It’s that time of the year when I break out my goose quill pen and bottle of squid ink and lovingly pen a Christmas wish list to Santa on a sheet of vellum. I give the same list to my wife and kids, but I never hold out much hope – I bet all my chips on Santa. My family gives me things I need, but only Santa can be counted on to give me things I want. And I want gaming stuff!
This year, top of the list is Dungeon Command from Wizards of the Coast. One of the guys in my tabletop group got the first two sets, “Heart of Cormyr” and “Sting of Lolth,” and we really enjoyed playing when we didn’t have a quorum for D&D. When he got the next set, “Tyranny of Goblins,” I was hooked. These are such versatile sets – not only a stand-alone game, but the tiles can be used for battle maps, and the minis are gorgeous for any tabletop D&D game. I hope the secondary market will make some of the miniatures available outside of the complete sets, because you can never have too many feral trolls or driders. Plus, the latest set, “Curse of Undeath,” has a disciple of Kyuss, which I NEED for my Age of Worms campaign! (Actually, I need a bunch of them…)
My mind is always on my Age of Worms campaign, and terrain is what I crave. I need jungle and mountain settings for upcoming sessions, and I love Worldworks Games Hinterland Cliffs and Hinterland Forests pdfs. I also know there’s a lot of city action coming up, and Thoumont’s TLX looks amazing – practically limitless versatility. I’d love a bunch of other stuff on the site, but I shouldn’t spend all day on one website.
Another site with fantastic terrain is Fat Dragon Games. I’ve bought pdfs from them before, and they’re beautiful to look at and easy to assemble. Their Dragonshire: Deluxe Edition is a set I’d love to have with the city of Redhand looming on my gaming horizon…there’s a massive battle in “Dawn of a New Age” that begs for buildings and streets spread all over my gaming table. I also love the E-Z Terrain: Forest & Ruins set, especially the trees and bushes. You can never have enough trees or bushes, no matter what adventure you’re playing.
Of course, asking for pdfs means I need the supplies to use them, which is where I’ve always stumbled in the past. The cost of ink is so high, I have to be really choosy about what I print out and assemble. I’m always looking for terrain to scrounge from other games, but nothing ever seems sized right. If I could lay hands on the Heroscape Ticalla Jungle Expansion, I’d feel like I died and went to heaven. Unfortunately, they don’t make Heroscape anymore, and what few sets are available online are ridiculously expensive. Santa, can you hear me?
Back to miniatures again. I know I need giants, and I know I need dragons. Paizo’s black dragon is beautiful, and I used it to represent Ilthane in “A Gathering of Winds,” but I know the characters will meet her brood in the future, so I need more black dragons, and I need different dragons for “Kings of the Rift.” http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/422946_3493025011191_2130174470_n.jpg The gargantuan blue dragon from Paizo’s Shattered Star miniatures line is calling my name, although I don’t find any available on the secondary market yet. Yes, I’d love to get all their minis, but only Santa could swing that – I’ve got a wife, three kids, two dogs, two cats, and guinea pig to feed. When I get minis, it’s always as singles, never booster packs or cases. Paizo’s giants are also catching my eye. I could use the ettin, a bunch of frost giants, stone giants, stone giant champions, and rune giants. I also need all the fire giants from the previous D&D miniatures sets. How big is your bag, Santa?
I’m not completely selfish, though. This is the season of giving, and I want my players to have stuff too. Gale Force 9 puts out some fantastic token sets for 4E D&D, and I have everything I need on the DM side of the table, but my players each need their own set for their characters. The fighters, ranger, cleric, sorcerer and wizards are covered, but the ardent, assassin, and psion will have to wait. Hopefully, they’ll finish out the classes even though 4E is a lame duck.
But back to me. I also want the “Caverns of the Underdark” 3D Terrain Set, as well as about all of the game mats Gale Force 9 put out. Full color wet erase maps are awesome sauce! I also want their fire/explosion markers, smoke markers, and ice/frozen markers for plotting out zones. They also have some gorgeous Battlefield in a Box fantasy sets, but I can’t think of any use for them in the Age of Worms at this moment. I could find a use for most of the components from their Battlefield in a Box essentials line, but Santa would have to bring them from New Zealand as he flies by.
Dice, dice, and more dice – you can never have too many dice. All I ask is that color of the numbers contrast sharply with the color of the dice. (My eyes are getting old.) Wet erase markers are good as well; I use a wet erase board to track initiative and hit points, and a battle mat when I don’t have pretty terrain, and I guess I push too hard, because the tips are always wearing out.
Finally, I want some bright green polymer clay, so my uber-talented daughter #2 can make some more Kyuss worms for me. http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/483433_10200111515897504_1377849134_n.jpg I need A LOT. I’ve thought about substituting purple worms, but I’d feel the urge to repaint them, and then I’d need paint and brushes (and talent), and there are only so many hours in the day. You can throw in some obligatory gamer shirts, especially ones featuring dragons, as my current ones are wearing out from years of use. They need to be t-shirts, though; for some reason, my wife cannot abide the bowling style shirts I find so comfortable.
Unfortunately, I’ve been a bad boy this year (we won’t go into details), so I don’t hold much hope of Santa bringing me the items on my Christmas wish list. But it’s nice to dream, and I hope I’ve given you some ideas for the gamer(s) in your life, or at least inspired you to find out exactly what they want. Gifts are nice, but gaming gifts are grrrrrreat!
This year, top of the list is Dungeon Command from Wizards of the Coast. One of the guys in my tabletop group got the first two sets, “Heart of Cormyr” and “Sting of Lolth,” and we really enjoyed playing when we didn’t have a quorum for D&D. When he got the next set, “Tyranny of Goblins,” I was hooked. These are such versatile sets – not only a stand-alone game, but the tiles can be used for battle maps, and the minis are gorgeous for any tabletop D&D game. I hope the secondary market will make some of the miniatures available outside of the complete sets, because you can never have too many feral trolls or driders. Plus, the latest set, “Curse of Undeath,” has a disciple of Kyuss, which I NEED for my Age of Worms campaign! (Actually, I need a bunch of them…)
My mind is always on my Age of Worms campaign, and terrain is what I crave. I need jungle and mountain settings for upcoming sessions, and I love Worldworks Games Hinterland Cliffs and Hinterland Forests pdfs. I also know there’s a lot of city action coming up, and Thoumont’s TLX looks amazing – practically limitless versatility. I’d love a bunch of other stuff on the site, but I shouldn’t spend all day on one website.
Another site with fantastic terrain is Fat Dragon Games. I’ve bought pdfs from them before, and they’re beautiful to look at and easy to assemble. Their Dragonshire: Deluxe Edition is a set I’d love to have with the city of Redhand looming on my gaming horizon…there’s a massive battle in “Dawn of a New Age” that begs for buildings and streets spread all over my gaming table. I also love the E-Z Terrain: Forest & Ruins set, especially the trees and bushes. You can never have enough trees or bushes, no matter what adventure you’re playing.
Of course, asking for pdfs means I need the supplies to use them, which is where I’ve always stumbled in the past. The cost of ink is so high, I have to be really choosy about what I print out and assemble. I’m always looking for terrain to scrounge from other games, but nothing ever seems sized right. If I could lay hands on the Heroscape Ticalla Jungle Expansion, I’d feel like I died and went to heaven. Unfortunately, they don’t make Heroscape anymore, and what few sets are available online are ridiculously expensive. Santa, can you hear me?
Back to miniatures again. I know I need giants, and I know I need dragons. Paizo’s black dragon is beautiful, and I used it to represent Ilthane in “A Gathering of Winds,” but I know the characters will meet her brood in the future, so I need more black dragons, and I need different dragons for “Kings of the Rift.” http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/422946_3493025011191_2130174470_n.jpg The gargantuan blue dragon from Paizo’s Shattered Star miniatures line is calling my name, although I don’t find any available on the secondary market yet. Yes, I’d love to get all their minis, but only Santa could swing that – I’ve got a wife, three kids, two dogs, two cats, and guinea pig to feed. When I get minis, it’s always as singles, never booster packs or cases. Paizo’s giants are also catching my eye. I could use the ettin, a bunch of frost giants, stone giants, stone giant champions, and rune giants. I also need all the fire giants from the previous D&D miniatures sets. How big is your bag, Santa?
I’m not completely selfish, though. This is the season of giving, and I want my players to have stuff too. Gale Force 9 puts out some fantastic token sets for 4E D&D, and I have everything I need on the DM side of the table, but my players each need their own set for their characters. The fighters, ranger, cleric, sorcerer and wizards are covered, but the ardent, assassin, and psion will have to wait. Hopefully, they’ll finish out the classes even though 4E is a lame duck.
But back to me. I also want the “Caverns of the Underdark” 3D Terrain Set, as well as about all of the game mats Gale Force 9 put out. Full color wet erase maps are awesome sauce! I also want their fire/explosion markers, smoke markers, and ice/frozen markers for plotting out zones. They also have some gorgeous Battlefield in a Box fantasy sets, but I can’t think of any use for them in the Age of Worms at this moment. I could find a use for most of the components from their Battlefield in a Box essentials line, but Santa would have to bring them from New Zealand as he flies by.
Dice, dice, and more dice – you can never have too many dice. All I ask is that color of the numbers contrast sharply with the color of the dice. (My eyes are getting old.) Wet erase markers are good as well; I use a wet erase board to track initiative and hit points, and a battle mat when I don’t have pretty terrain, and I guess I push too hard, because the tips are always wearing out.
Finally, I want some bright green polymer clay, so my uber-talented daughter #2 can make some more Kyuss worms for me. http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/483433_10200111515897504_1377849134_n.jpg I need A LOT. I’ve thought about substituting purple worms, but I’d feel the urge to repaint them, and then I’d need paint and brushes (and talent), and there are only so many hours in the day. You can throw in some obligatory gamer shirts, especially ones featuring dragons, as my current ones are wearing out from years of use. They need to be t-shirts, though; for some reason, my wife cannot abide the bowling style shirts I find so comfortable.
Unfortunately, I’ve been a bad boy this year (we won’t go into details), so I don’t hold much hope of Santa bringing me the items on my Christmas wish list. But it’s nice to dream, and I hope I’ve given you some ideas for the gamer(s) in your life, or at least inspired you to find out exactly what they want. Gifts are nice, but gaming gifts are grrrrrreat!
