Kickstart My Heart–Reaper Miniatures’ Bones II Project

Copyright 2013 Reaper Miniatures

Copyright 2013 Reaper Miniatures

     I stumbled upon my first gaming miniatures around Christmas of 1981. I was 13 and had tagged along with a neighbor one Saturday night to a small bookstore named, Book Villa, located in Huntsville, Alabama. They had a pretty impressive selection of Dungeons & Dragons products including a large rack of Grenadier & Ral Partha miniatures.  I could (and did) browse those blisters and boxed sets for hours.

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I Even Dream In Nerd…

     You know that old saying, “Beauty is only skin deep but ugly is to the bone?”  I think the same thing applies to being a nerd.  The “to the bone” part that is. Even at age 43, I still find myself getting excited about the new Iron Man film, a particular game or comic book that’s coming out, or reading Lord of the Rings for the umpteenth time.

     If you’re like me, you’ve seen the eye rolls when certain friends or family glimpse your nerd cave, catch you reading a comic, or when you talk about the new superhero flick.  Am I rocking a Peter Pan complex or something? In the end, I really don’t care.  I love what I’m doing and frankly, the eye rollers are some of the most boring people I know.

     That being said, I do find it interesting that my identity, personality trait, or whatever you want to call it, even manages to permeate my dreams. I’ll explain…

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Feel free to e-mail me with any questions…

Smell? What smell?

Smell? What smell?

     I received some good feedback (get it?) on my eBay rant last week.  Well lucky me, I’m back with another. But before I get fired up here, let me note that I learned, after penning that last post, that sellers on eBay apparently can’t leave negative feedback for us buyers. So I need not have feared retaliation had I dropped a zinger on Mr. “Like New (Except for the Crusty Layer of Stickiness & Hair) Superman Sign.” Makes sense I guess. You got my money. What are you gonna complain about?

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Gygax Magazine…It’s On!

Gygax Magazine No. 1

Gygax Magazine No. 1

     A month ago or so, I heard an announcement on the Roll For Initiative podcast that TSR was coming back.  Or at least a new incarnation of TSR.  For those of you who don’t know, TSR (Tactical Studies Rules) was the company co-founded in 1973 by Gary Gygax (co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson).

     The new company, founded by Jayson Elliott, and Gary’s sons Luke & Ernie, among others, launched in November 2012, and they just released their first product, Gygax Magazine. The quarterly publication launched yesterday at a special event in Brooklyn, New York and I put my order in for a one year subscription when I woke up this morning. I haven’t been this excited to receive something in the mail for awhile.

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Turn It Up And Rip The Knob Off! Podcasts for Nerds

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     I work inside a 100+ year old building.  I don’t know what’s in the bricks they used back then, but whatever it was, it isn’t conducive to great radio reception.  Luckily, I’ve got an office in the dungeon that I share with no one so I can pretty much listen to podcasts on my computer all day long. If you could sit and talk about your hobbies and interests for hours on end, then the next best thing while you’re shackled to your desk or stuck in traffic is firing up a podcast.

     Here’s a laundry list of eight podcasts I regularly tune in to during my mind-numbing workday… Continue reading

My Nerd Cave To-Do List

     Now that my new home within my home is more or less completed, it’s time to actually have some fun in here.  But as you might have noticed, I don’t confine my hobbies to just one or two interests. So, instead of making things up as I go, I’ve decided to put together a little “to-do” list as far as projects I’d like to get done in the near and not-so-near future.

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Designing the Nerd Cave–Game Room

     I became a gamer around 1980.  People at my mom’s office were playing something called Dungeons & Dragons and raving about how much fun they were having.  She soon bought the blue box set for my father at a local bookstore.  He had about as much interest in the game as Stephen Hawking would have in a Karaoke machine. I quickly inherited the box and was instantly hooked.

      A couple years later, I was babysitting for a couple down the street when I noticed Avalon Hill’s Squad Leader on the bookshelf.  The husband, Steve, invited me over the following Saturday to play.  Getting my head handed to me became a regular thing but I loved every minute of it.

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