Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Ernie's Campaign in The Hobby Shop Dungeon

One last dungeon crawl before The Hobby Shop Dungeon gets some more under-the-hood work from Benoist Poire and Ernie Gygax, the dynamic minds behind GP Adventures.

With Ben and Russell on Skype, Ernie ran us through one last Hobby Shop Dungeon session before we take a break from his campaign while the GP guys work on bringing us some new section for mid-level PCs


Our trusty Dwarven ally, Scott, joined Norm on this final foray.


John and Kurt were in the house and the dungeon as we explored some of the sixth and fifth level for the evening.


Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Acquisitions Inc. PAX East D&D Game 2014

The WotC recording of "Acquisitions Inc. PAX East D&D Game 2014" is available on their YouTube channel.  Enjoy!


Monday, April 28, 2014

Wappel's Chainsaw Wielding Priest

James Wappel has shown off his painting acumen once again with a chainsaw wielding priest. See more here!


Sunday, April 27, 2014

Atari E.T. Cartridges Found In New Mexico Landfill

If you are a fan of both urban legends and bad video games, you probably know the story of Atari invested so heavily and blundered so badly putting out the E.T. video game that it eventually buried millions of unsold copies in a landfill in New Mexico.  Turns out it might be at least partially true.  Read more here!


Saturday, April 26, 2014

2014-04-25 Culver's Gaming

After a quick game of Brian's Love Letter variant, we played Give It to the King followed by a couple of games of Railways of the World using the Eastern USA map.

Kurt broke out Give It to the King, a game I had not played before. 


We were all just learning Give It to the King but it is a very fast and simple game.


Play any Train game and Tom Wham is going to be smiling, as was the case with Railways of the World.


Railways of the World is largely like Railroad Tycoon with the serial numbers filed off.


Thursday, April 24, 2014

CMG eBay Store Freshly Packed with 10% Off

A quick heads up that there are tons of new items up for grabs at the Creative Mountain Games eStore, an eBay outlet.  Recently while Spring cleaning, I re-found a couple of storage containers I had brought with me during the move and promptly slipped in the back of a closet.  Much of this stuff was items I had garnered during the purchase of a lot from which I kept what I wanted and stowed away the rest with plans to get it up on eBay sooner or later.  Well, now it is later.  In some cases, much later.  But, I am determined to get through the process to add as many of these as I can.

I don't do auctions, preferring to search for each item as it is added, find out what folks are getting or asking, then ask the same or just a bit less in most cases.  Even if you prefer the auction style listings on eBay over the Buy It Now items, have a look.  There are definitely some rare and collectible listings that I could only find in cached instances and a couple where I priced it based off similar items.  Most of what I have added are minis but also some RPG stuff and others.

Some of the minis are still in the original blister pack or box, while others were painted to some degree, nothing award-winning but often table-ready.  I've identified most stuff but if you spot something that I have improperly labeled or not labeled at all, let me know and I'll try to clear that sort of thing up quickly.  I'll add a few pics below but go check out the items in the store here (and there's always a link in the upper right of this blog).

BUT, I have also decided to kick off this new batch of listings with everything at 10% OFF!








Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Being an Adult Board Gamer

Earlier this month on Vox.com, they ran an article on the "11 board games you should be playing as an adult."  See more here!


Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Rules Explanations Made Easier

Over on Shut Up and Sit Down, there is a new video teaching how to teach when it comes to showing folks a new game.  Some great tips there for new teachers and old.  See more here!


Monday, April 21, 2014

Kingsburg, Love Letter, and Dragon Lairds

We got together on Friday at Culver's and had nine people in attendance.  That's as many as I have seen since joining in last summer and the others said it hasn't seen that many in years.  There was a time back in the 90s when they'd play Magic and have over a dozen every week.  In recent time, often just two or three would make it out for the twice-weekly gaming sessions at Taco Bell and Culver's on Tuesday and Friday, respectively.  But here we are, coming off a particularly hard winter, rolling into what might be a brutally hot summer, and the gaming around southern Wisconsin is some of the best in years.

Aside from these weekly board game bouts, the first weekend in May brings us the twice-a-year Gaming Hoopla.  Granted, this is going to be a mini-Hoopla, without at big raffles and pre-registration and the like, but the Hoopla folks work very hard.  Putting the full Hoopla together was a tough row to hoe.  It's great they figured out a way that we can still have the event without too much of the fuss and muss.  It'll be good fun and will whet our appetites for the full Gaming Hoopla coming in the Fall!

But, just this last Friday, a good crowd at Culver's meant several games and more than one happening at a time.  Given the crowd, four of us peeled off from the other five to play a bit of Kingsburg.  Several of the gang were just stopping in for lunchtime so they need to play something shorter than that, and so broke out Love Letter.  Once both were done, the remaining six of us tried our luck with Dragon Lairds.

This was one of the closest games of Kingsburg I have played


Wendy won by one point over Tom with Kurt and I tied one point behind him.


Some of the fellas were playing Love Letter at an adjacent table


We ended with a game of Dragon Lairds, a Tom Wham original


Jim was giving folks he business but gave Tom more of it than others


Dave won the day but I came in a close second, two points off the mark


Sunday, April 20, 2014

New Look for the GW Website

I'm am told that the Games Workshop website has a new look but I honestly don't spend enough time there or got here often enough to realize or confirm this.  You tell me!


Saturday, April 19, 2014

Dream Spirit Wargaming Studio Update - Bretonian Display Board

Dream Spirit Wargaming has a new Studio Update video on their YouTube channel featuring a Bretonian Display Board for the "Order of the Sacred Cross'." Enjoy!


Friday, April 18, 2014

Over Da Top Gaming Website

Let me take a moment to point toward a fun blog for those who might enjoy "A Blog of Tournaments, Painting, Terrain, and Podcasts about Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Over Da Top Gaming claims to take gaming to the extreme with conversions and painting to test the limits of miniature warfare!" Chuck Jiardina, who runs the blog, has been at it for over half a decade, so there is plenty of back reading to do for those who are new to it. See more here!


Thursday, April 17, 2014

Ernie's Hobby Shop Dungeon Playtesting

It's no secret that Ernie Gygax and the mega-dungeon guru, Benoist Poire, are diligently working on bringing the Hobby Shop Dungeon and surrounding setting from days of yore into a publishable state for fans of gaming everywhere by 2015 under their G.P. Adventures banner.  One of the benefits of being a local gamer is getting to sit in on the playtesting of this fantastic project.  While Ernie does run this at gaming convention like Gamehole Con and Gary Con, two top notch events in Southern Wisconsin, getting to play campaign-style every two weeks has been a huge treat.  Earlier this week, out gang of mid-level PCs dove in again to thwart an evil cleric who had previously knocked us for a loop.  Revenge was sweet!

Ernie consults a tome as the Skypers, including Benoist Poire, look on


Norm grins as Ernie plans our demise


The grinning seems to be infectious


The evil cleric had a lot of undead at his disposal


Norm uses this cleaner with dry erase markers on his Chessex mat and it works very well


We were attacked from all sides


Fortunately, we lived so we can face certain peril yet again!

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Steal DaBrony's Coffee! - The Reconstruction of a Classic

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the mythical Geneva Lake Press toiled in seeming obscurity in southern Wisconsin to produce various niche games. This small press operation had few products that are well-known, working mostly in the shadow of other game industry giants of the era. Though few of their games survive in box or print to this day, Creative Mountain Games is pleased to announce that the rights to their entire library of games have been secured for re-issue to today’s discerning games market.

One of the early examples of their board games line is Steal DaBrony's Coffee! This tongue-in-cheek game is a fine example of the way in which a board game could be both fun and challenging with simple rules that led to complex strategies and game play.

From the box (original edition 1979): Steal DaBrony's Coffee! is a fun game for three to seven players. In it, one player takes on the role of Leo DaBrony, a small convention organizer whose love of java is legendary. Unfortunately for this dedicated staffer, a number of attendees have decided to torment Leo and make it their mission to spend much of the convention attempting to steal his coffee, vying with one another to abscond more cups of Joe than any other and be acknowledged as Java Jester of the Year.

Creative Mountain Games is busy transcribing the rules for Steal DaBrony's Coffee!, cleaning up the original artwork, and making some adjustments to these traditional game mechanics, and hopes to bring a publishable version to the public soon. Please, stay tuned for more information and spread the word regarding this effort. Thank you!

Got in a little playtesting today for Steal DaBrony's Coffee! at Taco Bell with Tom Wham, Mark Meier, and Wendy Swanson Lord. 


The character artwork recovered from the original has a simple but nostalgic feel, and the dual game and coffee deployment tracks have an almost wargamey tone to them


So typical of that era to have but one female choice and to tie it to pink 


The one on the right just cracked me up 


The upper level of the game board, depicting the upper floor of the majestic Lakeland Lodge, is reminiscent of a time gone by


There is more to capture from the original art to bring this reconstructed version in line with the earlier version


I think the character cards can be simplified further 


I like how the advanced game adds additional abilities


More on this project as it continues . . .

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Just for Kicks - Kickstarters for Gamers

There are  a number of Kickstarters coming to a head, all of gamer interest though only two are actually game products, one old and one new.

First up is one I mentioned recently called "Combat Description Cards for Storytellers and GMs" by Conflict Roleplaying.  This nifty project has had wonderful success and enters its final hours today already well funded.  The name says it all but go check out the extras and see if you might want to jump in before it is over here.


Next up, "The Dangers of Daggermore, a Fantasy RPG film" by Hal Burdick. This one struggled a bit but is funded and could use some gamer-love as it runs through its last few days. Have a look here.


Also, and old favorite, "City State of the Invincible Overlord" by Judges Guild is getting a fresh coat of paint and is well worth your time and money to back.  See more here.


Finally, not a game but a beer project inspired by gaming called "Satyr Stein Homebrew" by Don Dehm, President of Pulp Gamer Media.  The video is a fun watch and the project seems like a real winner too.  Enjoy that right here!


Monday, April 14, 2014

Adam Stefańczyk's Barricades

Remember that great work with treasure markers I pointed toward last month?  Now, Adam StefaÅ„czyk is back to his old magic fashioning some barricades.  See more here!


Sunday, April 13, 2014

Sunday Funnies - Painting Bilbo with the One Ring

One of the funnier, and surprisingly useful, pranks to come out on Tuesday might have to be the painting tutorial of how to paint Bilbo wearing the One Ring on the Tale of the Painters blog.  See more here!


Saturday, April 12, 2014

TableTop Plus on Etsy

The fella putting together the stuff for TableTop Plus on Etsy does a good job but his prices seem a bit on the high side.  In any event, certainly worth a look for inspiration.  See more here!


Friday, April 11, 2014

Combat Description Cards from Conflict Roleplaying

There is a Kickstarter titled "Combat Description Cards for Storytellers and GMs" from Conflict Roleplaying that is really neat and already well funded. See more here!


Thursday, April 10, 2014

LEGO Wonders

Over on The Guardian website last week, they ran a pictorial article on some Wonders built from LEGOs.  See more here!


Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Multitouch Coffee Tables from Ideum

For those with extra cash lying around, maybe you need a "Multitouch Coffee Tables from Ideum." See more here!