CWF Holiday Gift Guide 2007

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.

Dead Computer Redux

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.

imac_2007.pngThis 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.

December 2007 Newsletter Available

We are proud to announce that the November 2007 issue of the CWF Game Cast Newsletter is now available.

All subscribed CWF Game Cast fans have received a copy of the newsletter in their e-mail.

To subscribe all you have to do is e-mail cwfgamecast [at] wargamingforums [dot] com (Titled Subscribe). Sign-up now and keep informed about the happenings in the world of gaming!

For everyone else please go to December 2007 Newsletter. We also look forward to all constructive feedback. You can find all newsletters in our Newsletter Archive. Please send feedback to cwfgamecast [at] wargamingforums [dot] com.

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White Dwarf #335 Quick Picks

We scoured the new WD and have chosen 5 Quick Picks for your perusal. If you hate reading the entire mag, have a short attention span, or just want the best here’s 5 sections you can’t miss. Our top pick is the Middle Earth in Flames.

Don’t forget to read the complete table of contents for WD #335 from our article Inside White Dwarf #335 Dec. 2007.

  1. New Releases – The Blood Bowl Omnibus p. 8. Blood Bowl is a great game and being able to read three great novels combined into one for $11.99 is a great buy.
  2. Apocalypse Battle Report – Valley of Blood p. 18-37. The Apocalypse batreps are incredibly reading. This one shows a game played at a level most players can mimic. I want some Area Denial Nodes.
  3. Middle-Earth in Flames p. 40-49. Campaign rules are always fun reading. Roughly 26% of you guys love to play in leagues. There’s something about a league that breathes life into a game. Map campaigns are really good at this and this is a great introduction to LoTR campaign play.
  4. Golden Demon 2007 p. 66-75. Some of the nicest painted models I have ever seen. I love the France, Italy, and Gamesday LA winners.
  5. Ordering Direct p. 130-135. There are some great gift ideas for all price ranges. Now is to buy what your favorite gamer wants.

Inside White Dwarf #335 Dec. 2007

Wondering if the new WD is worth purchasing? The table of contents below tells you what issue #335 covers. There’s plenty of great Apocalypse coverage along with a lots of Golden Demon goodness.

This month has 130 pages of Games Workshop goodness to feast your eyes on. Use the below table of contents and Quick Picks, in an upcoming post, to guide your visual appetite.

  • Apocalypse Battle Report: Valley of Blood p. 17 Tau v. IG & Blood Angels.
  • Middle-Earth in Flames p. 40 A map campaign for Lord of the Rings, including color map and color tokens.
  • High Elf Dragons p. 90 How the ‘Eavy Metal team painted the new HE Dragon.
  • New Releases p. 2 “All the latest models from the Citadel forges.”
  • News p. 12 “The forces of Harad and Umbar unite!”
  • Standard Bearer p. 51 “Jervis seems to have gotten himself caught up in a Waaagh! It’s all about the Orks, you see…”
  • Cities Shall Fall! (Part Two) p. 54 “Andy Hoare presents the concluding part of the apocalyptic cityfighting campaign.”
  • Painting Masters: Mark Lifton p. 60 “UK hobbyist Mark Lifton talks about Golden Demon and his (long) time in the hobby.”
  • Toolbox p. 65 “Modular movement trays.”
  • Golden Demon 2007 p. 66 “We take a close look at some of the best-painted miniatures from around the globe.”
  • Modelling Workshop: Baneblade (Part Two) p. 76 “Mark Jones gives his expertly constructed Baneblade an expert paint job.”
  • Golden Demon Los Angeles p. 100 The best painters from Games Day Los Angeles.
  • Frontline p. 117 “The latest events and activities near you!”
  • Ordering Direct p. 130 “Taking the effort out of shopping.”