CWF Game Cast

There’s snow on the ground, online stores are giving deadlines for Christmas deliveries, and at least one fight between disgruntled shoppers made headlines in the mall. Must be time for the CWF Holiday Gift Guide.

Last year the Holiday Gift Guide was presaged by coverage in the CWF Game Cast podcast. Of course that isn’t possible this year with the podcast on hiatus. Instead we hope to make this guide better than before.

Shopping for gamers isn’t as easy as one expects but is easier than you think. We broke our guide down into three price categories. Under $15 (or the Friends ideas), Under $50 (family and loved ones) and $100 and up (group gifts or treat yourself).

Under $15

1. Sitting Ducks Gallery - $15.00. This is our #1 overall pick for this gift guide. Please see our review of Sitting Ducks Gallery for more info. FLGS, Amazon.com ($7.49).
2. CCG Boosters - Price varies but usually $3.99-$4.99. Magic, Yu-gi-Oh, and World of Warcraft are most popular. Lorywn is a great new Magic set, there’s tons of new foils for YGO, and new WoW set called March of the Legion. FLGS, Online Stores.
3. Warmachine Warcasters - Usually costing $6.99-$9.99. Nice looking figs and a requirement for every Warmachine army. Great combo gift with the latest No Quarter. FLGS, Online Stores.
4. Chessex 16mm D6 - $4.50 for set of 12. This showed up at #1 in last year’s guide. FLGS, Online Stores.
5. Zap A Gap Glue - $3.99-$12.99. All models need glue for assembly. This is a perfect stocking stuffer. FLGS, Online Stores.

Under $50

1. Citadel Modular Gaming Hill - $25. Nice looking prefab, modular, terrain to help you get jump started with playing a game. FLGS, Games Workshop Online Store.
2. Regiment/Squad Box - $9.99-$49.99 (depending on game system and item). FLGS, Online Stores, Games Workshop Online, Mongoose Publishing, Flames of War
3. Video/Computer Games - Prices Vary. In particular Guitar Hero 3 for PS2 or Xbox 360. Online Stores, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, EB Games.
4. Warhammer 40k Apocalypse Rulebook - $49.99. This must have book transforms 40k into a game of epic proportions with thousands of models on the table including Baneblades and Titans. FLGS, Games Workshop Online Store.
5. Manga/Anime - $7.99-$9.99/$12.99-$19.99. Gamers love anime and manga. Anyone who plays Tau knows this to be true. Pick up some Bleach, Black Cat, and Yakitate!! Japan. Or, get some old school Eva or Bebop DVDs. Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com.

$100 and Up

1. Citadel Tool Kit - $120. GW created all news tools. Much improved and better than almost anything else. Comes in a nice case with clippers, files, hobby knife, pin vice, sculpting tool, vice, and razor saw. FLGS, Games Workshop Online.
2. Paint Set (Vallejo, GW) - Prices vary. FLGS, Games Workshop Online.
3. Nintendo Wii/Game Consoles - Prices vary. Best Buy, Toys R Us, Amazon, etc.
4. Professional Paint Job - Price varies. Have your army professionally painted. Check our Blue Table Painting for an example.
5. iPod - Prices vary. Great way to listen to music while you game or quick reference your army list that you saved as a txt. Online Stores, Apple.

written by ^Raven^

Tags

40k, apocalypse, Collectible Cards, Collectible Minis, Computer/Video Games, gift guide, Sitting Ducks, Warmachine, World of Warcraft.

Related Articles

• Inside No Quarter #15 Nov. 07 March 12, 2008
• Inside No Quarter #17 March 2008 March 26, 2008
• Inside No Quarter #18 May 2008 May 12, 2008
• Inside No Quarter #19 July 2008 August 10, 2008
• Inside White Dwarf #340 May 2008 May 9, 2008

It has been almost 7 months since I last discussed the issue of my dead PC and my need for a new computer.  A resolution has now been put into effect.  Santa is bringing my a new iMac for Christmas and my birthday.

This is the brand new iMac that ships with OS X Leopard.  It has a 20 inch screen, 1GB of memory, 250GB of disk space, Boot Camp pre-installed, 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo processor, ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics card with 32mb of memory, and 24x Superdrive (CD, DVDs, and burner for both).  Add in the Applecare protection plan, just in case anything goes awry, and this machine is good to go.  On top of that I’m personally purchasing a copy of Windows XP Home Full Edition so I can boot into either OS.

I will use XP for grad school (writing papers and etc) and gaming (Civ 2 here I come).  The OS X side will be great for everything else from podcasting, blogging, posting vids on YouTube (thank you integrated webcam), the net, and of course video and picture editing.

Since my PC died I’ve gotten used to the old Mac G4 and the OS X setup (it is on 10.3.9).  But, it’ll be nice to have Leopard since many Mac programs require the newer OS.  After I get used to the new iMac I’ll give GarageBand a whirl for podcasting.

Unfortunately I lost a lot, if not all, of my old audio files for the podcast.  The intro, exit music, theme music, songs, and even the old podcasts.  This means a complete rebuilding from the ground up.  New music, new format, new everything.  That will cause a disparity between the old and new but it will also revitalize the podcast.

I’ve gotten used to Cyberduck instead of SmartFTP and it is really handy for the blog and other website endeavors.  My only complaint with the program is its lack of alphabetizing the files and folders for me.  I’ll continue to use it on my new Mac with great success.

A lot will stay the same despite some changes.  This means that you, the reader, won’t notice any major schism with my new machine.  The blog will behave the same, podcasts will be back (yay), and I’ll still discuss all things gaming in Massachusetts.

Until then I shall keep plugging along.

written by ^Raven^

Related Articles

• None Found. Write Your Own