Woah, it's been a while since the last entry on this page and I can only apologise for that. Since the previous post, I've been working double-time on setting up my new business, which launches on 01/01/2013... you can check out Main Event Photography UK over on our current blog page here: maineventphotographyuk.blogspot.co.uk and link to our Facebook page to keep in touch with what I'm up to.
Game Workshop. I think everyone would agree that GW is one of, if not THE, recognized market leader in the tabletop gaming world. Even though I've done very little hobby stuff over the last quarter, I've just about kept in touch with things, thanks to my White Dwarf subscription and like-minded mates who stop to chew the fat about it all on the odd occasion that we meet up. Although GW are producing some cracking kit at the moment, their prices are shooting up at an alarming rate. I remember picking up my first Marine Codex at the end of the 90's (how old am I feeling right now...?!) for little over £10; now-a-days, you're looking at more than double that and I'm not sure I'm willing to pay that sort of price for the product. I borrowed the new Chaos 'dex for a few days from my mate Dan and although it's a nice looking tome, I really don't think the cover price is justified :/
I've previously posted on the IJ blog page about a number of the smaller, up-and-coming 'indie' companies. But I'm not sure that term does them justice anymore. Some of these companies are also producing some top-notch stuff at a much more realistic price than the folks over at GW.
So, for now anyways, I'm throwing my lot in with the smaller games manufacturers as GW have priced me out of the picture. Although I picked up the pocket-sized version of the latest 40k book on ebay for a few sheets, I've not even read the first page...
A company that I've had my eye on for a while now is Sodapop Miniatures, based in Idaho in the States. They currently have two game lines, both of which have a distinct Anime style and offer something just a little bit different. So this year I asked Santa for a copy of...
In short, it looks epic. The playing pieces are all realised in the 'chibi' style and look great. The game carries strong influences of the Japanese dungeon crawling console games and there are a number of references to the console world throughout.
Seems as though I've done something right this year and Santa came up with the goods, delivering the re-printed boxed game, now backed by Cool Mini or Not, as well as the main expansion, The Caverns of Roxor, along with the Fireflow Denizens and Rock Top Gang add-ons.
To be honest, I kinda had an inkling about it all, so on the lead up to Christmas, I found a great YouTube Channel, called 'Watch it Played', hosted by a guy called Rodney Smith. They've taken a number of games and broken the gameplay down into digestible chunks, running a game over the course of a several installments and, where possible, set up a virtual seat at their games table for the viewer. Head on over and check it out, it's definitely worth a look!
Over the course of the coming weeks, I intend to re-double my efforts and post my progress, through assembling and painting the figures to playing through the first game, or so...
Be sure to check back :)
Cheers all, have a great 2013!
Pete
