GoblinRecent

Boardgames To Go » BGTG 99 - Ten Years of Essens

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:16:29 +0000

Chris left a comment after the previous podcast (anticipating this year's Essen), asking what games were my favorites from past Essens. That was the idea behind this show--my favorites, BGG's favorites, and what seemed liked the favorites at the time (Fairplay ratings). I looked up the past decade of Fairplay rankings, compared it against current BGG rankings, and also figured out my favorites from that same Essen. In addition to BGG, the original German boardgame database Luding was very useful, since it allows searches for a particular Essen year.

My favorites from all these years are mostly "superfillers," but there are some heavier games as long as they aren't particularly long. A few kids' games and card games, too.

What are your favorites from these years?

-Mark

YSDC: Cthulhu Podcast » Yog RadioVision - HPL Film Festival 09 Report by Rev_Danno

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:21:31 +0000

Rev_Danno provides a video report montage of the 2009 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, held in Portland, Oregon (2nd-4th October).

This is an iPod-friendly MPEG-4 video.

Run Time: 00:08:47 102 MB MP4 file.

YSDC: Cthulhu Podcast » Yog Radio #39 Halloween - Glorious Dawn

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:20:21 +0000

October 2009 edition of Yog Radio - Halloween: Glorious Dawn, with your hosts: Paul, Fin and Neil.

Yog Radio #39 features part of a Bradford "Ghost Walk" the Yoggie crew went on recently along many fine contributions by the likes of Jabonko, Karloff and Pookie (just)!

For Show Notes & comments see Yog Radio #39 forum topic.

Recorded at Innsmouth House.

Run Time: 02:02:08 59 MB MP3 file.

YSDC: Cthulhu Podcast » The Lairs of Cthulhu - Treadwell's Lecture by James Holloway

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:21:07 +0000

For many, the name H.P. Lovecraft conjures images of strange pre-human ruins. In fact, Lovecraft was keenly interested in archaeology and ancient history, and used archaeological theory to create specific dramatic effects in his work. This talk explores Lovecraft's relationship to archaeology, its use in his fiction, the adoption of this imagery by the Lovecraftian fan community, and the ways in which Lovecraft's work anticipates modern debates in the field. This is a night for all who have been moved by the landscapes he conjured, the deeps he evoked: the lairs of Cthulhu.

James Holloway has a Ph.D. in archaeology from Cambridge, focusing on funerary archaeology in the Anglo-Saxon period. He has a lifelong interest in Lovecraft, and originally began to look into this subject as part of a 2007 conference session on 'the archaeology of imaginary civilisations'.

Recorded 15th October, 2009 at Treadwell's book shop, London.

Boardgames To Go » BGTG 97 - All About Brass (with Stephanie Kelleher)

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:20:28 +0000

If you pay attention to the episode numbers, you'll see this one actually belongs before the previous show about Essen. I only needed to hurry that one out in time for the big game fair in Germany this week. I'd recorded this episode focusing on Martin Wallace's Brass with guest Stephanie Kelleher (songlian on BGG). Stephanie is at Essen right now helping with the BGG/Geekdo booth!

We both really enjoy this game. Stephanie has played more face-to-face games, while I've got a lot more online plays. I tend to prefer lighter/shorter games, but Wallace's games always have a strong appeal for their historical themes. Stephanie is more of a fan of heavy games. The interesting part is how much we both like this one.

-Mark

The Gamer Traveler » Travel Bloggers Exchange 2010 in NYC

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:22:01 +0000

Though there are two parts to the name of this blog, I tend to focus pretty heavily on the Gamer over the Traveler half. Though I see The Gamer Traveler as travel writing for the gaming community (hmm, new tag line?) the blog has followed the same formula that I established when I started the podcast, which means the travel gets filtered through the gaming lens. I’m fine with that, but I would also like to expand the travel-writing part of TGT in the future.

Earlier this year I joined the Travel Bloggers Exchange (TBEX), a social network meant to bring together travel bloggers of all levels and scope. Back on July 26, they held the first TBEX event in Chicago the same weekend as BlogHer 09 Conference. The one-day con (and really, that’s what it was, they just didn’t have any gaming – yet) was a success with over 100 bloggers dropping in from all over the US and from international locations as well. The #TBEX hashtag was flying like mad that Sunday (imagine a conference room full of bloggers most of which are on Twitter as well) with comments, tweet-by-tweet transcripts, pics and general chatter that, much like when #GenCon was around, made me wish I was there. Good news have come my way.

TBEX 2010 has been announced for the weekend of July 26-27, 2010 in New York City!

The venue is still TBA, but NYC is a great location for this conference, not only for the fantastic tourist attractions for all the visitors, not only for the great meeting spaces the city boasts all over the place, but also because my sister-in-law lives up there so I can bring my wife along and she can spend time with her while I geek out on travel blogging goodness all weekend.

Though June 2010 is still a while away and I’ve no idea what the future will bring, I believe I will be pre-registering for the conference at the early-bird rate. Worst case scenario, I can’t go and my fee helps fund this con, from which I still derive benefit through the video recordings of the seminaries and such. But I’d love to go. I haven’t been to New York in about 4 years and that’s just too long. Besides, NYC has really improved their bicycling infrastructure in the city and I’d love to go check that out for myself.

You can find TBEX on the web, on Facebook and on Twitter.

[[ This story originally published at The Gamer Traveler - http://www.thegamertraveler.com ]]

Boardgames To Go » BGTG 98 - Essen Anticipation 2009

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:56:11 +0000

As before, I've managed to squeeze in a show just before the Essen game fair Spiel that shares my anticipation for the event and a number of games. Nope, I'm not going there, just living vicariously through the preview information about the games about to debut at this enormous event in our hobby. All of this ~~may~~ will change after we start hearing (and seeing!) more about this games from firsthand gamer experience, first at Essen itself, and especially after a month or so at BGG.con. (Unfortunately, I won't be there, either.)

If you want to follow along to the titles I run down that I find interesting, you could look through this private geeklist. It's not a polished thing ready for others to comment on. In fact, I disabled the comments, preferring instead to include a link back to this blog entry. Please write your comments here, or else send email/audio feedback to the usual destinations. Thanks.

-Mark

Boardgames To Go » Last & next month's games

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:03:59 +0000

I'm in the middle of more business travel than I've ever had to do before. I know a lot of people have to travel more than I, so I'm not complaining. I'm just experiencing the impact it has on your life, especially your time with family & friends. The family part is my deal, but the friends parts relates to games, which is why I'm writing about it on the blog.

Last month I did play some games. You can see them over to the right in the sidebar. The biggie I played was Le Havre, semi-sequel to Agricola, and just recently the winner of the International Gamers Award.. Now, I missed almost all the excitement about Agricola, but when I finally played it almost a year after the buzz started I kind of liked it. By that I mean I liked it well enough, about the same as many new titles--happy to play now & then, but it didn't displace one of my favorite (say top 20) games. No shame in that--these are my top games after more than a decade of boardgaming, so it's pretty unusual for a new game to be that much better than some proven favorites. Besides, I play more new games in that general category than old favorites anyway. Agricola was in good company, even if it wasn't one of my new favorites.

I figured the same would happen with Le Havre. Like Agricola, I didn't play it when it first came out--I only just played it for the first time last month. I was in no hurry to play it, but I wasn't avoiding it, either. I just knew I'd play it eventually. Now that I have, wow!, I'm not sure why people like this game so much! That's not true--I do understand it . . . kind of. I felt about Le Havre like I felt about Sid Meier's Civilization, Sim-City, or the Realtime Strategy computer games that came shortly thereafter: fun to see how everything works, fun to fiddle with it for a while, but before I finished a single game I was turned off by the micromanagement. Am I the only one who feels this way?

That's why I say I do and I don't understand the appeal. I understood the initial appeal of those computer games, but not their broad success and staying power. To me, Le Havre is a micromanagement boardgame, and that's not a good thing.

To me, of course--to each his own. However, I remember when wargames got too complicated for their own good in the 1980s. I was a borderline wargamer (esp. for the historic stuff), but interested enough to watch it all take place. It's not like gamers & designers suddenly decided complexity and length were good qualities. They just ended up on a slippery slope, where it seemed better to add more "stuff" to a game in order to make it more realistic, more involving, or offer a more rewarding experience. In retrospect it looks like the whole hobby just about went off the rails then, but not everyone thought so at the time. I'm not saying Le Havre is a dramatic lurch in the "wrong direction" for boardgames, but I'm pretty sure it will be a game looked back on in ten years and gamers will wonder why it was so highly regarded.

Or maybe I'm completely wrong. Some complex games like 18XX, Advanced Civ, and maybe Republic of Rome have had staying power. Closer to home, Die Macher and Roads & Boats have their diehards. Through The Ages is perhaps the most recent heavy eurogame with a large(?) group of fans and critical success.

It didn't help that Le Havre was the first eurogame I can recall where I had trouble reading "the fine print" on the game components (resource counters). I could see the ones right in front of me or my nearby opponent, but the stacks across the table I had more trouble with. Some of the resources have distinctly different icons on either side of the counter, but others don't. Mostly that's a problem with the physical design/production of the game (well, that and my 43 year old eyes!), but I think it's also fair to say it's a limitation of the game itself. Ours was the part of the hobby that used to get by (and look classy, by the way) with wooden cubes in a few colors that had no text on them at all! I'm getting old, I guess! :-)

Besides that one game of Le Havre, I've played a fair bit of Race for the Galaxy. Between the online server and the amazing standalone AI download, this has been my go-to game when doing all of this traveling. My record at the game is pretty horrible, but that's what you want in a program with AI opponents--a real challenge and chance to learn. I've always liked RftG, even though I like San Juan (and Dominion) more. Most of all, I think Race is not an easy game for newbies, or to relearn after you've been away from it for a while. Neither of those limitations even shows up when I play it on the computer, though, whether against those sharky AI opponents offline or the sharky human opponents online. It was clear this is a game that rewards experience, strategic thinking, and good tactical decisionmaking. How amazing that both of these implementations are free! My own copy of Race sits comparatively unused at home, but I'm getting its money's worth out of the computer implementations. :-)

Plus I can also go back and read Brian Bankler's strategy articles, now that I can understand them.

-Mark

P.S. Next month? Oh, I'm not sure what I'll be playing next month, but it should be some face-to-face games with my buddies. Maybe we'll even try Le Havre again!

Top 8 Magic » Podcast: Sorta Mailbag - Part 4

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:12:16 +0000

Mail Bag Part 4

BDM discusses some recent Zendikar drafts with Matt Wang and intern, Matt Ferrando, before his trip to CA.

Please let us know what you think!

Best,

Matt

YSDC: Cthulhu Podcast » Graham Walmsley Interview - Trail of Cthulhu

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:30:31 +0000

Pookie talks to Graham Walmsley (author of The Dying of St. Margaret's) about his work of the Trail of Cthulhu roleplaying game.

Recorded 19th September, 2009 at Concrete Cow 9.5, Milton Keynes.

Top 8 Magic » Podcast: BDM Answers the Mail - Part 3

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:26:57 +0000

Mail Bag Part 3

BDM answers your questions and discusses his recent trips to Seattle and Columbus with Matt Wang.

Please let us know what you think and if we should do more.

Best,

Matt

Top 8 Magic » Podcast: BDM Answers the Mail - Part 2

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:25:03 +0000

Mail Bag Part 2

BDM answers your questions and discusses his recent trips to Seattle and Columbus with Matt Wang.

Please let us know what you think and if we should do more.

Best,

Matt

Top 8 Magic » Podcast: BDM Answers the Mail - Part 1

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:20:01 +0000

Mail Bag Part 1

BDM answers your questions and discusses his recent trips to Seattle and Columbus with Matt Wang.

Please let us know what you think and if we should do more.

Best,

Matt

Top 8 Magic » Call for Questions for BDM and Mike Flores

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:18:49 +0000

Top8Magic Fans,

BDM just got back from a week at Wizards and the Columbus Pre-Release and I will be interviewing him on Tuesday afternoon EST. We would love to get some fan questions in there for the podcast. Here are some ground rules:

1) Identifying Yourself - Please give us a name and location to mention on the podcast.

2) Confidentiality - We will try our best to answer your questions to the best of our ability, but some information will be confidential.

Now post your questions!

Best,

Matt

YSDC: Cthulhu Podcast » The Upper House - Tatters of the King OST Track 10

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:24:09 +0000

Sample track from the Tatters of the King original soundtrack by Allicorn.

Full album available to YSDC Patrons.

YSDC: Cthulhu Podcast » Tatters of the King Trailer

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:00:07 +0000

Tatters of the King trailer from YSDC. A new audio game for 2010.

The Gamer Traveler » Geeky Clean Soaps Perfect For All Gamer Travelers

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:53:51 +0000

The Gamer Traveler only travels with Geeky Clean soaps.

I told the tale of how I came across Geeky Clean soaps in a previous post, and I promised that I would do a review as well. Here we go!

Just from looking at them, Geeky Clean soaps are unique; they look good (when was the last time you said that about a soap?), and are packaged simply but nicely with themed wrappers and clear cellophane. They are something you can feel good about giving as a gift because they look luxurious. At about 4″ x 2″ in size, these are hefty pieces of geeky hygiene.

When you open a Geeky Clean soap, the scent is overwhelming, and the three soaps I had the pleasure of trying out–Mana, Health and Barbarian Scrub–smelled just amazing. And of course, let’s not forget or ignore what makes these soaps geeky, the embedded d20 die right in the center, floating in a sea of colored and scented glycerin (and all the other not-animal-tested, Vegan-friendly ingredients). It’s a basic, solid-colored die like the ones gamers already have hundreds of, but that did not diminish my glee at knowing I’d have 3 more dice once the review process was done!

I loved all three soaps I used. They each had individual scent profiles that set them apart, but they were all just fantastic. Health has a sharp Nag Champa scent that really revitalizes (I used this one after a long day of plane travel and it perked me up) with a hint of coconut somewhere in the background. Mana brings the coconut oil to the forefront and makes for a very crisp, refreshing shower. Barbarian Scrub has spiced orange as its primary scent and the citrusy kick was just great, not to mention the apricot seed scrubbies floating in the soap which felt just so good. If I had to pick my favorite of the three I tried, I’d go with Barbarian Scrub.

I know, it’s hard to review soaps without wandering into TMI land.

Each soap lasted between 10-12 washes (consider I am 6′ tall and of portly size when figuring out how many washes that would translate into based on your size), and I’m happy to say that from start to finish, each soap held its scent wonderfully. I had no problem using the soaps, but my wife found them way too big for her hand and kept dropping them until they’d shrunk to about 2/3 of their original size. The d20 die does not interfere with the soaping process at the start, but about 3-4 washes in, it would start to protrude from the surface of the soap. Personally I did not mind; the die kinda gives you a massage as you lather up, but my wife hated it and I’d always end up pushing it out about midway through the soap’s lifespan. And while I have no complaints about the soaps in general, I did not feel at all the exfoliating spheres supposed to be in Health, and found myself wanting more apricot seeds (and better distributed throughout the whole soap) in Barbarian Scrub.

Priced at around $5, these aren’t soaps for day-to-day bathing, but they make a perfect and utterly geeky gift that’s useful as well.

The Gamer Traveler » Win a Trip on the Orient-Express at the Ticket to Ride World Championship

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:05:08 +0000

Days of Wonder wants to celebrate the fifth anniversary of their train travel boardgame by hosting a Ticket to Ride World Championship in Paris, France on June of 2010. There will be eight National Championships (North America, France, Germany, UK, Benelux, Spain and Poland), yielding the top eight players in the world, plus two alternates per region in case the National champion cannot make it.

Each National champion will receive air/train fare to and hotel accommodations in Paris, a National Champion trophy and a set of gold-plated Ticket to Ride train game pieces with a matching score marker. The World Championship winner will receive a trip for two on the legendary and luxurious Orient-Express Train, from London, England to Venice, Italy, including a two-night stay at both ends of the journey. If that prize alone is not reason enough to play in this tournament, I don’t know what is!

Check out the Days of Wonder site for full rules and Regional Championship information and bust out those Ticket to Ride boardgames and start practicing!

Top 8 Magic » Zendikar by Kard: Getting Under the Hood of Lotus Cobra

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:59:32 +0000

When Mike and sat down to podcast about spoiled Zendikar cards the other night we spent a disproportionate amount of time talking about Lotus Cobra — a card that we both felt is sure to be one of the most coveted rares in the set — which would not get revealed until midnight the next day in Mike’s column. While we recorded our Zendikasts, which would go up shortly after Mike’s preview on the mothership, we teased the card on Twitter and Facebook where I said that the card was the first card to leap this far off of a spoiler list at me since I got an advance peek at Mind’s Desire.

There has been some backlash to the level of hyperbole around the card but everyone seems to agree that the card itself is awesome. Not everyone agrees with Mike’s position that Lotus Cobra is not only comparable to but exceeds other all-star 2-drops such as Meddling Mage or Dark Confidant. Understandable. At this point and time we have no frame of reference for how good this card could be when it has as many miles on it as those previously mentioned all-stars. Having done a small amount of testing with the card in the past few days I can confidently say that playing with this card feels unlike any other card I have played with before. Yes it dies to Doom Blade… and Lightning Bolt…and Path to Exile…and Volcanic Fallout but what happens if it lives.

Here is the updated version of Ob Obv — a deck that attempts to win with Ob Nixilis, the Fallen and Warp World — that I have been playing with that includes Lotus Cobra.

Ob Obv.2
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Rampaging Baloth
4 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Khalni Heart Expedition
3 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Trace of Abundance
4 Warp World
4 Green-Black fetch land
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
7 Forest
7 Mountain
1 Swamp

The deck remains quite raw but is still capable of powering out Warp Worlds with the number of permanents approaching the mid-teens. The combination of ob Nixilis and Warp World is definitely powerful and with Lotus Cobra you just get there that much faster. Whenever you play a fetch land you end up with three mana in your pool — basically a free Dark Ritual for up to three colors of your choice. When you fetch a Trace of Abundance is essentially a free permanent that enchants the land you search up. Even lands that come into play tapped like the ones that you search up with the Heart Expedition are productive members of your mana pool when the Lotus Cobra is hanging around.

Mike and I were talking about the card again today and I posited a scenario where you are playing green black and lead off with a Duress for that pesky Lightning Bolt and, with the coast clear, follow up with Lotus Cobra. Your opponent fails to top deck a removal spell — or, you know, isn’t playing a deck with a lot of spot removal and is planning on Day of Judgement — and you untap to play a fetch land, fetch, Harrow that land away and tap six mana for Mind Shatter for 4. Seems good, right?

“I am not impressed with that,” said Mike, who has been talking about third turn Violent Ultimatums. “Isn’t Identity Crisis still in Standard for another year? That would be impressive.”

Third. Turn. Identity. Crisis.

That doesn’t even seem that far fetched to me. Then again the third turn Ultimatum did not seem that far fetched in the first place. I know I am regularly making Siege-Gang Commanders on turn three with little more than a Lotus Cobra and a fetch land to power it out. By the time Cobra rotates out of Standard I don’t know where it will rank among 2-drops all time but I am pretty confident it is a card that will have had an impact on the format even if that just means everyone plays 4 Lightning Bolt and 4 Doom Blade for the next 2 years.

Top 8 Magic » Around the Web: 16 Magic Online PTQs for PT San Diego

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:42:33 +0000

Forget the buzz around Lotus Cobra and the rest of the Zendikar previews for a moment and read this fact sheet about how the SIXTEEN (!!!!!) Magic Online PTQs for Pro Tour San Diego are going to work. My The Week That Was column this week will include an interview with Digital Games Program Manager Michael Gills and MTGO superstar Brad FFfreaK Nelson. In the meanwhile you can check out all the details here.

Top 8 Magic » Zendikast Part 5: Breaking Down the Zendikar Visual Spoiler

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:04:30 +0000

After a long layoff Mike @fivewithflores Flores and Brian @top8games David-Marshall talk about all the Zendikar cards that have been spoiled on the mothership. There have been a lot of cards spoiled and a long time between podcasts. Mike and I go on for some time about the new cards. It is something well over 2 hours of ranting and raving about the new cards with very little in the way of comics, basketball, or other distractions.

Zendikast Part 5

Top 8 Magic » Zendikast Part 4: Breaking Down the Zendikar Visual Spoiler

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:04:19 +0000

Zendikast Part 4

Top 8 Magic » Zendikast Part 3: Breaking Down the Zendikar Visual Spoiler

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:03:36 +0000

Zendikast Part 3

Top 8 Magic » Zendikast Part 2: Breaking Down the Zendikar Visual Spoiler

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:03:26 +0000

Part 2

Top 8 Magic » Zendikast Part 1: Breaking Down the Zendikar Visual Spoiler

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:02:43 +0000

Part One

YSDC: Cthulhu Podcast » Yog Radio #38 Miskatonic River Press - Reloaded

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:14:24 +0000

September 2009 edition of Yog Radio: Miskatonic River Press - Reloaded, with your hosts: Paul, Neil and Val.

Yog Radio #38 features an interview with Tom Lynch and Oscar Rios of Miskatonic River Press. This episode marks four years of Yog Radio and contains the usual mix of news, reviews, chat and content!

Congratulations to Fin and his wife on their first child.

For Show Notes & comments see Yog Radio #38 forum topic.

Recorded at Innsmouth House.

Run Time: 03:05:12 85 MB MP3 file.

Top 8 Magic » Zendikar by Kard: Warping Worlds with Ob Nixilis, The Fallen

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:30:59 +0000

So I have spent a lot of time trumpeting the Baloth Woodcrasher in the face of overwhelming support for the Rampaging Baloth as the six-mana landfall creature of choice. I still feel that in a straightforward landfall deck I would prefer the Woodcrasher to the Rampaging Baloth but there is another card that I think is waaaay more exciting than either of those two options. Last night, while podcasting with Mike about the spoiled Zendikar cards, I laid eyes on Ob Nixilis, the Fallen for the first time. I guess I was not paying attention earlier in the week or forgot to check someone’s column but I flat out missed this badass when talking about the various landfall creatures.

The demon pretty much kicks both of these cards in their rather prodigious “toughnesses” with one of the best landfall abilities to date — killing your opponent. One fetch land may cost you one life but with Ob Nixilis on the board it will take your opponent from 20 to 14 and they will be staring down a 9/9 demon that cannot die to Terror-style removal (take that, Doom Blade guy!)

The landfall life loss from Ob Nixilis adds up very quickly and I started looking for ways to abuse it. Obviously Oracle of Mul Daya is going to let you create some pretty sick turns and Khalni Heart Expedition seems pretty saucy as well. What I like about the Expedition is that you can use the first one to fix/ramp out your Ob Nixilis and subsequent ones to abuse the landfall and maximize lifeloss.

I also started looking for other ways to spit out multiple lands. I was joking about phasing all my lands in and out with Taniwa when suddenly it occurred to me…Warp World. You could play the deck much like recent versions but you don’t need such a critical mass of permanents in order to hit four Bogarden Hellkites. Instead you need to Warp up one — maybe two — demon and then abuse all the lands you hit in the process. One Ob Nixilis and seven lands is game over as is two Ob Nixilis and four lands.

I became concerned about the legendary status of the demon but that fear was quickly assuaged by @the_sanch and others via Twitter who reminded me that everything still comes into play at the same time. Even though multiple copies of the demon will nuke each other out of existence they still have enough time to reach into your opponent’s chest, pull his or her heart out, and show it to them while it is still beating.

Here is a quick and dirty list that I markered up on the back of some crappy old commons and did a couple of test draws with. It is by no means anything approaching a polished list — the mana is way off, the creature mix need work, and we don’t know if there will be any super exciting cards that will fit into this deck coming out that have not been spoiled — but it already goldfishes quite nicely.

One rawer version of the list had Baloth Woodcrashers and Soul’s Fire so that you had another way to finish off your opponent’s but, ironically, I ended up with Ramapaging Baloth instead as it allows you to create a critical permanent mass before you play Warp World and gives you an impressive board position afterward.

Ob Obv
Suggested Deck for post-Zendikar Standard

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
4 Rampaging Baloth
4 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Khalni Heart Expidition
4 Rampant Growth
4 Trace of Abundance
4 Warp World
4 Green-Black fetch land
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
6 Forest
6 Mountain
2 Swamp
Sideboard:
4 Duress

The sideboard could easilly support blue cards but I suspect that this will go through far too many iterations to dig down that deep at this point beyond wanting to have Duress for decks that might run/sideboard Mindbreak Trap. It is something to start playing around with and I am sure it will evolve as the spoiler continues to rapidly unfold.

Top 8 Magic » Zendikar by Kard: Oracle of Mul Daya

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:34:02 +0000

When I was writing my preview of Baloth Woodcrashers I was aware of Oracle of Mul Daya via unofficial spoiler pages but since I try to only talk about cards that are on the official Zendikar Visual Spoiler on the mothership I could only reference it obliquely. Sure enough the Oracle was added to the rapidly expanding official page that next morning so I will talk about it now in what I hope is first of a series of looks at the cards from the impending release. So what does the future hold for the Oracle?

I love this card; absolutely love it. I am not sure if it will prove to be tournament viable or not (insert obligatory comment about it dying to Lightning Bolt and Doom Blade here) but it is the closest green will ever come to having a high velocity enchantment like Future Sight to tear through your library. If you happen to be in Columbus, Ohio for the Saturday Prerelease I will be looking for a copy of this card to put right into my EDH deck – along with a much harder to find Misty Rainforest. But I can easily see this card being played in decks that are 39 cards smaller as well.

If landfall has any Constructed impact – and I think it will – then this card will provide fuel for that linear. I discussed in the Woodcrashers preview that a card like Knight of the Reliquary allows you up to four landfall activations in one turn if you play a fetch land, activate it, and fetch another fetch land with your Knight. So does the Oracle, provided there is some permutation of two fetch lands between your hand and the top two cards of your deck.

(By the way, in case anyone is still sleeping on Knight of the Reliquary, let me remind you that it did win an Extended Grand Prix toward the end of last season.)

While the Oracle does not have the sure-fire way of finding you that second land to play it does expand your hand size to include the top of your deck in search of that land. It also plays well with Knight in that the Knight gives you extra shuffles – from the Knight’s ability and from the ability of the fetch land you will no doubt search up — to see if you can float a land to the top of your deck.

While Future Sight was the first comparison I made to this card the comparison to Exploration is obviously much more apt and I will be looking toward this card in a blue-green deck that attempts to abuse Time Warp similar to the deck John Mahon took second place with at a recent Roanoke PTQ for Pro Tour Austin.

Blue-Green Time Warp
John Mahon – 2nd Place
PTQ Roanoke: Standard

4 Forest
6 Island
4 Howling Mine
4 Flooded Grove
1 Mirror Sheen
4 Fertile Ground
2 Shelldock Isle
4 Vivid Grove
4 Jace Beleren
4 Cryptic Command
3 Primal Command
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Firespout
3 Savor the Moment
3 Twincast
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Time Warp
Sideboard:
2 Banefire
4 Dragon’s Claw
3 Cloudthresher
4 Great Sable Stag
2 Chameleon Colossus

This deck will require a total overhaul for Standard once Zendikar rotates as the Fertile Ground, both Commands, Savor the Moment, Firespout, Mirror Sheen, Shelldrock Isle, and the entire non-basic mana base are all rotating out. Fetch lands, including the highly anticipated Misty Rainforest, will pick up some of the slack, and Trace of Abundance can almost fill in for Fertile Ground, although it does not play well with Garruk.

I am not sure how you would reimagine the deck – you likely need to play Quest for Ancient Secrets for recursion – but I am sure that it would include Oracle just as the original Time Warp decks were built around Exploration. Classically this is a broken ability even when symmetrical – which Oracle is not!

Clash is going away and scrying has not shown up as a Zendikar mechanic so there do not appear to be a lot of ways to stack lands on top of your deck in the new Standard format to abuse with the Oracle. Staying with the blue-green theme for a minute, you will be a lot less likely to shuffle away two lands on a Ponder with Oracle in play. In the meanwhile we will have to be happy with shuffling our deck for a fresh crack at drawing extra lands out of our deck and from the fetch lands to Nessa Revane there do not seem to be any shortage of ways to do that.

As I said earlier in this post, I don’t know where this card will factor into Standard when Zendikar is poised to rotate and the tournaments results have been tallied. I do know that as soon as we start hosting some mock tournaments for the new Standard and Extended you will find the words Oracle of Mul Dava markered onto the back of Lorwyn rejects.

Boardgames To Go » Go "vote" on the À La Carte card game award

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:14:40 +0000

I've always enjoyed reading through the results of the best card game award given in Germany, the À La Carte. Kind of like the Spiel des Jahres or International Gamers Awards, this award is given by an editorial board. However, this year they've opened up an online poll--not to decide or change the outcome of the award, just as a fun check between what the game-buying public thinks is the best game, compared to that editorial board thinks.

http://fairplay-online.blogspot.com/2009/09/la-carte-2009.html

Top 8 Magic » Look What I Bought for 5,000 Gold!

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:54:21 +0000

Yes, yes, yes… My character I carrying five rare items (WHATEVER Crown of Command, Dancing Shiv, Belt of Titan Strength, Star Opal Ring, and Winged Boots)… If it makes you feel better I have an unequipped Wand of Orcus, too. The crazy thing is what I just bought for 5,000 Gold…

Gloves of the Moon (+3 ATT, +3 v. Traps) just bumped Rogues Gloves… I am pretty sure these are better than Gauntlets of Destruction, which was the previous top of the line Gloves in Dungeons & Dragons Tiny Adventures.

Long story short: The Powers That Be have updated the game!

So if you have been away for a long time, it is time to get back and check out new classes like Warden, Sorcerer, and Bard!

That’s it.

Hopefully they will finally fix the leaderboards so this becomes true again: [Remember When I was #1 in the World?]

LOVE
MIKE

Top 8 Magic » Zendikar Official Preview - Baloth Woodcrasher

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:59:14 +0000

BDM and I decided to do something a little bit different this time around. We are both writing previews for Baloth Woodcrasher, without consulting each other. They are both going up tonight, and you can see our differing reactions to this new Beast:

Okay - How about the stats?

Baloth Woodcrasher is a six mana 4/4 creature. It is pretty clear that there has to be something fantastic attached to a six in order to justify Constructed play. We have seen a tournament viable six mana 4/4 creature or two in the not-too-distant past… for instance Broodmate Dragon, which is literally a 4/4 creature or two; they both have flying. To be fair, Broodmate Dragon is one of the best six mana creatures of all time… So even if Baloth Woodcrasher were contending for a Constructed spot, it would have a steep hill to climb to compare to that particular six.

Baloth Woodcrasher is clearly no Broodmate Dragon.

Does that mean that it is not tournament viable?

Of course not–not in and of itself.

However, that said, I think that Baloth Woodcrasher does not seem like an obvious Constructed contender. 4/4 for six is too small a body for the mana requirement without something really impressive attached, such as, I dunno, Cascading into Air Elemental.

In this case we are talking about “just” a medium-sized creatue with an interesting, albeit potentially devastating, ability.

Basically you have to get to the point that you can crash through those woods, which requires survival of the Beast, an untap, and an attack… At which point you can smash–make that crash–for 8-12 consistently.

One of the problems with Baloth Woodcrasher is that it isn’t at all sneaky (maybe that should be obvious for a creature purporting to crash through the woods, I dunno)… But you have to lay down your land during the main phase, which means if you are going to do it during the first main phase, he is already going to Landfall his way into 8/8 (meaning not much of a bluff), though if you have one of the funky new enemy dual lands such as Misty Rainforest, you can reserve a handful of Green Option, saving the next +4/+4 for another time (you know, like if the opponent puts nine power worth of blockers in front of it).

So what might make this card powerful enough for Constructed play? Is it possible?

Well if you have a way to cheat Landfall, such as a Knight of the Reliquary in play, then you have a way to help protect Baloth Woodcrasher on his virginal turn. Knight of the Reliquary can sacrifice a Forest or Plains at instant speed to put a land into play, which will put the Baloth on 8/8 and protect him momentarily from spells along the lines of a Char / Psionic Blast / Flame Javelin. The disadvantage to this is that a Knight of the Reliquary is awfully obvious; on balance, if it is active you get a probably-not-dead Baloth Woodcrasher.

So what is the up?

Actually it is signficant. Just playing a land puts the Woodcrasher to 8/8, and playing a land as humble as a Terramorphic Expanse can set him up to 12/12. Now if you have that Knight of the Reliquary in play? You can hunt for a second Misty Rainforest / Terramorphic Expanse / whatever… and all of a sudden you have a [potential] 20/20 attacker with built-in evasion. Unless the opponent has gone all Loop Junktion on you, it is fairly likely that this creature can go all the way all by his lonesome in a mere two attacks (or maybe just one when the Knight is on your side).

What will you not want to do?

One of the first things I thought about was waiting until “turn seven”* to play my Baloth Woodcrasher. That is actually kind of a dorky idea. I was thinking that I could get the Landfall bonus, but it would wear off at the end of the turn, meaning that I would have just as vulnerable a Beast as if I ran it out on the regular “turn six” only I had just penalized myself a turn. WHY WOULD I DO THAT? Yes, it’s awful and I wouldn’t… and now you can excise that thought from your gray matter if you were accidentally thinking it yourself.

I actually reversed my position on this card while writing this blog post… It has considerably more up than I originally give it credit for, and I can see it winning the game outright fairly quickly. Certainly it is a wee bit vulnerable the turn it comes out, but we were perfectly happy to game with Indrik Stomphowler on five… This is only one mana off for a creature that can potentially win the game all by its lonesome.

How about Limited?

This is a format where Baloth Woodcrasher has some tremendous up. If the opponent doesn’t have a lot of removal, and if you are conservative with land drops, you can easily turn this card into a more relentlessly taxing version of the abyss. Of course basically everything I said about going from 4-to-20 in one or two attacks applies equally to Limited, everything but that Knight of the Reliquary bit.

My conclusion: Role Player

LOVE
MIKE

* You know what I mean, jerk.

Top 8 Magic » Exclusive Zendikar Preview: Baloth Woodcrasher

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:54:23 +0000

Let’s not beat around the bush here and get right into the preview card at hand…

…I will admit that when I first saw the Baloth Woodcrasher I was rather underwhelmed but as I have been living with him for the past few days he has gotten more and more exciting to me. I was immediately certain that he is first-pick material in Zendikar draft but I am actually thinking this fattie could see Constructed play in both Block and even Standard.

For the price of a Craw Wurm you get a green creature that outclasses Force of Nature – just play one land and this guy becomes every bit the tramply monster that Force is without having to pay that usurious upkeep. And it has more upside. Just think of how well this – and all the Landfall spells – plays with the newly minted enemy colored fetch lands. Basically you have a 12/12 green dragon – or should I say “draggin’” since he does not fly. But trample will get you there.

Here are a few of the cards that I will no doubt be markering up on the back unloved commons as a test deck for the Top8Magic mock tournaments for any upcoming Standard events.

I have already mentioned that the fetch lands like Misty Rainforest give the Baloth a double bonus as does Terramorphic Expanse. With land matters as a theme in this set there are sure to be additional lands like Teetering Peaks which offer some additonal bonus as well. Don’t forget about cards like Rampant Growth that let you ramp into your Baloth early and help push him over the top in the later stages of the game.

Knight of the Reliquary is a card that could become very exciting in the new Standard thanks to the landfall mechanic which will let you activate landfall at instant speed. You can protect your landfall critters from damage based removal and it also gives you a boost for casting the traditionally unwieldy 6-drop.

Soul’s Fire is another card that I will toy with for sure. Soul’s Fire has already found its way into multiple Constructed decks since it has been printed and with landfall it seems to me like a card we could be seeing some more of. It is not hard to draw up a turn where your Baloth Woodcrashers becomes a 16/16 or 20/20 but even as a 12/12 you can easily find a way to deal 20 damage between trample and Soul’s Fire.

Admittedly 6-mana is a lot to get my head around but I have to assume that this new format will enable the landfall mechanic with additional ways to put multiple lands into play each turn which will both ramp your Baloth out and send him Woodcrashing over for the win.

As I mentioned earlier this guy is a one man Overrun in Limited and don’t expect me to be passing him very often but don’t be surprised if you find yourself on the wrong side of a draggin’ in Constructed as well.

Wapcaplets » Episode 51: HammerCon 2009

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:19:39 +0000

There’s a new con in town called HammerCon! Take a listen and learn all about it and, if you’re within striking distance of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, sign up already!

The Gamer Traveler » The Greatest Lesson From Travel: Awe

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:30:24 +0000

I was watching a show on castles on History Channel, and they said something that really stuck with me: “Castles were some of the most imposing structures ever built and they inspired awe in the population.” I was immediately transported back to York, England, back in 2001.

We’d been in England for four days, spending three of them in London. I’d seen Westminster Cathedral, Buckminster Palace, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge – all of them structures of impressive grandeur full of history. But I had taken them all in stride, something I attribute to the general “wow-I’m-in-Europe” factor. Then we took a train ride north to York, and the moment I entered the city through its medieval gate, something shifted. As we later walked up the main street and York Minster Cathedral came into view, I had to stop; I couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk, couldn’t do anything but stare. I was in awe.

Awe is a feeling of wonder, reverence, amazement and/or dread (or more accurately, all those at the same time) experienced when in the presence of something that transcends us. In looking at York Minster, I suddenly realized I was standing in front of a 500-year old structure (and that’s only in its finalized form; parts of it date back another 200 to 300 years), in a town that is still surrounded by its original medieval gate, in York, in Europe. I saw York Minster not as a tourist, but for a fleeting moment, as one of the lowly residents of the city must have back in the 1400’s, imagining this imposing structure rising into the heavens, one of the largest buildings I would ever seen in my toil-heavy life. It inspired awe, in all its connotations, and I was so thankful for that wonderful moment that lasted maybe a couple of minutes yet remains one of my most treasured memories of all my travels.

Awe is not something we get to experience a lot on our daily lives, but I have found that travel comes with a healthy supply of it. I experienced it various times after than in Europe; later in Ireland looking over the Cliffs of Moher and the Giant’s Causeway; in Paris, the Netherlands and Belgium; and even in Seattle, especially in the Olympic Peninsula, at the top of Hurricane Ridge. Pure awe, the kind that shuts down your conscious mind and simply lets you absorb the grandness of what you’re witnessing. When we travel we are removed from our familiar surroundings, out of our element; this lowers the barriers and makes us vulnerable to moments of wonder. Be on the lookout for such moments and when they happen, surrender to them.

I have managed to bring that ability back home with me as well. It doesn’t happen all the time, but I am open to it and have experienced it in the form of a beautiful sunrise glimpsed while riding my bike or when contemplating the city skyline from afar. When you travel, leave your jadedness at home and be open to awe, and when you get home, do your best to retain that ability. You will see your home in a whole new way.

In Your Games

There is nothing that annoys me more than having a fantastic description of a site, like a castle or a large cathedral or a majestic spaceship, to be brushed aside by jaded gamers. These characters you are playing are seeing something that may be of an unique nature, I try to remind them. Even characters that are exposed to certain situations on a daily basis–nobles that know a castle inside and out, a spaceship captain that has seen dozens of different ships of all shapes and sizes–experience moments of awe. Perhaps the noble has never seen this side of the castle, or precisely because she knows them so well, this new one they are visiting impresses her so much. The starship captain may have seen a lot, but that new prototype spaceship makes him look out the transport window, completely ignoring his officers.

Bring awe back into your character’s portrayal. If playing a fantasy game, unless you are a world-weary adventurer, monsters, magic and imposing structures will have an effect on you! It doesn’t mean your character stands catatonic like I did in York when he sees an orc for the first time, but a dragon? You bet. A wizard casting a gigantic fireball spell? Yup. The king’s three-times-as-big-as-those-in-the-real-world castle with towers rising a mile into the air and squads of griffin riders patrolling? If you don’t roleplay the awe, you are doing a disservice to yourself, your Game Master and the game.

The Canon Puncture Show » Canon Puncture 77: The Glock Under the Toilet at GenCon

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:17:11 +0000

In this episode we feature the first half of a GenCon conversation that Mick had with David Moore and Mario Dongu, focusing primarily on Epidiah Ravochol’s new rpg Time and Temp. Show Notes The Game Master Show Time and Temp, Dread and Trial and Terror at The Imagination Sweatshop All Games Considered This episode sponsored by RPGNow

Boardgames To Go » Gamewright euros (and testing Twitterfeed)

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:56:56 +0000

Gamewright is mostly known for mass market kids' games that are notably better than what you usually find on the shelf at Toys R Us or Target. They also do an amazing job at sneaking a little educational value into some of the titles (often math), while others are just silly fun.
Another sneaky move they pull off is bring eurogames by award-winning designers to America by skillful retheming of the games. That's how we got Turn the Tide (aka Zum Kuckuck by Stefan Dorra/FX Schmid), Loot (aka Pirat by Reiner Knizia/Amigo), and Ka-Ching (aka Combit by Palesch & Rösner/Winning Moves). That's fantastic! Our only quibble might be that they keep the designers of these games almost a secret, putting their credit in small print at the end of the rules, and on the back of the box.

I just received a batch of new & old Gamewright games, many of which I hope to try soon and discuss along with previously played Gamewright titles in an upcoming podcast. While reading the rules to one, I thought how the mechanics sounded similar to Circus Flohcati or Cheeky Monkey. Sure enough, I looked hard and found it was designed by Knizia. Another one is an American version of the newest game in the Schmidt Spiele EasyPlay line.

Has someone made a Geeklist of these clandestine eurogames brought over by Gamewright? I didn't find one.

(With this post I'm also testing my new Twitterfeed linkage. Could be the best of both worlds if I can do a "full" blog post here and have it picked up on twitter.)

-Mark

Boardgames To Go » BGTG 96 - Translations, Editions, and Revisions (with David Gullett)

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:43:52 +0000

Let me clear about this--most of the explanation for the delay in this podcast (recorded almost two months ago) is simply that I never got around to finishing & posting it. Part of that is because the show is longer than usual--longer than fits on a CD--and I thought I wanted to edit it down considerably. But as you know if you're a longtime listener, I don't really do that kind of editing. I don't do much editing at all, truthfully. (Feedback welcome on that, by the way.) After I gave up the idea of editing out so much content, I figured I'd just post the show in two parts, spaced about a week apart. Now that it's taken me another few weeks to even do that much, I'm giving up, deciding to post the whole thing. I don't think hardly anybody burns these onto CDs in 2009 anyway, and some gaming podcasts are even longer. So this is part procrastination/laziness, part experiment. Let me know what you think. Whew!

This is a topic of interest to the truly geeky, the ones that care a little too much about their games. That's me, and it's probably you, too. (After all, you're reading a boardgame blog, listening to a boardgame podcast! You've got it bad . . . ) You won't be in this hobby very long before you encounter some opinions, including your own, about which version of a game is best. The original? The one where they changed the artwork & components? Or the one where they redeveloped the game into something just a little different? Small World is the game that triggered me to record this episode. I'm a huge fan of Vinci, which was Small World's differently-themed predecessor.

Do I like Small World? Yes.

Do I prefer it to Vinci? No way.

Why not? Because of the theme. Vinci has a historic theme and map, while Small World has a fantasy theme and map. You know my preferences. I've heard some say that Vinci has no theme, but I don't understand that at all. Clearly we have very different ideas of what constitutes a game theme. (That's another podcast I'd like to tackle some day.) Of the several design modifications in the latter game, I prefer the original, but they're not a big deal. It's the theme that is driving my opinion, more than anything.

Which do I recommend? Well, it depends on the gamer, but I have to admit that most will probably prefer Small World. Certainly you can easily buy Small World, while Vinci is now, sadly, Out-Of-Print (OOP).

We talk about a lot more than Small World as I tried to generalize what's going on here. All those versions of Settlers, Cosmic Encounter, Medici, and even Careers make it in to the discussion.

-Mark

Fist Full of Comics & Games - Podcasts » Dialogues Vol 4 #02 – Steve Kenson of Green Ronin at Gen Con ‘09

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:08:45 +0000

Benton and Darin talk with gaming superstar and all-around nice guy, Steve Kenson.

Fist Full of Comics & Games - Podcasts » Dialogues Vol 4 #01 – James Wyatt & Bill Slavicsek at Gen Con ‘09

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:08:44 +0000

Benton is joined by Jason, from thetomeshow.com to speak with James Wyatt & Bill Slavicsek at Gen Con ‘09 for an Eberron filled interview.

Fist Full of Comics & Games - Podcasts » The Digital Matrix with Nate – Vol 1 #03 – Week of August 24, 2009

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:08:43 +0000

Nate’s got this week’s gaming news and some surprises…

Fist Full of Comics & Games - Podcasts » The Week in Geek Vol 2 #20 – Week of August 24, 2009

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:08:42 +0000

Well, the room is full with Darin, Nate, Chris, Paul, James, Benton, and Victor as they discuss:

District 9
Inglorious Bastards
Geist: the Sin Eaters RPG
Defining Gravity
And a host of other topics

Thanks to the fine lads and lasses at RPGnow.com for their generous support.

We used Chris’ MacBook to record and the sound is a bit off. Just a point of note.

Fist Full of Comics & Games - Podcasts » Monarch Comics Briefing Vol 3 #34 – Week of August 12, 2009

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:08:41 +0000

The big bad Jeff Griener from The Tome Show rejoins Ed for, well some comic book chatting ’cause, well that’s what we do here.

Fist Full of Comics & Games - Podcasts » Monarch Comics Briefing – August 15, 2009

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:08:40 +0000

Those of you that follow the Briefing regularly, have heard Ed speak of his dog Joey several times.

This past weekend, Joey died from complications of several seizures. As you may expect, Ed and his partner David are having a hard time dealing with their loss.

The MCB will be talking a two-week recording hiatus. During this time, we’ll be catching up on late shows and everything.

The MCB will be back on it’s regular recording schedule Aug 30th.

Thanks for your understanding and keeping us in your RSS feeders.

Fist Full of Comics & Games - Podcasts » The Week in Geek Vol 2 #20 – August 15, 2009 @ Gen Con 2009

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:08:39 +0000

Benton, Chris, John, Darin, and Victor are joined by Indiana native Jason at Gen Con and discuss some cool games like…

Bitch
Sweet Agatha
Ribbon Drive
Trailer Park Wars
Red Neck Life
Alpha/Omega
Geist
Dante’s Inferno
Dragon Age: Origins
Polaris
and many others…

This week’s episode is supported by the generous people at www.rpgnow.com.
Please check them out.

Fist Full of Comics & Games - Podcasts » The Week in Geek Vol 2 #19 – Week of August 10, 2009

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:08:38 +0000

		Dirk Manning joins Victor and Benton to discuss his recently published Nightmare World – 13 Tales of Terror by Image’s new imprint Shadow Line Comics.

Fist Full of Comics & Games - Podcasts » Hello world!

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:08:37 +0000

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Fist Full of Comics & Games - Podcasts » Monarch Comics Briefing Vol 3 #33 – Week of August 5, 2009

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:08:36 +0000

Jason Yarn rejoins Ed. Yep. He does. It’s true. Listen and respect….

This week’s episode is supported by the generous people at www.rpgnow.com.
Please check them out.

Fist Full of Comics & Games - Podcasts » Dialogues Vol 4 #02 – Steve Kenson of Green Ronin at Gen Con ‘09

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:11:11 +0000

Benton and Darin talk with gaming superstar and all-around nice guy, Steve Kenson.

Fist Full of Comics & Games - Podcasts » Dialogues Vol 4 #01 – James Wyatt & Bill Slavicsek at Gen Con ‘09

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:53:49 +0000

Benton is joined by Jason, from thetomeshow.com to speak with James Wyatt & Bill Slavicsek at Gen Con ‘09 for an Eberron filled interview.

Fist Full of Comics & Games - Podcasts » The Digital Matrix with Nate – Vol 1 #03 – Week of August 24, 2009

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:32:33 +0000

Nate’s got this week’s gaming news and some surprises…