Six Sided Rhinoceros

Loving the Dice Tower News

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:57:00 +0000

As much as I love to drop in and peruse Board Game Geek on an almost daily basis, finding easy-to-digest, headline news about board games isn't quite as simple to find there as it should be.

Enter the new (at least to me) Dice Tower News blog by Tom Vasel and company. Wow, this is exactly what I've been looking for! Small, bite-sized chunks of gaming news in a clear, concise, easy-to-read format. It reminds me in some ways of the Tabletop Gaming News website geared to miniatures wargamers, and it steals some of the thunder from Purple Pawn. But you can never have too much GOOD information, so this is truly a welcome addition the board gaming community. Check it out!

Gnomes on the Brain

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:55:00 +0000

Just found this cool web blog solely dedicated to the fantastic Gnome Wars miniatures wargame.

For the next 59 days, the blog is covering the author's preparations for several Gnome Wars battle games that are being run during the Cold Wars convention in Lancaster, PA (March 8 - 11).

Check it out.

I own and have reviewed the Gnome Wars rulebook, but have yet to get the game to the table. It looks like a really fun and hilarious system, and the games I've seen of it being played at various HMGS East conventions rank amongst the most memorable and entertaining wargames I've ever seen played.

I'm currently painting up some Swiss regiments (arquebusiers), with some Germans waiting in the wings. I'm planning to use these figures to form some gnome gunner regiments for my fantasy armies in the upcoming Sword of Severnia campaign that my buddies and I are starting this year. But I would love to get enough of these awesome little dudes to fight some Gnome Wars skirmishes against my friend Kevin's set of Leprechauns. And oh yeah, I need some bunny cavalry!

On the Campaign Trail

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:20:00 +0000

As some readers of this blog may recall, I've been designing and playtesting a set of fantasy battle rules since 2006. The game is called Sword of Severnia and it's a tactical miniatures wargame typically played by 2-6 people on a 6' x 4' tabletop.

SoS is in the same genre as miniatures games like Warhammer, Battlelore, Hordes of the Things, Kings of War, and Warmaster. But my wargame is not tied to any particular manufacturer's range of figures and it has some unique game elements that make it play a good bit differently than other games in the same genre. Ultimately, it offers more interesting decisions and is more fun; in my humble opinion of course!

I spent a good chunk of 2006-2008 designing, testing, and refining the game while I ran my small business. But since moving to a consulting role with Hershey in 2009, the time that I've been able to devote to game development has severely diminished. It has been a real challenge to keep things moving ahead towards the ultimate goal of getting the game published. But I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

This past Fall, my burning desire to start a full map-based wargame campaign was rekindled. Not only would this be a helluva lot of fun for me and my 3 wargaming buddies, but it would make our battles really mean something. No more isolated, one-off battles; this would be a series of connected battles and savvy diplomatic actions that decided the fates of mythical nations and their kings. Plus, it would spur us to playtest the hell out of the Sword of Severnia tactical game rules on a regular basis. So it was a true Win-Win proposition.

All I needed was to design and write-up some campaign rules. Easier said than done, but I wasn't going to be denied. I spent about 6 weeks developing the game rules to my liking, liberally borrowing ideas from earlier campaign rule sets that I've developed over my 30+ years as a game design hobbyist. I sent them out to the game-group, and we met to review and discuss them. I've got a few minor tweaks to make, but so far so good with the rules. Crown of Severnia, the campaign rules that tie in with my tactical battle game, has officially been born. Woot!

Campaign preparations are now underway. We've even created a website to display updated maps, track stats for our realms and warlords, share campaign news and propaganda, etc. Turn-1 of the campaign should hopefully start within the next 6 weeks. I'm really excited!

Now that my beloved campaign concept has come to fruition, I've been looking for other sources of inspiration to stimulate my creative juices and help me add more bells and whistles to my core set of campaign rules. One book that I recently purchased for this purpose is the Warhammer General's Compendium by Jeremy Vetock and Eric Sarlin.

Wow! I've only touched the surface of this hefty tome, but I can already say that it's the best book on wargame campaigns that I've ever read. Chock full of gorgeous pictures and interesting ideas, it's a must-have for any serious gamer looking to get into miniature wargame campaigns.

I found it very interesting to see the kernel of several ideas that I used in my own map-based campaign rules system. Great minds think alike sometimes! But there is certainly plenty of other stuff in here to inspire me, and it showed me just how many varieties of campaign systems there can be. Although it's sadly out-of-print, this simply amazing book is well worth trying to track down for a reasonable price on eBay, Alibris, Amazon, etc.

Fight On!

WarParty coming to a table near you

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:10:00 +0000

Great news! Looks like Lock N Load Publishing is officially publishing WarParty, their new fantasy wargame, sometime in the 1st quarter of 2012.

I know this because (a) the game was just fully funded on Kickstarter, and (b) LNL just charged my credit card for the pre-order that I placed last year.

For more info about how the game plays, check out this helpful video review by the illustrious Undead Viking.

Party On!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:05:00 +0000

Here's a really cool TROLL figure that I want in my army... You can get him from Red Box Games...

Zeus on the Loose

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:55:00 +0000

Really liking the new Greek Mythology range by Foundry. Their prices are always a good bit on the steep side for those of us who live in the USA, but their quality is always excellent.

The Argonauts, Harpies, Centaurs, Satyrs, and Chimera are particularly well done.

Check out the whole range here...
Foundry Greek Mythology Range

Keeping 2011 Alive

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:40:00 +0000

This blog has been severely neglected. Why? Well...

I suppose there were too many other things vying for attention in my spare time in 2011. I've been working on revisions to my miniature wargame rules and have been developing a campaign system for it as well. I started walking regularly this year (although I'm on hiatus now that it's Winter). I went to several game conventions and lots of music concerts and plays. I spent the better part of a week at the Jersey Shore, and visited New York City in the Winter and Fall. And I finally discovered Facebook and frittered away some time there.

Sadly, one thing that I didn't get to do much of was play games. As a result, I didn't have much to blog about here. I'm hoping to fix that in 2012.

Wish me luck.

Zen Again: The Unpainted Minis Pile

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 03:28:00 +0000

I've been collecting miniatures wargames figures for over 30 years. During that time, I've amassed quite a collection of little men, be they plastic, pewter, or white metal. I've never taken the time to count them, but I easily have a few thousand of the tiny buggers.

Roughly half of the minis I own are painted. While I've painted my share of figures over the years and really enjoy the artistic process, a simple lack of time has resulted in my purchasing the majority of my painted minis off of eBay or from vendors & flea market traders at HMGS East conventions.

Lately, I've been trying to make more time to paint miniatures. I've done more painting in the last few months than I've done in a very long time, although my output is still extremely low in comparison to those highly devoted mini hobbyists out there. Anyway, at least I'm trying.

Recently, I finished a pretty cool piece of terrain; a Viking long-house (Acheson Creations). It came out well. I'm currently painting 2 regiments of Swiss Gnome arquebusiers (12 minis in all) and they're about 70% complete. I'm also 95% done on a trio of Troll spearmen (Privateer) and a River Troll (Citadel), with just some final detailing work to do. I'm also 85% done touching up a large group of Reptilian Cavalry (GW), and 35% done with a huge Dire Troll (Privateer). So real progress is being made, and it feels good.

That leaves the "other half" of my collection, the unpainted masses who have yet to see action on the fictional battlefields arrayed across my dining room, and whom have never been shown off on a shelf or in a display case. Poor bastards. This afternoon I took a look into the large tub of blister packs that I had. It amazed me as to what was in there, so I took a few pics. Check this out...

Within this tub of figures there are minis from Crocodile Games, Eureka, Bronze Age, GW / Citadel, Reaper, Black Orc, Foundry, Mirliton, West Wind, Otherworld, Alternative Armies, Fenryl, Privateer, RAFM, Irregular, Brigade Games, Marauder, DragonRune, Heartbreaker, Grenadier, Kenzer & Co, and Ral Partha.

Wow... So many cool figures! What should I paint next?

Perhaps Wargods Sebeki (gator-men) or those nifty Eureka frogs? Maybe some Barbarians from Bronze Age, DragonRune Orcs, or Sidhe celtic elves from Alternative Armies?

How about that classic limited edition Thrud the Barbarian from Citadel circa early 1980's? Or what about those awesome pig-faced orcs from Otherworld?

The list seems endless. And what's even scarier; I have another large box of unpainted boxed-sets to boot (Warhammer stuff, Dwarf Wars, Ral Partha Gnolls, Front Rank medievals, etc.).

Ah, the life of a veteran wargamer; so many unpainted figures, so little time to paint them all!

Fall In 2010 -- Quick Convention Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 00:38:00 +0000

Last weekend (OCT 29th and 30th), I travelled down to Lancaster, PA for Fall In 2010, the third and smallest of the three annual miniatures wargaming conventions run by HMGS East. This year's event was held at the Lancaster Host Resort on Route 30 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

I had an absolute blast spending 2 consecutive days shopping for figures/terrain/paints/rules at the large Vendor Hall, hunting for bargain finds in the Flea Market, and observing some massive wargames in progress. I didn't play in any wargames this time around or spend any time at the painting workshops, but that didn't dampen my enthusiasm. Tiring as it is to spend 6+ hours on your feet shopping for toy soldiers and other geeky treasures, it sure beats the hell out of working!

My good friend Kevin and I carpooled down to the convention on Friday. Compared to the past fall conventions over the last 5 years, it seemed as if attendance was appreciably down this year and fewer games were being played. Part of that may actually be a mirage, and can probably be attributed to the move from the cozy confines of the Gettysburg venue to the more spacious Lancaster Host. But the fact that the con conflicted with many people's plans for the Halloween weekend definitely hurt attendance, and resulted in a few regular vendors (Splintered Light, Wargames LLC, the Last Square, etc.) not appearing at the convention. That wasn't a big deal to us; we had more room to maneuever through the flea market and shopping hall.

I didn't leave the Vendor Hall empty handed. I scooped up 3 blister packs of Gripping Beast Viking hirdmen and 4 sets of LBM shield decals from the Architects of War booth.

I also purchased a very nicely painted and reasonably priced undead warband (about 16 figures) which included a really cool dark necromancer, a skeleton jester, and ogre-like demonic hero.

Added to that was a McFarlane Dragon for $10, and 6 new pots of paint (some Privateer P3 and some Vallejo acrylics). All things considered, it was a nice little haul for about $100 total.

I didn't find anything that tickled my fancy in the Flea Market, although Kev got some truly great deals on near-mint board games ($5 for Pirate's Cove, and $20 for Knizia's Lord of the Rings co-op game + first expansion) that I would have scarfed up had he not discovered them first!

On Saturday, I took a 14-year old boy named Landon down to Fall In. It was his first exposure to miniatures wargames on a massive scale and it seemed like he had a really fun time. He mentioned that he would be interested in going again (perhaps to the March convention), so maybe I just brought another young-gamer into the fold. Let's hope so!

We flitted from table to table, watching a bunch of games that were being played and soaking in the wargaming atmosphere. Just seeing the beautiful terrain, massive array of painted minis, and wide variety of games across every period imaginable is exciting. I know that's what really drew me into wargaming, and I wanted Landon to get a good taste of it. All of the pictures in this blog-post are from ancients games going on in the main-hall next to the Flea Market, but that was just the tip of the iceberg, and there were numerous games with much prettier terrain and larger hordes of well-painted minis.

Landon's interests are focused mainly on World War II and sci-fi games (Warhammer 40K in particular), but he seems open to just about anything which is kinda cool for a young guy. After thoroughly scouring the flea market, he decided that the best way to spend his limited funds was to buy a unit of nicely painted space marines and a late 60's era plastic model kit of a Walther P38 pistol. Well played kiddo, well played.

I snagged a lovely, expertly painted, whip-wielding demon in the Flea Market for $10 (sort of a small-sized Balrog). But other than that, my flea market take-home was non-existant. Kind of a disappointment there to be honest.

I returned to the Vendor Hall and snagged 2 really well-painted Orc Chariots for $40 total, and was quite pleased with that pickup. I also visited the friendly folks at the Cavalcade Wargames booth and purchased some of their Samurai Orcs (freakin' awesome figs!) and a Minotaur that's not yet available in their online store. Not only do I like the range of figures that Cavalcade is releasing, but I'm always willing to support nice people in the hobby. So I'll surely be visiting them again at future cons.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Hopefully, I will take some pictures of the new acquisitions and share them on the blog when I get a chance. Stay tuned.

PEACE!

Butterfly Attention Span

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 01:42:00 +0000

Sheesh! Too many things are going on in my frazzled life right now. I'm totally swamped at work. My boss is on vacation in the Caribbean and I'm juggling the work that he usually does along with my own day-to-day stuff (which includes starting the design on a brand new project). Overtime is foisting itself upon me like an unwanted guest.

In the little spare time I do have, I'm utterly unfocused. I had been watching the Fightin' Phillies in the MLB playoffs, but to my grave disappointment, they blew it thanks to a complete lack of clutch-hitting and lost the NLCS to the underdog Giants. Blech! At least I now have some extra time in the evenings to do...

Painting perhaps? I've started a miniature painting project, doing 2 regiments of Swiss Gnome arquebusiers, but it has been interrupted by constant starts and stops. It's hard finding a 3-hour chunk of time to break out the pots and slap some paint. Gotta get back to it, because these minis are KEWL with a capital K. But Halloween is upon us and that means holiday prep...

I setup a giant, inflatable 8-foot spider in my front garden for Halloween, which will hopefully scare the bejesus out of any little kids who come to my house on Trick or Treat Night.

Also.... I'm in the middle of reading a hilarious book called Achtung Schweinhund about one man's obsession with miniatures wargaming (a.k.a. toy soldiers). I'm lucky if I get to read 2 chapters a week, primarily because...

I'm trying to find time to squeeze in revisions to the latest edition of my core playtest rulebook for Sword of Severnia, the miniature wargame that I'm designing. I've spent 20 hours on that over the past 4-5 weekends, but it still isn't near done. So instead...

I'm planning a trip to the Fall In convention in Lancaster, PA over the OCT 29 thru OCT 31 weekend to get my miniature wargaming juices flowing full throttle again. I'm really looking forward to it and hope to buy some shiny new toys. More stuff to paint? Maybe. Some cool pro-painted minis from Evil Bob's or the Toy Soldier Gallery? Perhaps, although don't tell my wife. Digging thru the wares in the hopes of finding super-cool treasure in the Flea Market? Definitely.

Oh and Hershey Bears Hockey has started. Anna and I went to our first game last Saturday (OCT 23). The Bears pasted the Phantoms 5 to 1. Niiiice.

And there's also..... well more stuff. I won't bore you. Suffice it to say that my attention span is that of a butterfly right now. Make that a drunken butterfly in a field full of flowers.

It happens. I just hope I can recover soon.

My Favorite Gaming Podcasts

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 01:39:00 +0000

I'm a very odd bird. Why? Well it's not because I squawk and peck at my dinner. No, no, no. Rather, it's because unlike most people, my iPod Touch contains very little in the way of actual music. Instead, it's bursting at its electronic seams with podcasts. More specifically, it's loaded with podcasts about gaming (board games and miniature wargaming). Yeah, go ahead and think it. I suppose that I'm truly a geek.

Over the last 5+ years, I've listened to more gaming-related podcasts than I care to count. Heck, I have well over 500 gaming podcasts currently stored in my iTunes library. There's such a wide selection of shows to listen to.

The vast majority of the podcasts that I listen to cater to hobby board game enthusiasts. There are also a couple of good shows geared towards miniatures wargames. As mini-gaming is my favorite hobby of the moment, I wish there were more podcasts on this subject. But since wargaming with miniatures is such a visual hobby, that probably goes a long way towards explaining the lack of audio-shows that discuss this form of gaming.

You might be wondering, which podcasts have become my absolute favorites? Well, let's start with the cream of the crop. These shows have stood the test of time, and are still as interesting and informative today as they were when I first started listening to them several years ago.

The Dice Tower -- I listen to a dozen different podcasts on a fairly regular basis. When faced with the inevitable question of "what shall I listen to tonight?" as I scroll through my iPod playlist, my first choice is always the Dice Tower. This well-produced, 60-90 minute variety show is chock full of interesting segments that never drag on too long. In addition to the weekly insights provided by co-hosts Tom Vasel and Eric Summerer, there are a host of other contributors (Moritz, Geoff, Mark, Sam, Joe, Giles, Mary, Ryan, Dexter & The Chief, etc.) so you're guaranteed to get a smattering of opinions on just about every type of board game imaginable. The Top-10 Lists, a staple of the podcast, are always fun and have caused me to buy more board games over the past few years than I care to admit! But the Dice Tower truly shines because Tom Vasel, tireless game evangelist, is the Energizer Bunny of gamers. He just keeps going and going, enthusiastically playing and reviewing games, and sharing his vast knowledge of board games with anyone that crosses his path. I find that my tastes in board games often mirror Tom's more closely than any other podcaster out there, so I'm always keen on hearing about new games that he adores.

Meeples & Miniatures -- Without a doubt, Meeples & Miniatures is simply the best podcast about miniature wargaming in existence. As an American wargamer, it took me a few espisodes to get used to the thick British accent emanating from the mouth of host Neil Shuck. I've grown to love it now, and Neil seems like an affable chap and TRUE wargamer. What I mean by TRUE is that his interests lie all over the map. Neil enjoys exploring new rules and checking out the latest shiny figures, and he owns more minis than he'll ever actually have the time to paint. Plus, he's not just focused on the mainstream games and models (e.g. Warhammer and DBA) that every wargamer already knows about. He explores the true depth of this great hobby with an honest and thought-provoking perspective. And his "View from the Veranda" chats with Henry Hyde of Battlegames magazine are always highly entertaining.

The Spiel -- Interestingly enough, I first discovered this podcast by way of The Dice Tower, as Tom Vasel said it was one of his favorites to listen to. Co-hosts Stephen Conway and Dave Coleson have a love of games that's truly infectious. Their exhaustive game reviews are the best in the business, but their varied segments (Back-shelf Spotlight, Truckloads of Goober, and Game Sommelier) are really what makes this podcast shine. They also do a superb job breaking their podcast into easily searchable segments, so you can skip around if desired. Recently, the show lengths are creeping up and over the 2-hour mark, which is overly long in my opinion, but that hasn't stopped me from listening. Spiel on guys!

Game On! with Cody & John -- This podcast hasn't been around as long as the previous three, but recently reached the 50-episode mark and shows no signs of slowing down. Self-proclaimed "regular guys" Cody Jones and John Richard pull you into their conversations as if you were a friend sitting in their living-room chatting about games. Amazingly, Cody sounds eerily like my childhood next-door neighbor (Mike Rajnik) and even tosses out similar witty remarks. It's kinda freaky, but it also pulled me in to listen to the show more closely from the beginning. One great thing about the show is that it's an easy listen, and never drones on too long, falling into that 60-90 minute listening sweet-spot more often than not. I really like the new, free-wheeling conversation format that Cody & John have switched to, and I hope they stick with that as it helps differentiate them from my other favorite gaming podcasts.

There are also several gaming-related shows that haven't been on the podcast scene for 5 years, but are definitely worth your listening time. If I had to choose a "best of the rest", it would include these podcasts:

Gameopolis -- Episode #1 of this podcast got me hooked because these guys went "old school" and listed several old classics among their favorite games of all time. It's refreshing to see gamers who aren't purely smitten by "the cult of the new" when it comes to tabletop games. Their regular "dusty old box" segment is a real treat. Another big plus is that Mark and Jeff don't take themselves too seriously and come across as down-to-earth guys who would be fun to game with. I also love that they keep their main shows around 60 minutes in length, and supplement those with shorter "game session reports". The session reports give you the feel of how a particular game plays without the hosts needing to spend 30 minutes on a boring, blow-by-blow rules regurgitation. Well done guys; looking forward to future episodes.

D6 Generation -- I'm torn between loving this show and hating it. Why? On the one hand, it's really well-produced, colorful, often hilarious and thought-provoking, and nobody does in-depth game reviews any better than the D6G gang (Russ, Craig, and Raef). Craig Gallant really cracks me up. I admire the fact that these guys are unabashed mini-gamers and lovers of Ameritrash games; they speak to my tastes more often than not. What bugs me about the D6G is the length of the shows. They're too friggin long. Who has the time to sit down and listen to a 3 or 4 hour show? Not me. So far too often, the podcast sits on my playlist untouched, until I can miraculously find a free night to hide from my wife and listen to a whole show. Less is sometimes more guys.

Noisemaker -- Of all the gaming podcasts that I regularly listen to, this one is the most "home-spun labor of love" of the batch. While the show lacks the production values of the Dice Tower or Spiel or D6G, it makes up for that with truly interesting content. Bert's love of miniature wargaming shines through. He's a do-it yourselfer and willingly shares his ideas about rules design, particularly his own home-made rules. I really enjoy when Bert voices his likes/dislikes about various mass-market rules systems. Always insightful, enlightening, and never boring, Noisemaker is highly recommended if you're a wargamer who likes to dabble in all aspects of the hobby.

So tabletop gamers, why not do yourself a favor and take some time to check out these great podcasts? I'm sure you'll learn a thing or two about games that you never knew before, and will gather some great tips on games worth playing and adding to your collection.

Did Ya Miss Me?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 03:05:00 +0000

After a long hiatus from blogging, I'm back. Honestly, I kinda miss it.

I really doubt that anyone missed me, because let's face it folks, I don't exactly have a long and storied history of faithfully writing to this blog every day, week, or even every month (GULP). Blogging takes dedication. I suppose there are too many other things that I'm more dedicated to, and my postings take a back seat to them.

But anyway, I'm feeling the urge to blog again. Perhaps a break was all that I needed. It's not like I've run out of fun and cool stuff to chat about. Maybe, just maybe, I'll get into a much more regular routine and this blog won't fade into obscurity. At least it's time to give it the old college try.

So what's been on my Fun Radar of late? Well...

Several weeks ago I got to play some board games with my friend Kevin. I finally got to play CAVE TROLL. It's one of Fantasy Flight Games' board games in their Silver Line series, and was designed by the very talented Tom Jolly.

Players expecting to find a wild and wooly dungeon-crawler will be disappointed because Cave Troll isn't that type of game. Rather, it's a strategic area-control game with a light fantasy theme. Kev and I played a 2-player game. Neither of us had ever played Cave Troll before, but found it pretty easy to grasp the rules. I found it to be highly entertaining and thought-provoking for a game that plays in just 45-60 minutes. It would definitely be a lot more chaotic with 4 players, and you probably wouldn't be able to plan ahead as much, but it's nice when a game provides different flavors depending on how many people play. Bottomline, I loved the game and it will be seeing a lot more play in the future.

We also got to play a game of DUNGEON TWISTER 2: PRISON. Without a shadow of doubt, Dungeon Twister is one of my Top-10 games of all time. The best way to think of it is a marriage of Chess and a fantasy dungeon crawl. It's colorful, highly replayable, and a very strategic thinker. In fact, this is a game you should definitely play with a 2-3 minute sand timer, otherwise some players will succumb to Analysis-Paralysis trying to evaluate every possible option. The DT2 version adds some really nice plastic playing pieces which just beg to be painted.

One thing that crossed my mind after our game was this: "wouldn't it be awesome to play Dungeon Twister with a 3D-dungeon and painted minis?" After some hunting online, I came across this article explaining how to build a 3D Dungeon Twister game board. I must admit, building this isn't for the "modelling challenged". Heck, I'm not sure I really have the time to make all that, though it certainly looks extremely cool. Another option that's probably cheaper and definitely less time-intensive might be to purchase some of those Bendy Dungeon Walls from Z-Man Games. I'm thinking about it. Heck, being a miniatures wargamer, I already have tons of proxy figures that would work great in a Dungeon Twister setting. We shall see.

Anyway, it was great to be gaming again. Thanks Kev!

At the end of October, I'll be off to FALL IN 2010 at the Lancaster Host for more miniature wargaming goodness. I'm sure that I'll have something to report from that convention, and perhaps I'll have some pictures to share from this go around. I hope you'll visit again and see!

Until next time..... PEACE!

The Middle 20 -- Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:58:00 +0000

Back in early February 2010, I listed my Top 15 favorite board games. That was the start of my effort to cull my board games collection down to 50 total games.

Well now it's time to pick out "The Middle 20". Since I'm feeling quite a bit under the weather today, I'll save my brief game-by-game comments until next time. For now, I'm just going to list 20 games (10 that I've played, plus 10 more in my collection that I haven't played yet but which I'm really hoping to get to the table over the next 12 months). So without further adieu, let's see the Middle 20 list!

10 Games I've Played

Through the Desert -- Strategy (Abstract, Caravan Building)
Colossal Arena -- Strategy (Economic / Bidding, Monster Gladiator Battles)
Talisman -- Adventure (Quest, Fantasy)
Cosmic Encounter -- Strategy (Negotiation, Aliens)
Battle Cry -- Wargame (Tactical, Civil War)
Dragon's Gold -- Strategy (Negotiation, Dividing Treasure)
Cash 'N Guns -- Party (Negotiation, Mafia / Criminals)
No Thanks -- Strategy (Economic / Bidding, Cards)
Slapshot -- Sports (Strategy, Fantasy Hockey)
Fearsome Floors -- Adventure (Head-to-Head, Escape from Monster)

10 Games I Haven't Played Yet

Age of Conan -- Wargame (Campaign, Conan in Hyboria)
El Grande -- Strategy (Area Control, Spanish Knights)
Fire & Axe -- Strategy (Area Control, Viking Conquest)
Nexus Ops -- Wargame (Campaign, Sci-Fi)
Wallenstein -- Wargame (Campaign, 30 Years War)
Blood Bowl -- Sports (Strategy, Fantasy Football/Rugby)
Cave Troll -- Adventure (Head-to-Head, Escape from Troll)
Big City -- Strategy (Area Control, City Building)
Aladdin's Dragons -- Strategy (Economic / Bidding, Arabian Fantasy)
Condottiere -- Strategy (Area Control, Italian Renaissance Wars)

More details about each game next time!

Pictures from Sultans Wargame Day

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:26:00 +0000

Just felt like posting a few pictures from last Sunday's (FEB 21, 2010) Sultans Wargames Day held at my house in Enola, PA.

The guys (Wally, Geoff, and Kevin) came over to my place for another playtest of the Sword of Severnia miniatures wargame that I've been in the process of designing for 3+ years now.

Sunday's battle was between a Goblins/Orcs/Broog force and a mixed Elves/Barbarians army.

As it turned out, the Gobbos squeaked out a narrow victory, thanks in large part to some terrific Artillery shooting, a potent & timely spell, and an enemy Wulfen regiment which turned coat and defected from their army in an act of treachery. We had a blast. Can't wait for our March wargames day!

Below, Jarl Udu's Krone Barbarian warband faces off against the Thud Brothers (Mountain Trolls), while the Tiger Claws (Galenite barbarians) defend against a vicious charge from General Brindle's Great Orc battalion.

Here's a long shot of the battlefield from the left-flank perspective.

A contingent of Sylvan Elf Cavalry, Falernian Knights, and two warbands of Krone Barbarians find themselves stuck in ultra-slow going thanks to a "Druid's Revenge" spell cast by Brayzar Binch, an enemy Broog Shaman which entangled their legs with hundreds of creeping vines.

Stonebark, the lone Tree Man next to the boulder, stands ready to unleash some rocks towards enemy wolfriders and Duke Scuzzar, their Raptor-riding Goblin Lord.

Hopefully I can get my mini-tripod setup and get some better, more close-up shots next time.

Until then.... ATTACK!!!

Back on the Radar -- Miniature Wargaming

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:21:00 +0000

Switching jobs last Summer and winding down my software business didn't do any favors to my extracurricular life. My frequency of boardgaming and wargaming suffered, and the work I had been doing on my miniature wargame dropped off a cliff.

Well, it seems that finally things are beginning to turn around, albeit slowly. Baby steps... baby steps. I still need to actually make a SCHEDULE of my non-work activities so I can better focus on accomplishing those things I really enjoy doing (like painting, gaming, reading, etc.). Having too many interests can be a curse!

One of my favorite things is pushing it's way back into my life: miniature wargaming.

I finally got around to opening that package of nicely painted Nurgle plague bearers that I purchased on eBay back around Thanksgiving. I can't believe I ignored them for so long. They're actually really neat figures too, and I'm extremely tempted to stick some magnetic bases on these guys, build 3 stands of these twisted one-eyed guys, and create some stats for them so I can test them out in my Sword of Severnia wargame playtests. In SoS, these freakish demons are called Noxiks. I'll have to shoot some pics of them and post them on the blog soon.

Speaking of Sword of Severnia, after a several month hiatus, the gang is finally getting back together on FEB 21 for a Sunday Afternoon playtesting session. I'm hoping to test out some tweaked combat mechanics, a new variation of my WarChips mechanics relating to performing special in-game actions, and the use of magic items carried by Heroes/Leaders/Mages. It should be fun and enlightening to me as the game designer. I can see the game mechanics really taking on their final shape as I make a final push to refine & simplify as much as I can without losing the flavor of this deep game system.

I also recently pre-registered for Cold Wars 2010, the HMGS East winter miniatures wargaming convention being held at the Lancaster Host (PA) from March 11 thru 14. I can't wait to go, and will probably take off a day of work so that I can get down there for 2 days of action and shopping. There's nothing quite like an HMGS East convention to get your mini-gaming juices flowing in full force.

Gotta keep the good wargaming karma going, and maybe just maybe, I'll share a post-session report of our Sunday Sword of Severnia playtesting. It's going to be Geoff's Barbarian/Elf army facing off against my Goblin/Broog/Orc hordes again. Eventually, I'm hoping to create some stat cards for Wally's reptilian army, and pull together a Norse style Dwarf/Gnomes/Ice Trolls/Krones (Viking) army to complement my Undead army and Falernian Knights forces.

Talk to ya later!

New Games Mag -- Thru the Portal

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:11:00 +0000

It's a fact that there aren't many worthwhile magazines on the market that are devoted to providing a "broad brush" overview of hobby games (board games, card games, miniature wargames, and RPGs). Being a longtime hobby gamer myself, this really saddens me.

One of my old printed favorites, Knucklebones, ceased being published well over a year ago, although there are faint rumors of it coming back into print in a small, digest format. Several excellent mags geared towards miniature wargaming lovers have died as well (rest in printed peace Wargames Journal, Harbinger, and HMG Magazine).

There are still some very good printed magazines out there for miniature wargamers, including Battlegames, Dadi & Piombo, Miniature Wargames, Wargames Illustrated, and the venerable GW house rag - White Dwarf. Of the lot, Battlegames is my clear-cut favorite and a highly recommended read for any serious miniature wargaming enthusiast.

Unfortunately, things aren't so robust on the board-gaming side of the fence. But one new entry on the gaming e-zine scene is thru-the-portal, a new quarterly games magazine from Neil Meyer in the UK. Neil and some guest writers promise to do their best covering board games, card games, RPGs, miniature wargames, MMO's and the occasional computer game. You can download the e-zine for free from http://www.thru-the-portal.com. Issue #1 shows promise. It includes reviews of Pandemic, Small World, Bombay, Through the Desert, Dragon Age rpg, and an interview with the cover artist amongst other things. Check it out!

Culling My Game Collection -- Part 2 (Top 15 Games)

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:56:00 +0000

So how do I reduce my overgrown board games collection down to just 50 games? This isn't going to be easy! I have to start somewhere, so I'm going to lay down a few basic ground rules at the start.

GROUND RULES

#1 = Don't count expansions to a base-game. If I'm going to keep a game, I want to retain all of its expansions as well. After all, that's why we buy expansions in the first place; to enhance the fun of the base game and expand its replayability.

#2 = Don't count miniatures wargames. In my mind, miniature wargaming is really a separate hobby from board-gaming. Miniature gaming requires a greater time investment, since it encompasses collecting, painting, army construction, scenario design, playing games, and sometimes even campaigning. It's definitely a more CREATIVE hobby. In reality, it's probably the bigger love of the two gaming hobbies to me, so I'm going to exclude it here and discuss it on its own merits at a later time.

#3 = Focus on games that you're still interested in playing, and not those that you're keeping around purely for nostalgic reasons.

#4 = Not all games serve the same purpose. Light strategy board games and card games often work well with family members and casual gamers. Adventure games are great for fantasy & sci-fi buffs. Co-operative games are perfect for less competitive folks. Wargames and head-to-head strategy games satisfy the tastes of many hardcore gamers. Party games and tongue-in-check "take that" games are crowd pleasers and laughter inducers. There are several niches that a game collection needs to fill, and your game collection should be diverse enough to cover them.

Trying to condense the wide variety of board games into a small number of categories is a highly tricky task at best. Here's a swipe at categorizing the types of games in my collection. I've lumped my games into 5 basic categories, and narrowed down each category into 2-6 subcategories. Agree or disagree all you want, but this is what I'm going with:

<> Adventure (Co-Op, Head-to-Head, Quest)

<> Strategy (Area Control, Abstract, Deduction, Economic, Negotiation, Set Collection)

<> Wargame (Abstract, Campaign, Tactical)

<> Sports (Simulation, Strategy)

<> Party (Dice, Negotiation, Trivia, Word)

With these key points in mind, let's brainstorm and eventually try to whittle my board games collection down to 50 games. By the way, for those of you who are interested, you can see what games I own by checking out user SultanSevy on BoardGameGeek.

The NO BRAINER LIST (Top 15 Games)

Everyone has their favorite games; their personal No Brainer List of games they love to play and wouldn't think of getting rid of (at least at the moment!). For me, those games are as follows (grouped by basic category):

Adventure games:

Drakon = although not a true adventure game in the RPG sense, this Tom Jolly classic is perhaps my favorite 30-45 minute race-to-escape the dungeon game. The simple decision of whether to move your hero, or build a pathway to escape the dungeon, or screw your enemy is a truly delicious one. This has been a winner with my group of gaming buddies.
Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation (Deluxe) = think of a Lord of the Rings version of Stratego, but ten times better. A fast playing, thinky, and elegant head-to-head strategy adventure game from Reiner Knizia. Get Frodo safely to Mordor, or play Sauron's minions and try to eat him alive. LOVE IT!
Dungeon Twister = this could also go in the Strategy games section, but I classify it as a head-to-head adventure game. It pits 2 players trying to get their team of fantasy adventurers to escape an ever-changing dungeon before getting killed by the other team. The rules are fairly simple, but the decisions on how best to plan your escape are numerous. Plenty of expansions make this an infinitely replayable game. Not everyone's cup of tea because it can lead some players into analysis-paralysis. My suggestion is to play with a sand-timer to limit that problem.
Cutthroat Caverns = a much under-appreciated gem on BGG (at least from my perspective), this card-based adventure game is an interesting hybrid of co-op game and backstab-your-neighbor-to-win style of game. With a crowd of fun-loving gamers who don't take themselves too seriously, this game is a guaranteed blast. The back-&-forth TAKE THAT aspect of this game is second to none, and the creature card-art is gorgeous.
Shadows Over Camelot = my favorite pure co-operative adventure game of the bunch. I love the King Arthur theme and it's wonderfully brought to life by Days of Wonder with top-notch game components. The game has the right level of challenge, the Traitor element keeps you guessing, and the Merlin expansion adds even more fun. Superb.

Sports games:

Statis-Pro Baseball = this Avalon Hill classic is sadly out-of-print, but it was far and away my favorite baseball simulation game, and perhaps my most played game ever. Although I haven't played it for decades, I recently discovered an eBay store that sells new full-color player cards for the game. That really piques my interest!

Strategy games:

Domaine = currently my favorite area-control strategy game, although I haven't gotten to play El Grande yet. This is one of those easy-to-learn strategy games that features tough decisions and excellent strategic depth, but doesn't lend itself to over-analysis. Klaus Teuber is to be lauded for a truly superb game design here.
Ticket to Ride = collect sets of colored train-cards and place them on the board to build railway lines across America. The more railway connections and longer lines you build, the more points you score. This simple strategy set-collection game appeals to both hardcore and casual gamers alike, and should be in every true gamer's collection.
Kingsburg = a euro-style economic strategy game of building up your kingdom with an innovative dice-placing mechanic and a slight dose of fantasy (defending against hordes of monsters). The board is really pretty, there's a neat "block your opponent" factor and plenty of decisions, but it's not an overwrought brain-burner. Highly recommended.
Acquire = I have the classic 3M version from the late 1960's. This is probably my favorite pure economic strategy game. This Sid Sackson classic about hotel mergers and acquisitions sounds dry, but it's fun with competitive strategy gamers and still holds up really well today.

Wargames:

HeroScape = easily the best light, tactical wargame in my collection. The pre-painted miniatures and hex terrain are terrific, making this game a beauty to behold. And despite very simple rules, there's surprising tactical depth here and enormous replayability when you factor in the wide variety of expansion sets. Great fun for all ages.
Feudal = another classic from my youth, this abstract wargame from 3M is basically a medieval Chess-variant. It features beautiful medieval soldier pieces, which are still great by today's standards. Terrain plays a nice role in the game, as do archers, and you can vary the size of the armies and even play multi-player games. Elegant simplicity.
Battlelore = Richard Borg's "Command & Colors" series of card-driven tactical wargames provide a very playable and interesting twist on land-based warfare across several different periods. Since fantasy is my favorite genre, this is the game in his series that I instantly gravitated towards. The minis are cool, the card-driven play is fun and introduces the chaos of battlefield command & control, battles play quickly, the war-council mechanic is neat, and the expansions are seemingly endless. What's not to love?
Wizard Kings = the best fantasy campaign-style wargame I've played to date, although I'm hoping to be able to try out Runewars and Age of Conan sometime this year. I really love Columbia's block wargames. They provide a very cool fog-of-war element and an easy to understand attrition-based combat system. WK also leads the way here in a wide variety of terrain effects, a bevy of different armies and creatures, and a nice variety of campaign maps. It also lends itself nicely to creating custom game scenarios. This is probably CG's most replayable game and one I won't tire of anytime soon.
Hammer of the Scots = Braveheart in a board game. Another Columbia block wargame (this one by Jerry Taylor), with easy to learn rules, nice chunky blocks, a fun card-driven events mechanic, and truly challenging game play (especially when playing the Scots).

You may have noticed that I didn't include any PARTY games here. Sorry, but none of them made my Top 15 Games list. That's not a genre that really captivates me as much as the others.

Fifteen down and 35 more games to go. Stay tuned for the next 20 games in my next blog installment. That list will include some games in my collection that I haven't even played yet.

LATER!

Thoughts on Culling My Game Collection -- Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:56:00 +0000

There comes a point in every grown-up gamer's life when reality rears up and bites you squarely in the ass. With that chomp on your tush comes the sudden searing awareness: "holy crap, I own way too many games that I'm never going to get to play."

At first, you deny this painful and sad realization and think, "well I'll just make it a point to play my games more often." But life gets in the way, and your best intentions never really pan out. There's only so much time in the day. And if you're like me and have several hobbies, none of them really get lavished with as much attention as you might hope for. So while "regular gaming" is a noble pursuit, only the most single-minded stalwarts among the gamerati can really pull it off.

My reality is that while I love to play boardgames and card games, getting to play them once or twice a month is about the best I can hope for under current circumstances. And even that low frequency of play is a real stretch to achieve at times.

So with over 180+ games in my game collection (according to my BoardGameGeek stats, which includes expansions and many miniatures wargames that I own solely as reference/inspiration material), it's high time to admit that my collection is just TOO DAMN BIG. I need to start unloading some of those games which I'm no longer interested in, or don't forsee playing anytime soon (or perhaps ever).

So I'm thinking that I should reduce my collection of board games to around 50 games (just the base games -- excluding expansions, and ignoring miniatures games which are a special case for me). It might not sound so tough; after all, 50 games is still a lot of games to most folks. But I'll bet there will be 15 games sitting right on the CUSP of the cutoff-line pleading their little cardboard hearts out not to have the executioner's axe fall upon them.

I smell a Top-50 games list in Steve's collection coming soon.... Stay tuned for Part 2 of this post where I'll try my darndest to separate the wheat from the chaff.

A New Approach

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 01:27:00 +0000

Sheesh on a leash and a bag of hashish. This whole blogging thing is a real learning experience. It's not that I've struggled with the technological end of things. Blogger is certainly easy enough to use. If you can write an email, you can blog. The real trick is finding the TIME to post to your blog on a regular basis. And that's the part I'm really struggling with.

I've learned that my previous blogging approach, which was to write lengthier posts, often covering an assortment of related topics, just doesn't work all that well for me anymore. Sure, it's great fun to write and read the meatier stuff. But it's extremely hard to find the time and personal motivation to create those longer blog-posts.

Let's face it, people are butterflies when it comes to reading stuff on the web. They flit about, fluttering to one web-site and drinking a little online nectar, and then they fly to another site for another quick slurp of digital juice. From my perspective, blogs aren't really meant to contain exhaustive posts detailing everything you always wanted to know about X-Y-Z topic. They're meant to appeal to the butterfly in all of us; just give me that quick little drink of goodness and then I'm off to the next site to read something else.

So I'm going to try something different. I'm going to try to write SHORT blog-posts, and write them MORE FREQUENTLY. You know, small little doses of coolness. My plan is that these suckers won't take me too long to write, and nobody will get bored wading through a long post. Plus, I can keep the blog fresh, rather than posting once or twice a month (or even longer as has been the case of late!).

Let's see how it goes. It's a new year; time for something new right?

Yeah... I can relate

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:08:00 +0000

If you're a miniatures wargamer, this should make you chuckle.

Courtesy of Larry Leadhead.

Game Zombie

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 01:56:00 +0000

And like a zombie, he emerged from the sodden ground, caked in filth, stench-ridden, and ready to feast on... GAMES!

I've been away from this blog for quite some time. Changing jobs and drastically altering your life as a result tends to do that to a person. It has taken me 3+ months to return to normalcy; albeit a new form of normalcy. Anyway, I'm back from the dead so to speak. I hope I can hang around for awhile this time.

My gaming life has been ultra quiet since mid-July. I've taken a hiatus from development of my Sword of Severnia fantasy miniatures wargame, but work on that is about to resume. The playtesting group and myself will be meeting tomorrow afternoon to reignite the SoS fires, and hopefully get things moving again. We've come so far on this marathon; I'm not about to quit on it 1-mile short of the finish line. I'm resigned to the fact that it will take longer to finish everything to my satisfaction now that I'm only able to spend about 1/10th of the time on it compared to when it was part of my daily work-week. C'est la vie. But I'm still excited about the game, and one way or the other, it WILL see the light of day.

On the miniatures front, I have made some recent eBay purchases over the past 6 weeks. I acquired a nicely painted set of 10 new Khorne Bloodthirster Demons. They look menacing and fill a previously empty niche in my sizeable fantasy-minis collection. I also got a cool looking Cyclops from Reaper. He has a professional, well-executed paint-job and I can't wait to let him see some battlefield action on the well-trod fields of Severnia.

I also purchased some reptilian dino-riders (GW figures) from a seller in Hong Kong. Overall, they're solidly painted, but I was disappointed with the lack of detailing on the faces of the lizardmen riders. When paying $100+ bucks for a set of painted minis, I expect eyes and teeth to be painted, no unpainted areas in "hard to reach places" and tiny details which separate an average mini from a top-notch one. I'm going to have to touch-these up myself, which I shouldn't have to do. I'm iffy as to whether I'll buy from that seller again. Live and learn.

I'm also hoping to get some well-painted Foundry Vikings in sometime soon. I'll post pictures when (IF?) I get them. I'm hoping to cobble together a Norse/Viking (barbarian) army for SoS, but also have enough troops that can serve double-duty in ancients/Dark Ages wargames.

On the boardgaming front, there's a hell of a lot to get excited about. It always seems like a slew of great games come out during the 2nd-half of the year, usually starting in August to coincide with GenCon and continuing into late-October when Essen Spiel takes place in Germany.

New games that have landed squarely on my radar include:

Dice Town = a light, dice-rolling / poker style hybrid with a Wild West theme
Chaos in the Old World = a 4-player conquest game where each player takes the role of a chaos-god and his minions in the Warhammer fantasy universe. Lotsa buzz on this.
Richard III = the long-awaited block-wargame from Columbia Games that takes place during the Wars of the Roses period in England. I loved Hammer of the Scots, and this promises to be as-good or better.
Space Hulk (3rd Edition) = limited-run of the new edition of this GW classic are hard to find, but the game oozes theme and features awesome Space Marines and Genestealer (aliens) minis.
Dungeon Twister 2: Prison = DT is one of my favorite games, despite having not played it nearly as often as I'd like to. With new plastic minis and new rules including a solo variant, this is an absolute no-brainer MUST BUY for me.
The Adventurers = an Indiana Jones style adventure game with promising minis and a fun, beer & pretzels play style. Lotsa room for expansions.
Cyclades = an upcoming game about building cities to earn the favor of the Greek Gods, and featuring some awesome minis and great artwork. High on my Want-to-Buy list.
Dungeon Lords = basically the boardgame version of the video-game Dungeon Keeper.
Stronghold = a 2-player strategic, siege warfare game with a gorgeous looking board. Seems like an interesting mix of Euro and wargame mechanics. I'm intrigued.
Dominion Intrigue = I'm behind the curve on the new "hotness" that is the Dominion craze. I was initially skeptical of how fun a deck-building game would be, but the opinions of several podcasters whose opinions I respect has me itching to try the game and its new expansion.

And the most recent buzz on BGG is the news of an upcoming big-box game from Fantasy Flight Games called RUNEWARS. I've never succumbed to the lure of Twilight Imperium 3 (not a space-opera aficionado). And I've even resisted buying Descent, because I just don't have enough people who can get together to play a 4-5 hour game that isn't a miniatures wargame. But Runewars may be just the game that breaks my will. It's a remake of Battlemist, and sounds somewhat like a mix of Wizard Kings, Quest of the DragonLords, and Twilight Imperium, set in the world of Runebound. Okay FFG, you got me. Unless the early-reviews on this are awful (which I highly doubt), this will be the big-box, time-vampire game that finally lures me in to the world of massive FFG goodness.

And last but not least, some game conventions are on the horizon. I'm still deciding on whether I'm heading to FALL IN 2009, the annual Fall miniatures wargaming convention of HMGS East. This year's convention is in Gettysburg (at the Eisenhower Convention Center) from 11/06 thru 11/08. I'm not sure that most of my wargaming buddies are able to make it, so it might be a "go solo or don't go at all" deal for me this year. We shall see....

There's also a local gaming convention in Lemoyne PA the following weekend (Nov 14-15) which is being run by the owner of That Game Store (Lemoyne), who took over the store from my friend Mayer Foner when he retired last year. The convention is Organized Kahnfusion 26, and offers local Central PA gamers a chance to get-together and play boardgames, RPGs, card games, and wargames. I think there's even a Johnny Reb minis game being held.

So that's the scoop on games. I hope they start becoming a regular part of my monthly schedule, now that fantasy baseball season is over and I've become more acclimated to my new work environment in Chocolatetown USA.

See you next time.... Have fun gaming!

Summer Gaming

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:35:00 +0000

Although my Summer gaming has been lackluster so far, things are about to pickup. Read on and I'll tell you why...

HISTORICON 2009

Summer's biggest miniature wargaming convention is right around the corner. Historicon 2009 is being held at the Lancaster Host hotel and resort from July 16th thru the 19th in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This is HMGS East's Silver Anniversary, so this show promises to be a great one. It's hard to believe that HMGS East has been kicking around for 25 years. Has it really been that long since I started going to wargaming shows at the old Penn Harris in Harrisburg, PA?

I'm planning a foray down to this wargamer's nirvana on Saturday, July 18. This is mainly a shopping excursion for me, unless I can convince my friend Kevin to hang around and join in an evening game at the Host (they have a few pretty neat fantasy/pulp style games running that night, although I'm always up for a Dark Age or Medieval battle as well).

I certainly don't need to buy any more unpainted metal soldiers. My paintbrush has yet to touch the minis that I purchased at the last two HMGS East cons. I've got Eureka frogs and a Beowulf warband, croc-men from Crocodile Games, Swiss Gnomes for Gnome Wars, barbarians from Bronze Age, and medieval knights and archers from Fronk Rank lined up in the painting queue. My New Year's Resolution to PAINT MORE OFTEN has failed miserably! But hey, there's still half-a-year left. It's never too late to get started on some new projects right?

I am, however, VERY tempted to look at the IRON WIND METALS booth this go around as they're supposed to be carrying figures from DragonBlood and Otherworld. Both of the manufacturers make absolutely spectacular models. Dragonblood has some really cool Lizardmen and Troglodytes, and a brand new Forest Troll. They don't have a bad figure in their whole range, and that's truly saying something. Otherworld is a UK based figure-maker, and they make a range of fantasy minis that will warm the cockles of any old-school D&D gamer's heart. These figures look like living incarnations of creatures from the 1st Edition Player's Handbook. Their pig-faced Orcs and Bugbears are amazing! I must have some....

My biggest focus will be on nicely painted figures and terrain. That means must-stops at Stan Johansen's, Evil Bob's, Toy Soldier Gallery, Acheson's Creations, and Albright's booths, a swing by David McBride's Splintered Light Minis stand, and lots of scouting for other cool stuff in both the vendor hall and flea market. Plus, I can damn-well guarantee that I'll pick up something at LITKO. They make the best bases and markers in the industry in my humble opinion.

So it should be a fun Saturday. Hope my wallet holds up!

SULTANS GAME DAY -- JULY 25

The next scheduled Game Day for the Sultans of Severnia wargaming group will be held on Saturday, July 25 at my house. We'll be fighting some more battles using the brand new Sword of Severnia fantasy mass-battle rules that I've been developing.

The wargame system is coming along quite nicely. Over the past 18 months, the game has undergone lots of tweaking and rules revisions as I've continually tried to streamline things to make the game easier to learn, less fiddly, faster playing, more strategic, and more fun. The wargame group is pretty darn happy with the way the game is working right now, and being my own harshest critic, I think I finally agree with them. It's certainly true that the sheer number of rules adjustments have slowed down to a tiny trickle. Aside from a few final tweaks, I would say the overall rules system is 98% finished.

The wargame, however, is still a fair bit away from final publication. I've still got to write the final, full-edition of the rulebook. Currently we're using a living, breathing playtest-version of the rulebook and some supplementary add-on booklets covering Special Abilities, Special Events, Scenarios, and so forth. All of that needs merged together, some fluff material and graphics added, and a nice index created for the whole thing.

Plus, the biggest thing is that I've still got the WarBuilder software to finish. This companion PC software comes with the Deluxe version of the game. It enables you to create your own custom regiments and characters, assemble them into an army, crunch their Point Values, and print out custom Stat-Cards / Stat-Sheets which are used as important reference materials during game play. It's been close to 6 months since I last stuck my paws into the PowerBuilder desktop environment and created database tables and wrote programming code. I'm hoping to get started with that again now that the game rules have stabilized.

Throwing a BIG monkey wrench into this whole process has been my move from a full-time, independent software developer running my own micro ISV, to working as an application design consultant for Hershey (yep, the chocolate folks). Right now, I'm on a 6-month contract. Whether it lasts longer than that is unknown at this point. It depends on whether they find me useful and have more projects to work on once 2010 rolls around, and whether I like it enough to stay there. The jury is still out on that one. Returning to work in the corporate environment after being a small business owner for almost 15 years is a MUCH BIGGER CHANGE than I ever imagined it would be.

PS: If anyone is looking to hire a full-time game designer / desktop software developer or small business partner, then please give me a holler. I'm keeping my options open.

Anyway... the next Sultans Game Day should be a blast. I'm really looking forward to it.

WORLD BOARDGAMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

This August, I'm finally planning on heading down to Lancaster, PA to check out the WBC (World Boardgaming Championships). My old friend Mayer and I are planning to day-trip down there sometime in the August 7th to 9th timeframe. I'm not sure if Mayer has ever been to the WBC, but being a former long-time game store owner I wouldn't be surprised if he had been. I've never been to the WBC, which is odd considering I only live 45 minutes outside of Lancaster and have been playing boardgames for many years of my life. Sometimes you overlook the things that are in your own backyard!

I like to WIN at games. Really, who doesn't? But I certainly don't consider myself to be a competitive tabletop gamer. That's really the domain of people who play boardgames to pretty much the exclusion of doing anything else for a good time. I'm more eclectic in my hobbies and don't have the time or desire to focus 100% on just one thing. To me, games are a chance to kick back with your good friends & family and enjoy a fun, social experience together. Sometimes that experience can be mentally challenging and thought-provoking, while other times it may simply be centered around laughs and beer & pretzels shenanigans.

The WBC doesn't strike me as an event for the non-competitive gaming bunch. Perhaps it's the fact that it contains the word CHAMPIONSHIPS in its title. That evokes images of Chess masters poring over checkered boards, stroking their beards, and fretting over the movement of a single game piece. Although at the WBC, it's really wargamers pushing chits around on paper hex maps. Or at least that's how it has always SEEMED to me. And perhaps that's why I have never gone to this convention. I just don't feel like sitting around for 6 hours gaming with a bunch of tight asses. Hopefully, I'm DEAD WRONG about all of this.

I did hear that the WBC has open-gaming. I even hear that some non-competitive folks venture down to the WBC every year just to play for fun, rather than prizes and trophies. That has my curiosity piqued. Perhaps I've been missing out on some gaming fun? We shall see. Hopefully, I'm not up to my eyeballs in tight-asses. As Nacho Libre says, "sometimes, a man needs to put on his stretchy pants".

GAME ON BROTHERS and SISTERS!

Boardgame Ramblings

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:33:00 +0000

What's currently on my board-gaming radar?

BGG Census

If you haven't taken a look at it yet, surf on over to BoardGameGeek and take a look at the 2009 Census Poll created by LankyEngineer. It's pretty interesting. Anyone who has been gaming for a long time or visiting BGG for years won't be the least bit surprised by certain outcomes (such as 95% of the respondents being Male, over 90% of the folks liking Euro games, 75% of the gamers being college educated, and the most popular beverage consumed while gaming being Beer at 41%).

But there were some really interesting results, at least in my view. Did you know that the prime age range for boardgamers was 31 to 40? I was shocked to see how few people under the age of 25 responded to the census. I grew up on boardgames, playing a LOT of them in my teen and college years. Perhaps today's youngsters focus on video games and RPGs to the exclusion of boardgames, and then discover them once they're more established in life? Or perhaps young people don't like Euro games, which is undoubtedly a strong focus of people who frequent the BGG website?

I also found it interesting to see the precipitous drop-off of boardgamers once you hit age 46 (which I'll be hitting next year!), and especially once you reach age 51. Obviously, lack of free time is an issue for everyone as they get older, especially for mid-lifers who are often juggling the demands of wife, kids, job, and general home tasks. Some of us have too many other competing hobbies (such as fantasy baseball, miniature wargaming, and painting for me). But still, why should you stop having fun just because your hair is turning gray?

It was also eye-opening to see the number of people who shared the same profession that I do. Almost 25% of respondents listed Computer Science (IT) as their profession.

There's probably 3 major reasons for this. First, computer folks are THINKERS and ANALYZERS by nature. Most boardgames (especially medium/heavy Euros, wargames, and meatier Ameritrash games) are "thinker" oriented activities. Secondly, computer people spend so much time on the computer, it's refreshing to get away from their machines and play non-digital games. It's our chance to be touchy feely and grab tangible game pieces instead of just pushing bytes around with our minds. Third, computer folks often work in semi-isolation. Sure, there are design meetings to participate in and think-sessions, but activities like programming are pretty much a solitary pursuit. Playing boardgames enables you to interact socially with your friends and share in group-based fun. So I guess when all is said and done, boardgames fulfill some very human needs that our computers don't!

Another surprising tidbit in the 2009 Census was that half of the respondents don't go to any game conventions during the year. These are serious gamer geeks, and half of them don't travel to those heavenly meccas of Geekdom? Shocking! I must admit that I don't really go to conventions to PLAY games all that much. I go to BUY STUFF and to GET INSPIRED by seeing all the cool stuff in one centralized place. You also meet some nice people along the way, which is a major bonus. So if you're one of those folks who has never attended a game convention, I strongly encourage you to try it, at least once. Check out the National Gamers Guild for a list of major conventions across the USA.

Summer Boardgaming

The 1st Quarter of every year is usually a "dead period" for me with regards to boardgames. I'm always crazy-busy with preseason fantasy baseball stuff, working on updates to my Rhino Baseball software, and organizing league events and prepping for my HARL baseball draft. Plus, I generally spend more of my time involved in miniature wargaming than boardgaming, so any free time for tabletop gaming during the early part of the year is allotted to my tiny tin men. I usually take a trip down to Lancaster PA for Cold Wars in March to get my early-year miniatures fix and spend some birthday money that's been quietly sitting around since January.

Once summer rolls around, I try to get my gamer friends to play some boardgames with me. Finding mutually agreeable weekend gaming dates for a bunch of 40-somethings, many of them with small kids, is often akin to herding cats. But I try to do my best.

Recently, I've acquired a bunch of new boardgames to add to my over-large collection. Truthfully, buying more new games is NOT a practical thing for me. I've already got more games on my closet shelves than I can possibly play over the next 4 years. But there's such an addictive quality to getting new games. Every once and awhile, you need a fix!

To support "my habit", I got the following new games and expansions over the past 2 months:

Fire and Axe

Age of Conan

Shadows Over Camelot: Merlin's Company (expansion)

Cutthroat Caverns: Relics & Ruins (expansion)

Dragon's Gold

Cave Troll

Dungeon Twister: Forces of Darkness (expansion)

Four of these are completely new games to me, while the others are expansions to some of my favorite games of all time. You can probably tell from this list that I absolutely LOVE fantasy, adventure, and war/combat themes in my games. The game styles run the gamut from co-op to negotiation to conquest to strategic-thinking to beer & pretzels madness. I tend to shy away from rules-complex and ultra-long games, because if I desire to go that particular route then I'd much rather play a miniatures wargame instead. Sorry BGG geeks!

Hopefully, I can get many of these games to the table this summer. Plus, I have a bunch of unplayed Euro gems I want to play as well (Big City, El Grande, Aladdin's Dragons, Wallenstein). Wish me luck!

Culling My Collection

Despite my recent game purchasing spree, I've resigned myself to whittling down my boardgame collection to 40 or 50 or so great games. This summer I'm hoping to sell off games that I simply don't forsee playing anytime soon or perhaps ever again. Can you say eBay?

When you have over 150 games, you start to get irrationally attached to them. I played countless games of Strat-O-Matic Hockey and Sports Illustrated Baseball when I was growing up, and I'm pretty sure I'll never play them again. But due to the fondness I have for those games, it's difficult to part with them. Sentimentality is often a hard thing to break.

I was enamored by the cool bits of Doom and Tide of Iron, and the good reviews many people had of them, but they remain in their shrink-wrap, unplayed. Sometimes, games just don't scratch enough of your personal itch. I'll usually always choose a fantasy game over a sci-fi title. Dragons, orcs, and wizards trump space marines and aliens for me. Thus, Doom has languished despite the fact that it was one of my top-3 favorite video games of all time and I loved the theme. Tide of Iron has remain unplayed because I'm more interested in ancient and medieval warfare provided by games such as Hammer of the Scots or Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage.

There are plenty of games in my collection like that; interesting, well-designed games, but games that haven't lit my personal passion enough to get them to the gaming-table ahead of other more enticing titles.

Game length is also a factor. I sold off Arkham Horror awhile ago after it languished on my shelf for 3 years. Sacrilege! Maybe. I was VERY enamored with the theme. Who doesn't enjoy running away from tentacled monstrosities and trying to avoid getting their brains turned into mint jelly? But getting that type of game (complex rules with 4+ hour playing time) to the table with my particular game group proved to be highly daunting.

So I'm going to have to make some tough decisions. Sticking with only 40 or 50 games seems like a prudent and practical idea. But can I really break my addiction? That will be the true test.

Shout Outs

Just a couple of quick shout-outs to some new gaming related blogs, podcasts, and news that I've come across recently...

For some informative video reviews of boardgames, including the weirdly captivating time-lapse game session videos, check out Josh Jenkins's blog called the Non-Stop Tabletop.

If you're a game addict but want to try and save money, check out A Year of Frugal Gaming blog. It's especially useful for miniatures enthusiasts. Some recent articles of keen interest were one on stripping paint off of plastic minis, and a nice article on scratch terrain building.

For those of you into JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth, bookmark this page which points to Fantasy Flight Games upcoming release of their massive Middle Earth Quest boardgame. It sounds pretty neat. I'm curious just how well a LOTR game that doesn't feature Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Gollum will really do. Removing the key characters that we all know and love from the world of Middle Earth would seem to suck a huge part of life out of that storybook world. We shall see...

I'm a huge podcast listener. I've got over 400 shows loaded into iTunes. For a long-time, my top-3 favorite game-related podcasts have been The Dice Tower (with Tom Vasel), The Spiel (with Stephen Conway & Dave Coleson), and Meeples & Miniatures (with Neil Schuck).
There are several other excellent podcasts, but none that have consistently measured up to the stellar quality of these 3 shows....until now.

One of my new favorites is the terrific podcast put out by Cody Jones and John Richard entitled Game On! with Cody and John. These guys bring a hefty enthusiasm to gaming, do some excellent in-depth reviews, aren't afraid to share their honest opinions, and are the type of gamers who don't take themselves too seriously (my kind of guys!). Plus, they love baseball! How friggin cool is that! Give them a listen today!

Another fantastic podcast is The D6 Generation (with Russ Wakelin, Craig Gallant, and Raef Granger). Perhaps the funniest podcast of the bunch and the most Ameritrash focused (as these guys truly love fantasy/sci-fi games, miniatures, and beer & pretzels boardgames). Nobody goes as in-depth on a single game as these guys do. If you can't make a decision on whether to buy or pass on a particular new game after hearing this trio talk about it, then you've probably had your brain eaten by zombies. The only negative about the show is that it's too damn long, often running over 3 hours. It's not something you can listen to in one, or even two sittings unless you have lots of free time on your hands. But hey, it's their show and they can do whatever they think is best! Still, it comes highly recommended.

And lastly... give the Noisemaker miniatures podcast a listen. Bert is the type of enthusiastic old-school minis gamer that gives the hobby a good name. This isn't a flashy show with high production values. Rather, it's just good, honest CONTENT with a focus on FUN. I find the podcast to be a source of inspiring ideas and useful opinions. Check it out.

Until next time.... SEVY out!

The Brown Eyed Man and the Chocolatier

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:01:00 +0000

Once upon a time there lived a brown-eyed man. He was a creative soul who toiled in virtual obscurity, doing what he loved. But after many grueling years of being overworked and underpaid, the frustrated man sought out a new path in life. He shouted into the digital ether, hoping that some sentient being out there in the vast cosmos of 0's and 1's would hear his plea for guidance. He sat back, drank a raspberry margarita on Cinco De Mayo and waited.

The call came from the mystical chocolatier, Mr. Goodbar, who lived high upon a hill in his shining factory. The brown-eyed man sat down for a pow-wow with the chocolatier and they chatted about manufacturing candy bars, building software, and appeasing the Oracle. It was a good meeting.

Days passed. The brown-man spent the time watching the Steel Magnolias grow, and engaging his friends in mythical warfare with scores of tiny tin troops who battled across a killing field made of fake grass. He celebrated his wedding anniversary, taking the girl he loved to a land where tasty Italian dishes were served in countless numbers to patrons of all shapes and sizes.

He met with the chocolatier again. They seemed to hit it off. The brown-eyed man was intrigued. Perhaps his future was in the candy making business? Time would tell.

The brown-eyed man traveled to the far reaches of Virginia to contemplate his future. He walked the fields of Fredericksburg, consulting with the ghosts of long-dead Civil War soldiers. He chatted with Martha Washington at Mount Vernon, who told him there was no dishonor in working for a chocolatier. Even the men at the Game Parlor in the duchy of Woodbridge agreed, but then they would probably say anything nice just to ensure that the brown-eyed man paid for his $100+ boxes of board games and tin soldiers and went out the door wide-eyed and happy, not knowing what damage he just did to his now appreciably lighter wallet.

Upon his return, the brown-eyed man got a phone call. It was from a representative of the chocolatier. The candy-maker wanted him to come work for his company. Heath Bars, Peppermint Patties, and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups were calling. A few were even eaten in celebration, and there was much rejoicing.

And then it was JUNE...

Yes, it was a crazy month for me (the brown eyed man), one filled with lots of excitement and anticipation. I landed a new consulting job as an Application Design Analyst working at Hershey (the candy folks). I'm optimistic that it will work out well. But it's scary. After running my own small company for 14+ years, the thought of working for someone else is a very strange feeling to be sure. I hope I like it, and I hope they like me. Wish me luck!

The Goblin Hordes Arrive

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Severino) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:57:00 +0000

I haven't done much eBaying in recent months, but about 2 weeks ago I finally broke down and made a purchase. I won 3 separate auctions for some painted Heartbreaker Goblins. These were painted by John the OFM, a well-known poster on TMP and fellow HMGS East convention attendee if memory serves me correctly.

Heartbreaker figures were a competitor to Citadel back in the 80's and are now out-of-print, but you may be able to hunt them down in various backwoods haunts on the internet. Many of these gobbos were sculpted by Kev Adams, known affectionately as "The Goblinmaster" in minis gaming circles for his excellent goblin ranges. Here's a link to a reference site for the Heartbreaker line. You can also order OOP Heartbreaker figures from Ral Partha Europe.

First off, are some Goblin Spearmen. These guys are very cool looking, with classic old-school goblinoid features, and are probably my favorites of the bunch.

Next up are some Goblin Archers. They're also quite neat. I especially love the guys with the pointed helmets, and they're worthy of gracing the front-rank of any Archer unit. I got enough of these little shooty buggers to form 3 or 4 regiments of Heavy Archers for use in my Sword of Severnia wargame.

...looking to shoot down some fat Dwarves and pansy-livered Elves....

And last but not least is a warband of Goblin Swordsmen. These fellas come in 2 varieties. The ones shown here (helmeted) are the best of the two sculpts and fit in really well with the archers and spearmen character-wise. There are also some non-helmeted gobbos (not shown). They're okay and remind me a little of the goblins from the old BattleMasters game from Milton Bradley, but they seem smaller and less fierce than the other gobbos.

So there you have it. A quick look at some of the troops that will be joining the Trolls, Redcaps, and Giants in the goblinoid army of Zidda Zobba.

Mmm.... roasted dwarf chops! Nuthin like 'em!