Images from the GAMA Trade Show

I just got back from GTS and saw many a strange and wondrous thing. Have a look. You'll be seeing some previews of DUST: Tactics, Monsterpocalypse, upcoming minis for Warmachine like Epic Severius and Onyxia from World of Warcraft Miniatures.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Painting Night Becomes Painting Day - and Weekly!

Our monthly Painting Night just wasn't doing it for me. It wasn't often enough and if I couldn't do it one night then we lost an entire month. With this in mind - and the fact that the miniature painting contest went so well and was so well attended - we've decided to move Painting Night to Sunday and to make it weekly

That means that, starting this week, you can come in on Sunday and paint at 11am (the plan is to open up an hour early for painters most weeks). Officially we're going to run it until 1:00pm which is when most gaming starts on Sunday but as long as there's still space you can keep painting all day.

I'm hoping that this ends up working out better and drawing in more people.

See you Sunday!

MONSTERPOCALYPSE - New CMG coming from Privateer Press

Interesting. VERY interesting. So PP is getting into something new. It's no surprise that they're moving into the CMG market. CMGs are really big right now. We do extremely well with Star Wars and Halo. Games Workshop is rumored to be working on one as well.

The prototypes look cool but the proof is in the execution. One need only look at the difference between the prototypes and production models of Battlefield Evolution series to know what I'm talking about. If this stuff is on par with, say, AT-43 models then they have a winner on their hands. If not... who knows.

SEATTLE, WA – Privateer Press, Inc., publisher of the hit tabletop miniatures games WARMACHINE® and HORDES™, announced today its plans to produce a pre-painted collectible miniatures game (CMG) named Monsterpocalypse.

Monsterpocalypse brings the kaiju (loosely translated from Japanese as ‘giant monster’) genre – a pop culture favorite – to the tabletop in the form of a fast-paced, action-packed CMG. Designed by Matt Wilson, the award winning creator of WARMACHINE and HORDES, Monsterpocalypse leverages the critically acclaimed abilities of Privateer Press as a leading miniatures manufacturer to enter a new category of product with a property that will appeal to a world-wide fan base of all ages.

“We’ve had great success in the hobby miniatures category, and we will continue to support and expand our offerings there. We are excited to grow the company in this new direction. Creating a property about giant monsters is a natural fit for us and something I’ve always wanted to do.” said Wilson.

The Monsterpocalypse CMG will launch with over 80 figures in the initial set and will include large-scale monsters, destroyable city structures, and vehicles. It is planned for release at retail in 2008. Figures will be sold in randomized booster packs and non-randomized starter games, and special figures will be available at events throughout 2008. Visit www.privateerpress.com for photos of prototype models andupdates about the game.

Apocalypse Mega-Battle November 12th

Veterans Day is coming up and many of you have the day off from school. So what are you going to do? I'll TELL you what you're going to do. You're going to come to the store bright and early with your 40K army and get involved in a mind-boggling mega-battle of epic proportions.

Tim's going to be opening the store up early so that you can set up and get going.

There's a sign-up sheet in the store or you could just let everybody know in the forum that you're going to be there.

Halo ActionClix - Sweet fraggin' goodness!

In case you missed it, the Halo ActionClix minis arrived last week and it's really starting to take off.

It's not surprising though. I mean, it's a pretty solid game. In some ways it works like your standard Clix games but in others (like combat) it seems a lot faster paced.

Personally, I've not been a big fan of the Clix games. My tastes run toward the paintable, tabletop variety of miniature games. In this case though, I've made an exception. We're getting some great experiences out of this games and I'm having a lot of fun with it.

The things I like about it are:

1. It's fast. A game only takes about half an hour if you play with 400 points per side.
2. Your entire collection is your reserve. In any given game any miniature that you own has the potential to hit the tabletop with the weapon-swapping, respawning and upgrading rules.
3. I love Halo. I'll admit it. I'm a Halo fan and while this isn't a requirement to enjoying the game it certainly makes the decision to get into it a lot easier.

Look for regular tournaments to get started soon on Sundays.

'Ard Boyz Tournament Prizes...

If you were thinking "I don't know if I should enter the 'Ard Boyz Tournament" then think again! The top three winners will all be getting some nice prizes for taking part. First place will be getting a Battleforce boxed set of their choice! 2nd place can choose from amongst the smaller boxed sets (infantry units, etc.), and third place can pick something from the blister packs.

With Apocalypse coming out the addition of a new Battleforce can really help bump up the point value of your army.

(Every) Monday is Painting Night (in September)

I guess we really should just call it Painting Day because you could come in whenever you wanted and paint... but I suppose since the point of it is to keep the store open for painters to work after hours we'll stick with the current name.

Oh, and we're going to be doing Painting Night for the next three weeks in September. We would have started on the third but we were closed for Labor Day. If the weekly thing works out we may make it a regular event.

Keep in mind that we have a big 40K tournament coming up (see below) so you may want to use this time to work on things that you want to bring to the event (but since painting doesn't count in the tournament, you don't really HAVE to paint... you could just use the time to assemble your forces and bring your points up to 2500).

New Warmachine Expansions Announced

Privateer Press, Inc. announces the next two expansions for the award-winning tabletop miniatures game, Warmachine.

Following the wild popularity and consistently strong sales of the Mercenary Privateer models detailed in the now out of print No Quarter Magazine issue 12, Privateer Press announces the first installment of a new expansion format - titled Forces of Warmachine - which provides army expansion options under a single theme.

Forces of Warmachine: Pirates of the Broken Coast is scheduled to release in early December and comprises 72 pages of new fiction, new model stats, and several outstanding full-color art pieces by artist Andrea Uderzo. In addition to compiling the previously released Mercenary Privateer models, this book introduces new mercenary warcasters, warjacks, units, and solos for expanding armies of every faction and rules for building pirate-themed armies. Models featured in this book release in December, January, and February. More details and previews of will appear in No Quarter issue 15, releasing this November.

Shortly following the release of Forces of Warmachine: Pirates of the Broken Coast, Privateer Press will release the fifth full installment of the current Warmachine storyline that begun in Warmachine: Prime Remix and continued in the award-winning works Escalation, Apotheosis, and Superiority.

Warmachine: Legends brings the saga of Warmachine to an electrifying climax and provides exciting new options in the form of new warcasters, warjacks, units, solos, and epic warcasters. The book provides all new options for every faction and focuses on the characters, warjacks, and units that have attained legendary status in the world of Warmachine. Warmachine: Legends will release at Gen Con Indy 2008, and previews will begin in No Quarter Magazine #16, available in January.

Miniature Painting Night - Tonight at 6pm

This is just a quick reminder that tonight is the first monthly Miniature Painting Night that we'll be holding at the store. The official start time is 6pm but you can come in earlier if you like.

Bring your paints, brushes, miniatures and your questions. We'll be there to help those who need it or to just inspire each other if you aren't looking for help.

Hey, if you have a lamp that you like to work with, bring that too. Lighting isn't universally good in that back gaming area so any additional light sources might be helpful.

I'm going to have the new Foundation Paint line on hand for everybody to try. My most recent experiments with them have been very positive. I'm actually thinking of writing up a formal review once I've had more experience with them.

See you tonight!

Miniature Painting Night is Back!

After a more than year-long hiatus, Miniature Painting Night is Back!

I've been telling myself since I got back that I really wanted to do this but putting off setting a date for some reason. Well, you can thank Andy Easton for getting me to make up my mind and schedule it.

The next Miniature Painting Night will be on Monday, May 14 starting at 6:00pm. Feel free to come in early and pull up some table space if you like.

Why come? Because sometimes you need a good excuse to paint. Because painting in a group can be a lot of fun. Because Andy and I will be there to help out.

Andy is a pretty amazing modeler. He does conversions all the time and can help you learn the proper way to pin a model, use putty, and turn you model into something different.

I've been painting since AD&D was still in the early infancy of its first edition.
I managed to turn my interest in miniature painting into a very short career. I even won a couple of Golden Demon awards back in the day. You need help with painting? I might be able to help.

It's looking like this is going to be a monthly event (I can't commit any more time than that) so look forward to spending one night in the middle of each month hanging out at the store and painting some minis!

WIZKIDS ANNOUNCES HALO ACTIONCLIX COLLECTABLE MINIATURES GAME

WizKids Inc., creator of runaway hit games like HeroClix® and Pirates of the Spanish Main™, announced today its agreement with Bungie Studios and Microsoft to develop a new collectable miniatures game (CMG) called Halo® ActionClix™.

The Halo ActionClix CMG brings the incredible content of the Halo universe to the tabletop via the award-winning Clix miniatures game engine. Players familiar with HeroClix and HorrorClix™ will be able to jump right into the action and enjoy brand-new game mechanics, including weapon swaps, figure respawning and vehicle-based combat.

“Expanding the Halo universe into the Clix CMG world is a perfect fit for the franchise,” said Brian Jarrard, director of Franchise and Community Affairs at Bungie Studios. “WizKids’ commitment to quality and authentic detail ensures that these new Halo ActionClix figures will appeal to collectors and CMG players alike.”

The first Halo ActionClix set will feature more than 80 unique miniature figures from the Halo universe, including preview content from Halo 3. A number of vehicle packs are also being produced, including a big surprise planned for San Diego Comic-Con this July. Figures will be sold in randomized Booster Packs. The vehicles and a Starter Game will be sold in a diorama display format.

“We are proud to be associated with a great brand like Halo ,” said Lax Chandra, WizKids® president. “We are always looking for ways to push the envelope with our games and content. The phenomenal Halo video game play and universe provided us with an excellent spring board for innovation in tabletop miniatures gaming. We are very excited about this release.”

The Halo ActionClix CMG is expected to be released at retail in September 2007, with special Prerelease figures available at San Diego Comic-Con July 26 – 29, and at Gen Con Indy August 16 – 19.