New Logo!

Alright guys! Thanks to my good friend, Mr. Charles Wolfe, I now have a real logo for The Stash! Some of you have seen the black and white version Charles did for me at MACE, and after 6 hours of tweaking and cleaning it up, I now have a sweet color version as well for our digital and print materials. Here is the finished product!
BTW, Shirts coming soon!!

Pre-Orders available @ MACE 2011!

With several exciting new titles coming out in the months of November and December, I will be taking Pre-Orders for the following games at a discounted rate. Shipping will also be an option as well, if you miss this at MACE I will also have them available on our "Shop our Store" page.

Civilization: Fame and Fortune - $34.95, $26.21 (25% off MSRP)

Dominion Hinterlands - $44.95, $33.75 (25% off MSRP)

Dungeon Petz - $64.95, $48.75 (25% off MSRP)

Nefarious - $45.00, $36 (20% off MSRP)

Power Grid: First Sparks - $44.95, $33.71 (25% off MSRP)

Puerto Rico: 10th Anniversary Edition - $100, $70 (30% off MSRP)

Quarriors: Rise of the Demons - $20, $15 (25% off MSRP)

Risk: Legacy - $70, $52.50 (25% off MSRP)

Stone Age: Style is the Goal - $34.95, $26.21 (25% off MSRP)

Mansions of Madness: Forbidden Alchemy - $34.95, $26.25 (25% off MSRP)

War of the Ring: 2nd Ed. - $89.90, $67.43 (25% off MSRP)

Gaming Poll from my gaming group

Questions to ponder! 

1. What is your all-time favorite game(s)? Why?
I'd like to first state that this question in unanswerable! But, I can say that if I had to pick my all-time favorite 10 games (currently) in no particular order, they would be: Race for the Galaxy, Ghost Stories, Power Grid, Tichu, Dominion, Cuba, Stone Age, Agricola, Container and Battlestar Galactica

2. What is your current favorite game(s)? Why?
Hmm... Currently I have been playing a lot of Ghost Stories. I think the appeal for me is the awesome theme (Ninjas fighting demons from Hell), the co-operative game play (big fan) and the ability to scale the game for maximum replay-ability.

3. What game(s) are you best at? Why?
I feel like I am really good at deck building games (ie. Dominion, Thunderstone and Rune Age), I'm not sure if it's because I was an avid Magic Player for a decade or if it is just my sheer awesomeness. But whatever the case I rock at these games. I am also quite the trick-taking games player (ie. Tichu, Wizard and Haggis).

4. What game(s) are you worst at? Why?
None of course, I am awesome (See Above). Just kidding, I am actually terrible at trick-taking games WHEN I have to make blind bets which we do from time to time in Wizard. Zach can vouch for the fact that I can go from Amazing to Abysmal in heartbeat when we switch from open betting/bidding to blind!! 

5. What is your favorite game mechanic(s)? Which mechanics(s) you are best at?
I am a big fan of Simultaneous action, worker placement, area control, card drafting, resource management and auction/bidding. All these are great and really make games about skill versus luck. Of course all these mechanics are only as good as the game that contains them. Execution is key, which is why we have BGG to help separate the great from the good-god-this-is-a-piece-of-garbage! As to the question of which I am best at, please again reference #3 (I'm awesome!).

6. What is your least favorite game mechanic(s)? Which mechanic(s) you are worst at?
I would have to say anything that is overly dependent on luck and or dice. I love a dash of luck and the thrill of dice, but sometimes it is mind numbing when you are playing and it feels like the dice have a personal vendetta against you and are in love with your opponents. That being said, I'm probably the worst at luck based games because I'm always winning them with out trying! ;)

7. What is your favorite game theme(s)? Or do you prefer abstracts? 
I'm a fantasy/sci-fi/pre-historic kinda guy. If you could give me a T-Rex in a Tie Fighter defending an Intergalactic Castle in Space, I'd be a happy guy! As for abstracts, I am good with most but not particularly drown to them. This is generally my grievance with Dominion, great game but the theme is paper thin and the point are abstract. Thunderstone on the other hand while mechanically not quite as elegant has a great theme and rather than just buying up points, you are fighting all kinds of crazy monsters from a dungeon and claiming trophies! 

8. Do you prefer two-player or multi-player games? Why? 
I'm a multi-player guy up until you get to the point where the group grinds the game to a halt. I feel like 4-5 is your sweet spot, more than that and you generally wind up with long periods of downtime from one turn to the next for each player. As for 2 player games I like them for the convenience, you don't always have the luxury of a group, but with that being said... 2-player games can cause some tension between friendships, marriages and domestic partnerships if your not careful. I learned the hard way that when you beat the crap out of your wife in a game, the best thing is to probably not rub their face in it and/or break down for them why they suck at the game! LOL

9. What is your preferred game "weight"? i.e. Light, medium, or heavy? 
I like a big heavy box, I go to a lot of Cons and as a dealer I like games that double as weapons should a riot erupt! LOL! Ok, I am gonna have to answer "D", all of the above. I am up for all these games in the right setting. But, if I was forced to pick one it would have to be Medium. Mainly because I don't have to break out the abacus or devote a multiple sessions to the game. Or on the flip side I don't have to worry about being bored after one or two rounds. These games are the bees knees, they are generally the best combinations of theme, mechanics and fun!10. What's more important, winning or having fun? :)
Making money, if you've read this your probably interested in games... you should buy some from me! ;) I am absolutely about the Fun, I love to win don't get me wrong but I see board games as an escape from reality and if I'm escape I'm going somewhere fun. I mean seriously... Cancun or Soviet Russia? Exactly!

Game Night at my house over a year ago! We've doubled that amount of games since then! :)

Tell us a little bit about your gaming self:

1. What is your all-time favorite game(s)? Why?
2. What is your current favorite game(s)? Why?
3. What game(s) are you best at? Why?
4. What game(s) are you worst at? Why?
5. What is your favorite game mechanic(s)? Which mechanics(s) you are best at?
6. What is your least favorite game mechanic(s)? Which mechanic(s) you are worst at?
7. What is your favorite game theme(s)? Or do you prefer abstracts?
8. Do you prefer two-player or multi-player games? Why?
9. What is your preferred game "weight"? i.e. Light, medium, or heavy?
10. What's more important, winning or having fun? :)

Please participate by posting your answers!

Gaming and why I love it...

As I sit here tonight thinking about my upcoming Con next week and how far I have come as a games dealer, I ask myself, "Why do I do it?" Well, it certainly isn't for the money! But, the answer isn't as simple as any one thing. I think I do it out of love... love for the games I sell, the friends I have made and the places it has allowed me to see. As a games dealer I've had the chance to go to on average 10 Cons a year with the benefit of playing great new games with some truly interesting people. I've been to Cons in NC, WV, SC and IN, and no two are the same from the focus of the con to the arrangements presented to me as a dealer. But with every new Con I have a new set of challenges to overcome, usually my biggest hurtle is in preparing and getting out the door! I swear every Con while different from the last presents the same major issues. I have two small children and a wife, so getting out the door involves making numerous arrangements for all of them as well as finding the cash to fund each trip. But as I said, all of these worries and headaches melt away as soon as the last games go up on the shelves of our booth. I sit back from my chair and look out at all my fellow vendors and think, "Man! This is the life." I can't describe in words the feeling I get when I pull up a chair to a new game with my friends and we dive in together. Board Games, Mini games and Card games are so wonderful in the way they allow you to interact with each other in person. People at my day job assume I am a big video game guy when they find out that I "sell games", but I have to get on my soap box and tell them with passion how strongly I feel about the loss of human connection video games present. People laugh at me for being so passionate, but I am a social person and to many people that I've know that are PC/Console gamers have had their social skills sucked out of them by these games. So, that is why I spend my money and time going to Cons... because I believe in the games I sell! I love the way they make me use my brain and not just aimlessly mash buttons. That's why I do it, for the love of games!

Our first booth at ConCarolinas 2010!

Games available in Charlotte, NC

In our efforts to bring a physical gaming store to the Winston/High Point area, we have also partnered with The Last Word in Charlotte and have stocked them up with a few choice gaming goodies! They currently have a small, but growing, selection of our games. We will also be scheduling monthly or even bi-monthly game days in their store! Also, if your a fan of Magic: The Gathering, be sure to check them out for singles, packs and Friday Night Magic!! Stay tuned for game day schedules, we'll be sorting all that out after GenCon!

The Last Word: Used Books and Media!

The Last Word
230 E W.T. Harris Blvd, # B11
Charlotte, NC 28262
(704) 966-WORD (9673)

Banner for Booth

So it's been a while... Here is a little bit of news from our Convention side. We've recently had a banner made up to advertise and make easier to spot our booth. I thought I'd take a moment to share it with you all!

Hiatus...

So... It's been a while. I don't know what to say except, it's not you... it's me. But, I'm working on it! I will be making lots of improvements to the site this week and solemnly vow to maintain a better level of updatedness! Thanks for baring with me, and I promise to do better! :)

*Update* HeroClix Tournament

Attention HeroClix Players!!!

  HeroClix Tournament (GSX March 19th, 2011)

Giant Sized X-Men Release Tournament (w/ Prize Support)

presented by: The Card Board Stash!

On Saturday March 19th, 2011

Noon - 6pm

@ Upper Crust Pizza

We invite you all to come out and enjoy some great Clix game play with fellow players from the area!

**This event will be a sealed booster tournament, armies will be 200-300pts. The decision will be made on Saturday by participants and judges. Feel free to bring additional figures for casual play, trading, etc...**

Cost of entry is the purchase of 1 Standard Booster ($10.50 with tax, MSRP $11.99)

Judges will be present to moderate game play and award prizes.


Below are some pictures of the prize support!

Jamie Madrox (BTB Figure), Psylocke, Cable, 

Deadpool, ArchAngel, Karima, Maps, 

Crimson Gem of Cyttorak, and Hulk Fingers!!

This picture was borrowed from an online source, actual prizes are unopened. 

Additionally, All HeroClix Products will be on sale at a discounted rate:

Standard Booster: $10.50
Giant Sized Booster: $22.00
Brick (8 Standard & 1 Giant): $105.00


We will also be accepting Cash or Credit on site, no checks please.

Upper Crust Pizza

1816 Silas Creek Parkway

Winston-Salem, NC 27103 

(336) 748-0200 

‎

uppercrustpizzaparlor.com

Hey! That's My Fish

One of the new games I had the pleasure of playing for the first time over the weekend was Hey! That's My Fish! This game is super simple to learn, while at the same time offers quite a bit of strategy.

As Steve says its the most strategic game you'll play with an 8 year old. Between Friday and Sunday, I probably played this game a dozen times and no two games played exactly the same which I throughly enjoyed.

Playing this game came at just the right time with Baden's 9th Birthday being on Sunday and me having a copy in stock. I gave it to him on Saturday and he taught 3 people to play between Saturday and Sunday! I'd highly recommend this to anyone with young kids that need an alternative to Candy Land or Shoots and Ladders!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Podcast...

Just a quick post! So, I am a podcast junkie and really love listening to regular people talk about various things that interest me. More so, I love the idea that this is something that basically anyone can do. I have been a contributor to a podcast in the past and really loved it. The show going belly up has really left me yearning for another chance to get behind the mic and force my opinions on the willing masses! :) So, I guess with a plethora of gaming related podcasts out there, my question is, is there room for another?? Also, would anyone be interested in doing the same, perhaps we could co-host a review show or maybe even get a small round table group to contribute. Any ideas...

StellarCon Updates to come!

Getting ready for StellarCon

Ok, to the handful of people who have been following my blog on a somewhat regular basis, I have to truly apologize for not having more post this week as I had promised earlier. I have all my notes and plan to post a few game session notes from last weekend and now one from tonight's game of Power Grid (Loved it, btw!).

But, back to my explanation / apologize... I have been busy this week gearing up for StellarCon, and by gearing up for StellarCon, I mean completely avoiding the giant stack of games that needed to be priced and boxed. I know it's the same routine for every Con, and after each mad dash out the door to a Con I swear it'll be the last time that I'll be ill prepared for a Con. This is my 7-8th Con as a Dealer and I swear I am still perpetually behind on the day the Con rolls around. So, to that end, I wanted to chronicle exactly why this happens every time.

Reasons/Excuses for being ill prepared for Cons:

1. Lack of motivation: I know this seems like a poor excuse and to be honest, it totally is... but, I have to also tell you that I am a stay at home Dad presently and by the time we get my 9 year old's homework done, him cleaned up and fed and eventually off to bed... it's time to wrestle our 13 month old into his crib which might as well be made of lava as far as he is concerned. So, by 10-11 clock at night when all the chores are done and the kids have been put back to bed 6-7 times and the house is quiet, I think to myself... "Man, I need to go price my games, or go blog my notes, or build my game order for this week... " and then it happens! I lose all motivation and decide sleep is much more appealing since, I'll be up at 7:30 entertaining a very active little monster!
2. Dependency on others: This one isn't as big an issue as you might think, but when it goes bad... it's a shit storm! My best friend Zach is generally always in tow when it comes to Cons, but on occasion he has scheduling conflicts and I have to scramble to find a replacement, as I am not in love with the idea of being glued to my booth all weekend with no relief for food or gaming runs! I know this is gonna be hard to believe, so brace yourself... not everyone is willing to go to a gaming convention and hangout for a weekend or even a day sometimes. So, like this coming weekend... I have asked 8 people to either to babysit the baby for me to go setup or for someone to come and help setup my booth and hangout! Finally, after a small bribe I finally locked down my mother to babysit for an hour, and my brother agreed to help setup the booth and hangout for a free meal! And that's just the lighter side, god help you if you need to depend on someone to help you transport stuff, not having a large enough vehicle and the constant shuffle of goods in and out of your car is all by itself a mind numbing experience!
3. Stocking Merch.: Ok, like a lot of people I worked in retail when I was younger. For me I had the most experience as the Trading Post Manager at a Boy Scout Camp I worked at for a couple summers. Most people never have the joy of having to decide on what items to stock, I did at camp, but it was a no brainer. Kids love any and all candy and knick knacks, so most anything you got was golden. Fast forward to 10 years later and you've decided, "Hey! I've got $300 bucks, why don't I get a business license and start selling games to my local game group!" What could be hard about that, right? Ok, so unlike candy and chitsy little camp trinkets, board games or designer games in my case are super subjective to taste and hard to predict the hot sellers. I have seen in a single day at a Con, one person walks up and pledge his undying love for a game and turns into "That Guy", chewing my ear off about it's wondrous awesomeness! Then an hour later another guy comes along and threatens to murder Zach and I for ruining the dealers room by having this raging piece of trash on my shelf! All the while, I'm trying to figure out why the hell I'm indifferent about the game! So, to put it into perspective let's pretend you want to sell buttons, now lets pretend you can only buy 100 buttons and having more than 1 or 2 of the same kind is a no-no. Think of all the different choices you have from color, size, shape, material, and so on. How do you know what people are going to need?? I have lost more sleep and worried more of my game purchases than I think anyone should ever have to concerning anything! So, now a year and a half later, I have 225+ unique titles we regularly stock and new games are coming out at the rate of 10-20 a month. My budget and own sensibilities will only allow me to add maybe 5 new titles a month, so how do you pick the winners?? Ok, I'm serious... somebody tell me, I miss my sanity! ;)

Ok, that's some highlights for why I am perpetually behind on weeks of Cons... are they good reasons? Probably not, but hey, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! I hope maybe MACE West will be different, but probably not. If you suffered through this post, I'd like to offer you the promise that I will try to catch up on my posts over the weekend at the Con and hopefully have a full Con Report for you by Wednesday of next week! Also, if your gonna be at StellarCon, come by The Card Board Stash's Booth and see us!

P.S.: Reason #4: Blogging: Yup, I totally took a break from my last minute pricing to blog my thoughts... I'm a glutton for punishment!

New Games Arriving Thursday!

Here are some of the new additions to our already extensive product catalog!

• Thunderstone: Dragonspire
• Grand Conquest
• Dixit 2
• Survice! Escape From Atlantis
• Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Tiles Master Set - The Dungeon
• Dungeons & Dragons: Essentials Dungeon Tiles Master Set - The City
• Mini Holy Hand Grenade Plush
• Mansions of Madness   

See our store for prices and availability!

Quick Update!

Hey Everybody... just wanted to touch base and let everyone know that I am currently working on getting our store completely revamped with better images, up to date pricing and more over completed links to additional information for all products!

I am also trying to get my session notes together from this past weekend and for those of you that checked our ConCalendar, you'll see that we are gearing up for StellarCon as well!! Lots to do, and little time to do it! So, wish me luck and stay tuned!

Preliminary Weekend Gaming Report!

So, just to be on top of things, here is a list of the games I've played so far this weekend and my rating:

• 7 Wonders
• 2nd Place out of 6 (Lost by 1 point)
• 9/10
• Hey! That's My Fish! (6x)
• Won 3, Finished 2nd in 3
• 8/10 (Baden's Rating 10/10)
• Dominion
• Lost by 1 point, 2 player game
• 9.5/10
• Thunderstone
• Won
• 9/10
• The Golden City
• Won with a Tie Breaker (62pts)
• 8/10, want to play again... seems to be great "Gateway Game"
• Tobago
• Won! Me 52, Zach 9, Braydon 9, Debbie 13
• 8/10
• Forbidden Island
• Group Loss
• Pandemic Lite / 8/10, want to replay!!

**So, this is my games played as of Saturday night... I plan on doing a more detailed entry on for most of these games and hopefully squeezing in some more gaming tomorrow! 


Stay Tuned!

Dominion: Cornucopia Expansion (Pre-Order)

Attention Dominion Fans/Junkies!

The newest Dominion Expansion: Cornucopia is scheduled for release in April!
I will be taking Pre-Orders for the next month, so be sure to drop me a line or head over to our store and go ahead and buy your copy to ensure you don't miss out on the newest hotness from Dominion!

 

BGG Info: Dominion: Cornucopia

Paranoia & Fiasco RPGs (More Birthday Gaming)

PARANOIA

So following my adventures with John B. on Tuesday (2/22/11), I also hosted my D&D group at my place for some role playing! Our usual D&D campaign is on hold due to member's schedules, so in the meantime our DM/GM decided to try out some other games on us. I think that statement of trying games out on us is uber-appropriate with regard to Paranoia.

The game, which is a giant case of fuck your neighbor, was started with minimal introduction to the system or the overall feel of the "world". So all of us being new to the game and role playing in general, fumbled and stumbled at every turn. But, we made it fun by god! We made the most off color and outlandish choices possible just to get a laugh! I know our DM was having a field day trying to keep us on point, but we didn't care... if he was gonna stick us in this game we were gonna have a blast.

I can't fairly rate this game at this time, nor can I explain the system or dynamics to you as I am still about 98% confused myself, which feels correct given the brief explanation we received for the game. I'm truly on the fence about this one... I like my D&D game where I know clearly my objective and I can quickly reference a character sheet and find everything I need to know about my guy and his gear. But, I do think the game has tremendous potential and I know plenty of people that love the game. I did especially enjoy the part where the four troubleshooters are pulling guns on each other and after taking a shot to the head and having my hand chopped off, I wound up with 3 clones to their single characters! Needless to say it got ugly from there! So, we'll see if it grows on us, and I hope it does!

The other game we tried out was a game I had picked up and read through... Fiasco! Fiasco is best described as a Coen Brother's Movie in RPG form. The game is light on mechanics and heavy on storytelling, which for me is just awesome. I have taken improv classes and always been a huge fan of creative writing, so this game is a perfect outlet for that. I will have to give much love and respect to Danny and Sam, who stayed late with me and indulged me in this game for my Birthday!

So, Fiasco... this game uses a set of d6s for each player 2 white and 2 black, each player tosses his die into the center of the table and from there you go around and pick a single die, using it's number to added an element to the relationships of himself or another set of players. After all the die are gone you should have you should have some nice guidelines for how everyone is connected and the needs of the people in the game. From there all the die are returned to the center and you start going around the table and either setting up your story or resolving it, with the rest of the group handling the counter-part. Halfway, through the dice pool you get to the "Tilt" which is where shit hits the fan! The two players with the best outcomes from there collected dies, pick two Tilt elements to add to the center of the table and then play continues.

Now, someone has to man up and take on a tilt element and just send his character into the fire. :)  Once, all the die and Tilt elements are taken and played you roll up your dice and based on your outcome find out what happens to your characters. From there you do my favorite part, the montage! The montage is where you use the outcome and the dice you've collected to wrap things up. You pick up a dice and say, "This is _______, insert proper horrific scene..." and everyone does this in order one die at a time until you have finished out the game!

So, in short we all had a blast playing it and I think I speak for everyone when I say round two can't get here soon enough! Ok, I hope all that makes sense to you guys, but trust me it's great... and if you don't trust me, then how about Wil Wheaton??

 

He talks briefly about Fiasco when he is asked about what he has been playing.

RPGG info: Fiasco

RPGG info: Paranoia

HeroClix Tournament (GSX March 19th, 2011)

Attention HeroClix Players!!!

Giant Sized X-Men Release Tournament (w/ Prize Support)

presented by: The Card Board Stash!

On Saturday March 19th, 2011

Noon - 6pm

@ Upper Crust Pizza

We invite you all to come out and enjoy some great Clix game play with fellow players from the area!

This event is open to anyone that would like to come out and join, must provide your own figures.

Cost of entry is the purchase of 1 Standard Booster ($10.50 with tax, MSRP $11.99)

Judges will be present to moderate game play and award prizes


Additionally, All HeroClix Products will be on sale at a discounted rate:

Standard Booster: $10.50
Giant Sized Booster: $22.00
Brick (8 Standard & 1 Giant): $105.00

Upper Crust Pizza

1816 Silas Creek Parkway

Winston-Salem, NC 27103 

(336) 748-0200 

‎

uppercrustpizzaparlor.com

War Machines! (Birthday Gaming!)

Brace Yourself Fool!!

Well, I pulled off an amazing feat today, I managed to not only get a babysitter for a few hours during the middle of the week, but I also managed to get in quite a bit of gaming! So after a great lunch with John B., we headed off to the game table for a game of War Machines. If your not familiar with War Machines, it is a small scale skirmish based miniatures game, which means lots of dice, tape measures and figures. I have played simplified demo versions before at Cons, and really loved the mechanics as well as the high quality figures.

Today, I got to experience the game in a more in depth manner with full use of rules and against an opponent that not only was teaching, but also trying to win. John was running a Khador army which are heavy hitters, while I was manning the Protectorate army which focuses more on ranged combat and faster assaults with the lighter warjacks (steam powered Mechs.) The goal of the game is to kill your opponents caster or controller, they are the ones that typically have the most abilities and feats but, with the drawback of being weak and in need of near constant defense. I'd have to say that John had an early advantage by rushing in on my guys and essentially backing us into a corner. However, I did manage to keep him at bay for a bit with a Fire Wall, and pulled a sweet move that took out 3 of his guys in one round!

Not to shabby for a first time with no real strategy or working knowledge of my army to speak of. But, ultimately I took the gamble of moving my Caster into the line of fire of a big bad Jack, and when I failed to kill him got my face beat in! But, hey... you win some, you lose some and if your lucky you have fun either way! Again, I think this game is solid and has tremendous depth when you look at all the abilities and feats these armies have available to them. I am eagerly awaiting my next chance to play and hopefully Win! Not a bad way to start off year #28!

BGG Info: WarMachine

Additionally, I managed to get in 2 new RPGs for my Birthday as well, Paranoia and Fiasco... stay tuned for entries regarding them as well! :)

The Dice represent my Wall of Fire!

Weekend Gaming Report!

Well, it was a slow weekend around the gaming table, but for lack of quantity we certainly made up for it with quality! I won't go so far as to say the the game we played was the best game ever, but it was very fun and when we finished the first game we unanimously agreed to go again... always a good sign!

"So, what did you play?" You must be asking... Formula D, by Asomdee is the game in question. Now, this might have been anti-climactic for you hardcore gamers, but for me the true Win, was that my 8 year old son ate it up! He couldn't get enough and asked to play off and on all weekend. We only dabbled with the basic rules, but I have promised Baden (my son) that we will play this coming week with the advanced rules. I love the time I get to spend gaming with him, and this game truly brought out his inner gamer. He was focused and out for blood, which is a true mark of a future hardcore gamer.

But, I'm going to keep this update short and say that we played around 6-7 games over the weekend with a variety of winners and several dramatic turns involving players blowing up their cars (myself included). The game play is solid and easily memorized, and as for the components... top notch! The board is huge with great artwork and the cars, while tiny are nicely done. So, I give the game a solid 8.5, and Baden says it's an 11 (even after I explained that the scale maxes out at 10).

BGG Info for Formual D!

Hopefully, this coming weeks gaming will include a report on my first experiences playing the RPG Paranoia and if I'm lucky Fiasco!

"That Guy"

So, I wanna take a minute to identify a personality type that I am seeing more and more frequently... "That Guy"! Ok, "That Guy" is the person that during a conversation, game or on rare occasion out of the complete blue will completly unload his thoughts on you about a particular topic. Most commonly in gaming you see this with uber-fanboys, that eat, sleep and breathe a certain interest. While I can stereotype and say that they are generally unkempt and sporting articles of clothing in homage to their passion, this is hugely inaccurate. And there in lies the greatest power of "That Guy"... The sneak attack!

So, your playing a game and boom like a pressure sensitive mine he is triggered and now he is in a tirade about his random passion, and your stuck! At this point your only options are to become an asshole and tell this guy to shut up, politely ignore him and hate the next few hours of your life or fake a call/medical condition/natural disaster! These mental patients don't just stop at telling you what they like, but rather outline the known history of the topic and the begin to brow beat you for your lack of knowledge / interest! Conventions are perhaps the worst place for being the victim of a sneak attack, especially if you are trying to sell merchandise. This puts you in a position to engage every passer by to attempt to illicit a new sale. Then all of the sudden it happens... you have a guy that has lit up like rocket shooting for the stars and he is locked on you! He begins by ignoring the rules of personal space and hovers centimeters in front of your face telling you about his collection of gaming books that he has re-covered in human flesh and had signed in blood by Gary Gygax. He is quizzing you to see if you are his topical equal or the other almost 99.9% that is inferior and in his eyes ignorant to good things. Now he'll start to tell you the history you could care less about, and then explain how everything you think is good sucks by comparison. He'll break out items from his random he's concealed God knows where and he'll try and show you each and every part of it until you swear eternal allegence to his obsession.

God forbid anyone else try to jump in and save you. He'll just sit there quietly stroking his dice bag waiting to jump back on you, or if you need to leave he'll follow you even to placesa you consider normally out of bounds. I had a guy follow me to the bathroom one time and continue his lecture while I did my business!

So, this is terrible, right... but what is the proper etiquette?? Even more so what about the different approaches from a convention setting to a local game group? I'm not sure but I'm going to attempt to chronical my encounters with "That Guy" for educational and recreational purposes!

New Games Arriving Friday (2/18/11)

So, for those of you who haven't seen the "Shop Our Store" tab at the top of the page go check it out! We are constantly adding new and exciting games to our stocked inventory! That being said, let me list a few of our new additions arriving tomorrow!

• GoSu
• Ticket to Ride: The Alvin & Dexter Expansion
• Forbidden Island
• Pirate Fluxx
• Lords of Vegas
• Automobile
• Train of Thought
• Glen More (See My Session Notes)
  
• D&D Wrath of Ashardalon
• Factory Fun

These are also arriving along with several restocks of our other great titles! All games can be purchased through our online store securely with Google Checkout, at my locally sponsored Meetup groups (limited availability), and of course at upcoming Cons (check ConCalender)!!

Stay tuned for more great titles to come and if you would like a game we don't already carry, please e-mail us and let us know what you want and we'll happily add it to our next order at no additional cost!

Glen More (Thursday Night Gaming)

Ok, so tonight I managed to get in 2 whole games before calling it a night! If you know my schedule and the the group (LLGers - Lovers of Longer Games), you'd know this is impressive! Anyway, so I was hit up to try out Glen More as I was trying to be good and leave early for a change and go home to the wife and kids. Sadly, my desire to try out a new game over took my original plans!

So, after a quick run through of the rules we dove into it. I was a little shaky about the activation of adjacent tiles and the movement of the "Clansmen", but after a my second turn I quickly had all that ironed out. So, in this game your using your colored meeple to bid on various properties with various production abilities. The player in the rear gets to place first and play progresses from there (Think Leap Frog), but the trick is not jumping to far ahead or you might short yourself out of some movements waiting on the other players to slowly surpass you. The other big element is the placement, which is limited to spaces adjacent to a Clansman, and which in turn activate all other adjacent spaces when placed. Ok... take all that in and become completely confused! Moving on, I'll spare you any further convoluted observations about the mechanics and say this, if you've ever played Cuba, it feels in some very subtle ways like Cuba Mega Lite!

For me the best part of this game was watching my friend Sam being abused by the Dice that in our 3 player game, acted as a 4th player that when rolled removed the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd tile in the rotation. Every other time the dice was rolled it just wrecked his strategy and his reactions were priceless!! As expected though I didn't win my first time out but I feel that my score was respectable: Sam 58, Doug 54, and Me 47. Ok, so yeah I sucked... but I had fun!

Glen More: Light, but strategic. Fun and easy to learn! 9 out of 10 for my first play through!

Castle Raveloft (Thursday Night Gaming)

So... tonight was another fun filled meeting of the Camel City Gamers of Winston Salem. I myself arrived a bit late, but was lucky enough to find a seat in a game of Castle Ravenloft with a few fellow gamers. This was my first time playing the Ravenloft board game and was a bit thrown by the watered down 4th Ed. D&D mechanics of the game. However, this quickly gave way to my pleasure in ease of combat and moreover access to the D&D universe to non-roleplayers. The game is very straight forward with beautiful tile and card art, and the Minis look great and could easily be painted up to add even more to the game as a whole.

Anyway... back to the game we played! So, I chose the Dragonborn Fighter, with the other 4 players rounding out the pack of available characters. The first several rooms and monsters were easy to handle and allowed for quick progression, then around turn 10-11, things got much more interesting. I myself instigated the unleashing of all sorts of nasty when I failed to kill a Spider in my attack, which gave way to a new tile and a Wolf and then an Encounter card with yet another monster (Plague of Rats). Now, I find myself being chewed on by both these new monsters. Good Times!! At any rate, my fellow heroes abandoned me to pursue other rooms leaving me to the beasts! Finally, thanks to a treasure card that moved a couple of the creatures off my tile, I was able to finish off my initial target and open up a new room. Sounds good, right?? Wrong!! The room of course would be the objective room (or in other words the room holding the item we needed to win), and now I'm face to face with not 1, not 2, but 5 ugly mean ass monsters! My fellow heroes are at the closest 2 tiles away and all these guys are getting to beat on me every turn since each player controlled one! After everyone had taken their turns I was still standing with just a couple Hit Points to spare, I failed my first attack on the baddies, and sat back accepting my fate... but my team swooped in for the save! Everyone kicked ass and looted up! Finally, after 4-5 more turns following my fail, we had done it! We killed all the keepers of the medallion and returned victorious!

So, what are my thoughts on Ravenloft... Well, I liked it a lot! I think the overall design is fantastic and the playability is very high even for the non-RPGer.

So, I'd say 9 out of 10 for my first play through of D&D's Castle Ravenloft