Black Gobbo 38 Is Out

The Warhammer world gets all of the attention in the latest issue of Black Gobbo.

First off, we have a scenery project worthy of the Old Ones themselves in Scrye the Heavens. This excellent article details how to create a Star Tower Observatory which can be used by Lizardmen players, or any army taking part in a battle in the jungles of Lustria.

Also in this issue, you can see exactly how to get started fighting in Lustria in Navigating the Undergrowth.

Lizardmen players can test out their latest paint schemes on our Interactive Lizardmen Painter, and Skaven Warlords get a detailed guide to creating the horrific Plague Pontifex Quetch.

All of this and the ever-interesting Editorial can be found in Black Gobbo 38.

Serenity Movie Trailer Online

Wow...

Seriously. I was never a huge fan of the show Firefly. Oh, I watched it but I always thought that it had taken the "old west in space" theme just a bit too far. Especially in the earlier episodes. Now the trailer is out for the upcoming movie and I'm about ready to go buy the full series on DVD. The trailer is THAT good.

Go look at the Serenity Trailer Now...

Dakka Dakka Gives the Lowdown on Starship Troopers

So, the Starhip Troopers miniatures game came in last week. Maybe you were holding off on buying it until you read a couple of reviews. Well, give this review from Dakka Dakka a try...

The whole rule set comes together with consistent, solid mechanics that cover a wide variety of sci-fi combat situations. These rules can cover tunneling, aircraft, indirect fire, point blank fire fights, long range artillery, vehicles, walkers, giant bugs, skimmers, flamers, acid jets, guided missiles, you name it. And somehow it does it all without feeling like it is skimping in any way. Of course, to take advantage of all these cool rules you need army lists to create your forces.

Read the Whole Review...
Order Starship Troopers at Griffon Games...

Two New Star Wars TV Series' in the Works

Lucas announced two television projects, one a half-hour computer-animated cartoon series (reportedly based on the Clone Wars series currently running on the Cartoon Network) and a live action Star Wars show that will take place between episodes 3 & 4 and will feature at least some characters from the original trilogy.

Lucas indicated that the live action Star Wars series would be produced in the same way he did the Young Indiana Jones series -- scripts for an entire season would be prepared in advance and then the shooting of all the episodes would be done in one big block. Lucas indicated that he would direct the pilot for the show and then hand it off to others. Star Wars producer Rick McCallum said that the live action series was planned for 100 episodes.

The earliest that the live action Star Wars series could debut is 2007, the thirtieth anniversary of the release of the first Star Wars film and the beginning of the re-release of all six Star Wars theatrical features in a re-mastered 3-D format.

For me the thing that this means is that they won't be running out of ideas for new miniatures for the miniatures game anytime soon. Woot!

WFRP: Old World Bestiary Previews

Black Industries is at it again...

They've released two PDF previews from their upcoming Old World Bestiary for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Preview 1 has some information (and stats) regarding vampires. Preview 2 has info about Elven Corsairs and Harpies.

Oh, and in case you haven't picked the original book up yet you should know that it's getting RAVE reviews all over the place. You can't throw a stick around the RPG.net forums without hitting a topic about WFRP right now. And as somebody who picked up the first run of products I can tell you that the enthusiasm is completely justified. Green Ronin did a fantastic job of developing the game for this new edition.

Pre-Order the Old World Bestiary at Griffon Games...

BIG 40K Game Saturday..

Griffon Games is playing host to a planetary invasion on Saturday, April 23rd. This is a large, eight-turn game being run by Mark and Charlie. You can get more information about how the game will work in our discussion forum. I don't have a specific time for the event, but perhaps Mark or Charlie will clue us in about that in the forum...

Sci-Fi Channel to Produce "Urban Arcana" Show

Among a host of other show announcements, the Sci Fi Channel announced that it is developing a TV series based on Wizards of the Coast's Urban Arcana. The Sci Fi Channel series follows the adventures of detective Sean Mayhew who has to protect mankind from an invasion of chameleon-like creatures from a parallel world. Fox Television is producing the new series, which will be written by Aron Coleite (Crossing Jordan) and produced by Gary Randall and Rockne O'Bannon (Farscape).

Order Urban Arcana from Griffon Games...

Monsternomicon Update and Downloadable Extra

"Monsternomicon Volume 1: Denizens of the Iron Kingdoms is at the printer and planned for release this May. Updated for D20 v.3.5, the award-winning Monsternomicon is a different kind of monster book with detailed, multiple-page entries on each monster, its lore, its treasure, and engaging adventure hooks.

In honor of its re-release and the release of the Boneswarm miniature, we are happy to give you a downloadable Web Extra of the Boneswarm in Monsternomicon V3.5 format. The Boneswarm, and other creatures from the Witchfire Trilogy, are not found in the Monsternomicon, but we present the Boneswarm here as bonus material."


Check out the Boneswarm here...

So You Want To Destroy The World...

Sure, you've given it some thought. You've pondered the methods by which you might end all existence on the planet. But I'll bet you haven't thought about it as much as 21 year old Sam Hughs. Sam has devoted a largish amount of space on his website discussing the various means by which one could destroy the world and their probabilities of success. Actually, it's quite interesting.

"But how does this related to games", you ask?

Well, just perusing his various methods of destruction I came up with a number of possible scenarios for roleplaying games where by you need to keep the Earth from being destroyed. Seriously, check it out and see if you aren't inspired to try to kill us all.

Sam's Guide to Destroying the World...

Nintendo Themes Acapella

Are you a fan of old 8-bit game theme songs. Well, apparently so are the members of the Acapella group Redefined. This is a link to a video of this group doing a medley of old videogame themes including Mario Bros., Tetris, The Legend of Zelda (my favorite) and Mortal Combat. It's partially a performance art piece too as some of the group acts out the videogames while some of the group sings. It's hilarious and cool!

Check out the video here...

Bolter & Chainsword Back Online

Our good friends at Bolter and Chainsword have finally gotten the new forum software installed, online, and back up. We're happy to have them back!

Go to Bolter & Chainsword...

How About a FREE Game?

You are one of the few ultraviolent psychos left on the planet. You and the other untreatable freaks squeeze into the squishy cockpits of bio-engineered war machines to face each other in televised gladitorial combat. You are a meatjock and this is Meatbot Massacre.

Meatbot Massacre is a tactical game designed by Greg Stolze (Hunter: the Reckoning, Unknown Armies, GODLIKE) with Daniel Solis (PUNK, Gears & Spears) to provide an optimal mix of game speed, ease of use, and tactical complexity. Meatbot Massacre uses an innovative dice mechanic in which your choice of die-type determines your actions. The dice do the talking.

The core mechanic takes only minutes to learn, but the tactics get more intricate as your meatbot rips power-ups from enemies and devours them. In other words, you can make the game as simple or as complex as you want: When you've mastered it at its simplest, you can crank it up without learning new mechanics.

Go Get Meatbot Massacre...

Bosworth - This Week's Spring Fling Game at GameTable

As the Spring Gaming Fling goes on, this week’s featured game is Bosworth. If you have not heard of the game Bosworth, it is a variation of chess by Out of the Box Games, the publishers of Apples to Apples. If you know how to play chess, you should be able to pick up the game quite quickly.

In addition, to being able to play Bosworth from April 9th to the 16th for free, the 13th of every month is our regular “Free Games Day” where the entire library of GameTable Online games is open to everyone. In addition to open gaming we have a feature tournament and you are invited to join in on that. At 15:00 and 21:00 Eastern U.S. Daylight Savings Time (GMT-4), we will be having Cosmic Wimpout tournaments. More details on the tournaments can be found on our News-Tournaments forum board.

Head over to GameTable Online...

Weekly Events

Here's a look at the events coming up this week:

Wednesday, April 13th - 4:00pm: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Friday, April 15th from 3-9pm: Board Game Night
Friday, April 15th from 6-9pm: Flames of War
Saturday, April 16th - 1:00pm: Magic: The Gathering
Saturday, April 16th - 5:00pm: MechWarrior
Sunday, April 17th - 1:00pm: HeroClix

Full Color Cards for Warmachine Coming

I just found out that Privateer Press plans on releasing full sets of faction cards for Warmachine. These will be 65 card decks of stat cards for each unti, solo and warjack - done in full color with new artwork. Decks will be sold separately and cards will not be available individually. They'll be releasing these decks in July.

Super Munchkin Coming in July!

"Fly through the city. Smash the villains. Backstab your teammates and grab their gadgets. Munchkin has parodied the classic dungeon, the kung-fu warrior, the space epic, and the creatures of the night. Now, it’s the superheroes’ turn!

Be a Mutant, an Exotic, a Mystic, or a Techno. The higher your Level, the more Powers you can have. Battle dastardly masterminds, devastating monsters, and invading aliens from the next dimension - from the wimpy Triplicate Twit all the way up to Big Ol' Planet Eater Guy himself - and TAKE THEIR STUFF! With the Aura Helmet, the Telezapinator, and the (jet-powered) Pogo Stick, no foe can stand before you.

Super Munchkin is a stand-alone game, which (of course) can be combined with other Munchkin games. Designed by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Kovalic, this one is destined to RULE THE WORLD! Mwahahaha!

Bolter & Chainsword Down?

When we try to go to Bolterandchainsword.com we're getting redirected to www.suspended.page which, of course, goes nowhere. If you happen to know what's going on with them could you please respond to this posting or in the discussion forum? Thanks.

Revenge of the Sith Boosters are In Stock

They snuck in quietly on Friday but by the end of Sunday is was clear that many people were aware that the new Star Wars miniatures set was in stock. I don't know if it was just the luck of the initial buyers but we saw quite a few of the new ultra-rares being pulled from the initial packs. I'm sure it's just a conincidence.

The new set looks to be pretty sweet. Lots of great stuff to add to your forces no matter what you like to play. Now I'm looking forward to getting that upcoming "AT-AT" model and fighting some massive battles...

By the way, we still have some of the last set in stock so if you didn' t get your fill it's not too late. I can't say how long they'll be available but they are there now.

Play Reiner Knizia's Vampire for Free

During GameTable Online's Spring Gaming Fling, everyone registered at the site gets to play a designated game of the week. This week's game is Reiner Knizia's Vampire.

Vampire is a fast-paced, highly strategic card game from legendary designer Dr. Reiner Knizia. Dr. Knizia has created scores of tremendous games - and Vampire has his trademark ability to create balanced and tricky gameplay all over it. The game also features artwork by Franz Vohwinkel. If you are unfamiliar with the game but interested in trying it out, check out the Game Calendar for staff hosted tutorial sessions.

Time To Vote!

Bolter & Chainsword's Chapter Badge Contest is nearly completed. All that's left is the voting. There are a BUNCH of good entries. Far too many for me to take in quickly so I'm going to spend some time really going over them tonight.

Go and Vote!

Buy My Sister's Book!

This has little or nothing to do with games, gaming or the store. It's all about a crass attempt to get you to go to my sister's web page and buy her book.

Okay, if you're local to the store, you probably don't need it as you can probably tell from the title: The Preschooler's Guide to Los Angeles and Orange Counties. A Guide for Travel with Children Under 5. This does not mean that you shouldn't immediately go to her website and buy the book however.

The fact is that I'm proud as hell that one of my siblings has written a book and I think that everybody should buy it and make her wealthy.

Go buy the book now!

LARPing Spoofed on Reno 911

This is actually the second video I've seen on this topic from Comedy Central's show Reno 911. It shows a pretty outrangeous "larping gone wrong" scene from one of the episodes. It's freekin' hilarious..

Go look. It's funny.

A Look at the new Nids on Portent.net

Well, the new Portent.net is still functional and seems to be running smoothly. The best part of that site has always been the rumors section and this new one seems to be keeping up well in this regard.

Take, for example, this thread which is essentially the moderator's very own rumor thread. There are a number of photos of some of the upcoming Tyranid forces that I'd never seen before (and some that I've posted here). If you're interested in what changes are coming you'll want to check it out. They also have all of the rumors as far as changes to the army stats goes as well.

I LOVE the Cthulhuesque genestealer.

Seth Lustig Arrested for Criminal Goofyness

That's right folks, it's April Fools Day, so keep your head down and don't believe 90% of what you may read as "news" today.

Am I the only one that is starting to find this day tiresome? I HATE having to figure out whether or not what I've just read is true or not. Maybe I'm just old and bitter...

Nah.

- Jay