Run, Jeff Goldblum, the Dinos have NAZIS!

While I'm known in my group as the guy who plays odd rpgs and collect unusual minis, there are certain certain things I have little interest in. My WW2 gaming is virtually non-existent, save some A&A minis. "Weird War", werewolves, zombies, etc, does little for me.


However, add some dinosaurs, and even Patton takes pause.

Eureka Miniatures introduces Jurrasic Reich in 28mm...

To make a long story short, forget the Spear of Destiny, Nazi scientists activate an ancient time portal/stargate, and capture dinosaurs to give themselves a new advantage in the war. Mounted Cavalry, pterodactyl air support, and do I spot a Stegasaurus in the first picture?

Now, truth be told, I would play this at a con, but I don't think I'm adding any to my wishlist. Prices look a bit high (as they should be, they look to be all metal), and I'm happy with my current list, but I'm a fan of Eureka and a little plug never hurt to ensure they have funds to make the stuff I want to buy.


From Eureka's main (Australia) site: http://eurekamin.com.au/news.php?newsid=EklZEuEuFATWHHLjGs


Look for American availability, check out their affiliates in the States: http://www.eurekaminusa.com/

Hamster Berserkers!!!???!!!

In a hobby where I can play with gnomes in pickelhaub, teddy bears in zulu garb, and amazonian frogs, I'm not surprised by this. Slightly disturbed? Maybe, but not surprised.

On the Lamb minis has released Hamster Berserkers!

They are $9.99 for a pack of 2 or a squad of five for $24.99

Lon at Brigade better get crackin' on those mythical Gnorse Gnomes, or my vikings will be these dudes!

Check out http://www.on-the-lamb.com/ for more info.

Terrain for Tanga

Tonight was the "final" research to prep for the game boards and terrain for the Tanga, specifically the Longido Mountain portion of the game. I've been stumped with two two terrain pieces for the first five scenarios: small trenchworks and palm trees.

Now, Longido Moutain isn't a tropical paradise, but between the rain forest bands around the mountain and their use around the port of Tanga, I'd rather invest in one type of tree at a time.

I made an ironic face-palm when I discovered the secret for those people who have palm trees but not the skills to make them by hand: Bakery suppliers.

Two words: cake decorations.

I can get bulk numbers of trees in two sizes for the prices I saw for four or five at conventions.

2 1/2" double palms

4 1/2" single trees

My second discovery confirms the belief that if you trudge through enough message boards and blogs, a true gem can be discovered. From the blog "Armored Ink" a fellow used a square 1/2 " yard stick as a base and used wooden coffee stirrers for the fortification, followed by a healthy dose of Kel Seal to resemble a dirt embankment. The blogger used it in one foot sections for a Victorian Sci-Fi game and it looked solid, so turning the stick into two 9" and three 6" trenches should be easy, and a heckuva lot cheaper than the resin jobs I've seen online.

Beyond supplies for the hills, the only major model/fig purchase looks to be the Guard Tower from Miniature Building Authority.
Yeah, it's $44.95, but me making this out of wood has disaster written all over it. Let's make some trenches, and cut some insulation first.

The Apathy of New Releases

Now, just a few days ago, I plotted out my gaming and purchasing goals for 2011. I'm truly focusing on one big game with a few simple side projects to keep the non-minis players satisfied.

But that wasn't always the case. With years of retail experience under my belt, deep discounts, and a cushy arrangement at the ancestral manse for a long time, I expanded my gaming interest and expertise to the four corners. Heck, I remember my first Wargames West catalog back in high school, highlighter in hand, making a wish list that focused on variety rather than focusing on one line. D&D, T&T, GURPS, Battletech, Teenagers from Outer Space, Floating Vagabond, Rus, I wanted everything.

In a store, most employees and good (re: wealthy) customers wanted the monthly copy of Previews, Diamond's monthly order book of new releases for comics, magazines, collectibles, etc. I always psyched myself for the manila envelopes from the game distributors with the new releases for rpgs, minis, and ccgs. A good afternoon would be to get a half hour for lunch and construct my wish list, my practical order, and what I would order if I had my own store and carte blanche for ordering. In the last year of Griffon Games I finally had the freedom to make the varied orders (and not all for me), and it proved successful. Seriously store owners, you have to spend money to make money, and you can only rely of 40k, WotC, or other big sellers to cover monthly expenses. You have to do something or else even your slick storefront turns in The Cove... or The Encounter.

Anyway, I downloaded a pdf copy of Alliance's Game Trade Monthy (GTM) for October, covering new releasea for November and December. I did my three-tiered ordering, and not only was I depressed about the lack of items that interested me, it cemented the continuous belief that unless one has a store in their mother's basement, a store selling solely gaming products from only Alliance would be diasterous.

My wishlist:

• Shadows Over Scotland: a third-party Cthulhu book that's $40, and I don't know the page count or if it's hardcover.
• Halloween and Thanksgiving Mouselings from the Reaper range.
• Pathfinder: Kingdoms of Legend worldbook. Alternate history 15-century Earth with the fantasy races. A nice read probably, but I run more of a 10th Century Earth with the same set-up.
• A Warlord Games plastic army box set or two from different eras (Pike and Shot Scots and WW2 Germans specifically)

My practical order:
The mouselings






The "Store order" didn't seem impressive. Another set of L5r CCG, 3rd party Pathfinder (and questionably priced at that), a new All Flesh Must Be Eaten book, a pile of Warhammer Fantasy and 40k rpg books, a Smallville supplement, a neat space minis game called Firestorm Armada, A&A naval minis, and a D&D book (which was a rehash of old Gamma World stuff). Throw in a slew of zombie gimmick books and board games, and you definitely need two or three other revenue sources to keep the lights on.

So twenty pages of new product, and I'm interested in two packs of cute mice minis? I am definitely not the game industry's target demographic, nor could I go into Comic/Game retail without a sharp learning curve and more investment money allocated to failed sales and covering first year expenses.

The GTM for October: http://www.gametrademagazine.com/downloads/GTM128Games.pdf

Prove me wrong...

My Master Plan for 2011

After reviewing 2010, I tried to consider some goals for 2011. I have a radical change in hours coming at work this Fall, and my second child should be arriving in January, so opportunities to game are drying up.

Cons:
Mepacon Fall ’10 and Spring ’11 should be one-day definites. Less than an hour away and I get in for free by running a game or two. Cold Wars & Historicon may be Friday or Saturday day-trips.

Purchases:

Reaper Mouseling Boxed Set (it's too neat to say no to). The rest will be directly related to Longido Mountain campaign. Foamboard insulation, Teddy Bear fur makes great tall grass, a few barren trees/palm trees, and a few miscellaneous German figures to fill out the scenario requirements. Once our FMLA leave for the baby is up, I may look into picking up a few more Miniature Building Authority buildings to prepare for Tanga. The big splurge/birthday present would be “real” WWI Africa figures through Brigade so we could run the Longido/Tanga campaigns twice.

Gaming:

PRIMARY GAMES

1. Gnome Wars: Longido Mountain is my primary gaming for the year. The campaign is my only reason for painting (I’m quite happy with the 14th Swiss TC in the HMGS Gnome Wars games).
2. Call of Cthulhu: The coal crackers have arrived in New York, but for how long? Perhaps they can investigate the disturbances in Red Hook? Will Professor O’Hara be tempted by the knowledge he possesses of inter-dimensional physics? Will Dr. Bowsfield be involved in nefarious activities? Will Nichols be allowed to read the damn books? Beyond the campaign, I think some of the Blood Brother-esque one shots for larger groups.
3. Hackmaster/D&D: Always dependent on players, I can offer the “Home” Polynesian game, Cynicea (role-playing as members of a lost city), and Hukutaan Traldar (role-playing in the lost valley of B10).
4. Risus-IOU: The two word theme of Day of Sloth game is “Radioactive Spittoon”
   
   SECONDARY GAMES
5. Intro CoC: I do have three short scenarios to teach CoC to newbies. I’d love the chance to just run one of them this year.
6. Mouse Guard
7. Con games: Talislanta 3e, and perhaps more of Toon “Cthulhu Comes to Springfield”. Of course, I’ll also take requests
8. Battletech: I don’t own any stuff anymore, but I’m always ready for game, or a trip to Wooly’s.

Of course, everything is subject to change (The ATKM offer for Cold Wars mentioned previously is seriously tempting).

ATKM Offers Swag For Running Games at Cold Wars

Per their Facebook page, All the King's Men will offer $50 in product for anyone running an ATKM game at Cold Wars next March in Lancaster. Either the majority of the figs must be ATKM, or the rules must be used.

I do have to do some work in the garage tonight, so I'm tempted to see the great box of unpainted 54mm figs and see if I could throw together a game centered around the Battle of Wyoming, or some minor skirmish during Sullivan's March.

2010 Year in Review

A year in review... in October??? To the average reader that might seem as absurd as stocking Christmas items for St. Patty's Day, but for me I've always treated my gaming years as October-through-September. It made my desire for recordkeeping straight somehow.

So it's the completion of Year 22 of my gaming lifetime. Twenty-two years of chucking dice, eating Doritos, and drinking Mountain Dew. The birth of my daughter Maja and her subsequent mobility, has reduced my gaming time even more.

Call of Cthulhu: Ran a Texas Fried Rock-themed one shot, finished No Man's Land with survivors, Dr. Millheim failed at solo investigation, and Coal Crackers went to New York, possibly to stay. Without Adam, the group dynamic feels too small. Perhaps with the addition of Mr Dalcin, we could get things interesting again.

Gnome Wars: As a gaming group, we technically did not finish the Wishing Well campaign, although all scenarios were completed. The Swiss did their best to stall the German invasion, Field Marshal von O’Hara escaped with his life, the Scots look to be a potential German ally, and the Irish are just pissed off at everybody. I got zero painting done this year, and with a crate- load of new stuff I'm definitely behind. Outside of the campaign, I did get an impromptu game off during Mepacon Spring, and I did demonstrate superior generalship at Cold Wars, even if only the center of the Swiss line listened to my commands.

The annual Risus-IOU game at the Day of Sloth was a hoot. It reaffirmed my faith in role-players and started an interest in reading the other books of the Oz series for a campaign (as in Wizard of, not the HBO prison series.)

Steve’s Bar was a test area for true beer-and-pretzels Burning Plastic, as well as figuring out the mechanics for Mouse Guard. The beer was pretty good too…

Fall Mepacon wasn’t much of a gaming success, but I did finally get to play Robo Rally. If I can find it on sale, I’m certain to pick it up.

I also discovered that a wife AND child will make Drunken Diplomacy a difficult game to finish. As much as Drunken Supremacy seems appealing, we may rely on more mundane games to play (like Zombies!)

Con-wise, Cold Wars and Historicon were blasts. A short weekend with the boys drinking and moving lead for Cold Wars consisted of two Gnome Wars games, as well as a Fort Zinderneuf French Foreign Legion game using a revised version of Heroscape rules (Sandscape!). Most of my Arab cav in that game were gunned downed in a charge that would make the Light Brigade look like cowards, but my skirmishers held off the relief column to allow the fort to be taken.

Historicon for me could be summed up in two words: Uncle Duke. I finally got to play in not one, but two of his games: his Northwest Frontier and Zulu game. My generalship Her Majesty’s forces were enthusiastic but sub-par. As a native leader, however, I rock the house, or the kraal in the Roark’s Drift scenario.

The Mepacons were enjoyable, even with the extra drive up to Clarks Summit now. I think I ran Gnome Wars at the Fall ’09 con, but Brian Nichols and I decided to go up for Saturday at Spring '10, pay to get in and snag some cool swag at the auction.

My purchase list was much larger than anticipated. Roleplaying stuff was minimal, but dirt cheap, mostly picked up at auction. I managed to accumulate three more gnome units (Sikh, German, and Swiss), most of the Gnome War support pieces, and a Gnomenizer tank. Two Teddy Bear units were acquired for the girls, plus a gnome bicycle tank from Eureka. I snagged a copy of Supremacy through the auction setting and can't wait to play.

My favorite purchases for the year : The Tanga and Zulu Campaign books by Skirmish Elite. It will keep us busy for some time.

My favorite mini purchase: USMC Recon Team from Eureka. I don't even do Modern (yet!), but these figs are just awesome.