Random Dreck

Just some random thoughts from a bored mind...
Martin Wallace has stopped the fight over the name Age of Steam. He and John Bohrer had been fighting over the name for months, delaying any reprint of Age of Steam and the publishing of Mayfair's new version of Martin's game. So? Well, it means that folks will someday finally be able to get a copy of AoS again, since JB will be able to print it again. It also means folks will be able to finally play Mayfair's version of the game (which is supposed to be compatible with all the AoS maps - how they'll mention that now is another story I suppose). Whether he was right or wrong, JB came off as an ass and turned off a lot of people. As much as I actually dislike JB, I sadly cannot keep him from my money, as I really like the stuff that Winsome is producing lately (maybe not the production quality, but the games themselves seemed to be my kind of game). So yes, I am going to be buying JB's USA release of his Essen 2008 set. All $130 bucks worth :( - its two new games, and AoS map set and an expansion for Wabash Cannonball.

Also in the limited edition news, Ted Alspach recently announced an Essen set of AoS maps in the $80 range. I really want these too, but man that's a lot of cash to drop considering I'm moving in 3 weeks or so. Damn their timing.

I didn't think I'd be doing any trading for a while, but then DoW bent me over and announced they'd be releasing TtR:Nordic in English in North America. So I unloaded it in the most recent math trade to get something of value (while this copy still had any). I ended up grabbing a brand new copy of Atlantic Star. I've never played this one, so I really just grabbed it as possible trade fodder down the road.

I still owe Mike Gingold a copy of Atolla Modulis. I bring this up as a reminder to myself to mount the stupid crap already and also because the last item I mentioned end up going to none other than Mr. Gingold himself. I had AS shipped to him and with any luck, when I finally (someday) get to Phoenix, I'll give Mike his two games and get my one.

Heh. I have another game awaiting me in Phoenix as well. I got a copy of Runebound 2nd ed in a math trade at the start of the summer. Knowing I'd be moving, I asked the trader to just hold it for me until I could get back. Well, soon enough I'll be back.

With any luck (or will of God, or whatever you prefer) I'll be living in Mesa, AZ and it turns out I'll be within a few miles of Eric Von Burg and Dion Garner. Both are gamer friends of mine that I enjoy very different styles of games with. Erik seems to really like the more thematic games and plays as much for the fun as anything. Dion is solid Euro guy. I'll probably get a bunch of games like Doom, Descent, Heroscape (lots of Heroscape), Heroquest, Runebound, etc played with Erik and will see about maybe doing something two-player-esque with Dion (maybe a C&C:Ancients campaign or something). I'm probably getting ahead of myself a bit, but I really miss those guys.

I'm going to miss the guys here too. I really liked playing with Justin Kosec, Mike Garrett, Mike, Mike, Dave, Conrad, Steve, John etc etc. Its too bad the Game Shoppe was so far away, as I enjoyed the store and the manager Becky and her boyfriend Heath. Everyone was great to game with and I played a LOAD of games with Mike Garrett that I'd probably not have ever played if I hadn't met him. I already miss Justin Easley and his brother Jason who are in Ill-in-noise already. Hopefully they will someday be passing through my corner of the world - I'll always welcome a face-to-face game of something.