Oct 11th, 2021 by Precinct Omega
Paolo Parente announced last week that Dust Studio, the company behind Dust 1947 and related games is winding up.
In this episode I take a look at the history of Dust as a gaming IP, its influence and shifting fortunes and why I think it's ultimately failed.
Oct 4th, 2021 by Precinct Omega
I recently read/watched/listened to a few social media commentator types (a lot like me) who all seemed to be of one mind that 3D printing wasn't a problem for GW.
I very much disagree. Sort of.
In the first of a two-parter, I take a look at how 3D printing may affect GW's business model and why, look at why people think it "isn't a problem" and why they're wrong, and what GW could and should do to adapt their business model to 3D printing.
In the second part, I'll look at the wider world of miniatures wargaming, where the impact is, I suspect, going to felt much more keenly.
Sep 27th, 2021 by Precinct Omega
Deadzone 3rd edition appears, as if from nowhere! What's going on and is this genius or a horrible misstep by Mantic?
Meanwhile, other microenterprises are releasing cool stuff!
Killwager from Enemy Spotted Studios is on Kickstarter, whilst Eisenfront has released its first 2-player starter boxed set.
What does all of this mean for Precinct Omega? Well, it looks like I'm putting out a new game, myself, which you'll find available here. Patrons should look for their discount codes, coming soon! But it also reflects back on the fact that I'm going to have to take a slightly different approach for a while and that will mean putting my tie back on and hitting the office for some short-term HR contracts.
The podcast isn't going anywhere, though, so watch this space for more!
Sep 20th, 2021 by Precinct Omega
All miniatures wargames seem to go through multiple editions, one way or another, but why?
Why are new editions of miniatures games so different to new editions of other games and/or books? Why do we get so many, so often? Is it bad for the community or bad for the hobby? How often is *too* often for a new edition?
I try to answer these and other questions in this week's episode of the podcast.
Sep 13th, 2021 by Precinct Omega
In this business, companies enter the market and companies leave it with a depressing regularity. But what motivates them to start and what leads to their departures?
With the news that
Impudent Mortal is back,
IDW Games is gone and
Freebooter's Fate is, astonishingly, still here, I dig into this question in a little more detail and ask what it means for Precinct Omega.
Sep 6th, 2021 by Precinct Omega
So, earlier this week I accidentally deleted, just... hundreds of files.
OK, so technically I had intended to delete the vast majority of them, but a mis-click ended up with me basically deleting my entire archive of podcasts and videos.
For most purposes, no biggie. They're all uploaded to the Interwebz if I need them and, to be honest, I mostly don't. However, I kept them around because it makes it easier to copy and paste elements from earlier shows into later ones, like intros and suchlike. Yeah, well... those were some of the things I managed to delete.
But part of the challenge of running a business is taking setbacks and turning them to one's advantage. So I spent a large chunk of a day this week creating brand new intros for podcasts and videos, so you get a brand new intro and outro from Bernard, with awesome brand new music and - to top it off - an whole hour-long interview with Five Parsecs from Home author, Ivan Sorensen.
(And, for the record, it's EE-van, technically; but since he moved to the US he answers to EYE-van as well.)
Aug 30th, 2021 by Precinct Omega
In this episode, I revisit the apparent demise of Guild Ball. No, really, it's dead. But only... kind of dead? Stuff happened. I talk about it.
Also, Secret Weapon Miniatures is dead. Probably. Again, kind of. I talk about that.
And Asmodee. Definitely not dead, but responsible for other things maybe kind of dying. But not really. Let's talk about that!
Aug 23rd, 2021 by Precinct Omega
This week, I turn to the sticky topic of command and control. I explain why I've resisted tackling the topic until now, take apart the relationship between IRL C3I and miniatures wargaming, and dissect the different ways games can and do handle the various challenges of abstracting the relationship of leaders and subordinates into stats and mechanics.
I also touch upon the much-commented-upon "Fog of War" and explain why I think most people's understanding of the term is flawed and why it is so rarely handled correctly in miniatures wargaming.
Aug 16th, 2021 by Precinct Omega
I can only apologize for how long it took me to get behind this story. I was on holiday when it first broke and I thought it was a non-issue, so I ignored it and recorded a different episode, then I went away on another short holiday and the story continued to snowball. I got home and recorded this episode immediately, but I already had episodes lined up to cover my period away.
So, finally, here's my detailed look at the astonishing news about Corvus Belli moving to partial manufacturing in plastic.
Wait? What? There's something else going on? A boycott? Seriously? Again?
Well, OK, I suppose I can talk about that, too.
Aug 9th, 2021 by Precinct Omega
9th August was the arbitrary date I set for getting back to social wargaming and, with no sign on the horizon yet of anything radically apocalyptic to change that plan, it is time to make plans about what I'm going to play. Other than Horizon Wars games, obviously.
So, with that in mind, how can I choose from the plethora of excellent games out there which ones I'm going to focus on for the next 12 months? I think there's room for a maximum of three, but which three? Well, after a lot of thinking, I whittled it down to a long list of:
In this episode I rate each of these based on how much fun I think it will be, how innovative I think it is, how much money I would have to spend to play it, how good the local scene is and how easy it will be to find tournaments to play in around the UK. And, based on that, I make some qualified assessments of what I'm going to try out.
