWN COLL    $15.99
6. PATHFINDER ADVENTURE PATH:SKULL & SHACKLES 5 - PRICE OF INFAMY - $19.99
7. PATHFINDER CAMP SETTING: SKULL & SHACKLES POSTER MAP FOLIO - $19.99
8. PATHFINDER PLAYER COMPANION: BLOOD OF ANGELS - $10.99
9. PATHFINDER TALES: NIGHTGLASS $9.99

*PALLADIUM  - Holy Crap it's Rifts solicits!
RIFTS: BLACK MARKET   PAL 0886 ................................$20.95
RIFTS: WORLD BOOK - NORTHERN GUN ONE   PAL 0887 ................................$20.95

*REAPER:  This month Reaper pushes their new Bones line of plastic minis, both individually and by the wall rack to dealers.  The average single man sized figure in plastic is $1.99.  Two bucks?  Oh nostalgia, when a little over ten years ago, their fancy metal character figs were $2.25-$2.50.  The Chinese are going to destroy this country by recalling all our debt and preventing us from getting cheap metal miniatures!  Anyway, the figure quality looks good.

*Warlord:  For the sake of comparison
CLASSICAL GREEK PHALANX (40)  WLG HGR3..............................$37.86

*WIZKIDS
DC HEROCLIX: DC 75TH  ANNIVERSARY - WAR OF LIGHT
DC HEROCLIX: JUSTICE LEAGUE BOOSTER
DC HEROCLIX: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
MARVEL HEROCLIX: CHAOS WAR
MARVEL HEROCLIX: GIANT-SIZE X-MEN - THE UNCANNY X-MEN

PATHFINDER BATTLES ENCOUNTER PACK: CHAMPIONS OF EVIL--
 
So boys and girls, let's compare plastics pricing:

GW:                                             $1.85
Mantic boxed set:                          $1.25
Mantic Twilight Kin (plastic/metal) $2.50
Reaper Bones Singles                    $1.99
Warlord Historical Ancients           $0.95

Which again proves why historicals are superior....

The Apathy of New Releases (Jan '11)

With the holidays upon us, the latest issue of Game Trade Monthly (#131) was released early...

Let's just say I'm back to my apathetic view of the brick-and-mortar game store.

The only thing that I should add to my want list is Tales of the Sleepless City: a series of CoC scenarios set in New York City. While there have been many Cthulhu supplements in recent months, this is produced by Misktantonic River Press, and they produce some top-notch stuff. Plus, there's a group of investigators who just happened to relocate to the Five Boroughs. $29.95 is probably a small price to pay for a little more manufactured depth, before I use the city as a stepping stone for further madness.



My wishlist would include GURPS: Mass Combat, a plastic boxed set of 30 Years War Swedish Regiment, and a little game called "Oh Gnome You Don't". Here's a little box art:
The magic store list? Well, there's a lot of new Pathfinder scheduled for release, although to call the 3rd party material amateurish would be an insult to amatuers everywhere. Warlord game continues to pump out new historical figures (their Marines look tempting). A new set of Marvel Heroclix will be coming out, Cthulhutech gets a new book, Burning Horizon, and Savage World Action & Adventure Decks are scheduled.

Now I haven't been following the D&D 4e release schedule, but am I the only one that shivers when the title of the new release is Players Options: Heroes of Shadow. While I have no problems with someone wanting to play some fanboy anti-hero, WoTC just had to use "Player's Options?" I still twitch thinking about 2e debacles with players munchinizing their characters with those books. Anybody ready for 5th?

More details at http://www.gametrademagazine.com/downloads/GTM131Games.pdf

Oh Tal, how I miss you less when you are free!

I had heard rumblings late last year that Steven Michael Sechi, the creator of the Talislanta role-playing game, was going to make all Tal books available for free download. This was confirmed en masse this month.

I haven't read his actual reasons for doing so, but many in my mind make sense:

Tal 1st and 2nd editions were Bard Games productions. 3rd was WoTC (their first pride and joy). 4th and 5th editions are such a collection of fly-by-night, reorganized, double super secret reorganized, and non-existent companies that it was safer to let the rights go by the wayside for the third party publishers and maintain whatever dignity is left and introduce a new generation to "NO ELVES" fantasy roleplaying without profit.

The fourth and fifth editions of the books seem to be the "recommended" editions. I owned 4th edition Tal. It was a beautiful book. So beautiful in fact, that my buddy Scott picked up a copy thinking I didn't own it yet. I already had two in my possesion.

Third edition was my personal choice. I ran it numerous times. The magic system was fleshed out better than 2nd, but still extremely basic. I fondly remember, with only a zing of nostalgia, wanting to support this little company out of Renton, Washington the was bringing back this cool game. Somewhere I still have copies of The Apothecary, their newsletter detailing Tal, Primal Order, and this new card game, tentatively titled, Mana Burn or Mana Flare. I also remember that little card game, renamed Magic: The Gathering take the world by storm and ironically close up WoTC's RPG lines, and waiting months for Sub-Men Rising, the final book for the company, to arrive in a game store near me.

If I were to run Tal today, I would use 2nd edition. It's such a ridiculously simple ruleset that I ran my first con game with it (The Crystle Dungeon, a hack-and-slasher wet dream at Lehicon IV at the GW Motor Lodge.) The only items on my makeshift GM were the one page rules references and the map of the scenario behind it, and a cheesey "The Crystle Dungeon" filled out on graph paper. If I had been introduced to rules-light games as a teen, Tal 2nd may have become my game of choice for life.

The only thing I feel slightly guilty about is the new material over the last four years or so. Some of the new sourcebooks/scenarios looked fantastic and were well-received by the Tal community. With no real local game store, I was unable to pre-order these items (The Northern Realms in particular) and get hardcopies. Of course, the money was better spent on the wedding, house repairs, and old bills, but I don't buy much RPG, and if I want something, most people know it's high quality stuff.

So, if you're familiar with role-playing, download a book or two. If you've played it with me (even as the AD&D "alternate world summer game" during college) Take another good look at it. For free you might be able to set up a game or three.

http://www.talislanta.com/