Aaron White - You're Our Winner!

During our last auction we started collecting names for a prize drawing of a $50 gift certificate to the store. We pulled the winner today and it is Aaron White.

Congratulations Aaron! Come on in to the store to pick up your gift certificate.

Privateer Press Apologizes for Warmachine Delays

Well, if you've been in the store recently there's a decent chance that you've heard some discussion of the problems that we've experienced getting specific Warmachine products for various people. Nothing makes me feel worse than not being able to fulfill somebody's special order. Well, Privateer Press has apologized for the problems and gives a brief explanation:

"Dear Players, Retailers and Distributors,

With the end to the summer convention season nigh, we wanted to take a moment to briefly bring you up to speed on the state of Privateer Press and the production of WARMACHINE.

Up until June, we had experienced a good long run of rapid fulfillment of back stock orders. In anticipation

of a sizable increase in sales, we expanded our production and packing staff, expecting to be able to handle up to double our then current demand. Much to our surprise and delight, as well as not just a little bit of frustration, the summer brought an increase of nearly four times the normal monthly reorders of back stock. WARMACHINE is spreading like wildfire, and though we truly expected to be able to continue on without a bump, the nearly overnight jump in orders took us very much off guard.

To accommodate this dramatic increase in demand, we are redoubling our efforts in production and packing. Every miniature for WARMACHINE is produced and packed by hand, and we continue to hire each and every able body capable of meeting our standards that walks through the doors of Privateer Press. We currently run three shifts over 24 hours each day in production-the machines never stop-and we have new equipment on order and are hiring more staff to tackle the load. Our current staff is working overtime every day to gain whatever ground is possible as we expand our crew.

We apologize for any delays you all are experiencing in receiving back stock orders. It is our sincerest desire and the focus of all of our attention to catch up to the orders we have standing, and to return to the quick and dependable turn around you have come to expect. All invoices are being fulfilled in order of date received, and we expect to be caught up in November depending on how quickly we can acquire the needed manpower. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time, and are grateful for your support as Privateer continues to grow into a mainstay of the hobby game industry."

AAArrrrrrrr....

Bone Wars - The Party

Last night we hosted the launch party for the game Bone Wars from Zygote games. I'm kicking myself now for not having my camera. Having a bunch of people playing games, eating ice cream and wearing pith helmets was just a bit surreal - and a lot of fun.

Bone Wars: The Game Of Ruthless Paleontology is a game that is based on the more "competetive" elements of the science in the 19th century. Each player takes the role of a paleontologist trying to win prestige by building and naming new dinosaur skeletons and discovering new fossils. Most of the event cards are based on things that actually happened - which is just amazingly funny. Here's a quote about it from the creator's website:

Edward Drinker Cope really did mount a mosasaur's head on the wrong end of the skeleton, and then tried to buy up and destroy all the copies of the journal describing it. O. C. Marsh really did use his personal fortune to hire away all the best fossil collectors from rivals. And the indestructible Charles Sternberg had to outrun flash floods in western canyons. For a time the personal feud between Cope and Marsh involved everyone from the U.S. Geological Survey to the editors of the New York Herald.

Bone Wars is now available both in store and from our web store.

Order your copy today!

Axis & Allies Miniatures In Store Today!

The brand new miniatures game from Wizards of the Coast - Axis & Allies Miniatures - is in store and available for purchase today!

Want to find out a little more about the game before you run over to the store to pick it up? Well, head over to Wizards of the Coast and download the Quick Start Guide and the Advanced Rulebook and you can get all of the information that you need to find out if this is the WWII miniature game for you.

Mutants & Masterminds 2nd ed. Character Creation Preview

The good folks over at Green Ronin have posted the first chapter of the upcoming Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition in PDF format. You can get an early look at the changes coming in the new edition of the game.

Download it now!

In Store Discount Section

Just a brief announcement - we've just started up out official discount section in the store. This section includes closeout items, that is new items that we're no longer carrying, at 50% off of the cover price. Ask Seth or I where to find these items in the back of the store.

We've also increased our selection of USED RPGs. These are items brought to us by customers and most of which are nearly new, but since they've been pre-owned you can get them at up to 50% off of the cover price (most items are 50% off). Yes, this does mean that we're actively looking for used items for the store. Please inquire by phone or in store for what we're paying for used RPGs and board games.

Miniature Gaming at Griffon Games

Well, Warmachine continues to be the new hotness at the store. Every weekend day, and most week days, you can find a game or two (or three) of Warmachine going on. It's something that was long past due and I'm glad to see it finally happening.

Flames of War moved to Thursday this month and we're starting to see much more interest in the game. Thursday nights seems to be better than Tuesday nights for some reason.

Star Wars CMG is scheduled for Friday evenings at 6pm this month, but so far even though this game continues to be one of our best sellers we haven't gotten the people together to play. So if you're interested in getting the group going please show up on Friday nights or let us know what is a better time for you and we'll look at rescheduling for next month.

The 40K league continues to get a good turnout on Webnesday evenings. Not much to say here as 40k has always had a good following and this trend continues as expected.

The Warhammer Fantasy campaign just wrapped up recently but Friday nights continues to be a good night to show up for Fantasy.

Spycraft Saturday

For the next three Saturday's Jody will be running a Spycraft RPG demo game. If you're interested in trying out this version of the D20 system, interested in playing in a spy-based RPG, interested in having a good time roleplaying on a Saturday afternoon then be sure to sign up for the event.

The game will start Saturday at Noon and run until 4-5pm. The adventure will take place over the next three Saturdays.

BTW - This will be using the original Spycraft game (pictured left) and not the brand-spanking-new 2nd edition of the game that we just got in stock.

Great Painting Site - Brushthralls.com

So we got to talking about painting last night as the gaming was winding down. "How would you do this finish?" was the question of the night as everybody poured over the Warmachine catalog which is rich with beautiful paint jobs.

As many of you know, I've been painting for years. I started in 8th grade which would mean about 25 years. Of course, just in the past 5 or 6 years painting in the gaming hobby has gone through a discovery of techniques from other mediums - like paint on canvas - which has changed the look of models greatly. My own skills have not kept up. So, when I start thinking about trying to make something look like the stuff that I see in magazines I'm out there on the web with everybody else trying to find good sites for painting technique. My most recent discovery is Brushthralls.com. They're linked directly from the Privateer Press site and features painting techniques and galleries that feature the Warmachine line of minis. The techniques though are useable on ANY miniatures and the instructions are pretty well written. I highly recommend the site.

Can't Sleep, Clown Will Eat Me

I'm up late thinking about the events of the weekend and thought that I might dispense with the usual pseudo-news and give you a little straight talk.

First, if you look to your right you'll see the cover art for the Mage rulebook. We just recently got this in and the picture here is pretty nice. Let me tell you something though. This only gives you the barest inkling about how cool this cover really is. There are transparent effects and some sort of metallics... and the overall effect is intense beauty. This cover is a true work of art. Best of all, it doesn't stop there. All throughout the book there is a vision for the look of the book that one rarely sees in the RPG industry. I even had a look to see who it that was responsible for the cover (unfortunately at this hour I cannot remember his name). I've never CARED who did layout on a book before and this time I was moved to look it up. That says something.

The interior art is all consistently good... and consistent. In most RPGs you get a mish-mash of styles. Essentially it's art from whoever was available and managed to get the work done on time and on budget. Not so in the Mage book. It all has a certain feel to it (in addition to the consistent quality mentioned earlier). Only WOTC seems to hit this mark and only on their core books. On top of all of that our layout includes a nice touch of gold metallic in the text that is not garish but actually adds to the feel of otherworldliness of the text.

I wasn't that interested in getting the game. I'm not a big fan of the World of Darkness overall but I want to own this book if only because of the overall quality of it. Something about the look and feel of it says "buy me now, you won't regret it" and when a book can say that to me I suppose that I should listen.

Warmachine Comic Series Coming

Privateer Press and Bright Anvil Studios Announce New WARMACHINE Comic Series

Seattle WA, August 29, 2005 – Privateer Press and Bright Anvil Studios have teamed up to create a new comic mini series, tentatively titled WARMACHINE: Chronicles™.

Penciled by Bright Anvil’s Logan Lubera and written by Rob Baxter and Matt Wilson, the series will be the first foray into comics for Privateer Press and its popular, steam powered, Iron Kingdoms™ setting.

Matt Wilson, Creative Director Privateer Press had the following to say about the new project.

“We want to realize the characters of WARMACHINE and the Iron Kingdoms in every medium possible. Comics are a natural storytelling format that allows us to communicate in more depth and detail the action and drama of this incredibly dynamic world that we are creating.

Being a fan of Logan Lubera and Bright Anvil’s work before ever even meeting them, I could not be more exited to have them bring our property to the comic genre.”

This three-issue mini-series will focus on the history of Commander Coleman Stryker and his early days as a Warcaster. In addition to his origins the story will provide greater detail on Stryker’s battles from the Kings, Nations, and Gods, story line first featured in WARMACHINE: Escalation.

The first issue of WARMACHINE: Chronicles will be available in the second half of 2006 through game and comic retailers worldwide. A promotional image is available at www.privateerpress.com.

Privateer Press, Inc. was founded in 2000 by Matt Wilson and Brian Snoddy and produces the award-winning tabletop miniatures war game WARMACHINE as well as the award-winning d20 Iron Kingdoms role-playing game. To learn more about Privateer Press, visit www.privateerpress.com or contact the president of Privateer Press, Sherry Yeary , at (206) 783-9500.

Founded in 1998, Bright Anvil Studios is one of the most prominent creative studios in the heart of Toronto, Ontario. Bright Anvil Studios has provided creative services to Marvel Enterprises, Inc., Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Hasbro Toy Group Inc., Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Disney Co., and Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. For additional information visit the Bright Anvil Studios website at www.brightanvil.com or email info@brightanvil.com.