Monday, March 26, 2018

Warhammer 40,000 (decisions decisions)

So the wonderworkers at Games Workshop are at it again. I have an on again, off again relationship with their games, and at this point in my life i’m more of a modeller (a bad one) and a painter (okay one) than i am a serious gamer. I played a half dozen games of 7th edition, and i have to admit, i haven’t gotten in a single game of 8th edition yet. This means a couple of different things for me. First, i have seen the shiny new models and really haven’t been that tempted. I have several armies already in progress, and though i would like to pick up a Magnus and some supersized Lords of Change at some point for my Tzeentch Daemons, they aren’t essential.

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Starships for Edge of the Empire

If you look at the Star Wars Universe, one of its most iconic elements has always been the starships. Fantastic machines that give characters the freedom to explore the universe, a means to strike a blow for freedom, or the tools to wage war on a scale that defies imagining. Starships give characters a host of options and access to ideas that allow them to go on amazing adventures. This is the power of Starships in the setting, and one of its most iconic aspects.


Whether it’s a freighter like the Falcon, slipping cargo past unsuspecting customs agents, or a snubfighter like an X-wing, starships take part in some of the most exciting and amazing aspects of the Star Wars experience. Let’s take a look at how these wonderful machines (and to a lesser extent vehicles) function inside Edge of the Empire from Fantasy Flight Games.

Monday, March 19, 2018

Convention Season

This is a quick little anecdote about one of the most personally enjoyable interactions i have ever had at a convention. It was Gencon several years back and it was the first one i really remember going to by myself. This was years before i’d considered starting a blog and i was repping the school gaming club i was the president of at the time. It was one of those overcast days and i managed to find a table at the Steak and Shake right there next to the Indy convention center. I look over and see three guys and a couple of kids and i notice the shirt one of them is wearing. It’s a battletech shirt, and i don’t recognize the mech. I say something and this starts a conversation.


As it turns out, these three guys are Herb Beas, Randal Billis, and Brent Evans. They are employees of Catalyst Game Labs the makers of battletech, and absolutely some of the nicest people i have ever met. Brent (who later on signs a technical readout for me) even shows me the new Alpha Strike unit cards (I ended up buying a set later at the con). We had a pleasant conversation about the game and i ended up having a similar conversation a few years later with the folks who designed the Star Trek Attack Wing rules. (I’ll save the Steve Jackson fat joke for next time).


If you can get to a convention, be friendly, you never know who you’re going to meet. Game On, Game Fans.  By the way, we'll be at Gencon, and it'll be part of some giveaways and other stuff, so stay tuned for updates

Battletech Updates

Well, something i’ve been curious about finally happened over the weekend. Catalyst Game Labs updated their coming soon page for Battletech and we actually have a solid picture of what the next six or so months look like going forward for the franchise. This doesn’t include the amazing looking Battletech computer game from our friends over at Harebrained Schemes (No, seriously, go check it out, we’ll wait). It also doesn’t show off the rumored Mechwarrior 5 which is supposed to be out around Christmas time the last we heard. We do have some very solid looks at the new releases (and some updates on reprints and additional print runs) that will push Battletech as an idea going forward. Today we’re going to take a look at four of the items on the Coming Soon page (which you can find here)

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Welcome to the Show

So you want to be a blogger, or a streamer, or a podcaster? Cool, welcome to the ever growing community of game enthusiasts, publishers, and thinkers that make up our diverse gaming community. There’s a ton of us, but there’s always room for more voices in our community. I’m going to try and help you get started with some of the questions that have helped me figure out what exactly I’m trying to do with my blog/podcast/production company amalgamation thingamajig.

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Pathfinder Playtest

So the big news this week is that we’re going to be getting a new edition of the Pathfinder RPG from the wonder workers at Paizo. This is exciting news in our hobby for a couple of different reasons which i’ll get into in just a minute. With an expected playtest to start in August of this year, and if i read the announcement correctly a full launch to hit in Summer of 2019, this is a fairly tight release window for the playtest period. This means a couple of things to me, and i’ll get into those a little further down. Let’s dig into what this means to our hobby, and then i’ll toss out some speculative flights of fancy, and maybe we’ll ask a couple of questions to go along with it.

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Force & Destiny

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another itty bitty update about one of our favorite things in the universe, the Star Wars RPG from Fantasy Flight Games. Now this is a family of Role-playing games that use the same system, meaning that they are interactive with each other. You can build a party of characters composed of a couple of rebels, a couple of edge of the empire criminals, and a force user in hiding for example. Now each game has a unique mechanic that sets it apart from the others, but they aren’t incompatible. As we dig deeper into this series, we’ll cover how those individual mechanics work, and try and help you put together a group that features these diverse characters.

Monday, March 5, 2018

The Force in Edge of the Empire (part III)

The Force is one the most iconic parts of the Star Wars universe and has an essential place in any role-playing game set in it. This is the dark time, when the Jedi have been hunted to the edge of extinction and the power of the Dark Side reigns over the universe. Rumors and stories tell of desperate battles in the shadows between the Emperor’s chosen and the few remaining wielders of the force. This is the backdrop for force users in Edge of the Empire, and it can be used to tell some amazing stories. It’s going to take us a bit to dig into the Force, so this is the third in a series of articles.