Monthly Archives: August 2010

Running a Hobby Shop – One Month In

Well, this last weekend was a big milestone for me – it marked the first full month that I have been running a hobby shop. So far things have been going very well, but I have also learned quite a bit. The biggest thing I have learned is that you can not run a hobby shop for as cheap as I was wanting. I started out with a bit of cash reserves and a credit card, but before the first month was up the cash was gone and the credit card was full. I had kept seeing people saying that it took about $10k to get a hobby shop running, and I thought that was rubbish – I would do it for half that. Turns out they were right. Even a small hobby shop that is just open on the weekends takes tons more money to get up and...

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Carson City Review

Carson City Review

Last weekend at War Pig Game and Hobby themcfadden from our forums brought in a copy of Carson City for everyone to try out. We were able to get through two games, after the first players swapped out and I had a go at it. I was getting more and more excited during the first game because everyone was hollering and having a good time – right up my alley. When we all sat down for the second game themcfadden went over the rules and we started playing. There was a bit to the rules, but it was all very straight forward. You start with a bit of money, three cowboys (your workers) and then you pick your role (which also determines your ability and turn order.) Once that is all done you take turns placing your cowboys until all have been deployed, you then work out the results....

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Indonesia Play Through

Indonesia Play Through

Hiew’s Boardgame Blog has an excellent writeup of a board game that I have been wanting to play for quite some time – Indonesia. I have a really hard time explaining this game. Basically it is about stock mergers, resource production, shipping, and selling goods with a tech advance tracker. I know that doesn’t really sound very coherent or fun, but reading thourgh the play through does a much better job than I can do in explaining this game. It is ranked in the top 100 at Board Game Geek, so it is going to be pretty solid. Here is the blurb from BGG - Judging by the smirk on the face of the Sultan of Solo, the businessman from North Sumatra has just made a mistake. And a costly one at that, too. He has paid way too much for merging his rubber company with the Sultan’s extensive...

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US Games Day 2010 Recap

Reports from the Baltimore Games Day are coming in from all over. So far it looks like it was a good time but there wasn’t much news released. Here is the best round up that I could find that hit all the big topics. From Heresy Workshop (be sure to click on the link for some pictures)- I just got back from Games Day. It was not as huge as I thought, but was very well done. For Us Pre-Heresy Type ForgeWorld has no plans on Stopping with what we have seen so far. They have said they are coming out with both Pre-Heresy Terminators and Dreds. Seems GW and Forgeworld kind of taken notice of how well certain after market bits sell and would like some of the pie too. The Badab War book comes out really soon. I did’nt ask but I think in a few weeks...

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What’s all this Fantasy stuff about?

What’s all this Fantasy stuff about?

Truth be known, I have been a dedicated 40K man for the last decade or so. Hadn’t given fantasy so much as the time of day. Thought it to be too rigid and cumbersome. Recently the guys had been talking about getting into fantasy, though. I must say, after the 40k marathon called WarGamesCon (and my disappointing finish), I am a little burned out on 40K. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still fun and I would have a go if someone wanted to. But, I think it time to shift gears and give ye olde Fantasy a try. After some internet research and strategy talk with Jester, Monkey and Big D, I went with Dwarfs. Maybe not the most popular, but solid none-the-less. I was attracted to the different style of play Dwarfs have: no magic phase, ability to use runes, tough-as-nails troops, no fast cav *sigh*, quality artillery,...

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Eldar Seer Council Conversion Idea

Eldar Seer Council Conversion Idea

I don’t play Eldar myself, but I always hear people complaining about the lack of model for a Warlock or Farsser on a Jet Bike. I was browsing around today and something jumped out at me that I thought would fill this need nicely - This is a picture of the best painted army at the Nova Open that Bald and Screaming posted. When I first saw it I couldn’t figure out what the Warlocks were riding on. After looking at it for a while I figured it out – it is the heavy weapon platform. This ends up being a bit expensive, the platforms are $25, which is $10 more than what a Jet Bike would cost but from what I have heard the cost is worth it. Filing down a metal mini in robes to fit on a pair of jetbike legs just doesn’t sound fun at...

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Cyclops Mini from MaxMini

Cyclops Mini from MaxMini

MaxMini has a new Cyclops model up for sale that would work great for the Gorgon in a Beastmen army. This guy is 25 Euros, which is roughly $32 before shipping. It is 75mm to head and the total height is about 95mm. It comes with three different heads that would be great for some conversion work. I really dig this kit. If I were playing Beastmen I would definitely pick this up.

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WIP – Ork Shadowskull

WIP – Ork Shadowskull

This weekend we are going to be playing a big Apocalypse game at War Pig Game and Hobby. Right now it is looking like 15,000 points per side not including super heavies. A while back I had gotten a really rough Bane Blade in part of a trade. I had originally planned on turning it into a piece of terrain – it was in REALLY rough shape – but Jester talked me into Orkifying it for the Apocalypse game. I started working on it trying to get it back in fighting condition one evening and I just had to give up – I didn’t have the tools on hand for it. I was trying to use the Citadel plastic glue on pieces that had paint on them, and brother that just doesn’t work. I was going to have to regroup and try again. That night I went to the...

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Pandemic with On The Brink Expansion

Pandemic with On The Brink Expansion

This weekend we got in a few games of Pandemic with the On the Brink Expansion. We haven’t even scratched the surface of what this expansion offers, and I am already digging it. For starters it added a bunch of roles to the game and updated one old one. The majority of the new roles appear to have a mobility enhancing ability – this lets you get around the board faster which is a big help. There are also a few new special cards to help give the players some hope. The meat and potatoes of the expansion though, is to make the game harder. There are new Epidemic cards that you can add. These will trigger an Epidemic, but will also do something extra – one of the cards can bring back cubes of a color that you have eradicated. There is also a new mutation challenge, it looks like about half...

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MK VI Corvus Armour from Forge World

MK VI Corvus Armour from Forge World

Forge World is at it again. Today’s newsletter has revealed their newest release – MK VI Corvus Armour. This is the third set of armour they have released in the last little bit and I am digging these sets. These are priced the same way as the other sets – 20 British Pounds for the set. This ends up being a bit steep for this set since you can get most of these bits out of the Space Marine box, but would be worth doing if you were making up a large force of them. I am almost expecting to see a few more armour sets before this is all done. There are also some new etched brass and decals in this newsletter for the Flesh Tearers and Iron Hands.

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