I promise I'll get to the whole "lead belt" thing in due course. But I've nearly finished both the research and the script for my next episode, which will be a look at CMON Ltd, its origins, its tactics and its relationships with the miniatures wargaming and boardgames industry, plus some predictions about what will, in my opinion, soon follow.<...
2022-10-11 10:17:04 +0000 UTC View PostIt ain't pretty and it certainly ain't anyone's idea of "finished" but, as promised, my most beloved mech-level backers get to see the raw text of Horizon Wars: Midnight Dark.
Truth is, I could've kept on tinkering with this for weeks to come until I thought it was "ready" for you but, luckily, I promised you'd have it this month ...
2022-09-19 16:57:08 +0000 UTC View PostGames Workshop is an endless source of interest in our industry, for a variety of reasons. But a price of being tabletop wargaming’s largest gorilla is that legal developments that impinge upon the industry are likely to hit them first. And no one can say they haven’t been proactive...
2022-09-01 11:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostThis morning I woke up to discover that Horizon Wars: Zero Dark has sold its 1000th copy!
I'm not making a big thing about this off Patreon, because 1001 is, for some reason the threshold for Platinum best-seller status on WGV, and I don't want to be seen to be pressuring anyone into buying a copy just to feed my ...
2022-09-01 07:45:27 +0000 UTC View Post
It should be no surprise the GW - a company almost 50 years old and the titan of its niche market - has been to court a few times in order to firmly establish its rights to its intellectual property and to its way of doing business. However, because it is the biggest gorilla in a very small room, whenever they flex their muscles, the landscape o...
2022-08-31 14:24:19 +0000 UTC View Post
The subject of community volunteers in the miniatures wargaming market has been a controversial one over the years. I took a whistle-stop tour through its recent history, why companies love volunteers, what problems they can create and why Games Workshop, in particular, ran and then killed its Outriders programme and why it won't come back.
<... 2022-08-24 14:08:27 +0000 UTC View Post
I'll be at Chillcon this weekend and I'm going to have a stab at doing some livestreaming, as I have a new business mobile contract with unlimited data and a mobile hotspot device. I'll try to give patrons the nod when I'll be streaming at least a few m...
2022-08-16 11:29:43 +0000 UTC View PostFrom now on, I'm going to release the scripts for my shows to the Heavy Elite and higher tiers. This includes any notes or annotations I make, unedited. Not much to talk about in this script, but you might interested to know that the bits in bold are those sections where I stumbled or stammered in rehearsal (yes, I rehearse!) so...
2022-08-15 14:07:15 +0000 UTC View Post*I am still writing games*
But the explosion of interest in my Warmachine MkIV episode means I'm quite focused on replicating that success in the hope of actually monetizing my YT channel (dreams of giving up the HR lifestyle proliferate).
So I've been brainstorming possible topics of interest that I think people might enjoy.
<...
2022-08-15 08:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Corvus Belli has announced that they are releasing a fantasy game called "WarCrow". What might lie behind the timing of this release? What is Corvus Belli hoping to achieve and what are their odds of success? Find out more about Infinity the Game and its related properties here:
It might be a few episodes before she makes a return to the show, as animating her on top of animating myself might be a little time-consuming, although I think I've come up with a way to do it that is, at least, realistic on my time schedule.
As for a Bernard miniature, well... Let's get the Kickstarter finished first, shall we? And then ...
2022-08-13 08:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
I've been doing some work in my karate community to come up with some alternative apparel for training in hot weather when dogis and belts can be a bit unco...
2022-08-12 09:30:54 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm happy to report that my most recent YT episode has been by some margin my most popular ever, garnering over 400 views in the first three days of release. I suspect this is a combination of factors.
The first and, I suspect, biggest is the subject matter, which obviously helps. The second is the fact that I did put a bit more effort in...
The Precinct Omega Kickstarter is here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/precinctomega/zero-dark-the-miniatures-line/
The press release about Warmachine Mk IV is here: 2022-08-06 16:32:22 +0000 UTC View Post
I don't need to tell you lot that the Precinct Omega Zero Dark Miniatures Kickstarter has launched, of course. And I'm not going to bother this community with details. If you're interested, you'll already either be subscribing to the newsletter or backing the project.
However, I thought you would be interested in the behind-the-sc...
2022-08-02 09:33:51 +0000 UTC View PostMore game design stuff for you. I've been spending a few hours of my holiday rolling dice.
Not, I hasten to add, actually playing a game. God forbid. But just sitting with my dice roller app and my favourite spreadsheet software tapping in numbers and I've ended up with this work in progress:
2022-07-26 10:28:02 +0000 UTC
View Post
Maths and maths-related stuff follows.
What I need to achieve, here, is a conversion system that changes the very basic original points values of elements (1, 2 or 3) into something more granular that fits the loose vision I outlined in the first article. So I'm expecting to see a points value more like 17 or 32 or 126 or something along t...
2022-07-21 10:22:32 +0000 UTC View PostFirst up, my contract is finished! So I'm now back at Precinct Omega full time until at least the end of September, but first... a holiday.
However, although I'm away and, therefore, not podcasting, I am still gearing myself up to be ready for at least a month of focused game design work and, after that, there'll be more game design work u...
2022-07-19 19:40:58 +0000 UTC View Post
Warning: if you're here for Star Wars content, it's very minimal. This episode, we look at new releases from
2022-07-08 09:17:50 +0000 UTC View Post
For those of your who like the "business insight" part of this Patreon, I thought you might be vaguely interested in this idea.
Planning for failure is what most of us do and what businesses tend to be, well, if not good at then natural at. My plan for failure, last year, was to return to my professional roots, which I did. I'm working wi...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/heresyminiatures/28mm-sci-fi-miniatures
Despite my pledge to buy no new minis this year, I've made two exceptions. The first was a Zel tractor from Strato Minis to support the Ukrainian g...
2022-06-27 09:51:16 +0000 UTC View Post
As a tabletop game designer, what are the factors at play in different settings that you need to be aware of? How do you develop a bespoke setting for a tabletop game?
I take a typically rambling look at the subject and, naturally, tie it all back to my favourite subject: myself.
If you want to get launch notification on the forthcom...
2022-06-20 11:05:11 +0000 UTC View Post
This week's podcast will be a few days late, as I said a tearful farewell to the doggiest dog that ever did dog at the weekend.
He was a good boy. Would that the same could be said of me when my time comes.
2022-06-13 07:51:55 +0000 UTC View Post
In this episode, I look at news from:
Wargames Atlantic&n...
2022-06-07 10:15:34 +0000 UTC View Post
No regular video, this week, due to personal reasons.
However, I did get a new set of brushes to replace the Army Painter Masterclass set I reviewed last time. Rosemary & Co is renowned UK manufacturer of paintbrushes for artists, but they have put together a set especially for miniatures painters. So I bought a set and give you my fir...
2022-05-30 11:25:26 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm not good at conventions. They tend to be too many people, too quickly, and my normally invisible social-anxiety that I keep comfortably medicated with pork pies and karate bubbles over until I'm a non-functioning wreck.
However, I've always h...
2022-05-24 13:02:14 +0000 UTC View Post
Somewhat inspired by reference, last week, to the new Horus Heresy release teased by Games Workshop, I stumbled across a couple of other manifestations of retro-style tabletop wargaming in the form of Warzone Eternal, from Res Nova Games, and VOID Squad Tactics, from Seb Games:
I know you guys didn't sign up to pay for the privilege of me telling you about my Kickstarter, so I'm going to shift communications out and into a mailing list, because that's what all the cool kids are doing (I mean, that's what all the blogs tell me I should do for Kickstarter).
I've set up a landing page for subscribers on my website, ...
2022-05-18 16:28:32 +0000 UTC View Post
Those of you who've seen my Teemill shop or been paying attention to the opening credits of any of my recent videos will have noticed the emblem of my own secret society.
I...
2022-05-16 15:56:39 +0000 UTC View Post