Games On Board Blog
It is no secret in store that Android Netrunner is my favourite card game. Magic is OK if you don't want to get too serious but Android Netrunner is asymmetric cyberpunk. There is nothing (asw a William Gibson fan) cooler than that.
I do give myself a hard time over it though. I have to step back and remind myself that I have only been playing for less than a year though. I get really down when I spend a lot of time developing a deck and then testing it and finding out that all my cool ideas are useless. But that is part of the learning process I suppose.
What I do love about this game is the family that has grown up around it. Due to the nature of the game which is a Living Card Game as opposed to a trading card game it is much less about being able to buy a good deck and much more just about the enjoyment of a game against your opponent. The Dover family of Ulverstone (Tim, Caleb and Erastus) have been key in teaching me the enjoyment of this game. I have had some of my most fun games with Erastus who dropped in to the store one day while we were actually closed!) and had a blast testing some of his new decks with some of my classics.
The other thing with this game is there is a broad range of players now in the area. Many people have sat down and listened to me teach them to go on and buy a set and show up regularly. There are others that do not attend the Netrunner night that we have every week that are still out there playing with their friends too. It is a game that gets under your skin and into your mind - the amount of times I go to sleep thinking of how to beat a particular deck and then wake up with a possible solution are countless!
Last night we ran a tournament and 3 of the players had never been at tournament before. One of those three won and I had a blast playing all of them. If you are keen on learning Android Netrunner come in and see me. If you want to see how the tournament download the PDF here! See how I almost came 2nd - almost (not really). Download it here!
It is true that every Thursday night we have an Android Netrunner night. It is also true that Thursday's are my absolute favourite day because it has Android Netrunner attached to it. Some people still do not understand why I have such a love for this game and before I lay out the details of the league that I am setting up I am going to try and make it crystal clear why this game is by far and above the best game on the market for card games.
First and foremost is the fact that the setting is exceptionally interesting to me. Netrunner is largely the embodiment of William Gibson's Neuromancer books that introduced the dystopian corporation owned world and the massive gap between the haves and the have nots. This in particular, to me, is the most likely future that we face as a sci-fi future and it is one that means a lot to me. The next thing to consider is the fact that each player needs to master two styles of play, the runner and the corporation. The game is asymmetric meaning that there are two different styles going on in this game and you have to play both! I tend to love asymmetric games like this, Letters From Whitechapel and the ilk because thye offer so much varied play. The final reason for my love of this game is that it is a Living Card Game (LCG) as opposed to a Trading Card Game (TCG). What that means in short is that it takes (by and large) the ability for someone with lots of money just buying the best deck and never losing. Other games like Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Vanguard, Pokémon and the like ignore this and because somewhere between 1992 and today playing a card game has gone from a fine social interaction to something that you must win or else you can behave like a complete prat. Now, do not get me wrong - each of these games can be a fun game - just to me I see too much bad behaviour around them all that makes it unappealing to me - call me old fashioned but I play a game to have a nice fun time and interact on a social level with someone.
Due to the LCG tag, Android Netrunner means everyone starts with the same cards and they work from that pool of cards to create their decks. I have never actually seen bad sportsmanship in this game and I hope that to continue. Just a quick comparison - in Magic there are 13651 playable cards and the community knows the good ones so they charge like a wounded bull. To get the cards you need to make the deck you want is often impossible unless you just buy the cards direct - this was NOT the intention of the game in the early 90's when it started. In Android Netrunner the current pool of actual cards are around the 800 card mark and to get the card you want, you just need to know the set it came out in as if you buy the set you get exactly thesame cards as those that buy the same set. Of course there are 1001 deck designs out there and a person could just get the killer of all other decks and play it but I have found that the game is so much more about your own individual deck design and people love to experience those interactions with their own deck designs - it is a great social game.
Finally, to the announcement. Thursdays up until now have largely been just free for all games, but I want to add a new dimension. I want to add a league where it is loose enough to let you decide when to play the games, but organised enough so that there is an end goal for a trophy and some conclusion to the games. This is going to be totally free to those that participate and there will be end of league prizes/trophies. I have an awesome app that allows me to set this all up front, I just need some players to sign up in the next two weeks and choose the runner/corp that they will use so we can get a roster out for the league to be properly set up. If you are keen, please let me know by 24 July and we will get you included in the league. Do not let this opportunity go by. If you are even semi interested, but are not certain about the game, drop in and give it a go for free!
Often people come into the store and ask me what my favourite board game is. At times I find this torturous because I have not played the game that is my obvious answer in a while. But this year has seen a reprint of that game and I have been playing a lot of it.
The criteria that I use to choose my favourite games are possibly not the same as everyone else. A lot of the popular sale games in store are those games that are quick, easy to learn and generally light hearted. My criteria for a favourite game is a game that is complex enough to make decision making in the game tantamount to outcomes (meaning that you need to really plan moves), that the game is varied and has high replayability, that the game has a good multiplayer content and if possible a solo version also.
Games like the Australian made Cogz fit this category but in reality my number one game is the Mage Knight game created by Vlaada Chvátil. This is far and above the most solid of all games that I have ever played and I can see that it is a game that I will continue to pull out time and again. I have a great number of other players in store also coming to this realisation and it is great that I always get a queue when I announce a game of it in store. Check it out!
We have now been open 6 months and due to that fact it is time to look at the realities of the store. Many will know that I (Mark) am at the store every day of the week and generally over 12 hours a day. This is of course expected when starting a business and I am not complaining that I have had to do this but the store is open under different circumstances than it was initially meant to. Under normal circumstances I was meant to be still employed at least part time elsewhere and this did not come to pass so we need to take a very close look at the financials and the other factors that play on that like my own stress levels and health.
It would surprise no one to hear that Sundays and Mondays are the most quiet days of the week for me. I have tried running events on these days but nothing that we do seems to make a difference in the least. The graph that is attached to this blog is direct from my software looking at the months March through to May on a day to day basis totalled - traditionally quiet times in retail. I have removed the figures of this graph as the focus is not on the dollars but on the income alone and we can see that Monday is the worst day by far for the store. In fact, Mondays I pay money to keep the doors open and serve those that do come in on the day. In light of the above figures though I am sadly having to make the decision that Monday is no longer viable for the store at this time. From June forward the store will be closed on a Monday.
Sunday's is an unusual day however. On the surface it also appears to be a low earning day but it is twice a Monday's income. Some Sundays are bumper days as people wander around town and are surprised to find a little boutique store open, and even more surprised to be invited to sit down to a game for free! I am not sold that Sunday's are yet a lost cause and at this stage they will continue to be days that I open the store. I intend to try to run more afternoon board games at a premium cost per seat ($10 or so) of popular games like Catan, Carcassone, Ticket To Ride and the like in the hopes that I can drive a new culture of board gaming among the young and old of Burnie.
My goal with this store is, and has always been, to create a safe place where people can come and meet others, be exposed to interesting games and have great conversations. These changes are just one of many that I will be making to fine tune the stores ability to do this and I hope that you all support us through this phase!
Thanks for reading
Mark
I have to say that I am over the moon to have completed my first "professional" game presentation. I had a group of players this week pay for four sessions (one a day Tuesday to Friday 3-4 hours duration) in the Shadowrun game. The image is of the runners fixer "Foxfire".
Shadowrun is a role playing game based heavily off of William Gibson's Neuromancer books where man has melded with machine and corporations run the countries. In Shadowrun there is also magic awakened in the world and other races have sprung from humanity. My game centred on Seattle where a hot spot of racial bigotry had once torn the city apart. I revisited this concept with a new group set to do the same to the city forty years later than the original event.
I spent a week preparing a sandbox and the triggers for this adventure and rolled off what the players did in game to present what I hope was a memorable and enjoyable game for the players. I had fun exploring what they did in the spaces I created for them and ad-libbing where there was a need to introduce the items, characters and situations that make up a believable tale.
But as I have said before, sometimes you are not a hundred percent certain what you are going to get when you go into these ventures. I run events every night and, due to the unique nature of the players work, I was to run these games of a morning. Getting staff in to cover me was a good opportunity to run it and I also felt that this was a good thing as it would not interrupt the regular schedule and flow of the store. That is great in theory but... I am so tired now! The morning starts meant that my days started an hour earlier than normal (I am normally in store 10 tA.M. to around P.M., this had me starting on or just after 9 A.M. Also, you do not exactly realise how mentally taxing running a game is until you have to run two in a day and make sure the store is OK in the middle! So the lesson learned here is that if a premium game is purchased, regardless of the time it is to be run that other events are to be restricted.
The other lesson is the strain on the customer. There were three players in the game and over the week they became a little less energetic and on the last day we were down a player due to illness. Talking to the person that purchased the game I found out that he was very tired at the end and had also been feeling the same strain that I had been. The lesson to me here is to be able to counsel prospective clients in spreading their sessions into smaller chunks, maybe one to two sessions a week to enable them to recharge over time.
Overall the game was brilliant though. I have run, and participated in, a little bit of Shadowrun over the past couple of years. When first and second edition was a thing I ran the game solidly for about 6 years and I think that I may have the bug again. It is a fluent game with great atmosphere, though there are still a lot of things that I feel it lacks. I might just try to fix that!
Thanks for reading. If you are interested in having a premium session run contact me via email at manager AT games-onboard.com or drop in!
The huge surprise in opening this store was the amount of role players that are in the community. beside that point alone, the amount of ex role players that want to get back into gaming and furthermore the amount of people that are interested in giving it a go. Part of the vision of this store was well entrenched with role playing as a major part and having me run at least a game a week for those that were keen for it. I certainly did not expect to be running 5 games a week! But there it is - the popularity of gaming is back in force.
The flip side of the coin is that these games that I run are all free. They provide a freemium service to my gamers in the hopes that they will support the store, promote it to others and even buy the books to the games that they are playing. On the whole that has been occurring but the overheads in design and development have meant that I have had to rely on pre-made adventures that are great in their own but do not give out the best that a game can be. By designing games with the participants input a game can be tailored to be exactly what someone wants. Want to play a game that takes up a night about a haunted house where you a gentically modified hamsters? Sure - it can be done but it is unlikely you will find a pre-made module that meets those requirements.
What I am proposing to do in future is that I will continue to run the Freemium adventures that I do but I will now be offering a Premium service as well. The premium service can be used for birthdays, special occasions or just if you want to. I will run a tailored game for a group or individual where I will design and run a game that you want to play. One off or multiple nights, maybe a Sunday or weekend session, it is up to you, but you get to choose when it happens. You get to choose the style, theme and drive of the game and I will handle the rest. The system can be chosen by yourself or by me. If the system is one that I do not have contact with then there may be an additional cost should I need to purchase the rule set.
So why would you want me to make you games? I have been printed in the industry already for the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow RPG specializing in character design. I have 30 years of experience as a Game Master and run a popular role playing game focused blog on the internet (rpgknights.com). I am a very active member in the role playing game community and involved in multiple designs and reviews of content of contemporary game systems.
There are some costs involved to this and I will get to pricing soon but there is also the question of the content of the game too. I will be working the ideas that I am given into workable games to play and I will own the Intellectual Property of the material I develop. I may eventually turn the designs into product for the RPG market where those involved in the idea will be recognised but I will hold the full rights to the content I have created to deliver the game. You will also receive a complimentary copy of any product created from these sessions.
So, to the costs. It is a hard thing to price and in most cases I will need to quote for specific cases but I will offer a guide to likely amounts below;
1 Night (3-4 hour session) $150
Sunday session (6 hours) $250
Multiple nights (at least 3 3-4 hour sessions) $115 per session
Weekend Session (Saturday and Sunday 16-19 hours) $1200
I hope that this is appealing to some of you. If it does then please contact me (Mark) at the store or via the Contact Us details on this site!
Comics
Hi everyone. This week has been a busy week for me and comics is largely the reason. I got the April shipment (first week in May but this will get better) on Tuesday and it has been a whirlwind of getting them tagged and bagged. I have met some new community members around the comics and things are going strong. There are some things you need to know about comics and their ordering - plus my intentions so it is all out in the open.
- The comics I selected for this shipment were a broad smattering of titles. The most I got for any was 6 and so some of the titles you may want may already be gone. For example there are no more Deadpool or Wonder Woman left
- Comics were never in the business plan and as such there has been a fine balancing act to get them in. They will continue if the support is there
- There are no shelves for the comics yet. Shelves will come at the point that the comics prove to be a viable part of the business. Until then you will likely find the comics in a box for going through or laid out over a table
- If you are a comic lover and know other comic lovers, tell them we exist - share our page - promote the comic posts! I want these to be a thing and would appreciate the help.
- If you have a list of comics you want then bring it in! It will take two months before you see them (I must order two months in advance) but after that I can get things regularly for you. The more preorders or standing orders I have the more confident I will be to have the comics on a permanent basis!
Thanks for helping us out. The comics are exciting and I have to say that I am happy to see that there is such a variety in them now. The purchases over the past few days have really opened my eyes to how my ordering needs to be shaped in future so I am looking forward to the future.
New Stuff
The hours this week will be slightly affected as I am going to Iron Maiden in Melbourne on Monday. Jenn will be instore Monday through to 5 when the store will be closed and in store on Tuesday until I take over. Jenn is suffering from a bad knee though so if it is too por on the Monday I have advised her to take the day off so if the store is closed then I apologize but Jenn's health is far more important.
Finally I am going to be making an announcement around the Role Playing Game lines tomorrow. It is likely going to be a surprising development and likely largely untested world wide so keep an eye out for that, and an open mind!
Until next time, keep rolling!
Comics should be here early this week. Here is a list of comics, the number I have and the likely price for each.
Number of Copies
Title
Price
3
DC COMICS ESSENTIALS BATMAN DEATH OF THE FAMILY #1
$2.10
2
DC COMICS ESSENTIALS JLA #1
$2.10
1
DC COMICS ESSENTIALS JLA #1
$2.10
6
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS LEGENDS OF BALDURS GATE #1
$2.10
2
IMAGE FIRSTS EAST OF WEST #1
$2.10
3
AIRBOY #1 (OF 4)
$4.70
3
AIRBOY #2 (OF 4) (MR)
$4.70
3
AIRBOY #3 (OF 4)
$4.70
3
AIRBOY #4 (OF 4) (MR)
$4.70
2
BATGIRL #51
$4.70
2
BLACK CANARY #11
$4.70
2
BLOODLINES #1 (OF 6)
$4.70
2
CATWOMAN #51
$4.70
1
CYBORG #10
$4.70
1
CYBORG #10 ROMITA VAR ED
$4.70
2
DISNEY DARKWING DUCK #1
$4.70
2
MADBALLS #1 (OF 4)
$4.70
2
MARVEL UNIVERSE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE CIVIL WAR #2
$4.70
2
MARVEL UNIVERSE GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #7
$4.70
2
NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #19
$4.70
1
STARFIRE #11
$4.70
1
STARFIRE #11 ROMITA VAR ED
$4.70
2
WE STAND ON GUARD #1 (OF 6) 2ND PTG (MR)
$4.70
2
WE STAND ON GUARD #2 (MR)
$4.70
2
WE STAND ON GUARD #3 (MR)
$4.70
1
WE STAND ON GUARD #4 (MR)
$4.70
1
WE STAND ON GUARD #4 (MR)
$4.70
2
WE STAND ON GUARD #5 (MR)
$4.70
2
WE STAND ON GUARD #6 (OF 6) (MR)
$4.70
2
CONAN THE AVENGER #25
$5.40
2
EAST OF WEST #25 CVR A DRAGOTTA
$5.40
2
EAST OF WEST #25 CVR B HICKMAN
$5.40
3
GRIZZLY SHARK #1 (MR)
$5.40
2
AGENTS OF SHIELD #4
$5.95
2
ALIENS DEFIANCE #1
$5.95
4
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #10
$5.95
1
AQUAMAN #51
$5.95
1
AQUAMAN #51 ROMITA VAR ED
$5.95
2
BATMAN #51
$5.95
2
BATMAN #51 ROMITA VAR ED
$5.95
1
BATMAN SUPERMAN #31 (SUPER LEAGUE)
$5.95
1
BATMAN SUPERMAN #31 ROMITA VAR ED (SUPER LEAGUE)
$5.95
4
BLACK ROAD #1 (MR)
$5.95
4
BLACK WIDOW #2
$5.95
4
CAPTAIN MARVEL #4
$5.95
5
DEADPOOL #10
$5.95
2
DEPT H #1
$5.95
2
DETECTIVE COMICS #51
$5.95
2
DOCTOR WHO 9TH #1 CVR A
$5.95
2
DONALD DUCK #12
$5.95
4
DRAX #6
$5.95
4
EMPRESS #1 (OF 7)
$5.95
4
EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN #9 AW
$5.95
3
FIX #1 (MR)
$5.95
3
FOURTH PLANET #1
$5.95
1
GOLD KEY ALLIANCE #1 (OF 5) CVR A MASSAFERA
$5.95
1
GOLD KEY ALLIANCE #1 (OF 5) CVR A MASSAFERA
$5.95
2
GREEN LANTERN #51
$5.95
1
GREEN LANTERN #51 ROMITA VAR ED
$5.95
1
GREEN LANTERN #51 ROMITA VAR ED
$5.95
3
GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #7
$5.95
1
HARLEY QUINN #27
$5.95
1
HARLEY QUINN #27 ROMITA VAR ED
$5.95
2
HARLEY QUINN AND HER GANG OF HARLEYS #1 (OF 6)
$5.95
2
HAUNTED MANSION #2 (OF 5)
$5.95
3
HOUSE OF PENANCE #1 (OF 6)
$5.95
2
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #8 RCW2
$5.95
2
JAMES BOND #6
$5.95
2
JEM & THE HOLOGRAMS #14
$5.95
2
JEM & THE HOLOGRAMS #14 SUBSCRIPTION VAR
$5.95
2
KILLBOX #1 CVR A GOODEN
$5.95
2
LEGENDS OF OZ TIK TOK AND KALIDAH #1 (OF 3) CVR A
$5.95
2
MICKEY MOUSE #11
$5.95
3
MIGHTY THOR #6
$5.95
4
MISS FURY VOL 2 #1 CVR A LOTAY
$5.95
1
MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDS FOREVER #27
$5.95
1
MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC #41
$5.95
2
PRINCELESS MAKE YOURSELF #1 (OF 5) CVR A MARTIN &
$5.95
2
RACHEL RISING #41
$5.95
3
ROCKET RACCOON AND GROOT #4
$5.95
3
SCARLET WITCH #5
$5.95
2
SPIDER-MAN #3
$5.95
2
SPIDER-MAN 2099 #9
$5.95
2
SPIDER-MAN DEADPOOL #4
$5.95
2
STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE #1
$5.95
2
SUPERMAN #51 (SUPER LEAGUE)
$5.95
2
SUPERMAN #51 ROMITA VAR ED (SUPER LEAGUE)
$5.95
1
SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #28 (SUPER LEAGUE)
$5.95
1
THINK TANK CREATIVE DESTRUCTION #1 CVR A EKEDAL
$5.95
3
THINK TANK CREATIVE DESTRUCTION #1 CVR A EKEDAL
$5.95
2
TMNT AMAZING ADVENTURES #9
$5.95
2
TOKYO GHOST #1 CVR A MURPHY (MR)
$5.95
2
TOKYO GHOST #1 CVR B MURPHY (MR)
$5.95
2
TOKYO GHOST #2 CVR A MURPHY & HOLLINGSWORTH (MR)
$5.95
2
TOKYO GHOST #2 CVR B MURPHY (MR)
$5.95
2
TOKYO GHOST #3 CVR A MURPHY & HOLLINGSWORTH (MR)
$5.95
2
TOKYO GHOST #3 CVR B MURPHY & MCCAIG (MR)
$5.95
2
TOKYO GHOST #6 CVR A MURPHY & HOLLINGSWORTH (MR)
$5.95
2
TOKYO GHOST #6 CVR B SCALERA (MR)
$5.95
3
TOTALLY AWESOME HULK #5
$5.95
2
TWILIGHT ZONE SHADOW #1 (OF 4) CVR A FRANCAVILLA
$5.95
2
UNCLE SCROOGE #13
$5.95
3
VIKINGS #1 CVR A PIERCE
$5.95
2
WONDER WOMAN #51
$5.95
2
WONDER WOMAN #51 ROMITA VAR ED
$5.95
4
X-MEN 92 #2
$5.95
5
XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS #1 LAND FRISON SPLIT
$5.95
1
ACTIONVERSE #1
$7.30
1
AVENGERS STANDOFF PLEASANT HILL OMEGA #1 CONNECT B
$7.30
1
AVENGERS STANDOFF PLEASANT HILL OMEGA #1 DEODATO V
$7.30
4
CAPTAIN AMERICA ROAD TO WAR #1
$7.30
1
CAPTAIN AMERICA ROAD TO WAR #1 FERRY VAR
$7.30
1
CAPTAIN AMERICA ROAD TO WAR #1 MATTINA VAR
$7.30
3
GUARDIANS OF INFINITY #5
$7.30
8
GWENPOOL #1
$7.30
2
HARLEY QUINN & SUICIDE SQUAD APRIL FOOLS SPEC #1
$7.30
2
HARLEY QUINN & SUICIDE SQUAD APRIL FOOLS SPEC #1 V
$7.30
3
MICRONAUTS #1
$7.30
5
MOON KNIGHT #1
$7.30
5
SPIDER-WOMEN ALPHA #1
$7.30
6
STAR WARS POE DAMERON #1
$7.30
4
UNCANNY X-MEN #6 AW
$7.30
4
X-FILES (2016) #1
$7.30
2
HELLINA #1 (OF 3) (MR)
$8.60
3
KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #230
$8.60
3
MAD MAGAZINE #539
$8.60
1
EPIC KILL TP VOL 01
$17.70
1
MIDNIGHT STRANGER GN VOL 01 (MR)
$17.70
1
VELOCITY TP
$20.25
1
NEIL GAIMAN HANSEL & GRETEL GRAPHIC HC
$22.95
1
ALIENS OMNIBUS TP VOL 01
$33.50
1
ALIENS OMNIBUS TP VOL 04
$33.50
1
ALIENS OMNIBUS TP VOL 05
$33.50
1
ALIENS OMNIBUS TP VOL 02
$33.50
228
We have been settling into the Burnie gaming scene and have attracted a good level of regulars to our fold. That said there was one voice that came through loud and clear when we first opened and that was the lack of love that comic lovers were getting on this side of the pond.
We have attempted to right this wrong but for some reason the delivery system from the good old US of A is nowhere as fast as it could be. So much so that I have been patiently waiting since the start of this month for April's shipment of comics - to no avail. It is also a hard thing to prepare for and as such none of the infrastructure is in store yet for their arrival. Shelves and the like are a hard thing to envision for an order that is a bunch of numbers on a sheet of paper - so when we get to make the big announcement that they have arrived I will do the best I can to display them with the space we have and learn from this order how to house the next one.
The message for now from us is to not give up hope - they are arriving. I will be phoning Diamond Comics tomorrow to see if they can give me some kind of idea as to the progress of the comics from them to me and from there I will try to give a guesstimate of the actual arrival of these books! Until then, thank you for your patience. Drop by and play a game with us in the meantime!
One of the advantages of being the FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store) in town with the largest, free to access, gaming space is getting to know the people that come in to the store. Be it as an event or just through the day when someone comes in to try a game I really enjoy their company.
Some of the positives that have come out of this has been the ability to interact with some of the local agencies that help the less fortunate and also to play games with people that have no-one to play games with. My newest employee, Jen, for example had never had the opportunity to really play games that were not on a computer or console before. She is making up for lost time. Then there is Joy who brings in her 60 year old chinese checkers board once or twice a week to school us young'uns! This is in reality the greatest reward from running this store.
Not to mention the Pokemon kids that are absolutely adorable as they do a happy dance from getting a good pull from a booster, or the way their face lights up when they realise that yes I will trade that card in my special folder.
I have some regulars that worry that I am "too nice" in offering up gaming space for free and my time to spend with them and teach them a game that they can sit and play for free for as long as they want. There is obviously a financial cost to these things but that is not what we are about. We feel that being a part of this community means not just selling stuff but showing people how to play the games, no matter their bank balance.
So thank you to all that come through our doors. Not just those that spend, but to all the lookers, players and those that tell us how nice it is in store. We appreciate every one of you.
Sorry this has taken so long - between waiting for a result and trying to get some scenarios tested we have lost a good deal of time. I still do not have the full range of scenario's tested so they are going to now be left for our weekend that marks halfway and this round will be another straight battle - apologies for that.
The round is:
- Kaine vs. Daryl
- Tim vs. Marcella
- Matt vs. Thomas
- Michael vs. Jason
Go to it :)
Oops, knew I had something to set today! I have been having a couple of issues with a league ladder but I will continue to pepper away at it and put it up as soon as possible.
Two weeks from today the following needs to be played: Battle round (next round will be a mission)
Games can be played anywhere and anywhen as long as they are done in the fortnight and follow the rules that I put up for consideration earlier.
As there are only two from Devonport, unless I hear otherwise, all scheduled matches will be against one another! So to it.
.Round 1 is 100 Point battle:
Daryl vs. Thomas
Marcella vs. Kaine
Tim vs. Matt
Jason vs. Michael
If you need help contacting one another send me an email at and I will facilitate something.
Well, we have survived a few months now and things are going pretty well. We are gearing up to order my second load of comics even though we are still a month or so away from receiving the first lot in! Disappointingly there was a distinct lack of Walking Dead in the first set of order sheets I had to choose from but there is a Walking Dead colouring book - who knows what sort of horrors that is going to hide!
That said I have made progress with the publisher of my book (Rite Publishing) and I have sent off a request for an invoice to get some of their physical product in. That means the physical copy of my book and the game that it goes with will be winging its way from the UK printer to the store in the near future and I will be able to sell the thing I wrote and introduce people to the system that I wrote for!
Pokemon arrival in store of the Burnie Play! network has been very rewarding. When I started this store the idea was to get heavily involved in the communities and help out where we could. The displacement from the Burnie Library is a temporary one but the enthusiasm that group brings to the store energises me and makes me smile at some of the antics in the games. Pokemon TCG is a secret love of mine since around 1999!
Next week we will be holding two events with board game prizes and it is likely that Dungeons and Dragons Starter set will get a start soon.
Hope to see you all soon.
Mark
We have a starting 8. The breakdown of the 8 in regards to location is six in Burnie and two in Devonport. I had hoped for a few more but if this league goes well then maybe in the future. Prizes will be $50 voucher for Games On Board for first, $25 voucher for second and $15 voucher for third.
The rounds will be two weeks long (that is you have two weeks from announcement to play the game and get me a result) and there will be 6 of these rounds. There will be a set weekend (a Sunday) that will be 10 April at this stage unless that is a major clash for anyone, where we will hold a battle day in Games On Board due to the numbers here.
The participants are: Thomas House, Matt Mayer, Tim Mayer, Kaine King, Marcella Ramdage, Jason Thomson, Michael Tokarski and Daryl Bennet.
So far I have listings from Thomas and Jason. The rest of us need to get our listings in as a priority or with the first results.
Games can be played anywhere and anywhen as long as they are done in the fortnight and follow the rules that I put up for consideration earlier.
As there are only two from Devonport, unless I hear otherwise, all scheduled matches will be against one another! So to it.
.Round 1 is 100 Point battle:
Thomas vs. Kaine
Marcella vs. Matt
Tim vs. Daryl
Michael vs. Jason
If you need help contacting one another send me an email at and I will facilitate something.
Last week was an unusual beast in which we had quiet sales days but were flat out in store. The Sunday prior to last we tried to get some of the Pokemon crew that inhabits the Burnie Library to come along and got only two people show up which was disappointing for me. I would really love to have seen a lot more of them come down and have fun. Thing I had not realised is the level of organisation they have and that their meetings include a league and all the stuff I had hoped to provide. Knowing that after talking to a couple of people I mentioned to my wife that perhaps we will leave Pokemon events and just hope that they gravitate to the store on their own.
Then on Thursday I got a call from "Jimmy" the co-ordinator and head of the Pokemon league. Apparently the library are doing renovations for six months and had advised the league that they would need to make alternate arrangements for the next six months! Could they use our store? Serendipity is a strange thing but I did have a laugh about it at the end of the night. Looking on the Pokemon page they had approached Mind Games down the road but Matt is committed to running Magic on Saturdays. The Saturday just gone I could not accommodate them because I had Yu-Gi-Oh on for Saturdsy. I advised them in future they could come in Saturdays's and I would open an hour earlier to accommodate them. The Yu-Gi-Oh players are mainly teenage boys that are fine with a weekend, so they are being moved to a Sunday for their tournaments (I get a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh players and they are nice kids).
I advised the Pokemon crew that I could do Sunday for them this weekend past and they rocked up in droves! I have three tables in store for playing with space for about 18 players at a time and a couple of onlookers per table and the three tables were at full capacity! It was great to see them and a few of them sat for most of the day and tried some of the games we have on offer after they were finished their matches. I was chuffed. So there you have it! More players and more exposure for us. We have noticed that our advertising is not doing the job and the money we spend does not seem to do anything for us in getting people to know where we are. Nearly every new customer we see exclaims that they had no idea we were here and when did we begin etc. While it is nice to tell them it is frustrating to realise that the money we are spending (and it is a considerable sum) is failing to do its job. The company that we use is running a marketing seminar so I am going to head along to one of those sessions and hopefully that will help.
The focus in the meantime has got to go back to the online store and PDF sales - it all ground to a halt when I got involved with the physical side of the business. Now that the physical side is running and has some stability of events, and while my wife is taking a break from her work to help me out a little, I need to get back to a bit of blogging and a little bit of promotion to the online gamers!
I have to say that I have always been interested in good games. Board games, card games, role-playing games, console or even computer games. There is that thrill when you find a good one that just seems to fill you up and allow yourself to be taken by the experience when it is an impressive and clever one.
But then there is the fact that I have held more games in my hand than I have ever been moved to buy and there are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that the games I want to play are games that I have not experienced yet. This is an unusual trait because most people only buy games that they have played before. For example, there is a statistic I have heard recently that about 60% of games of Monopoly that are purchased are never ever opened. And that is the thing, I want to see what I am buying. When I buy a book I get to flick through the pages but if it is a game the box sits closed with plastic wrap around it. What if I do not like the contents? I can't take it back then. Also, the text on the back of games sometimes struggle to actually tell you what that experience is going to be.
It is why we like to, at the store, have some of the more common games open and available to play. If it is on the table then it is there to be played and I am also open to opening a game if you are a regular and are keen to see the contents of something that we don't have an open copy of!
So come down, get into the games and say hello! It is all about the community of game players with us and we love getting to know you.
It is a little over a month and I have been working to make our store about the events that we run each week. Many events that cater to a broad range of gamers in the community. It was not unusual (to start with) to be sitting and waiting for people to arrive at the start of things only to be disappointed and there were many nights where I got home a little after 11 that my wife and I wondered if the events were ever going to take a hold. Most of the events are free and done for the love of bringing new people together but people seemed to be a bit shy of the idea.
I can now say that this is beginning to break. The events have been fairly well attended this week and very well attended in comparison to the previous week. I have not been home before midnight in the past couple of days due to the events and how well attended they were, even having to kick them out at the Magic tournament last night before my car got locked in at the car park!
The long and the short of it is that this is what we have built Games On Board for. We want to broaden the horizons of new gamers and challenge them with lesser known games, support local game makers and provide events that are enjoyed by many gamers in the region and around the world!
Thanks for helping us along in this regard and if you have not yet come to an event, pick one and give it a go!
Mark
What started around a year ago as a business plan and a hope to be happier in my employment has now been open for a month and one day as I write this. It is hard to believe we are at this stage we are so young today! My wife and I have talks about what is not moving in the store as if we have some long pedigree of the store being open. In reality, trying to match a board game or even a role playing game to a customer can be a timely process and I think we are probably a little early in talking about what works and what does not.
We are finding that our events run hot and cold. We will get a lot of interest on facebook for posted events and then have no one show up. How we combat this is a task that I am trying to devote myself as I host most of the events myself and they mean more time away from family than I have ever been used to. It is rewarding when it comes off and a bit disheartening when it does not.
But who ever thought that we would be at this point. What started with the RPGKnights.com website has steam rolled into this venture that I love. I know I need to give more back to RPGKnights and the Google Plus community but settling things needs to happen before I have the grace of a little more time.
For this week our events are;
Princes of the Apocalypse DnD tonight run by me;
Wrath of the Righteous Pathfinder game on Wednesday night run by me;
Liam Tolland's DnD game with open spots is on from around 6 P.M. Thursday night or come and try Android Netrunner from 7 on the same night - a brilliant card game that puts you right in the world of William Gibson's Neuromancer.
Friday night is Cards Against Humanity from 7 P.M. - this game is not for the easily offended and we are making it a 17+ gaming night. You have to be over that age to get in and there is a $5 fee to be in.
Saturday is 2 P.M. YuGiOh and then 7 P.M. Magic game with a new set of cards released!. Both are $5 entry for the tournament but if you just want a friendly game come in regardless and find someone to play with.
Sunday afternoon is back to Star Wars X-Wing and Armada and I hope to play a few battles on the day!
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you in store!
Mark
First Blog post should be poignant, touching, funny.
Instead I am just going to say thank you to you all for coming along on the ride with us. It is true that the website has been operating for some time now but this little blog will cover events and occasions in the bricks and mortar store that resides in Burnie, Tasmania.
The store is run by myself and my wife, Mark and Nikki Knights. We have completed the planning and build for our store over the past year and though we have faced some speed bumps, the store is here and it is here to stay. We have two casual employees, Griffin and Tony, who are going to help us get up and running while we find out exactly what games excite you all and play them with you.
So, on to events. Currently scheduled are:
X-Wing today (10 January) at 2:30 when we will try some missions and it will be followed up by a demo game of Armada at 7, maybe earlier.
Tomorrow night there is nothing scheduled.
For the 12th there is a game of Dungeons and Dragons that is full but we welcome people to come and look at the game while it is being played.
The 13th sees a Pathfinder game on show, again full but come and look.
Thursday at 6 we have a gent by the name of Liam who wants to get players into a D&D game, so come and sign up or come to learn Android Netrunner, the card game made by Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic.
Friday night is the last Yu-Gi-Oh one night tournament which will see the start of a league sign up for the game. This has been very popular in store and I hope the trend continues.
Saturday night is the last of our Magic One-Nighters too. We will then sign up people into a league over the following week. We are not officially recognised by Wizards of the Coast but we follow their rules and just want a community feel to the league. For this one nighter it will be an all against all bash.
Sunday next week (17 January) we will be breaking open a copy (maybe two depending on participants) of Catan and having a Euro game day! This starts at 1 PM and is free to join in but at 4 PM we will have a competition of Catan with entrants to pay a $5 fee. The winner of this game(s) will win the store copy of Cogz, the Game of the Month from December. This is a neat little game so if you want a chance, come down and learn some Catan!
I hope to see you all over the next week!
Kind regards
Mark
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