DOGSTAR GAMES REVIEWS

Khador Gun Carriage is HERE!

2011-04-26T12:47:00.003-06:00

Gun Carriage showed up today! We are shipping out all preorders and can still take orders!

http://dogstargames.com/product/PIP33077

Stormraven and Furioso Dreadnought Confirmed

2011-01-18T14:09:00.000-07:00

I have it confirmed that a Stormraven and a Furioso Dreadnought are among the releases for the new Blood Angels this February! I should be getting my advanced copies Friday.

I'll let you know what they look like then!!!

Jason

Grey Knights in April

2011-01-10T07:32:00.003-07:00

Games Workshop finally announced the release of the new Grey Knights Codex!

'We are the warriors of the Grey Knights, armoured in Faith, shielded by Devotion and armed with Purity of Purpose. But greater even than these, we carry the light of the divine Emperor of Man into the dark places to purge the daemonic wherever it may be found.' - Brother-Captain Stern of the Grey Knights, Prior to the Purging of Xoedic Binary 978.M41

In April the Grey Knights, an elite and secretive Chapter of Space Marines, will stand ready to fight the forces of Chaos and the horrors of the Warp with new reinforcements. Take a look at the Astronomican today to see the Studio's Incoming! article for more information about the legendary heroes that are the Grey Knights.

Captain Jonas Murdoch

2010-12-30T16:46:00.003-07:00

Captain Jonas Murdoch! (Click Link to Preorder Him!)

Coming this February!

Jonas Murdoch is a tough-as-nails trencher captain who can take even the worst mercenary scum and whip them into soldiers any Cygnaran officer would be proud to lead. Under his command, a mercenary unit functions as part of the army of Cygnar.

http://dogstargames.com/product/PIP31079

NEW SKAVEN!!!!

2010-12-28T11:59:00.003-07:00

Announcing new Skaven this January! Here is what is coming out January 15th!

Uniforms and Heraldry of the Skaven

Skaven Hell Pit Abomination (Plastic Box) $49.50

Skaven Warp Lightning Cannon Plagueclaw Catapult (Plastic) $33.00

Ikit claw (Metal Blister) $16.50

Tretch Craventail (Metal Blister)

Skaven Doom-flayer Weapon Team (Metal Blister) - $19.75

Skaven Warp-Grinder Weapon Team (Metal Blister) - $15.00

And some Direct stuff, all new repackaged metal blisters, all coming January 22nd

Marneus Calgar, Lord Macragge - New Repackaged - $16.50

Ultramarines Chapter Champoin $16.75

Ultramareins Honour Guard (2 figures) - $23.75

Njal Stormcaller - 416.50

And in a metal Box:

Bjorn the Fell-handed - $57.75

Gaming

2010-12-28T11:23:00.003-07:00

I gamed this weekend, and played Power Grid, Chateau Roquefort, Last Night on Earth, and Agricola. Power Grid is an awesome game. Let me know some of the games YOU played this weekend!

Mirrodin Besieged Update

2010-12-07T11:05:00.002-07:00

Hello!

Recently we ran a sale on Mirrodin Besieged at $74.99 a box, just an early presell that was supposed to run from December 1st through December 7th. We had a limited number of boxes to sell at that price, and they sold out early and the sale ended December 6th, around 4:00 PM our time.

I apologize for this, but due to limited supply on Magic and different pricing from different distributors, we only have so much we can offer at that great low price. Demand was way greater than we expected, and the supply simply ran out!

We do have another supply at the still = great price of $79.99.

Jason

Tyrant Vorkesh

2010-12-07T10:32:00.002-07:00

Coming February, a new Unit for the Skorne Army: Tyrant Vorkesh. The very epitome of cataphract stoicism, strength, and martial prowess, Tyrant Vorkesh is veritable juggernaut of armored destruction. As Vorkesh cleaves through enemy after enemy, his deadly accuracy with his weapon, the Arm of Rahal, inspires the cataphracts around him to strike with the utmost skill and precision, while his sheer force of will shields them from enemy magic.

Koldun Kapitan Valachev

2010-12-02T16:25:00.002-07:00

Coming February 2011!

Koldun Kapitan Valachev brings the iron strength of the Motherland to mercenary units fortunate enough to serve under his command. Skilled in the dark sorcery of the Greylords, he can chill enemies with icy blasts, propel his unit upfield on freezing winds, or remove debilitating magic afflicting his men. Those serving under him are truly part of Khadoran military machine.

Base Size: 30mm

PIP Code: 33078

Price: $11.99*

Model Count: 1

Packaging: Blister

December Privateer Press Releases

2010-12-02T06:48:00.000-07:00

December 8^th Privateer Press Releases

We SHOULD be getting the following items Wednesday, December 8^th 2010. Some might get delayed to the 22^nd of December however.

Get your preorders in NOW! These items are almost always in short supply when they are released!

Calaban the Grave Walker

Venator Reiver Officer and Standard

Bayal, Hound of Everblight Hex Hunter Officer

Trencher Unit

Triumph

Scourge of Heresy

Mirrodin Besieged

2010-12-01T11:45:00.003-07:00

Mirrodin Besieged is coming February 4th! Special December 1st - 7th Sale!

$74.99 a box

Price will rise to $79.99 a box after that, and then go up to $84.99 in January!

Iron Clad, Raider, and Bloody Barnabas

2010-11-11T16:46:00.005-07:00

Here are some paintings of figures from our Staff at Dogstar Games!

We start with fantastic painting of a Cygnar Classic Ironclad for the Warmachine game by Jason Smith:

Next we have a very difficult paint job by Garrison Brown of the new Dark Eldar Raider.

Finally we have the new Hordes Minions Bloody Barnabas figure painted by Nick Erickson

Earth Reborn

2010-10-27T06:52:00.003-06:00

I have a friend in France who designs games, Christophe Boelinger, and he has a new game coming out from Z-Man Games, called Earth Reborn. It's garnering a good bit of positive attention in the game industry, and has a current 8.75 rating on BoardGameGeek (that is a fantastic score)! We are preselling it here at Dogstar Games, so check it out of you get a chance!

Earth Reborn

Tuesday

2010-10-27T06:46:00.003-06:00

So a lot of you emailed me this weekend telling me the games you are playing. I find it interesting. There are really two types of gamers. Gamers who play ANYTHING, and gamers who play THEIR game. Their one and ONLY GAME. (Which is usually D&D, but not always, sometimes it's Magic, sometimes it's Warhammer, etc). I'm one of those people who USED to play only one game (D&D) but as I've gotten older I will play anything. I don't always have the time to play everything, but I will give it all a try. We might be starting a new Rogue Trader campaign in the store soon (a new GM has just moved in from out of town and is eager to start the campaign with us, so we are all delighted not to have to GM anymore). I've never played Rogue Trader, but it sounds like a blast, and hey, I love Dark Heresy and it's all based in the Warhammer 40k world anyway, so I think it's going to be fun.

So drop me a line, let me know if you are a play anything kind of gamer, or if you have your one and only true love.

Jason

Dogstar Games

Gaming This Weekend

2010-10-23T20:00:00.001-06:00

What you doing this weekend? Email us with the games you are playing!

Bought a new camera today for shooting videos so Dogstar Games can go onto YouTube!

Jason

Dark Eldar Painting Difficulties

2010-10-21T13:31:00.004-06:00

I'm serious when I say this, but the one thing that is deterring me from painting the Dark Eldar is that they are HARD. Too hard. Take the Reaver Jet Bikes for instance. They are black with light blue/green outlines. Right? How hard is that? It is RIDICULOUSLY hard. Painting those straight lines is a total problem. They are driving me nuts. I'm thinking of abandoning the whole army because of it. I'm experimenting with different paint schemes and thoughts to see if I can make those straight lines straight. Any help out there would be appreciated:

Check out the light green/blue glow on the edges of the bikes here in this Games Workshop photo and you will see what I mean:

Privateer Press Legion of Everblight!

2010-10-20T14:27:00.004-06:00

Legion of Everblight Hardback and Softback came in today. The book looks awesome. Did you know this is our LARGEST preorder book so far? I'm impressed. Lot of Legion of Everblight fans, not to mention we are growing as a Privateer Press Horder and Warmachine store! Still most of our sales come off Ebay though, which makes no sense. YOU WILL SAVE MONEY ON THE WEBSITE! Just saying...

Legion of Everblight Book

Bloody Barnabas

Croak Hunter

Blackhide Wrastler

DArk Eldar Reaver Jetbikes

2010-10-19T15:22:00.003-06:00

These things are NOT easy to paint. Here's the thing. The lines along the edges have to be painted perfectly straight. We've chosen Regal Blue as the base, then Hawk Turquoise, followed by an Ice Blue highlight. Getting the lines straight is vital, and yet, you can't use tape because 90% of the lines are curved. Makes for some difficult painting. Anywhere, here is the progress we have so far. If you have any ideas on how to paint these, let me know. BTW, we are still preselling them for the big releases in November.

www.dogstargames.com

Monday Raiders!

2010-10-18T10:19:00.005-06:00

Last night I built 3 Raiders! Here they are. Will start painting today

Remember, email us if you want to order some a good prices with free shipping.

dogstargames@gmail.com

Dark Eldar!!!

2010-10-17T15:28:00.007-06:00

We got our advanced copies of the Dark Eldar Codex, Kabalite Warriors, Raider, and Reaver Bikes! We are building them and pictures are coming soon. Of course if you want to preorder them just email us at Dogstargames@gmail.com. We'll set you up with free shipping.

Rise of the Eldrazi & Zendikar

2010-10-06T13:44:00.001-06:00

Back up for sale and back in stock

www.dogstargames.com

Magic 2011

2010-10-05T12:55:00.002-06:00

We have more available for sale.

Magic 2011

Scars of Mirrodin

2010-10-04T10:09:00.001-06:00

Came in Friday! Selling VERY well. Great set. We have singles up for sale too!

www.dogstargames.com

Monday Morning!

2010-08-23T07:59:00.003-06:00

How are all my gamer friends today. We are selling the new Elspeth vs. Tezzerret duel deck, which comes September 3rd, I believe. We only got a small number allocated to us. It retails for $20.00 so I originally put it up for $15.00, to save some people some BUCKS! But I heard everyone else was selling it for way OVER $20.00, most of them up around $30.00. Well shoot! But I'm not going to do that. I did raise it to $20.00 which is retail. I guess that's fair. People have been buying 6 at a time, which seems ridiculous, but I guess it makes sense if it is a really limited item.

Here is the link to the item if you are interested: http://www.dogstargames.com/page/398589630

Meanwhile, I'm getting some presells for Scars of Mirrodin. I have the price at $80.00 a box to start with (this does not include shipping) but the price will rise on September 1st to $85.00 a box. That sounds reasonable, if you want to pay me early I'll give you $5.00 a box off. I don't make much money that way, but consider it a good thing to do for my loyal customers who buy set after set from me.

Thanks to everyone who orders from us. I know we aren't perfect. But we do work hard, and we work hard to do better. I hope you enjoy playing Magic (and other games) as much as we enjoy playing them too.

Okay, I should put the Scars of Mirrodin link up huh? http://www.dogstargames.com/page/413647688

There you go!

Island of Blood

2010-08-16T10:38:00.003-06:00

We have our advanced copy of Island of Blood which we are building and painting! We will keep you updated on it, but here are a few photos. If you want to preorder a copy of it, make sure to Email me at dogstargames@gmail.com. It retails for $99.00 and we presell it for $80.00 with FREE SHIPPING! You can't beat that DEAL!

Magic 2011

2010-07-15T14:10:00.001-06:00

Is here!!!!

A day early. It goes on sale tomorrow!!!!

We are excited!

Jason

Warhammer Fantasy Rulebook

2010-06-10T09:29:00.003-06:00

So guess what? My rep calls me yesterday and asks if I want a copy of the new Warhammer Rulebook! I said absolutely yes. It is in the mail, and I should get it Monday! We also will be running certain events at the store for the relaunch. I'm excited. I'm disappointed there are no models coming with this. The starter set should launch at the exact same date, and it doesn't make any damn sense that it doesn't, but what are you going to do? So when I get this I will let you know as I read through it and give you a review. We'll also start using the rules and start playing some serious Warhammer! Bretonians are getting ready to fight!

FORCES OF WARMACHINE: CRYX Book

2010-06-09T14:57:00.001-06:00

After some delays, it is finally here and it is beautiful!

We are shipping them out to those who preordered them and the store is filled with people snatching them up. I definitely am going to sell out of these today!

Battles of Napoleon

2010-06-08T09:44:00.002-06:00

Battles of Napoleon

This game was scheduled for May, but now we hear from Scott Clifton of Fantasy Flight Games, that it will be here end of June early July! Looks like a big game! I'm excited about it!

You can get it on our website here: Battles of Napoleon

Orc Boar Boyz

2010-05-28T12:03:00.004-06:00

Putting some Orc Boyz together last night. Got them spray painted black. I'll keep working on them and updating you.

Asteroyds and Nefertitit Expansion

2010-05-27T17:09:00.001-06:00

Two new games coming in June! Asteroyds and Nefertiti Expansion!

Thursday May 27th 2010 - Memorial Day

2010-05-27T16:40:00.002-06:00

This is Jason saying hello and wishing you all a good Memorial Day weekend! We'll be here of course, but I wanted to say hello since it's been a while. I'm behind on posting here and I will start keeping up a lot better! Thanks! Drop me a line and tell me how your gaming is going.

We did hear some news today. It sounds like the Forces of Warmachine Cryx book is finally coming out, June 9th!

http://cgi.ebay.com/FORCES-WARMACHINE-CRYX-Book-SOFTCOVER-/300413444295?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f20960c7#ht_3312wt_911

Death Company

2010-05-26T11:53:00.002-06:00

Here are my finished (mostly) Death Company:

Rise of Eldrazi Fat Packs

2010-04-28T11:39:00.002-06:00

While Boosters are in short supply across America... we here at Dogstar Games have a ton of Fat Packs left! We have sold more Fat Packs then ever before, and we still have a lot to sell. They are a great value, and we have them at a great price! Check them out!

RISE OF ELDRAZI FAT PACKS

http://dogstargames.com/product/WOCRiseFat

Sanguinary Guard

2010-04-28T11:16:00.002-06:00

Yep... they are finally coming in. We will get ours MONDAY, May 3rd! Everyone who ordered from us... come on in that day! If you are a mail order customer, we will ship yours that day.

THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE. We know you have heard of the erupting Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland, and it delayed our shipments. Luckily things are back on track now!

Thanks!

Warhammer Fantasy Game

2010-04-27T15:50:00.003-06:00

Games Workshop announced that this July heralds the coming of Warhammer, the newest version of the Game of Fantasy Battles.

The Warhammer world is a place riven by relentless warfare and the corrupting power of dark magic. It’s a place where vile creatures and titanic monsters roam the lands, where vast armies of evil warriors unleash slaughter upon their victims and only the unceasing valour of the forces of Order prevent the whole world slipping away into chaos and death.

Amidst this tapestry of conflict and carnage are races fair and foul, warriors chivalrous and brutal. These are the combatants who fight for dominance of the world. From the blasted north come warmongering tribes of Chaos Warriors, armour-clad barbarians who have thrown their lot in with the Dark Gods of Chaos. In the Badlands gather the greenskinned marauders known as the Orcs and Goblins, vicious, brutal creatures whose insatiable lust for war grows almost as quickly as their vast numbers. Beneath the cities of the civilised realms nestle the repulsive ratmen, subhuman creatures whose machinations spread disease and distrust – these are the Skaven and they wish only to destroy and dominate all others. Even the forests of the Old World are not safe, for the trees themselves are things of malign presence and the Beastmen dwell within, the children of Chaos – braying beasts who crave slaughter and the chance to enact their savagery on the civilised races.

The Warhammer world is a place where you must bury your dead deeply, for Necromancers and Vampires raise the legions of undeath in their war against the living. Far away in the south the legendary kings of a long-dead kingdom now awaken, leaving their vast tomb cities to wage war upon all under the sun, their skeletal legions a chilling parody of their once glittering majesty.

All these examples of horror are enough to cause weaker hearts to quail, but there are those who resist the darkness, kingdoms and realms that fight for survival. The Empire, greatest of all the nations of Men musters regiments of brave soldiers. Armed with faith in Sigmar, their warrior god, and with tempered steel and black powder weapons they defend their lands. South and east of the Empire lies Bretonnia, a land of chivalry and noble tradition. There, bold knights harken the call of their mighty king and ride out to crusade against the monsters of the Old World. Dwarfs, in their mountain strongholds, are as unyielding as the stone around them as they battle above and below the ground. Loyal allies, but terrible enemies, the Dwarfs are brave-hearted and steadfast as they protect their once-great realm.

In far-off lands the Elves fight out their bitter blood feud against one another – a mighty civilisation that spanned the continents but is now riven with strife and betrayal. Perhaps the greatest warriors in all the world, their numbers are now few and too many of those that remain are lost each day in the unending war between Ulthuan and Naggaroth.

This is a world where victory and death rest upon a knife-edge and the fate of the world, be it damnation or salvation, will soon be decided.

Warhammer, the Game of Fantasy Battles will be released in July. The preparation for this date has been a time of great excitement here in the Studio as we have lavished detail, care and attention onto the rulebook and the fantastic Citadel miniatures range that it accompanies.

Now is the time to gather your regiments, paint your armies and prepare for a battle like never before. If you have a Warhammer army, dust it off and finish up those last few models. If you’ve always been tempted to collect a force there really has never been a better time to start! Warhammer is coming and it’s going to be great.

More Rse of Eldrazi

2010-04-27T15:02:00.001-06:00

Got a few more Rise of Eldrazi boxes just put up!

Hive Guards

2010-04-26T15:01:00.002-06:00

New batch just came in. Everyone on back order for these is now being filled. We have a few extra if you need them! Let me know!

Horus Heresy

2010-04-26T14:59:00.001-06:00

Came in today. A little late, but FFG finally got it to us. We shipped it to all preorders today! I haven't played it yet so I don't know whether it's good or not, but it looks awesome!

Sunday

2010-04-25T12:53:00.002-06:00

Good Sunday Gamers! This weekend saw the release of Rise of the Eldrazi, and I would say initial reports are pretty solid! Sales have been really good, and we still have some boosters left of the first wave, so you can get them at a good price. I see other people are raising their price, so be aware of that. Though some are selling second wave a bit lower, so take advantage of that if you don't mind waiting a couple weeks or so.

We're busting open some packs to put singles up for sale. We've tried this before and it's a bit of a complicated mess. But we're working on it on the website, and I think we'll see something up soon enough.

Any thoughts on Eldrazi? Make sure to drop us a line at help@dogstargames.com, and we'll discuss it! Thanks again for all the loyalty out there. If there is ever anything else we can do, let us know. Also, just so you know, our phone lines have been jammed lately and while we've been answering as best we can, the easiest way to catch us lately is with email! :)

Rise of Eldrazi Arrives!

2010-04-22T12:43:00.000-06:00

Blood Angels

2010-04-05T15:28:00.008-06:00

Okay, so we are excited here at Dogstar Games for the new Blood Angels stuff. We've been working on the models for a couple weeks now using the preview copies they sent us, and we've also worked on some of the new models we just got Friday! Here is what we got right now!

This below is a single Death Company model this nearly complete. All I have to do now is add some rocks to the base and seal it with purity spray.

Here are the Sanguinary Guard with multiple layers of Shining Gold built up and a wash of black. This is obviously a work in progress.

Here is my Sanguinor, Exemplar of the Host. I followed the pattern as shown on page 74 of the new White Dwarf. Just got the body done so far.

Here is my entire Death Company, without the bases done!

Do you have any Blood Angels done? Email us at js@optimumdesigns.com and let's talk about them and see them!!!

Space Marine Venerable Dreadnought

2010-04-01T09:56:00.003-06:00

Space Marine Venerable Dreadnought

This is not completed yet, but we have photos showing our progress on this. Tell me what you think and if you want to buy it go to this link and contact us! This was assembled and painted by Caleb Clancy of Dogstar Games.

http://dogstargames.com/product/GAW48-32

Coming Next - Death Company!

Phyrexia Vs. the Coalition

2010-03-18T14:15:00.003-06:00

Our order came in today!

Blood Angels

2010-03-17T17:54:00.007-06:00

Today we got our advanced copy of the Blood Angels Codex and the Blood Angels Death Company, and the Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard for the Warhammer 40k game! I love getting advanced stuff and it's just fun to share it all with you. We are immediately building a Death Company and pictures are included below of the progress we are making:

Here is the Blood Angels Death Company Box (Sorry, the picture isn't the best):

Here is the Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard box:

And here is a picture of them being assembled:

And here is the Blood Angels Codex:

Rise of Eldrazi

2010-03-16T09:27:00.003-06:00

We have finally gotten our Rise of Eldrazi numbers, and though we have presold a whole bunch at very low prices, we do have more to sell, though the price will have to go up. Our distributors have raised their prices (some more than others) and so we have to deal with the price increases. Rise will be allocated shorter than Worldwake at first, so that is why people are jacking the price up. Besides, it will be a bigger set.

Post Worldwake

2010-02-08T19:44:00.001-07:00

Worldwake is out, and now we are focusing on second wave. We are also preselling Eldrazi, so that is interesting. Eldrazi doesn't come out till April, but we have some great deals on pricing right now till the end of February, so it's pretty cool.

Also adding TONS of Privateer Press stuff, and promoting it through our store and everywhere we can. It's pretty cool stuff, I have to agree. I wish I had more time to play and enjoy it.

WORLDWAKE IS HERE!!!

2010-02-04T13:45:00.003-07:00

We got our Worldwake order! Excited? So am I! We will start selling this tomorrow!! That's awesome! Here is a picture of them in our back room!

The funny thing about this is that those will all be GONE by the weekend. GONE GONE GONE! :)

Note to all who are ordering from us, there is a deal on Rise of the Eldrazi that will go on till the end of February! $74.99 a box till then! Then back up to $79.99.

Ironclad Warjack

2010-01-28T14:24:00.003-07:00

Jason is painting a Cygnar Ironclad Warjack. Here is the first initial picture. It's been undercoated black, then based in blue (Space Marines Blue, if you are wondering!).

Privateer Press

2010-01-27T18:03:00.002-07:00

There is a story about how years ago, Bill Gates was sitting in his office, and the internet had just really started, and Netscape was doing well, and he had an epiphany. The future WAS the internet. I had a much smaller epiphany the other day. It was that I needed to seriously sell Privateer Press's Warmachine game. I have little bits of it here and there, but the last two days I've gone all out working on the website, ebay, and Amazon on this stuff. So I'm excited about it. I even opened one of the Battle Boxes (Cygnar) and started painting the minis inside. I actually had time to do that today as I got to the office very early, like before 7:00.

So expect some big things from this cool game.

Meanwhile, Worldwake is coming February 5th, and we did indeed sell out of our first run, and we're still wondering when we are going to get second wave product and how much. I wish I knew so I could start preselling. Hopefully I'll know soon. Working on getting more of first run if I can. I'm disappointed in Alliance Distributors for not putting me down for some when I talked to my rep there. Anyway, still selling Tyranids well, and game night happened again and now Asher is behind on TWO reports.

Okay, enough for tonight, Wednesday! Hope you have some good gaming going on!

Jason

Worldwake Sold Out

2010-01-24T18:17:00.003-07:00

My first wave of Worldwake is sold out. Kind of cool, but kind of sad. I will be getting some second wave boxes as well, but I'm just not sure on the number or WHEN, which means I can't presell them to all you who missed out. We'll get you some as soon as we can!

So it's about 2 weeks till release date! February 5th! Exciting.

Until then we'll have to take some time to get some other things built up on the website (it's something we are ALWAYS doing) and take some time to relax and have some fun as well as work hard.

Good Morning - Thursday

2010-01-21T09:47:00.001-07:00

So today is another day in the greatest store in the world in the greatest Job me and my employees can ever have. I believe, I have sold out of WORLDWAKE. Can you believe that? But I have. All my allocation is gone unless I can find more. I'm keeping my eyes open. I even had to raise my price at the end. I'll have to go look, but there might be a couple left, I'm not sure!

Tyranids

2010-01-20T06:32:00.002-07:00

Friday I told you the new Tyranids came out for the Warhammer 40k game. If you aren't familiar with the game, think Aliens, from the movie. That's the Tyranids. So a host of new plastic models came out, that you can glue together then paint then use in the game. This weekend I built a Tyrgon, and then I built a Mawloc. This new set is one of the flat out coolest I've ever seen in the game. Period. It stands very tall, and is just freaking AWESOME. I then built a set of Gargoyles. The new set are plastic. Again, if you aren't familiar with Warhammer, the older models/miniatures were metal and had to be glued together with superglue and they never really stuck together. In fact, I HATE metal models, as they are so hard to glue together. So my metal set of Gargoyles was so hard to put together. Gargoyles have these wings, and it just sucked keeping them on. I still have them, though Caleb had to help me, and base coated them white and then washed them red, but never went beyond that point. So the new set is plastic and let me tell you a few things about it that are just cool. One, they are easy to build. Plastic is just awesome. Two, the models look just AWESOME. I can't say enough about them. Why use anything except for Gargoyles? I am going to build 100 of them. I think they are that cool. But I started with 10. Finally, the value is just awesome. 10 cool gargoyles for $29.00. It's just a steal of a deal.

Contrast that to the Ravener set.... The Raveners are $44.50. You get three models. They are cool models, no doubt... but $44.50? The Trygon which is this monstrosity of a figure, is $49.50. Why are the Ravener Broods so over priced? Ridiculously over priced. I have built three of them, and I'm going to end up building 9 total for my army, but... whew... they are way over priced.

So... you are asking yourself... where are the pictures of these models? Yes... I have taken the pictures... I just haven't uploaded them yet. That will hopefully happen today. Good gaming my friends!

Jason

Tuesday Night Warhammer Report

2010-01-19T22:14:00.001-07:00

I promised you Asher's report last week, and here it finally is! Note that they played again tonight, so... there is probably going to be another report soon! We'll try and keep you updated on these things better! Good Gaming!

Warhammer 40K battle report for 1/12/10

In Last nights game there was three 750 point armies pitted against each, the Imperial Guard owned/played by myself Asher, the Tau Empire Owned/played by Riley, and the Mighty Space Marines being played by Jimmy. In the Campaign that Jimmy’s dad James has thought up each army started with no upgrades at all. According to however many kills and combats a chosen commander from each army got, points for upgrades were awarded.

So basically each army gets stronger every week.

The Imperial Guard had first turn followed by Space Marines then Tau. For first turn the Imperial Guard sent a Huge Conscript Squad towards the Tau, Eliminating a whole fire warrior squad, and then followed shock troops and Thirteen mortar barrages upon Riley’s crisis battle suit teams. Though the Imperial Guard fought hard this first turn, in the end the overall casualties were few for the Tau.

Next came space marines, a 10 man squad of terminators teleported up the battlefield to the sniper scouts with the teleport beacon. Followed by the remaining space marines slowly trudging across the battlefield, sadly never to actually see combat. Next the tau moved there battle suits up to deliver a deadly blow to some of the Imperial Guard’s Shock Troops, and the Commander and his squad, making his squad turn to run, and slaughtering the other squad completely. In this campaign if your army’s commander dies you automatically loose, so if my commander had run off the board I would have lost. Thankfully at the beginning of my turn I rallied him and he was able to stay and direct another barrage of mortars towards the Tau commander, unlucky for my Guard, the Tau had 2+ armour saves and saved every time. After that my shock troops tried to take out the commander and once again the 2+ Armour save deflected all my shots. Next the SM Terminators moved in closer to the Tau to try for an assault but were too far away. On the Tau turn Riley redirected his battle suits towards the terminators and was able to kill two of the powerful enemies. The start of Turn 3 welcomed Yet another barrage of Mortars on the battle suits and this time actually inflicted two wounds upon the deadly Tau. Because Shock Troops and Conscripts were out of range they remained, for the most part, useless. Next the Space Marines, in fear of the Tau, attempted to teleport away but it wasn’t far enough for the Tau. On Riley’s turn his battle suits successfully took out another 2 Terminators. By that time it was past our time limit and we wrapped up the game. It was determined that Riley and his Fearless Tau had done the most damage points wise and was crowned the champion of this Battle. Though the numerous Imperial Guard were unsuccessful this time, Next time They will summon even more hordes of heavy weapon teams and hey, maybe even a tank or two…Till Next time folks!!!

Dominion: Intrigue

2010-01-14T13:17:00.002-07:00

Matt Drake's new review for Dominion: Intrigue is up and funny as hell!

http://drakesflames.blogspot.com/2010/01/card-game-review-dominion-intrigue.html

Oh... and sell it too! http://dogstargames.com/product/RIO390

Good Gaming

2010-01-12T21:24:00.002-07:00

Today did a lot of Worldwake orders. The new set coming from Wizards of the Coast February 5th. I have a limited number allocated to me, and I'm beginning to think it's going to run out in the next week. Which kind of sucks, because we usually get the MAJORITY of our orders in the two weeks before the release, and we aren't even 3 weeks away. So that tells you there will be a lot of people wanting it who won't get it on the first run. Luckily, we should get more after that very soon! And I've heard from a lot of people are price is really good, though there are always people out there trying to get an even better deal. They get mad when I say the product is allocated and there is nothing I can do.

Another big seller? Tyranids. The new set of plastic models for the Tyranid Armies of Warhammer 40k. I personally have a Tyranid army and I can't wait for these new pieces. I'm excited.

What else happened at Dogstar Games today? Tonight was Warhammer 40k night at the store, but I came home and Asher and James ran the game. I'll have to see what happened and report it all to you tomorrow.

Yes... I'll be reporting on events a lot more. Hopefully I'll even entertain you a little!

Gaming This Weekend

2010-01-11T13:24:00.013-07:00

So I held my annual Game Day at my house. Yes you would think owning a game store I would have more than one game day a year, and usually we do, but we do this one every year as kind of a tradition. So I'll run down the gaming for you and let you know how it all worked out.

We opened with Dominion. If you haven't played Dominion yet, go to this link, buy the game, and play it. Seriously. Don't hesitate. If you were in the retail store, I would give you a copy, and tell you to go play it, and if you like it, come back and pay me. If you don't like it, bring it back. Everyone I do this with comes back and pays for it. Not one person has brought it back and said they didn't like it. Period. So go get it. Now. Matt Drake even wrote a wonderful review about it, HERE. We played it, and the Seaside Expansion for it, for hours. Awesome fun with friends. Good game.

Then... we moved to Roborally, which was just rereleased over Christmas, and wow, it's just a fun game. Never played it before, so it was new. But it was easy to pick up, and it was fun. Here is the thing with Roborally. Things are going to go wrong, and because of that, you can't plan out a perfect strategy, which can really bother the hell out of you. BUT... if you take it as a FUN game and enjoy all the crazy things that occur because you can't plan for everything, then it turns out quite fun. Parker got turned around once and screwed up his move so badly once that I almost fell on the floor laughing as he kept screwing up. It's a fun game, and can accomodated many players and was good for some great laughs.

Then we played Small World. I've played this three times before, and it DOES keep getting better. The first time I was unimpressed, but by this fourth time, I have to say I liked it a lot better. We'll see if it keeps growing on me. I won, so that makes a difference. It's the BIG game this year, and Matt Drake again reviewed it and loved it. I was lukewarm at first, but it IS getting better.

Finally we played Pictionary, and damn that was FUN. What a fun game for couples and teams and just a lot of laughs. I don't even sell Pictionary . I should fix that. It's such a great game I can recommend it to everyone. We play on this HUGE white board I have and it's fun see it show up on the big board. We are SERIOUS as pictionary in my family! :) Ben and B'andra managed to include a certain piece of the male anatomy in EVERY SINGLE PICTURE they drew. It almost put me on the ground.

Okay, the next day, having played so many games I wasn't even CLOSE to burning out, so I pulled out Tales of the Arabian Nights, a game Matt Drake reviewed and recommended and I've wanted to play for a while now. Me and my daughter got it set up and then discovered the Quest Cards were missing. So that was a BUMMER. Can't really review that. Hopefuly Z-Man Games will fix that. We also opened the new Axis & Allies Pacific, but found that one of the treys of chits was missing. I think the Japanese were missing, or doubled, and no Chinese. So that game was unplayable. Let's hope Wizards of the Coast fixes THAT! Then we opened Ghost Stories, ANOTHER game that Matt reviewed and liked, and was recommended to us by Sheridan as well, but by that time the Arizona Packers game was on so we never got to play it.

Did anyone see that game? Packers had an AMAZING comeback. AMAZING. But they just couldn't pull it off. They need a better Defense. :)

Anyway, that was the gaming weekend. This week instead of game night we are going rock climbing, I believe. I'll let you know how that turns out! :)

Tyranid Codex

2010-01-11T13:21:00.002-07:00

I just got my advanced copy of the Tyranid Codex! It is just awesome! 96 pages of goodness. For those of you who don't play Warhammer 40k, I think you are smart. It's a fun addictive game that soaks up all my money. But I love it. Of course I love Magic the Gathering, and all sorts of board games! Anyway, Tyranids coming in this Friday! VERY exciting! The new codex is cool!

Trading Card Games / Living Card Games

2010-01-08T12:59:00.003-07:00

Recently Fantasy Flight Games announced they were abandoning the Collectible Card Games, Trading Card Platform. Basically, the said Magic the Gathering rules it, and it's just impossible to break in, except for a few small kid anime card games (like Yu-Gi-0h). In it's place, they have created a new 'type' of game called a Living Card Game. Basically it's like a traditional trading card game, except that you buy a boxed set that has all the cards in it that you need, and you buy supplemental packs of 40 cards that are all the same. No rares. No random booster packs.

So far the experiment has been a success. No... not like Magic the Gathering sized success, but sizable so that they keep putting out card packs.

The first two games they released were Call of Cthulhu and A Game of Thrones. These were based on their previous Collectible Card Games of the same names. But this fall the put out Warhammer Invasion, the Living Card Game, and it has been quite a success. We have sold it very well.

Dogstar Games is no committed to supporting Fantasy Flight Games in this endeavor. Enough people like them that we are going to stock the games and the packs that back them up. We started today by putting up all the Call of Cthulhu stuff. We have the base game, and we have many of the card packs that go with it. The base game is deeply discounted, and the card packs all have free shipping.

When you think about getting into another card game, after being involved in Magic, it's always kind of rough because you have to put so much money into it! Well... not so with the Fantasy Flight Games Living Card Games. It's much cheaper. And... the games are really good! Warhammer has sold really well, and Call of Cthulhu is just awesome in it's creepiness (I'm a big H.P. Lovecraft Cthulhu fan!).

You might not be interested in this stuff, but I thought I would let you know about it in case you were looking at 'expanding' past your Magic the Gathering horizons! :)

Getting Back!

2010-01-06T15:12:00.002-07:00

This week I've been sick (cold), my son had an emergency Root Canal, and I have a bad battery which trapped me at home with a truck that would not run. Plus there have been a lot of orders (good news, THANKS!) and so it's been a while getting caught up. Am I caught up today? Nope. But I'm getting there. UPS didn't come today, because the new driver is a doofus, but it should be here tomorrow! Anyway, hello to everyone, I will get back up to date soon, and this blog will show all the new cool stuff coming! THANKS FOR A GREAT HOLIDAY. Great gaming to everyone!

Jason

Worldwake!!!

2009-12-28T13:31:00.002-07:00

YES!!!!!! We are starting to presell Worldwake!!! There IS a limited number we are getting allocated, so buy them early for the February 5th 2010 release! Once I run out of the initial wave I will be OUT, and you will have to wait a few weeks to a month to get some!

Tyranids

2009-12-28T13:26:00.002-07:00

As many of you know, I collect and paint and build Tyranids for the 40k Warhammer game. I have done a lot of work... and finally put my army together for a photo. Still working on pieces that are unfinished, and I have a lot of new ones that are almost complete. As you may know, new ones are coming January 16th, and I'll talk more about those soon! But right now I thought I would let you see my army! As always, tell me what you think, and feel free to share photos of your own models with me!

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-25T19:13:00.003-07:00

Love you all! THANKS for helping us do so well lately. We really appreciate everything you do. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! THANKS AGAIN!!! We'll stay in touch more this next year! And feel free to comment any time you want! We LISTEN!

Jason

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-21T16:24:00.002-07:00

Yes... it's been a while since I posted, because we have been so busy. There is lots to tell you but I'm not going to do that right now. Instead I'm going to tell you that I have Space Hulk back in stock for a limited time!!! Here it is:

http://dogstargames.com/product/GAW60010699001

It's a GREAT game, and sold out so quickly last time I could barely blink. Well it's back, but only for an even more limited time.

Good Morning!

2009-11-30T10:31:00.002-07:00

Monday Morning! CYBER Monday! Not that I know any difference. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend, and have gotten a jump on your Christmas shopping and are going to be calm, and not stressed this Christmas.

Spent the weekend looking at my Tyranid Army. Used a program called The Army Builder and THAT is a great tool. A must for building armies fast . I have over 1000 points, and that kind of disapointed me. I've been building and painting my Tyranids for what, about 6 months, and all I have are 1000 points? I will have a bit more once I add some of the figures, and the new Tyranids come out in January, so I'm sure I'll add some more. I hope to one day get to 4,000. I'll stop at 4,000! :)

Also painted my daughter's Dark Angels, which she of course wanted pink instead of Green, but that's fine. Did some experimenting with them and had a lot of fun coming up with color schemes that worked. I have a thought of writing an essay about that I might include soon.

That was it for gaming. I had hoped to do more gaming than that, but that's all that happened.

Anyway, drop me a line and let me know how you are doing!

Jason

Thanksgiving Weekend

2009-11-23T12:57:00.003-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, coming up this Weekend. Today is Monday, and we are busy doing some mail orders from over the weekend. We'll keep you up to date! THANKS!

Essen Hit from Rio Grande Games

2009-11-18T12:04:00.003-07:00

One of the Top 10 games at Essen, this is scheduled to arrive for the holidays!

Vasco da Gama

$59.95 SRP

2-4 Players
Ages 12+
90 Minutes

Recruit workers, buy projects, build ships. And use this ships to open new commercial routes to eastern Africa and India, to earn money and glory.

This is a resource management game, with an element of risk management, that works like this:
Beginning with the start player, each player takes one numbered disc and places it on top of his own colored disc in one of the four action areas of the board. A Vasco da Gama tile states a number; everything above this number is free of charge, anything below will have to be paid for, so players will take this into account when taking numbered discs. When all players have placed four discs, a modifier to this 'activation number' is shown, and discs are worked by number. In the crew area players may hire crew and a captain, but this costs money. Each round there is a window of ships. The number on the left is the navigation strength, the number on the right is the required amount of different crew. Players choose a ship, pay for the crew and turn the tile to its other side - with a captain on top. In the navigation area, a player takes his ship and places it in a row of his choice, but he has to take care not to exceed the navigation strength of the ship.
The game lasts five rounds, after which the player with the most points has won.

Through the Ages

2009-11-17T10:22:00.004-07:00

Vlaada Chvatil's Through the Ages - A Story of Civilization.

Well good Tuesday morning gaming fans. How are you doing? I've heard a lot about Through the Ages for awhile but had a hard time obtaining it due to out of stock problems and distribution crap. Anyway, I finally got it today (minor miracle). Guess what it rates on Boardgamegeek? 8.10. That's a damn good rating! DAMN GOOD. In fact... It is ranked 5th in the overall Board Game Ranking! (Agricola has been #1 for months). But there are thousands of games, so a #5 rank is ridiculous!

Some thoughts about the game? It's expensive! Seriously! Retails for $69.99! We have it for $47.95. And the box is pretty small (but hefty) for such a high price. You will open your Priority Mail (2-3 days) from Dogstar Games and go... that's small... But... it's an AWESOME game. We're working on getting a Matt Drake (always entertaining) review but there are hundreds of other reviews and the game is a bonafide HIT.

Hive Tyrant

2009-11-16T12:01:00.003-07:00

One of the challenges of painting miniatures is getting a good photo of them. It's something I'm working on, so we can show them off for you. Here is a picture I took outside, trying to get some better lighting with the sunlight instead of inside light. This is my Hive Tyrant. Tell me what you think. If you have any thoughts and ideas on better photos... let me know. And as always you are free to send in photos of models you have painted and we'll post them on the website!

Jason

Planechase

2009-11-11T14:23:00.000-07:00

We got a load of Planechase in today! We'll put it up for sale as soon as possible!

Jason

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

2009-11-10T08:29:00.005-07:00

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Core Set

Good morning friends! When I first got into gaming it was with D&D. And one of the best parts was the World of Greyhawk. It was this big huge sprawling world of kingdoms that was just so cool. Eventually is inspired me to create my own world, The World of Crom! I have written novels based in that world.

Anyway, when I finally got into Warhammer this year, and Warhammer 40k, one of the things that drew me in was the massive and detailed worlds and atmosphere they have created as background for these worlds. It's just amazing to be honest. So much depth and story and history. It's just awesome!

So it seems to me to be a very natural idea to make those worlds into Role Playing Worlds. And that HAS been done. The Dark Heresy game is just so darn cool, and is set in the universe of Warhammer 40,000. And now comes Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, which is set in the equally rich and deep Warhammer Fantasy world.

Fantasy Flight Games, who is producing the newest version, has created a cool promotion. The promotion sent us a demo copy of the new game and has us setting up a game day. The demo came yesterday and everyone crowded around the box and was just thrilled about it. The first impression you get is this: It is BIG. I mean it comes in a BIG BOX. It's not like most RPGs, in that they start with a Core Rulebook. But it's a BIG BOX. Not like the old blue and red D&D boxes, small and flat, this is BIG AND THICK.

At this point you are saying, Jason, why the hell don't you just show me a picture? OKAY!

Those are pretty big, aren't they?

The production values on the game are great! But... how is the game, and is selling it in a big box really the way to go? Well... we will see, won't we? I'll be reading the game and the module, and we'll be conducting game day here and I'll keep you informed. It sure LOOKS good, though I'm still worried about that BIG BOX! :)

BTW, put Alara Reborn, Conflux, and Shards back up for sale on the website. Also lowered Magic 2010 and Zendikar prices. We don't have much, but what we do have we can sell for a bit better price as a way of saying thank you to all of you!

Sunday at Dogstar

2009-11-08T10:25:00.002-07:00

Greetings my friends on a beautiful Sunday in Heber City Utah. Of course the store is closed on Sunday, but I wanted to say hello and thank you to everyone and hope things are going your way in this very tough economic time worldwide. I know a lot of us out here are suffering in many ways, I send out my best wishes that your suffering is soon alleviated and good times are coming. Take a moment and play an old favorite game this Sunday, and take a breath. Tomorrow is Monday, and we'll go back to the grind! But for today, rest! Love you all!

Jason

Zendikar Draft

2009-11-06T22:23:00.002-07:00

Due to the evil nature of some people at Wizards of the Coast, my customers here in Heber have been neglected. Luckily, we are selling Zendikar again and wonder of wonders, this was our first night to Draft! Turnout was heavy, and the game is going well. I have finally left it in the capable hands of my assitants, (ahem) and gone home. But I hear that a young man named Jordan looks like he will be the winner!

Anyway, it is fun to have the store filled with customers again on draft night. I should give you more details, in case you were interested. But right now I'll take a break and say good night to you all!

Test

2009-11-05T15:23:00.001-07:00

This should be a posting. Just testing to see if it works form my email system!

Respectfully,

Jason F. Smith

Customer Service

Dogstar Industries, Inc.

Safety - Service - Selection - Speed - Value

www.disasternecessities.com

www.dogstargames.com

435-602-6853

Zendikar is Here

2009-11-04T12:20:00.002-07:00

About a month late.. thanks to the Machinations of Steve Re of Wizards of the Coast, but it is here. Unfortunately, in very limited numbers. Can you believe this? Can you believe they actually shut us down and blasted all of you guys? You should all take it seriously that Wizards of the Coast would do such a thing. Anyway... It is best to leave that behind us. What they did was wrong. But there is nothing we can do about it, except move on, and here is Zendikar, delivered from ACD via UPS. We have 30 boxes. (Small cry from the 100 - 200 boxes we used to get at a time!). Anyway, let's move on. I haven't even seen a Zendikar card, but it's here and we will be opened the packs to drafts tonight and this Friday. (Or any other time 8 of you want to stop by the store!). Anyway, I'm going to sneak open a pack, and tell you what I get. Here it is. Drumroll please. First Zendikar Pack!

I got Sea Gate Loremaster. A blue card that lets you tap and draw a card for each ally you control. Interesting. Could be fun!

Okay, one pack just isn't enough. One more and then back to work! Customers are lining up outside. They want some Zendikar for themselves! Okay second pack... Sadistic Sacrament. Oh... that's a bad card. BAD as in nasty. Whew. for 3 mana look through target player's library and exile three cards. Wow.

Okay, back to work!

Ghost Stories Expansion

2009-11-04T11:03:00.004-07:00

Matt Drake gives a great review of the game Ghost Stories: Read it Here:

http://drakesflames.blogspot.com/2008/12/board-game-review-ghost-stories.html

Why am I telling you this? Because this November, in the next week or two we will get into our warehouses the new Ghost Stories Expansion White Moon, which is getting great reviews on Board Game Geek (over 8 stars so far).

Anyway, we are now preselling it on the website! So check it out:

http://dogstargames.com/product/ASMGHOWM01

White Moon is an extension of the cooperative game Ghost Stories. The players represent Taoist priest who fight the Lords of the Nine Hells and his acolytes back to where they should have never left. Fight against the force of Evil and win together or fail together.

In White Moon, the players will have to protect and save the villagers. Their appearance in the game has new conditions of defeat: if twelve villagers are killed, the players lose the game. The villagers can be killed in different ways (killed by a ghost, Devourers, etc...)

Discover also new ghosts and incarnations of Wu-Feng. To face all these terrible new enemies, a new ally will come and help: Su-Ling. Each time a villager is killed, a malediction dice is rolled or a village tile is haunted, the players can activate Su-Ling. She will neutralize the bad effects. Rediscover Ghost Stories with White Moon.

• New game options that revolutionize the game
• New powerful artifacts
• More of the great cooperative excitement

• 24 villagers tiles
• 1 refugee board
• 1 burial place board
• 8 artifacts
• 10 ghost cards
• 6 Wu-Feng incarnation cards
• 4 moon crystals,
• 1 Kung-Fu school tile
• 4 figurine receptacles
• 4 corner tiles
• 1 portal figurine
• 1 Su-Ling figurine
• 1 Su-Ling help card

Rogue Trader Game Master's Kit

2009-11-04T09:49:00.003-07:00

Hello folks! Good Wednesday Morning! Today we SHOULD get Zendikar and Magic 2010 back in stock. That is kind of exciting? I'll post again if that happens. But right now I'm putting up Fantasy Flight Games next new release for Rogue Trader. Rogue Trader is a RPG based on the Dark Heresy Warhammer 40k world. The Dark Heresy game has many close elements to D&D 3.5 edition. Not the same, but it has familiar concepts. Here is the description:

A Game Master's screen for the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Rogue Trader RPG, featuring useful charts and tables. Also features a sourcebook including a starship construction guide, NPC starship vessel generator, and Starship Combat summary sheet, and the adventure "Whispers on the Storm". Takes your Explorers deep into the Koronus Expanse where fortune and peril await.

Here is the link: http://dogstargames.com/product/FFGRT02

Carcassonne Wheel of Fortune

2009-10-22T09:40:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite board games is Carcassonne. It's so simple to pick up (I play it with my kids all the time) and yet so deep and strategic. I really enjoy it. Anyway, it's been around for a long time, and and a new version came out today. It's called Carcassonne Wheel of Fortune. It's a stand alone game, but it actually includes the full base game (for the same price actually). So it's the base game... with an added Wheel of Fortune portion that basically brings some random crap to the game.

Anyway, it's up for sale now, and I highly recommend it, as I have for years enjoyed Carcassonne.

Magic the Gathering

2009-10-22T09:12:00.002-06:00

Wizards of the Coast as accepted us to sell Magic the Gathering again! We will start again November 2nd, about 2 weeks from now. I'll get some M2010, Zendikar, Shards, Conflux, and Reborn at that time. Do I know my numbers yet? No. I think I'll get as much Shards, Conflux and Reborn as I want, and I have heard that M2010 and Zendikar will be allocated. This brings up a delicate point. In the past Magic has always been abundantly available, and so I could sell extra online. But now with this allocated, I might have to keep all the allocation to my local Heber Valley customers, of whom there are many very much wanting Zendikar AND 2010. I don't know my numbers yet, but I MIGHT be faced with the possibility of only selling in the store for a while. I know there are a lot of you out there who used to buy regularly from me online, and will be expecting some. At this point, until I get my numbers, I won't be able to tell you.

Another problem is that I don't know how many customers I have LOST during this time. Feelings have run VERY NEGATIVE toward Wizards of the Coast during this time because they unjustly shut us down. We have instore attempted with all the zeal we could muster to introduce customers to new games, and in fact, succeeding in starting quite a large Games Workshop Warhammer group here in the store.

Anyway, I will keep you informed, and if you have any questions, let me know! :)

Wizards of the Coast

2009-10-20T19:25:00.001-06:00

Wizards of the Coast asked if I wanted to sell Magic the Gathering again. I'm thinking about it.

Good Morning!

2009-10-12T07:30:00.002-06:00

Good Morning Gamers! This week we'll be gearing up more Halloween themed games, and doing some Amazon orders. Still no word what so ever from Wizards of the Coast, who seem blindly determined to hurt themselves and their game by not even communicating. It's a sickness in their culture, that they see game stores as the enemy. The Marketplace always works to the advantage of the buyer when free market principles are employed. When Wizards meddles with free market principles, and begins trying to control things, it will NEVER WORK. It simply doesn't. Yes, they have a monopoly on Magic the Gathering, but they don't have a monopoly on GAMES. And that is where they are going to hurt themselves. The more they try to control things... the more star systems will slip through their fingers.

And as they start to lose things, instead of letting go they are going to grab on even tighter and spiral out of control.

Witness how large they grew when they put out 3.0 D&D in an OPEN environment letting everyone hop on board and letting competition reign! Now witness how their 'control' has hurt them. It's simply short sighted. And in a recession as their bottom line is smaller and smaller, they probably are AFRAID. And instead of being bold and fearless, they are terrified and terrorizing those people, like you and me, who have the most to offer to new Magic Players and the Community.

I'm the LAST person you want to stop selling Magic, and that's exactly who they just shut down. It makes absolutely no sense. The arrogance, the pride, that leads to such a decision is incredible to fathom. And in a gaming universe, where we are all suppose to be on the same side. Ego run crazy. It will all crash on them, and that's a BAD and SAD thing. Wizards of the Coast has long been an icon and a beacon to gamers.

Witness again how open things are at Magic the Gathering.com with Mark Rosewater talking so openly about design. And then you have Steve and his folk over on the Internet side close things up, not talking, not answering emails. It's NUTS.

Well, there ARE other games! We'll keep in touch this week! Write if you have any thoughts!

Jason

Good October Gamers

2009-10-05T07:16:00.002-06:00

How are you all doing out there? Getting ready for Halloween? Yes... I have my costume already, and yes... I'll give you a picture, but only after Halloween. The costume is still a surprise! :) Know any good games for Halloween? Zombie like games?

Right now we did NOT sell Zendikar. The new Wizards of the Coast Magic the Gathering product. Steve at Wizards not only wouldn't sell it to us, but he doesn't even have the courtesy of responding to emails. It's weird. I've never seen anything like it. He treats some of his biggest customers like criminals, without presenting any true evidence of wrongdoing.

But what are you going to do? Have a good attitude is the only thing you can do. Tell customer after customer who came through our doors Friday and Saturday... sorry... Wizards won't sell to us. You figure there has to be kharma in the world. What comes around goes around, and that really DOES work. So I'm not really too worried. Wizards of the Coast is causing themselves a lot of problems by hurting small stores that bust there butts to promote and sell their games on a ground level.

Did you know I just asked him if we could get a FEW boxes, just a couple, so I could at least run a few drafts? That's how much he thinks of YOU GUYS. He didn't even respond. Nothing. Just... nothing. He doesn't care that customers here in Heber can't even run a draft.

That will come around to him. Personally. He's building himself a lot of negative kharma.

Anyway, we played Warhammer all weekend instead. And most of my customers, amazingly enough, a spending money on Warhammer instead of Magic. It's kind of similar, a game you put a lot of effort and love into, collect, build, and then play. And an army full of well painted minis is way cooler than a stack of cards.

:)

Well, good luck to you all finding Zendikar, or if you are tired of Wizard's treatment of us and other small companies, then find a new game. Warhammer is just one of them. But until Wizards of the Coast feels the pinch, and people like Steve learn that hurting the people who are the foundation of your job and company is a bad thing, they will just keep doing what they are doing.

It makes me sad. My kids and I play Magic together. It's a family game. A family company. And this guy Steve has put us out. It's weird. I don't get it.

Ogre Kingdoms

2009-09-27T09:12:00.003-06:00

So I been working on the stores Warhammer 40,000 army, the Tyranids for a while. I also have a Fantasy Army in building, the Bretonians. But last night after the Ardboyz tournament, we decided to start another army. We choose Ogre Kingdoms, and me and my daughter bought a Ogre Kingdoms Battallion and opened it up and began building pieces out of it!

I was expecting the ogres to be bigger for some reason, but they are bigger than some minis. Here is one of the ogres we glued together last night. We will do some painting today!

Ardboyz Tournament

2009-09-27T09:10:00.002-06:00

To help fill the gap from losing Magic the Gathering, we have been actively building up our Games Workshop brand and it's been working. Magic players are switching over to Warhammer in great numbers. For this we are grateful, and this weekend we started our first Ardboyz tournament, a 3,000 point Fantasy Tournament! It was our first one, and it was a bit messy, but it ended up working just fine and we're happy with the results. The next one is in February for War of the Ring, and I hope we can host that one as well, and we will be much better prepared by that time!!

Caleb of the Wood Elves ended up winning out tournament!

Jason

Zendikar

2009-09-27T09:02:00.002-06:00

So you are probably all wondering what is going to happen with Zendika. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we will be able to sell Magic to you guys. Both locally and over the internet, Wizards of the Coast has shut all of you down from getting your Magic from me. There isn't much we can do about it. We have appealed to them to give us Magic so our customers can have it, but they have simply refused to answer. Not sure what is going on over there.

So what are we going to do? Try OTHER games and build up a following doing other things. We've spent the better part of the my gaming career building up the Magic brand, all the way back to Antiquities, in one form or another, and it just doens't make sense to keep putting my love and sweat into a game that is run by a company that would do this to it's customers.

Remember one thing though, the GAME is still cool. Just not the company! Wherever that leaves you, I don't know. But if things ever change, we'll let you all know here first!

-Jason

Wizards of the Coast

2009-08-12T19:13:00.003-06:00

So what is going on with Wizards of the Coast? Well, the short story is this: End of July they told us we couldn't sell Magic the Gathering anymore. Why? Because we failed to register our name with them. What is our name? You are reading this blog, so you know the name. Dogstargames. Right? Half Right. On Ebay, even though we call ourselves Dogstar Games... we are in fact Saladin4. Why? Well... the truth is that we started the Ebay account way before we even considered Dogstargames. So... when we started selling on Ebay, we just used my old account.

What does this matter you ask? Excactly the right question. They shut us down for it because they said it was an attempt to circumvent their rules, which are namely to not sell to anyone you shouldn't sell to, mostly to other stores.

Well, this is what happened. Magic 2010 came out, and unfortunately, it was very short compared to what was needed. As a result, stores across America are caught short. So, two stores in particular, tried to buy from me. One bought 12 cases, the other 20. Now, these were on Ebay, and when you do that, others can see these purchases.

Wizards of the Coast, under the direct of head internet cop, STEVE, saw this and decided that A) I was hiding Dogstar Games because in reality I was called Saladin4, in order to B) break their rules and sell to stores. His proof was that on Ebay you could see that a store bought 12 cases and another store bought 20 cases.

Well... here is the problem. ANYONE can ORDER from me on Ebay. Nothing I can do to stop that. If you are a store, or out of the country (another no no for Wizards of the Coast) you can still order. Now... does that mean I fill the order? Nope. That doesn't. And in fact, I cancelled both the 12 case order and the 20 case order BEFORE 'Steve' even 'cut us off.'.

So what happened? Well I called Steve 5 times to talk, he didn't answer, and even had a secretary (a nice lady named Pat) lie to me and tell me he wasn't there. Then he sent me a letter saying that I had broken their rules because I mistakenly forgot to mention Saladin4, with the intent to sell to other stores and out of the country. He pointed out as proof the 12 case order and the 20 case order. Then as further proof, he pointed out that we sell on Amazon as well, and Amazon sells internationally.

Now... my reaction was to call and write to him extensively. Further, I emailed my entire mailing list and told my customers exactly what he was doing. Shutting down their favorite store. I'll tell you something nice. I got 500 emails from customers telling me how GRATEFUL they were for me and for my store. It was amazing. I was so overwhelmed with the positive energy. It was great.

I also started an instore list for people to sign.

But lo! and behold the next day Steve called me and talked. This was, I thought, a GOOD talk. He told me he had no desire to put us out of business, but that his goal was the expansion of the Magic the Gathering community. My response was that is EXACTLY what I'm doing, and he seemed VERY receptive to this. Further, after talking to my friendly distributors, one of them, Randy from Mad Al up in Alaska offered faith that Wizards was going to do the right thing and fix the situation.

So Steve asked me to compile a list of 'evidence' in my 'trial' that would exonerat me. This seemed odd, as I had already exonerated myself completely. How you say? Well first of all I gave him proof of me cancelling the two orders he sited in his letter, the 12 and 20 cases, and further showed him proof that one of those customers had left me with negative feedback as a result.

This shows that clearely competitors will lie and cheat and steal in order to hurt other competitors. We have proof of this as another store ordered, and threatened in emails all sorts of negative stuff, and in fact followed through with those threats. All just to hurt a competitor.

Now here is the funny part. I forwarded all this to Steve. Showing him the cancelled orders, the negative feedback, the refunds to all these customers. The proof that stores and foreigners can ORDER from me, but I refund them. Proof that Amazon does NOT sell internationally for Magic the Gathering.

He was just plain WRONG about all this and I proved it. I explained to him that this just hurts our business. That it just hurts HIS customers, all of whom are already upset about Magic 2010 being short, and now worse they are upset for Wizard cutting of Dogstar Games.

So have we heard anything? 2 weeks later, NOTHING. I waited paitently at first, but then nothing. Now I diligently write every day, and let him know we are hurting, we need Magic to sell to HIS customers, so we can BOTH succeed.

Again, Randy at Mad All offers faith that Steve knows what he's doing and will fix this soon. But I'm beginning to lose faith in Steve. Why in the world would you keep your customers waiting this long? Is it Ego? Some vendetta? He didn't seem that way on the phone.

But think of it this way. His job is to catch people. What if no one is breaking the rules? He loses a job, right? So he has to invent problems where there are none. Or think of it this way. He obviously hastily cut us off on false evidence. Within 24 hours he had 100% proof he was wrong on the two main accusations: 1. that we Amazon sold internationally and 2. that we sold 12 and 20 cases.

I would have thought he would appologize, and fix the problem forthwith. It is amazing to me that he didn't. But he's being paid to look into it, so never mind that I'm a small one man business with my three kids running it, make me spend a whole weekend compiling evidence in my defense. So I do that, and he says... nothing.

I don't know what to do. This is our whole business. Without it we are sunk. And yet he doesn't seem to care one way or another. He didn't seem that way on the phone. To be honest on the phone I was greatly encouraged. But then nothing, and I'm wondering, what is he doing? Is he afraid to admit he was wrong? Or is he on some vendetta trying to hurt us? I've already noted how competitors can attempt to hurt me, and make it look like we did something wrong. He hasn't asked for any more information. You would think after being so TERRIBLY wrong about 12 & 20 cases followed by Amazon he would probably ask before judging, right?

In his initial letter he called me a liar. Not directly. But he said it. Who would kill a small yet up until now successful business? I hope he contacts us soon and puts us back in bussiness. Others have Faith, but my customers are getting angry, and it's harder and harder to watch this Steve man do absolutely nothing but seek to destroy us.

Well, that's the details. I'll keep you up to date. I've already had over 500 emails in support, and countless local customers. There doesn't seem to be anything more to do but wait.

Jason

Dinner at the Ram

2009-08-12T18:06:00.001-06:00

Every year the judges from NASCRAG get together for a dinner. Asher and I arrived early with Len (the founder of NASCRAG) to learn that they had forgotten our reservation at the RAM. This means that there are about 500 people vying for about 40 tables. They acknowledged they screwed up, and ended up making room for us. And then slowly, the gang of judges seeped into the place and we all hugged and talked and shared stories.

Then we ate.

Then... we left. And now I'm back at the hotel room. We did stop by the convention center to get our bag of swag, which is the free bag they give you to badge holders every year. I'll be honest, never has the bag of swag been so little. Very small. Very paltry.

But what are you going to do? It's free!

So now it's 8:00 and we are here in the hotel with no games to play. I didn't bring any because year after year we don't end up playing any I bring. This year of course proves the exception. We could really use a game to play.

Instead, I'll work. Why not? :)

Jason

The Gamers are Coming...

2009-08-12T14:37:00.000-06:00

So last night there were a few gamers. Just here or there. But today... they are increasing. Slowly, growing. Their numbers in little clumps, sprouting up, are increasing as we speak. It's 4:29 PM. We've been to the convention hall. We found the Privateer Press room which is filled to the brim with tables and miniatures for there wargames. And when I saw room, I say there are at least 200 tables in the room. It is HUGE. There is the requisit folk band playing by the ticket counter, and there is the huge Serra Angel statue that people are taking their pictures by. There is an audible buzz in the halls and on the street. Though I haven't seen any games actually starting yet, I'm guessing there are some impromptu ones here or there, starting in the crevices and cracks of the hotel and convention center. In my hotel, the Marriot, the entire second floor seems to be taken over by the True Dungeon crew, which is a huge maze with puzzles in it that people get to go through and try to succeed by getting to the end. It has become one of the most popular features of Gen Con in the recent years. And yes......... I've kept my camera with me so I can take pictures of all the corsetted women and flowing robes of wizards that will soon flock all around. So far I have yet to see a photo worthy person, but these types usually wait till the Con actually starts before they unleash their costumes on the world. After all why waste a great corset on a few people the day before the convention? Tonight is NASCRAG dinner at the RAM. We will keep you informed of how that goes, and write tonight. Parker flies in tonight, and I think Greg does too. So it's starting to build. It should be fun. I'll keep you informed! Jason

The Worst Chili Ever

2009-08-11T22:22:00.003-06:00

Asher and I just ate at the Steak and Shake. He proclaimed their chili the worst ever. I tried a bite and it tasted right out of a can. I can almost name can it came from. Hormel, or something like that. Here is an appetizing picture!

What is this Gen Con Thing?

2009-08-11T21:23:00.002-06:00

Gen Con stands for Geneva Convention. As opposed to General Conference. Much different, are those two things. Why Geneva Convention? Well because the first convention started in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. So Gary Gygax, who founded the convention, named it that as a play on the term, Geneva Convention. It shall heretofore be shown as Gen Con, is a gaming convention. Here for four days people gather to play games. All sorts of games. Role Playing Games, like Dungeons and Dragons. Board Games like Monopoly. Miniature games like Warhammer 40,000. And video games up the whazo! There are even live action role playing games. The place gets about 40,000 - 50,000 people a year.

It's been going for like 40 years now. When I was a kid, 17, Parker and me and Barry Memmot went. We drove my Subaru out there and had a lot of fun. The next year, 18, Parker, Ben, me and Josh went. That was the year we won the D&D Open Tournament. Our lives would never be the same! Why? Because it was such a highly competative tournament that it filled our young skulls full of mush with a huge confidence! :)

We planned to go back very soon, but didn't go back for many years. Finally, we ended up going back about 10 years ago? Maybe. I would have to think hard to figure out how many years I've been coming now. Maybe 10? Asher is on his third Gen Con. So that tells you something! It used to be in Milwaukee, but now is in Indiana.

Anyway, coming here we always entered as many tournaments as we could, being highly competative people. The biggest tournament in Gen Con is the NASCRAG tournament, and while I could go on and on and on about our heroics, I'll shortly tell you we won the tournament twice, and after that were asked to become part of the NASCRAG family and judge. Meaning we are now BEHIND THE SCENES! Lots of stories to tell you about that stuff, but I would be typin till next Month telling you them all so I will just keep it very short.

So this year, I will be judging for the third year! We are also writing a series, and hope our story will get to be played by the tournament starting in 2011. Let's hope!

Anyway, that's what we are doing here. We'll be judging, and going to the dealer hall, which is the huge room filled without about 500 booths of game sellers selling every game you can imagine. Big money in games, as you can imagine. I have some friends I'll be stopping by to see along the way.

So I will keep you all up to date on goings on along the way. And by the end of this little four day jouney you will undoubtably know more than you ever wanted to know about... GEN CON! :) Good gaming! We'll talk again soon!

Jason

Indiana!

2009-08-11T21:06:00.004-06:00

Well, the flight was smooth and quick. I watched The Matrix Reloaded along with an episode of Arrested Development. There really, and I know you are going to find this hard to believe, is very little to tell you about the flight. It was fast. Oh, and I had a can of Tomato Juice. Not sure why, but on a flight, I will drink a can of Tomato Juice. No where else. Just flying.

So we landed. I texted Jennie, she's at the gym, and I texted Ben, and then called him him and we talked about Gen Con, work, women, and life. Then the Taxi came and off we went to the Marriot. Landing here, we got our room, got our internet connection, and we are now enjoying the cool air conditioning. It's 11:00 here, but there is a famouse place down the road called the Steak & Shake. Not the best food in the world, BUT... it's open 24 hours! And when I say it's not the best food in the world, I can't emphasize that enough. But when you come here, you got to eat there, and that's just the way it is.

So it's off for Asher and I to the Steak and Shake! Last year he ordered a shake and took it back to the room to eat later, where he let it melt, and never ate it. I do NOT plan on letting him make that mistake again. Oh, for the second year in a row, Asher allowed bellman to help us, thus insuring that we had to pay him. I made Asher pay him this time, after teaching him not to let that happen LAST year!

So it is 9:11 SLC time, but 11:11 Indiana time. I'm going to go eat at the Steak And Shake, then read THREE Nascrag Modules (which I'll explain in more detail later) and get some sleep. I will call Jennie and see how the kids are as well.

Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back.

Jason

Gen Con Blog

2009-08-11T21:06:00.001-06:00

Gen Con Blog
August 11, 2009, Tuesday, 3:50 PM
So begins Gen Con 2009! And you all get to hear about it and how it goes straight from me, Jason, your faithful Dogstargames servant! Right now, at this very moment, as I type this, we are at the airport, waiting for our Delta fight to go through.
Back at the store, things are in the capable hands of my son Riley. He will be sitting their doing orders and answering questions. If you need anything, contact him! Of course… I’ll be sure to pay attention to emails once I get there and I’ll be available.
Of course the big topic is Wizards of the Coast and what they are doing with Magic the Gathering and Dogstar Games. I have yet to tell you about that, but I will on this trip. So look ahead a few posts and we will describe what this wonderful company is doing to your humble game store. It’s a crime, that’s all I can tell you right now.
So this year it will be me and Asher going to Gen Con, along with Parker. The rest of gang couldn’t make it. Too much recession going on, too much budgeting to allow for it. So we will certainly miss Ben, Sheridan, Kelly, and Erin. It would be nice if we could all come. But maybe next year.
So… sitting in my backpack are the three NASCRAG modules that I will be DMing while attending the Con for the NASCRAG tournament. Have I read them? You even have to ask? Good question. No I haven’t. Except for the first one, I am woefully ignorant of the modules. I’ve heard they are excellent, but I have no idea what is going on. Why? Well I didn’t get a chance to playtest them like normal, and I’ve been so busy I simply can’t see straight. Plus with this WOC problem hanging over us all like a hammer, there has not been much I can do.
BTW, a great shout out to Jennie for watching Ame and Riley while me and Asher go on our yearly business trip. I hope to convince her to come next time along with Ame, and maybe even Riley, though who would run the shop if he came?
We usually plan on playing some Magic the Gathering drafts while we are there, but I think I will avoid those due to Wizards of the Coast. We don’t want to help them at this point in time when they threaten to shut our entire business down for no good reason. ( I know, you are wondering what those reasons are, but you will have to be patient.)
So I think we will do some Warhammer, checking out the tables and seeing what we can see. We also have a couple movies to watch on the plane. We brought the Matrix Trilogy, because it seemed like a good idea after Brandon and Jeanine on So you Think You Can Dance did a dance in the finale to one of the Matrix songs. J
Okay, that’s enough for an initial post. We are here in Salt Lake City. Bye!
-Jason

Return from Vacation

2009-07-28T07:57:00.002-06:00

While my son Riley has been doing orders yesterday and this morning, I will return from Idaho this afternoon to be back at work building the website, building customer relations, and sending out orders!

Jason

Imperial Guard and Tyranids

2009-07-27T22:03:00.002-06:00

I took a vacation this week to Idaho, but I built two armies, an Imperial Guard Cadian army, and a Tyranids army! They look pretty good. I haven't painted them yet, but I'll get you some photos of them as I progress.

Jason

Twitter

2009-07-27T22:02:00.001-06:00

We just opened a twitter account for Dogstargames.

Jason

Busy Week

2009-06-26T15:30:00.002-06:00

We keep adding new items to the website. This week has been really busy, and we are having a lot of fun. Magic 2010 is coming, and I've been asking a lot of people what they think about it, and it will be interested to see how a set with 50% new cards and 50% repeats does. It's going to be a really interesting thing. Meanwhile, I've been painting a lot on Games Workshop miniatures, and it's just a lot of fun. I hear people don't want to get into them because it looks like such an immersive hobby, but the flip side of that is that it's so COOL it's FUN to be into an immersive hobby! :) Anyway, things have been going well, and today being Friday, that's even better. Till Monday, I'll say goodbye! Have a great weekend!

Jason

Kingsburg To Forge a Realm

2009-05-22T15:23:00.003-06:00

New Fantasy Flight Games Game, Expansion to last years Kingsburg. Coming in July. You can preorder it now! Kingsburg To Forge a Realm

Wasabi! Ideology 2nd Edition

2009-05-22T12:30:00.005-06:00

Z-Man Games popular game Wasabi has been out of print for about 3-4 months. Today it is back in the store along with their new game Ideology, 2nd Edition.

Dangerous Delves Minis are HERE!

2009-05-21T14:40:00.002-06:00

Dangerous Delves Minis are here. They are available by the case and also by the pack. Each booster pack contains 1 visible mini. They are all available right now! Go get them! Shown above is the FROST GIANT

Star Wars Jedi Academy Training Manual Added

2009-05-21T14:00:00.001-06:00