Monsterpocalypse Arrives in Dedham: Lots of Pictures

Posted on August 26, 2008 by Jonathan J. Reinhart

Monsterpocalypse was a big hit at GenCon Indy 2008 and rightly so.  Great looking models, solid rules, and great support from a classy gaming company.  The game doesn’t officially release until later this year but who can wait until the Autumn?  Not I and to that end I now have real, live (well not alive), models and stuff for the game.

The products arrived yesterday and I documented the unveiling with many flashes of digital camera.  More are en route including the limited edition GenCon Indy 2008 only sculpts of two monsters plus more units and even more monsters.  For now, I have a solid base with 1 starter, 1 unit booster, and half a dozen monster boosters.

Enjoy the pictures below.  Remember to click them for a larger pic.

 

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A Year Ago Today: August 2007

Posted on August 25, 2008 by Jonathan J. Reinhart

Sometimes called a blast from the past, or remember when, we have our own time traveling series titled A Year Ago Today.  This shows you what we were doing on the blog one year ago.  We started this on February 7, 2008 in our enhanced podcast, now on hiatus, in Episode 30.

You could say this is us being lazy.  “They don’t have anything new to write so they’re resurrecting old crap nobody cares about anymore.”  Won’t argue with you because it is pointless and there could be some truth in statements like that.  Instead we’re pushing onwards.

One year ago today we were hyping the High Elves in Warhammer Fantasy.  Our article, GW Fantasy High Elves Sneak Peek, showcased pics of upcoming models to whet your appetite.  Most eye catching was Alith Anar the Shadow King.

WFB Alith Anar Shadow King

WFB Alith Anar Shadow King

Now this year the Dark Elves, the evil relatives of the High Elves, have their new army book after such a long wait. All Druchii must be utterly pleased with the development and especially those at Druchii.net, who were pivotal in the development.

It is funny how little has changed 12 months later.  We were talking about WFB Elves last August and we’re still discussing them this August.  Go figure.

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GenCon 2008 Report Part 3

Posted on August 24, 2008 by Jonathan J. Reinhart

This is our final GenCon 2008 Report.  It is an overview of the con with positives and negatives according to attendee Chase.

We will be returning to other gaming topics soon such as confirmed releases for Set 4 of War at Sea and a splash of 40k.  Lots of great games happening and GenCon is the impetus for much of that.  

Hope you enjoy this final installment of GenCon 2008 Report.

Gencon 2008 was a really good time overall.  The Con itself was a really positive experience.  Personally, I lucked out and got some great DM’s running the games I played.

My favorite events were:  The Dungeon Crawl Classics tournament, the Living Forgotten Realms 8 hour Special Event, and True Dungeon (as usual).

Pleasant Surprises:  the DCC event, good RPGA DM’s, Elmanster the Invincible (my Elf Cleric made 100% of win), Heidi, my question to the R&D guys not sounding completely retarded.

Disappointments:  2.5 hour skill challenges, < 4 or 5 hours of sleep 6 days in a row, Elmanster not ascending to godhood at level 3, the dealer room.

The dealer room really was lack luster.  I spent maybe an hour in there over the 4 days.  The Paizo booth, the Upper Deck booth, and the Privateer booth were the most busy (and best).  WotC didn’t have anything to special going on other than a 17th level Dungeon Delve… but the lines at all booths were to long to wait in.

Pro Tip:  Never, ever drive to Gencon.  It’s pretty much the definition of hell on earth.  I’ve made plenty of mistakes in 2008, but this might be one of the worst.

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GenCon 2008 Report Part 2

Posted on August 18, 2008 by Jonathan J. Reinhart

Today is the first day back for most if not all of the attendees at GenCon Indianapolis 2008 from Battleground Games in Abington.  The owner of the store, Derek, has been posting intermittent reports on their message board about GenCon and we’re sharing his final one with all of you.

Fear not for there will be one more GenCon 2008 Report to come.  It will be a summary of GenCon with pros and cons by Battleground Games attendee Chase.  Look for it soon.

 

We have safely returned from GENCON.

As it turns out, our group progressed to the final round of the D&D Open. Unfortunately, we were thwarted in the last leg of the competition pretty much due to the fact that our DM was exceptionally slow. On average, it took him 10 minutes of game time to determine the order people should go in initiative each time an encounter began. Essentially, we lost close to half an hour of a four hour timed game to the collecting and sorting of initiative cards. To add, this was just one of many slow downs caused by our DM. Oh well. Glory must wait for another year.

I posted the video of Chase’s exchange with the R&D staff of D&D 4th edition on Youtube. You can view it here (he asks the second question in the video):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9wtKg79fN4[/youtube]

Overall, it was a really good show. The exhibit hall was a little underwhelming in comparison to years past, but I think that might be because 4th edition D&D is so new and the industry is sort of in a state of flux. I was able to find and purchase a large Dalek action figure, complete with plunger appendages – so that, at least, was a major success.

Declan Lynch, one of our Tuesday night D&D Miniatures players, came in 5th place in the D&D Miniatures Championship Tournament. Congratulations Declan! That tournament is tough to even qualify for, let alone come in 5th in the world!

There were lots of funny stories/moments that I’m sure you’ll overhear me chatting about at the store so I’ll just wait to tell you those in person Smiley

Good to be back!

D. 

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WordPress 2.6.1 Update Completed

Posted on August 18, 2008 by Jonathan J. Reinhart

The CWF Game Cast has completed its update from its 2.6 version of WordPress to 2.61. Why do this, you may ask. Instead of trying to explain it all to you, the WordPress people did a great job of it already.

Please read WordPress 2.6.1 at the official WordPress blog. That explains all the reasons why we are updating.

The upgrade was performed using the automatic upgrade plugin making this easy as bulls-eying womp rats on Tatooine.  We even updated all our plugins and finished everything in less than 12 minutes.  Version 2.6.1 fixes a slew of bugs in v2.6 including one that’s very close to our heart.  We utilize a lot of plugins to make your visiting experience as good as humanly possible.  Sometimes that can slow the blog down.  This new version of WordPress remedies that situation allowing us to make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.

Couple this with our previous installation and activation of Gears and we arrive at speedier blogging. If you have a user account and use either Internet Explorer or Firefox please do the following. Sign into your account. Go to Site Admin. At the top right of the screen you’ll see your username, Log Out, Help, Forums, and Turbo. Click on Turbo and then install and activate Gears. If you are on a dial-up connection (i.e. AOL) you’ll receive a speedier user experience on the blog.

You can also view the below video for all the bells and whistles in WP 2.6.

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