A New Year Brings New Tidings!

Hello World!

I apologize for my abrupt disappearance after only a few months of posting last year but I was in the midst of planning my wedding with my lovely wife. We were married last September and are doing well! That being said, and now that all of the holiday busyness has died down, it's time to get back to the blog.

In general the things that I write about will be the same i.e. board games, painting, crowdfunding etc. I will also be adding role-playing to my list of things to write about and all of the interesting things there. What will be changing is the frequency with which I post. Instead of posting 5 times a week, to begin the year, I am going to post 1 time a week and if I get faster at writing these, then perhaps I will ramp it up later on. All I know is that last year 5 times a week was way too much for me to keep up with and really feel like I was doing a good job.

So, that being said, this is of course the first post of the first "week" in the new year! I will have another after the weekend regarding my current Ars Magica 5th edition game that I am planning an event for. I will be discussing the genesis of the idea, the logistics and what I am hoping will come from it.

For now fellow compatriots in geekdom, fare thee well!

Friday, March 14 2014 News Reel!

Greetings!

I am certainly glad that today is Friday! Looking forward to getting some game on this coming Sunday and getting some more painting done as well. Those Orc Boyz are really starting to come into their own. But today let's focus on what is going on in the news regarding our favored hobbies.

Rulebook Editing as a Profession

Lagoon: Land of Druids, which Yearsley is editing the rulebook for. (Photo: David Chott)

This is an interesting article about a post grad student who used his degree knowledge, science, to work himself into a position to edit rule books for one of his passions, board games. If you have read my Review Criteria then you know how much it means to me that a game come with a clear and concise set of rules. I feel like most game companies overlook this part of their production value and just trust those hardcore gamers that will muddle through any poorly put together set of rules to play a new game. Grats to this guy for performing a very vital service to this wonderful industry.

Game About Dinosaurs Taking over the Prehistoric World?!

What up T Rex?!

Yes Please! In this interesting game you play as a herd of dinosaurs pre 65 million years ago. Your job as the head of these dino followers is to build your herd and spread out into the different environments before you. If the other players are encroaching on your territory you can unleash your very own T Rex on them or send a pack of Raptors to demolish them. Sounds like my kind of game!

Walking Dead Prison Game

Who doesn't love Walking Dead? This is a new game based on the original that was put out 2011 with the same general mechanics from what I can understand. The only difference seems to be that play revolves around the North Atlanta area and the claustrophobic prison. Who wouldn't want to go in, guns blazing, in an effort to clear out a zombie infested prison? Anyone? Hello?

Angry Birds Moving in a Positive Direction with RPG Elements

EPIC!

Angry Birds is one of the most well known smart phone and tablet apps in existence. The creators have grown their baby into a huge gaming and marketing beast that covers all kinds of product types from toys to clothes and on and on. Now, it looks like Angry Birds is going to be growing with the generation of youngsters that it amazed. They are putting out the next game as an RPG where the Birds will go on quests and craft items to use in battle. It looks very Final Fantasy-esque with what looks like turn based combat. This is certainly a good move for them as there is only so many ways  you can manipulate catapult physics for it to continue being fun.

Comic Con Man Busted by Kickstarter RPG

This one is a win for the good guys. Just a nice pick me up for the last article wherein a Comic Art thief is caught by a vigilant Kickstarter Company.

On that note, thanks very much and have a great weekend! I will see you back here on Monday!

Friday Morning News Reel!

Greetings and good afternoon to you all!

All I can say is thank goodness it is Friday. I am ready to head into this weekend and relax with a vengeance. Ready to get some painting done and play some games so that I can come back next week ready to write it all up and share with you guys!

That being said, here's what I've found to be interesting in board game news lately:

Board Game Stores Thrive

The article below is one that I have always suspected would be true but never had any proof. In the face of society's continuing digitization more and more people are looking for anti-tech ways of relaxing. Many of these people are turning to the old past time of board games. A board game now a days though looks much different than it did 10 to 20 years ago by offering a deeper level of strategic and tactical play and addressing themes that are specifically geared to adults. In the face of this prolonged upsurge in board game interest, the friendly local game stores are doing quite well by offering free places to play as well as a selection of house board games for free play. Here's to board games and non-digital socialization!

Friendly Local Game Store

Creating a Board Game

I have always thought it would be fun to create a board game and the following article details a studios attempts to create one from scratch using their spare time. It seems to fall in line with how I thought things would work but is certainly interesting to see how the process works. I can agree that in the end it would certainly be a labor of love.

Labor of Love

Board Games Help Kids Develop Skills

This is something that all of us have already assumed but now, it seems to be getting some press. It is nice to see this kind of information making its way into the media as all I ever hear about is how video games are so good for kids or so bad for kids. Board games don't get much news on how good or bad they are or how they can be used as teaching tools for people.

Board Games and Kids

Teach Your Child to Program

This game below is one of the most well funded board games in the history of kickstarter and aims to help your children learn the basics of programming. The parents represent a item that needs to be directed to a final point and the child has to lay down cards with directional arrows that tell the parent how they should move to achieve the end result. Not only does it do a role reversal mechanic with the child directing the parent but it also teaches raw logic skills that can be applied across the board in life. Sign me up!

Programming Board Game

That's it for the week folks! I will be taking the weekend off, as usual but will be back on Monday. Until then, Game On!

Future Programming Note

Happy Monday Morning All!

Hopefully the weather is treating the rest of you better than it is here in Missouri. We have had several inches of snow and ice that has made traveling a little treacherous across the state. Good news is that it is officially March and Spring couldn't come any faster. I am ready for some warm weather!

Now, concerning the Blog. Going forward I will be following a posting schedule to the best of my ability. This will help me to organize my thoughts and allow me to work ahead a bit so that if I have a crazy busy day, I will have material ready to post. Below is the tentative schedule.

Monday - Crowd Source Games -  Here I will review a few of the newer crowd source games out there that are still available for buy in. I will mainly be referencing Kickstarter here as it seems to be the most popular.

Tuesday - Painting Project - Weekly update of whatever painting project I am working on will occur on this day. Also, I will post anything about terrain projects here as well, once I make may way in that direction.

Wednesday - Session Reports  - These will be actual accounts of games played over the past week with as much detail and pictures as I have the wherewithal to collect. This will give you guys a chance to see games in action.

Thursday - Game Review - I will provide an in depth look on a game that I own or have played. Hopefully it will help you decide if a game is right or wrong for you prior to Friday's payday.

Friday - Gaming News - This will be a post on "this week in gaming." I will provide at least 5 article lengths that interested me and folks should be more than welcome to leave other links in the comments section. Knowing about what is going on in the industry fascinates me just as much as how to most efficiently move my meeples around the board.

So, stay tuned as the schedule goes into effect today! Coming up, the Monday Crowd Source Games article and I don't think you'll be disappointed as I have found a couple of doozies.

See ya soon!

Come In and Stay A While

Greetings!

My name is Bill and I hope that you will enjoy what this blog has to offer going forward. My goal is to make this a repository of all things gaming that I do which will include, and is certainly not limited to, board games, video games, painting, modeling, game reviews, terrain construction, list discussions, role-playing and gaming business news.

That being said, I have been gaming since I was 8 with chess being my first strategy game that I can remember. Since then I have played several different types of tabletop games, board games and role playing games. I will attempt to bring something new to the table when I post on this blog in hopes that something new can be learned or an idea given room to grow.

For now though, thanks for checking in and I will have my first official post up within the week!

Thanks!
Bill