Customer Service accolade - Noble Knight

As I have posted recently, I'm putting together a Norman band for Saga. I had enough minis laying around that I could put together 4 of 6 points worth of that warband. I was short 1 crossbowmen (I had 7 of 8). I was looking around at my options and saw, on Amazon, that Noble Knight Games
Link to Noble Knight - Anhurian Crossbowmen

had, pictured, the 4 pack of "helmeted" Anhurian Crossbowmen, my collection of 7 being the later molded hooded version. I thought, "Whoa, these guys have the "rare" helmeted guys and would be perfect for my Normans!". Via Amazon I ordered one pack.

I get the package in 2 or 3 days and open it up and find it is the hooded figures, just like my other 7 figures. I wasn't all bummed or anything, just got my hopes up. The hooded guys will work just as well in Saga but some helmeted ones would have been awesome as opposed to pretty cool.

 Helmeted

hooded

I got over it real quick and moved on. A few days later I get a "rate this" e-mail from Amazon regarding the figs. The transaction was fine from Noble Knight but I mentioned the discrepancy in the picture  as opposed to the product and gave the transaction 3 stars.

Noble Knight catches a hold of this and sends me an e-mail, Rick is the guy's name. He asked what was wrong. I e-mailed him back and told him but made it known I was satisfied. He e-mailed me back today and said he wants to fix the issue. Obviously they don't have the helmeted guys, no one does (thus my initial shock in seeing them in their catalog). Reaper (the maker of the minis) has such a wide range and is, respectively, a small company as well and did not inform Noble Knight of the design change years ago. All this is completely understandable to me.

Rick, of Noble Knight, did offer me any mini pack they carry in the $10 range and would send it to me gratis. That is way cool and nothing I expected.

To diverge a bit, in one of my Pathfinder games I play a paladin 7 with a bow named Balder. He decided to go "mobile firing platform" route and is now pumping feats and skills into being a mounted archer. I have some horse/archer minis but they are GW LotR Riders of Rohan minis that are closer to 20mm than 25mm or even 28mm. I have spent the last 24 hours deciding on what direction to go with "Balder on a horse" mini. I did find a Reaper mini that I kind of liked for a representation of Balder on a horse - "Derek the Tall on horse":

Guess who carries this mini for $9.95? Just got confirmation it is shipping tomorrow.

Bravo Zulu Noble Knight Games.

I recommend this company.

Edit: to be clear, Noble Knight originally had the wrong picture up. If you click the link you will see they fixed it.

Comic books - writer and artist power struggle

multiversity comics site
This was posted up on Facebook by Tom Neely and I gave it a read this morning.

A bit about how comics are being sold by writers when in the past it's been artist-centric. It's a good bit with some good info put up, great opinions, and decent surmising. From my perspective I have very little to say about how that all happened or why or who is screwing who or what is fair and not fair. I'm not an artist, writer, or in the industry at all. I'm just a fan and a consumer.

I did work at a comic book store for 3 years - Guapo Comics and Coffee. My friends Jeremy and Ali owned it and hired me, store credit salary, to work it on Sundays. At first I did the majority of the Sunday shift which was 11-6. Then 11-5. Then they hired some other people and I was given the 1-5 shift. I was there from 2008 to 2011 when they closed it's doors. It's where I met my wife Gretchen and made a ton of new friends.

Guapo was more of a "hip" comic book store. We carried and sold a lot of indy comics and 'zines. Sure the bulk of the sales were mainstream stuff but we pushed all the little stuff like self-published and hand bound comics and 'zines, local publishers like Sparkplug (who was next door at Bad Apple) and Oni Press.

I had met Jeremy at our day job at the law-firm we work at. I was out of the comics scene for a long time as I got burnt out in the 90s. He brought me back in with The Walking Dead by Kirkman (the writer) from Image Comics. This was 2005. He told me to come by his store and I did and he showed me how cool TWD was.

When I left comics in the late 90s I was only enjoying Sin City by Frank Miller and Poison Elves by Drew Hayes. In hindsight I was more into the great story being told, the actual artwork, both very stylized or unique but not classic "comic art". Black and white for the win!

Lusiphur - Poison Elves by Drew Hayes (RIP)

Sin City by Frank Miller

I LOVED the stories in those books. The art was secondary.

Now, here's my unprofessional and very amateur theory:

The 90s brought us flashy art containing tits and ass and guns and big titted and assed women holding those guns and katanas and totally flipping out. <<< That there was the content of a lot of comics. There is a reason why it was called the "Bad Girl" period.

Then came mass internet availability in many homes and the guys (12-28) left the above behind and went to actual porn on the internet. You could not sell comics on the premise that the kid/young man buying it could get his jollies off on some variation of almost seeing a vagina when one of the above comic characters is flipping out in a flying side kick pose. Just go to the internet and see some actual vaginae. They've got to sell stories now and good ones at that... not just a 3 issue arc about saving some puppies or stopping bank robbers again.

Granted, Poison Elves and Sin City had some risque stuff in it, but I also really liked the stories and had interest in what was actually going on.

Talking to Jeremy and a few other comic nerds in the past 5 years or so we all agreed that we tend to follow writers as opposed to artists. It's what we like. I will pick up anything new by Brian Wood or Brian K. Vaughn. I love Grant Morrison. Robert Kirkman of The Walking Dead? Duhr. I am usually spellbound by what those guys put out. Yeah, they have all done some stinkers too but more than half the stuff they've put out has entertained me to no end.

On a side note most of the female writers I enjoy are indy or self published like Katie Skelly, Julia Wertz, and Virginia Paine. Why they are not mainstream is not in the scope of this particular bit and I don't think I'm smart enough to field that one. Let's just say I have access to their stuff and I have all I can get of it.

To wrap this up, what I read now (monthly floppies at least):
The Walking Dead
Saga
all the Dark Horse Conan stuff
Invincible
Invincible Universe
Pathfinder
My Budget is $30 a month and I'm still paying off what I owe my dealer... Jeremy:)

Surviving PDX Snowpacolypse 2014

It's never as bad as it sounds on TV. It can get bad though. We get snow once per 2 years on average here so we aren't used to it. Our streets are very convex due to the rain and the need for good drainage. Portland is home to many ex-pats of other cities, some of which are cities that get very little snow. We're also very fond of our leisure time here, so we take extra leisure time when we can get it. We like to sit in a cozy place and read books, comics, surf the net and watch movies while sipping coco and eating sweets (see also drink whiskey and eat meat).

On top of that add schools closing on just hearing the word "snow" so, those of us with kids, should try to be home for them as they are stuck home.

Anyways we just got hit with 3 different winter storm fronts since Thursday. It's all 43 degrees, gray, and slushy out there now but since Thursday we have had:
1) Blustering wind storm from The Gorge (east) and snow from the west.
2) 6" - 12" accumulation in a 24 hour period.
3) Freezing rain.
4) Rain.
5) 1/4" layer of ice on everything.
6) Below freezing temps until Monday.
This last bit of weather drama has not been seen in such a combo in decades. We all survived though and on my few ventures to the outside world this weekend I did not see one mohawked and chapped road warrior trying to steal my gasoline.

I did not have to use my AK, today was a good day.
-Ice Cube lyrics

I did have to go to the local grocery store 3 times though, that kind of sucked. Wednesday night I went knowing we might get snow by the weekend. Thursday, left work at 12 noon, I went as I had some extra time and got some coffee, oatmeal, cookies, and some of those fake firelogs.... which were almost out, I had gotten one of the last 2. It was madness Thursday. Again, after the Wife got off work on Friday I met her at the grocery store, got more firelogs and firewood and toilet paper. I refused to go on Saturday as we were stocked and prepped.

Yes, I am a prepper/survivalist/whatever you want to call it. I'm currently president of the local Oregon chapter of Zombie Squad - we educate and outreach in the realm of prepping. I am not all special about it like the people you typically see portrayed on TV and Doomsday Preppers. I do not beleive in a fantastical "doomsday" or polar shifting or that FEMA wants us all dead. Quite frankly I find that to be utter bullshit and people who believe that stuff concern me more than a financial collapse. I know we can have a bad day though so I teach people to be ready to deal with a bad day. Be ready for some troubles but don't be creepy about it. Just like a gamer nerd should not go into social situations talking about his 12th level ranger character.

Little scenarios like this are great to take notes on and learn from. My big lesson this go around was better use of my fireplace. Need to stock up on those fake logs and get more seasoned firewood. I live in a small apartment so do not have the space for cords of wood but I can stand to get more than what I have now. In my situation I like the fake logs as one will put out some heat and burn for 2-3 hours saving me some space as it'll take me 2-3 arm-sized logs to do the same with seasoned wood.

As it was this weekend I had enough wood to warm the den for 24 hours if power went out.

On Thursday, hours after the snow started, the grocery store was 100% out of seasoned firewood and, as I mentioned, had 2 fake fire logs left. I bought one and a lady bought the other. We both laughed. Also running low was fresh meat, mostly steaks and pork. Plenty of chicken and fish.That's all I really saw though, I was in there and out in 20 minutes Oreos, milk, and fire log in hand.

I could not find my tire chains. Not a major concern as I didn't need to go anywhere and the only day I really needed them was Sunday but I need to find or replace those. Again, these things are a use it once every 1-2 years thing. I do always pack them in the truck for any winter woods adventures but I have never had to use them in snowy woods yet. Speaking of things for the back of the truck - a shovel and hand broom/brush are nice things to add when the snow is falling as well as some weight if you have a truck.

Infinitely useful, and one of the best "winter gear" buys I've made in my life, are shoe traction devices. I have these:
Yak Traxx

Picture from Amazon

I bought mine locally from an outdoor store in 2004. I always forget I have them until I need them. I store the gear in a basket of "winter gear" I have on my bedroom shelf - they sit among some heavy wool boot socks, extra gloves, a wool hood, some wool pants and suspenders, my heavier long underwear. I whooped them out for this weekend and put them on my rubber boots.

Yesterday, I had elected to stay in from work as it was still a cross between freezing rain and rain. Our power was flickering and I did not want to leave my kid alone in the apartment if the power went out. My wife had to be at work at 6am, she is a barista, and was concerned about the layers of ice and her having to walk on it. I took the Yak Traxx off my rubber boots and fit them onto her shoes. They fit great (I am a size 13 shoe, she is a women's size 7) and enabled her to get to work on ice with little issue.

I have worn them outdoors for a few miles of hiking in snow and frozen slush. Held up great but I'd only use them that way if I had to (I did). I am saving some pennies now to get some sturdier ones for woods use... or some snow shoes. Neither are a high priority.

Another thing I did this Snowpocalypse I have not done in the past was went out once per day to check on my truck. I would make sure I could open it and start it (doors got frozen shut on Saturday). I also cleared the windshield of ice and snow and cleared the areas around my tires. I did this in case there was an emergency and I would not have to spend 20-30 minutes clearing ice off the truck. Someday I will have a garage.

BTW - I have a bug out bag at work. Nothing serious, just same basics in a small back pack:

Tucked in a little cubby under my desk.

Before I left work early on Thursday afternoon I grabbed from it:

1) metal water bottle

2) Cliff bars

3) Wool socks

4) extra hooded mid-layer

I already had a wool cap and gloves in my daily pack I carry which usually consists of daily basics like a hat and gloves, some comic books, lunch, etc... stuff one takes to work. I left work at 12 noon and my usually 30-45 minute bus ride was an hour and 45 minutes. I could have walked it. 50 minutes of that time was waiting at a bus stop exposed to the wind and snow. I was glad to have the wool socks on and the extra layer between my t-shirt and wool sweater.

Saga Normans I - starting up

I am going to add a Norman faction to my Saga armies. I have my 0-5 Vikings already. Time to shake it up (and see how long this takes me).

First of all sourcing Normans is doable but expensive. Some of this is due to Normans requiring some mounted figs. Fortunately the rules for Saga are fast and loose in the what your figs should look like department. Also, I have spent some money on miniatures already... I have buckets of unpainted and even some unused minis.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago I went through a lot of my collection that sits unused and noticed I have usable minis for my Normans. Here's what I came up with, almost a perfect 4 point (mostly unpainted) faction:

Let's break it down.

This is 1 point worth of "Seargents" or warriors.

 I'm missing one but here is 1 point worth of crossbowmen (warriors).

Some GW LOTR Riders of Rohan that I picked up years ago at some small comic con in Portland. Seriously, I bought 2 sets and have been using the figs endlessly.

 More off the same.

...and one more on a 2 inch base for the Warlord, or in Norman Faction Speak "Barone".

To make up that last 2 points of my Norman warband I could use my Viking thralls (archers) or some of my Viking warriors (spears and shields) but I would like some legit Norman miniatures.

Just to tell an anecdote - the LotR minis set I got was Battle of Helmsdeep I believe. I got them at the Portland Comic Show, a very small "con" that I enjoyed going to as it was local collectors getting tables and you could get great deals there. Guests would come and sign things too, no cost. You just paid an entry like $10 or something. I'd always find Betty Paige collector stuff there and gaming things as well as comics at prices I could afford. The LotR minis sets were in some guy's collection, they were less than a year old at the time, and the MSRP was $32 I think.

He had them marked down as clearance (I went towards the end of the day) and got them at 50% off. $32 for his last 2 boxes. They contained the older elves in armor, goblins from Moria, full-plated orcs from Helmsdeep, Some Riders of Rohan, and a few other "general" use bits.

Cons here have been upgraded... it's all cosplay, $40 autographs, and "dealers" as opposed to collectors.

Snow Day(s) extravaganza!! Russian officers and some terrain

Had some snow days culminating in a 4 day weekend. So, had some time to mess around with painting stuff! I worked on my Russians some more, just getting some more layers of paint on them. They'll be done soon.

In these pics I wanted to show the difference between shaded and not shaded with walnut Minwax Polyshade.

As you can guess, on the left is the one I (literally) dipped and on the right is one just painted. There is very little difference in paint job.

I mounted the mini on a cork with some poster tack stuff. I then dipped the mini, upside down, in the can of Minwax. I brushed the excess off and let it dry for 48 hours. Why 48 hours? That seems to be the amount of time it takes the Minwax to dry and cure 100%. The layer is very protective of the paint job. It also adds a feel of durability and even some weight. Good for a soft plastic BMC brand figure.
 

 

 

The white you see in the left eye of the left fig is glare. Other than that see how the shading makes it "pop"? The gloss, in general, will be kept as it lends to the image of "toy soldier" which is the effect I want. If I did not want that gloss I'd add a layer of brush on or even some spray matte dull finish.

 

I'm no pro painter, I think of myself mediocre at best. Also, these are BMC figures, $9 a bag of 34 on Amazon. I do believe a quick paint job and a dip in some Minwax Polyshade can make a huge difference though.

 

And some of my terrain mounted on 8" MDF bases.

 

54mm barbarian fig I used as a test piece and practice piece to work on some inking techniques.

 Forest and the a-frame thatched house.

My Gripping Beast Ragnar Lothbrok fig (almost done) striking a pose in the midst of the evergreen copse.

 

 





Saga, bridge battle Vikings vs. Anglo Danes PART 2

I was down to one Val'Serker and a Jarl at The Right Bridge (now it's official name). All 12 of the Freemen warriors were slain.

Val'Serker was killed very unceremoniously leaving just my Jarl to hold The Right Bridge.

She got killed and Spencer's Anglo-Danes moved in to finish the Jarl... but WAIT!! I have a full unit of 8 hard-hitting Hirdmen behind the house backing up the Freemen holding off the Anglo-Danes at the bridge on the left (now to be known as Left-Bridge). 

The Jarl blows his horn praying to Odin that he will be gifted with enough luck that his Hirdmen will hear his call and respond. I spent a whole turn (Turn 3 BTW) to bring those 8 Hirdmen to the Jarl's aid so that he would stand with brothers over falling alone. Well... he had a chance to die with 16 other warriors already.

Those guys behind the house used up 4 activations and gained 2 fatigue to...

...get over here.

The Battle of The Right Bridge went on anew. I pushed through the Hirdmen and they did well but the dice were not with me again and Spencer's were, a deadly combo.

 I had the numbers and I had the attack dice.

 The fight was bloody.

After the first clash this is what was left.

6 Hirdmen and and a Jarl faceing an AD warlord and a battered warrior unit. Things were looking well for me. And on the left...

 My holding force got riddled with arrows (good dice rolls vs. my crappy "save" rolls).

 One Freemen left, he was finished off by those dang archers.

Saga, bridge battle Vikings vs. Anglo Danes pt. 1

First - Vikings (me) lose again. Just wanted to put that on the table first. Now, a rambling AAR about last Friday night's game.

Friday Night Wargaming at Spencer's - Saga, 6 points of my Vikings against 6 points of his Anglo-Danes, scenario is "Bridge Battle".

Rules for the scenario are:
3x4 field
River running through middle short end to short end, at least 3" wide but no more than... I forgot... wide.
2 bridges, each 1 foot, "L"* in distance from center.
Standard terrain rules for number of and placing of terrain.
...some other minutiae regarding terrain... these rules can be found in the back of the Saga Core Book.

Victory conditions: 7 rounds of play. At end of 7 rounds the faction with the most points wins.
Scoring by figure on other side of river -
warlord - 3 points
Hearthguard - 1 point
Warrior - 1 point per 2 figures
Levy - zip

Deployment went like this - Anglo-Danes went first and set up half of his army. Vikings then set up whole force. Anglo-Danes then got to set up other half of their army.

This was my first regret - AD set up mostly around the right bridge and a "security force" at the left bridge. Knowing I had to lay down my whole force at once, giving AD the advantage there as he could "react" by deploying his second half after me, I should have just put the bulk of my offense on one bridge (the right one) and a token defensive force on the left bridge.

What I did deploy was:
Right bridge - Jarl (warlord), Berserkers (aka Val'Serkers) x4, Freemen (warriors) x12.
Left bridge - Freemen (warriors) x12, Hirdmen (hearthguard) x8

 On the right - 12 Freemen up front backed by 4 Val'Serkers and a Jarl.

On the left 12 Freemen and 8 Hirdmen taking cover behind the thatched roof a-frame.

Opposite me, as can be seen in the pics, the ADs were set up pretty standard (a standard that has been beating me for 5 games in a row) with it's archers and some hearthguard in reserve and ready to react to either bridge. ADs had one warrior unit and one hearthguard unit at the foot of each bridge and his Warlord on the right.

I opened by sending my warriors on the right across the bridge to engage immediately with his warriors.

My whole plan was to smash the right with buckets of attack dice, buckets of attack dice being the specialty of the Viking faction, with my 12 man warrior force, send the remnants of that unit to the side on the other side of the bridge for a flank, send in the Val'Serkers and Jarl to wipe out any other remaining force while threatening a big move on the left bridge as I have another freeman platoon of 12 ready to cross and another "large" unit of Hirdmen (8!) thus making ADs decide which way to go.

What had actually happened was some not so good dice rolls for me.

All I needed was 4s, 5s, and 6s. 

Numbers were still on my side but that don't matter much sometimes. 

On the left I moved my Freemen up to the foot of the bridge to loom and maybe lurk a bit, Hirdmen behind the house ready to pounce upon anything that might have happened over there.

ADs had moved up onto the bridge, also looming with intent to lurk. Some of the AD levies also moved up to support their warriors with archery.

Back on the right ADs countered with an attack that whittled down my Freemen but still left me in a good position. Vikings then countered with another Freemen attack that was followed by the buzzsaw of Val'Serkers.

The dice are indicating changed armor values - Val'Serkers went down to 3 and then was further reduced to 2 while the AD axemen were reduced to 4.

From what I remember, just prior to this I had the hopes that what was left of my Freemen unit would be able to do some damage but the dice did not share that goal. The Val'Serkers were truly awesome in the sense I think I generated 23 attack dice with 4 figures but most of that was wasted on a 4 man AD axemen unit. The result was 3 of 4 Val'Serkers killed, 3 of 4 AD axemen killed. Considering I had almost 3 times the dice he had that was a poor performance. Well... first time using berserkers.

 During "The Battle of Right Bridge" I did get to use this ability. Allowed me to resolve another attack immediately after the first. Suffice to say I had one guy left and he got killed.

This is long enough for now, I'll finish this AAR later for you.

Superbowl, talking business.

Superbowl 49 - some will say it was boring because the Seahawks totally ate the Broncos lunch and dominated the whole game (43-8 F) but I found it quite entertaining. Sure, a close game between 2 opponents is very exciting. I am a Raiders fan so I don't get those much. I am a fan usually on the receiving end of a ass-whoopin like the Broncos got. The Broncos have given those ass-whoopins out to my Raiders just this year. We're rivals as a matter of fact.

So, watching the underdogs, a team that is geographically the closest NFL team to me in Portland, OR, beat the marrow out of the bones of the Broncos was kind of fun. Good for Seattle and I do hope it is a start of a legacy (thus putting the final nail in the NE Patriots legacy... screw them and Brady too).

I do like Manning as a human being though and feel bad for him as a human should feel bad and have some sympathy. Manning is a great QB and equally great man. He will be remembered decades from now as one of the greats.

On a side note - I'm not sure who I heard this from, it may have been 80's era Madden, but a good way to shut out all the excuses your opponent and their fans may have to say about your victory is to beat them by 35 points. 

Other than an afternoon and evening of Superbowl this weekend I had, as mentioned in a prior post, other things to do.

Saturday afternoon was a meeting for the Regia/Viking historical re-creation group I am a part of. We met and showed off some of our Xmas loot we gathered and things we made. We talked about some bumps in making other things like tunics and such. We shared links to websites and resources of gear and info. I learned that I could take my old Squire's belt from the SCA and split it into 2 new belts - saving me $ on leather. An SCA Squire belt is red in color and that would not detract from any authenticity issues, though I think I am going to just dye it dark brown anyways. The 2 belts will go with the buckles I picked up from local artisan Torfin Torgulsson and his Etsy site Bronzehammer:
Bronzehammer on Etsy
I plan to have a "working" every day belt and a fancy "dress" belt.

Cory, our leader thus far as he's the guy that built this group up and holds the meetings and knows the most showed us his longbow he picked up as some of us showed interest in archery. He said he needed a linen bowstring and that's something I can make as I have done a few in my time. I'm glad I can provide a service.

After that meeting we went to my friend Mike "Chibbs"'s birthday party. We got there around 6 PM and stayed until 9:30. I drank a wiskey and ate some tamales. Half the party then broke off to play a card game while Justin and I BSed at the dinner table with the women. I like doing that, sitting around a table that has some snacks on it and BSing with no goal in mind for a few hours.

Sunday morning was some breakfast at home and then we paid a visit to our friends Carrie and Mathew in Vancouver. Mathew had cut me some MDF board into 8" and 5" circles. This is to be used as "basing" for wargaming terrain. More sizes and shapes will come later. I had asked him to do this if I supplied the MDF board - he has access to water jet cutters.

My inspiration is from the myriad of UK/EU/AU/NZ companies that make nice laser-cut terrain bases out of thin MDF board. I'd buy from them as the prices are very reasonable until you get to the shipping to the US part. What would cost an Aussie $20US would cost me $45 or $50. Laser cut MDF terrain base boards like this are not available in the US at all. Not even on some craft-market level. The best I saw were cake bases (with foil coating) that were too expensive and too thick (1/4").

One may ask "Why is this?" and even "Make them yourself with simple tools." Well, here is the theory that Spencer and I thought up.

Here in the US our goal in life is to buy a house and have a family in it. It is "The American Dream" and kind of the basis of our economy. In mainstream thought it is thought of as "abnormal" to not want to buy or have bought a home by a certain age. This is how it is in America.

This house you buy usually comes with extra space so as to have "craft space" to do things in. A Garage, basement, shed, extra room, et al. Some people have the space to set up a black smith shop while others have an extra room for sewing projects. Us Americans are expected to have this ability though - to make something in our freetime. We have industries that support this like giant stores like Home Depot where you can buy shop-level band saws and drill presses. Most homes will have a garage so one can do their own oil changes on your car and build a bird house in with a simple bench and tool area and some saw horse.

I don't have the above, I live in an apartment. I can do some things like paint minis, modify a small item with my Dremel tool, make a belt, or sew. I cannot cut large amounts of material like MDF or pine 2x4s at home. A lot of Americans can though. What I would need in a "home shop" to do the above would be a bench mounted jigsaw or some such. Maybe the space and (weather providing) some saw horses to hook up a cutting bit on my Dremel and tear it up outside on the bark dust in the space between the sidewalk and my apartment.

In UK/EU/AU/NZ/Etc. the philosophy is different. (BTW, this is not a who is better piece). A lot of people live in apartments or very small homes. Having "shop space" is probably not high up on the priority list there for a lot of folks. This is assumption of course, UK/AU/EU/NZ/Etc friends feel free to correct me. Putting out a dozen 9"x6" kidney shaped MDF bases for some war gaming woods may not be a cost effective thing to do on your own so some company with a laser cutter has a market niche they can fill.

Anyways, I bought some 4'x6' 1/8th inch MDF boards from Home Depot for $7 a sheet and gave them to Mathew and he water jet cut the circles for me. We might do more in the future as need arises.

We were doing that favorite thing of mine, sitting around a table and BSing. He has some projects lined up he may need my help with as do I. We then talked about business and how it has gained interest to 2 working stiffs like us. Neither of us are educated more than 12th grade. Neither of us really think we can achieve more than that classic education wise. Mathew does have a keen interest and insight on business as I have an interest in the minutiae.

For me it's about being a good consumer. A lot of my hobbies and interests are supported by the small niche business and, in turn, I want to support them. I know buying from them is a major step but I also would like to learn about how they do things so I can, maybe, help out in other ways. At the least learn how my dollar can be maximized by them.

So me and Mathew are talking and I bring up a blog I read called Quest for Fun:
Quest for Fun
It's run by the owner of a game store in Concord, CA (I was stationed there once!) called Black Diamond Games. It's a rather successful store and reading the blog may give you a clue as to why. We were talking about basic small business concepts like:
1) Sell what people want.
2) Don't try to sell what YOU like.
3) The concept of "build it and they will come" is kind of BS and should read "build what they want and will be cost effective and they will come".

That said, some of the games I play right now just don't benefit any game store. A lot of DIY stuff going on and stuff I need that no niche hobby store should be carrying in their right minds. I have this on my mind as I am going to be talking to one of my own FLGSs about holding a Saga demo. I'm looking for the sweet spot in why any local store should carry the game and components for it. It's just not geared to be a product stocked by an FLGS in my opinion.

Up later this week - Friday night was Saga night at Spencers. I lose again:(