Monday, December 28, 2009

Worldwake!!!



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

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!

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas!!!

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

Monday, December 21, 2009

Merry Christmas!

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.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Good Morning!

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

Monday, November 23, 2009

Thanksgiving Weekend

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!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Essen Hit from Rio Grande Games



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.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Through the Ages




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.


Monday, November 16, 2009

Hive Tyrant

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

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Planechase

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

Jason

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay


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, November 8, 2009

Sunday at Dogstar

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

Friday, November 6, 2009

Zendikar Draft

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!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Test

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

Logo 4

 

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Zendikar is Here

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

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

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

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Carcassonne Wheel of Fortune


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

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! :)

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Wizards of the Coast

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

Monday, October 12, 2009

Good Morning!

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

Monday, October 5, 2009

Good October Gamers

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.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Ogre Kingdoms

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

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

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

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Wizards of the Coast

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

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...

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

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The Worst Chili Ever

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?

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!

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

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

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Return from Vacation

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

Monday, July 27, 2009

Imperial Guard and Tyranids

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

We just opened a twitter account for Dogstargames.

Jason

Friday, June 26, 2009

Busy Week

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

Friday, May 22, 2009

Kingsburg To Forge a Realm


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




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.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Dangerous Delves Minis are HERE!


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


Tattered Fates


The new Dark Heresy RPG Adventure, Tattered Fates arrived and is for sale!

Axis & Allies 42


Today Wizards of the Coast announced the release on August 18th of the new Axis & Allies 1942 game. Here is what is says: Axis & Allies celebrates it's 25th Anniversary in 2009 with a new and updated edition of it's original classic game. Axis & Allies 1942, designed and developed by Larry Harris, will utilize the updated rules established in A&A Anniversary Edition. Cruiser class ships will make their debut in A&A 1942, forever changing the naval line-up. Newly sculpted playing pieces and all new packaging will position this game as the cornerstone of the Axis & Allies game line for years to come. Decide the fate of a nation in a few short hours!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

DVG Dan Verssen Games


Today we have put up 4 games from Dan Verssen games. These are war games, with two of them being World War II games. Two of them, including the brand new Alexander, are Solitaire games! So you can play by yourself! Sometimes when you can't get a group of people together, pulling one of these out is cool.

Dan Verssen Games

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Asmodee Games

We've added all the Asmodee Games to our website a long time ago, but today we will update them with pictures, descriptions, and sale pricing! Remember, all products are free shipping so you don't have to calculate how much the total will be when comparison shopping!

We will be doing some Paizo work next, followed by Wizards of the Coast.

Friday, March 13, 2009

GMT Games

We just uploaded every single GMT game to our website and they are now for sale! So go check them out!

GMT Games!

Twilight Creations ZOMBIES!!!

Heard of the very popular Zombies!!! Game? Cool! We now carry the full line! How about that? FREE SHIPPING. Remember the FREE SHIPPING.

Twilight Creations - Zombies!!!

Mayfair Games

Makers of Settlers of Catan, the company sells hundreds of games, and we carry THEM ALL! :) All of them are now up and available for sale. We still have to add pictures to some of them (it's complicated, how we list them) but you can buy any Mayfair Games Game with FREE SHIPPING right now.

MAYFAIR GAMES

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Asmodee Games

Today we updated the full line of Asmodee games. Take a look!

Asmodee Games

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Fantasy Flight Board Games

So we've been working on the intro page for the Fantasy Flight Games Board Games section. I think this page looks really sharp, and I hope you agree! Check it out!

Fantasy Flight Games Board Games Page

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Dark Heresy

So we are selling Games Workshop Mail Order Warhammer Miniatures now, which I will discuss a bit more in time. But we also go some of the Dark Heresy Warhammer 40,000 Role Play Books. And let me tell you something. THESE ARE BEAUTIFUL. And what an AWESOME setting. I was talking to my distributor and Darrell tells me that the lunch game has now turned from D&D to Dark Heresy, and they like it that much! So we have the full line of books up, and of course... they are on sale, and of course, there is free shipping. Here are the books we have:

Dark Heresy - This is the main book, you need only this one to get going.
Inquisitor's Handbook - Your basic Player's Handbook Options for Characters
Purge the Unclean - Adventures of Intrigue Action & Horror
Disciples of the Dark Gods - A collection of Cults, Secrets and Conspiracies
Creatures Anathema -Your Monster Manual
GM Kit - Essential book like a Dungeon Master's Guide

Monday, March 2, 2009

March 2009!!

Hello and welcome to March at DogstarGames.com! I hope March is a great month for everyone. I know there is a recession, but spring is coming, and hopefully we can all get positive about the economy and other things and good things will happen. Let's hope!

New items added today:

1. We updated the site even more, cleaning some things up.
2. Cosmic Encounter Science Fiction Game
3. Red November Card Game
3 Acquire Economic Game
4. Bonnie and Clyde by Rio Grand Games

Friday, February 6, 2009

New Games

How is your Friday going? Ours is busy with Conflux, but that didn't stop us from adding some cool new games. Check them out:

Starcraft
Starcraft Broodwar
Twilight Imperium
Citadels
Tanhauser: Operation Novgorod (BRAND NEW!)
Munchkin Quest 2: Looking for Trouble (BRAND NEW!)

CONFLUX IS HERE!!!

Conflux has arrived on Thursday! It was a crazy day here at the store! First of all we had boxes arriving, and we had to get them ready for shipping for the customers online. Then we had to fend off the local customers who wanted the games that day (we abide by the street date of February 6th). So Conflux is here. I've finally taken a peek at it, opened some packs and had some fun reading the guide that came in our Fat Pack. Looks to be a good set, and there are a few cards I can add to my Bant Deck! Plus I have some new deck ideas from some of the cards!

Friday, January 30, 2009

DESCENT

We just added the entire DESCENT line to the website, at some really good prices, with FREE SHIPPING in the USA. I've never played this game but I have wanted to for a long time as I'm a big D&D Fantasy Game Player.

DESCENT

Thursday, January 22, 2009

New Titles Added

Greetings Gamers! Today we added a new highly rated (9 out of 10) wargame on the site, Conflict of Heroes. Plus we added a wargame section under the heading of Board Games. Further we made some changes to the site navigation that people have recommended! Also we added one of the most popular family games ever, Blokus. I've played the game, and it's quick and extremely fun and challenging. I love it.

CONFLICT OF HEROES



BLOKUS



BLOKUS TRIGON

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

CALL OF CTHULHU CARD GAME!




I'm a big fan of the Call of Cthulhu universe and I think this is going to be a great game. It's new and doesn't have a lot of reviews yet, but so far it is sounding like a hit!

Friday, January 9, 2009




NEW ITEMS on the WEB SITE!

We have a team of people working overtime adding new items to the website. Here are a few of the new ones!





Wednesday, January 7, 2009

WORLD OF WARCRAFT MINIATURES




PROJECTED STREET DATE of August 18, 2009

As darkness covers the land of Azeroth, the souls of heroes and villains alike cry out for Vengeance. Make your stand with new forces, new tactics, and for the first time… Death Knights! May the spoils go to the victorious!

Souls of Vengeance is the third set in the World of Warcraft Miniatures Game, a premium collectible miniatures game based upon the award-winning massively multiplayer online role playing game, World of Warcraft.

Key Selling Points (Brand):
- The World of Warcraft brand is one of the strongest hobby brands ever with over 11 million monthly subscribers worldwide.
- Our Premium quality figures will continue Upper Deck's tradition of category defining excellence utilizing more dynamic sculpts, more detailed paints, and a larger scale than other miniatures games.
- Our innovative detachable UBase allows figures to serve as both a gorgeous collectible and a functional gamepiece.
- We provide an exciting and open-ended gameplay experience with the Base10 game engine leveraging Upper Deck's expertise with trading card game designs by combining miniatures and cards.

Key Selling Points (booster SKU:
- Epic Characters: 1/8 boosters will have an epic! The epic packs will still include a rare figure!
- Death Knights: introducing the all new Death Knight class for exciting new gameplay!
- Loot Cards: This product will contain randomly inserted samples of the popular Loot cards from the WoW TCG.
- Find Epic equipment and characters inside, including the mighty demon Illidan!

Race for the Galaxy




One of the bigger games to come out in 2007, was Race for the Galaxy. We added it to the website today! Thanks! It was one of our biggest sellers on Amazon this Christmas Season!




Tuesday, January 6, 2009

CONFLUX IS COMING!




Everyone here at www.dogstargames.com is gearing up for Conflux, the second of three sets in the Magic the Gathering Shards of Alara Block. I personally loved Shards of Alara. I had a lot of fun with it, and felt it was a well built set. I haven't had as much fun since Time Spiral.

We are now taking preorders for Shards of Alara. You can buy them from us in three different ways.

Ebay - Price is $82.99. Price is higher because Ebay has increased it's fees so much lately we have had to raise the price. We are sorry about this, except...

Dogstar Games - The website still have low low prices, keeping box prices at $76.00 We don't have to pay Ebay such high fees, so we just keep the price down!

Third you can just email me direct at js@optimumdesigns.com and you can buy direct through paypal.

Here is some more info about Conflux:

Street date of February 6! That’s just around the corner!

Conflux Booster Display
WOC250020000
$143.61 SRP (SDI)
36 packs of 15 cards per display – 6 displays per case

Conflux Intro Pack Display
WOC250030000
$61.45 SRP (SDI)
5 packs of 56 cards per display – 6 displays per case

Conflux Fat Pack
WOC250050000
$34.99 SRP (SDI)
Contains eight Conflux booster packs, one card box, a player's guide with a complete visual encyclopedia of the set, a learn-to-play insert, a sample chapter from Agents of Artifice, a pack of 40 basic lands, and a Conflux Spindown life counter


As the shards collide, an ancient evil is revealed...

- Conflux is the second set in the Shards of Alara block.
- In Conflux, it is revealed that a sinister force is conspiring to reunite Alara. As this process begins, planes of reality begin to overlap, creating chaos on all five Shards of Alara.
- Conflux expands on the mechanics introduced in Shards of Alara, and injects even more powerful gold cards into the block.

145 black-bordered cards (10 Mythic Rare, 35 rare, 40 uncommon, 60 common)

FIRST POST

Welcome to Dogstar Games Reviews, which will review all sorts of games and point out where to get them at www.dogstargames.com. If you ever need to contact me write to js@optimumdesigns.com or help@disasternecessities.com.

-Jason