You can't Stop the Signal! 100th Article, and Firefly on the Table!

     ("Find a blog. Find some writers.  Keep playing.")
 Okay, so I know this is almost impossible to believe, but our little corner of the interwebs is already at 100 articles!  I know, crazy, right?  So that's where all my spare time has gone....  Anyway, we wanted to do a couple things here to celebrate.

     Number one, there will be a rediculous Spinespur Game happening at Game Central on Sunday.  TokenGamerChic, Mordin56, Belgarath97, and yours truly are going to square off in a four player 4x4 battle royal of probably stupid proportions.  If you happen to be in the Philadelphia area, (*coughcoughBOBcough*) you should stop by. If you're not, surprisingly enough, you'll get to hear about it next week, so don't worry.

     Second, I just wanted to give a quick update on our Spinespur Model Contest.  The ruddy buggers are almost done, and there will be pictures... oh yes, there will be pictures.  Kyle is going to be a very happy camper, I think Caretaker and the Grave Golem may be some of my best work ever.  I'm quite pleased.  

     Third.... this is finally ready for pre-order.  Gale Force Nine ("a Battlefront Company") is producing a tabletop board game for Firefly.  Now, I know what you're thinking... it doesn't have soldierdolls. True, you've got me there.  My only responses to that are 1) It will once I get it home, 2) TGF, B97, M56, OdinFellhammer, and I are all HUUUUUGE fans of the series (we may or may not have a "Browncoat Outcast,"  or "Browncast" list planned for Dark Age, and Beyond the Gates of Antares) and 3)  well.... I don't want to spoil the surprise... I'll get back to that in a minute.

     Okay, so, we don't have a lot of info on this yet.  From the designer's site, we get this: 

"In Firefly: The Game, players captain their own Firefly-class transport ship, traveling the ‘Verse with a handpicked crew of fighters, mechanics and other travelers. As a captain desperate for work, players are compelled to take on any job -- so long as it pays. Double-dealing employers, heavy-handed Alliance patrols and marauding Reavers are all in a day’s work for a ship’s captain at the edge of the ‘Verse. Firefly: The Game is a high-end thematic tabletop boardgame from Gale Force Nine (GF9). 

"Building on the success of Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery, we're thrilled to be making a game that evokes the heart and themes of Firefly - the best ‘gorram’ show in the 'Verse.” said John Kovaleski, CEO of Gale Force Nine, “With challenging game play, fantastic production values and compelling narratives, you and your fellow captains will want to head out into the big black again and again".

     Not a lot of information on gameplay yet, and even the "official" images are still the original test images and thus subject to change, but if you're a fan of board games, Firefly, or both, it's going to be worth checking this one out.  I had kinda been hoping for a collector's edition of some kind with plastic playable (read: paintable) ship figures, but I'll just have to make do with Firestorm Armada and War Rocket models.  What a shame.  We don't have an official release date yet, but with distributors now listing it for preorder, I don't think it'll be long before we see this one, even if GF9 is still claiming a "fall 2013" release.  I think that might be a bit early in the fall.  

     Oh, before I forget... that third point from a while back?  Sorry, almost misplaced it.  3)  This quote.  All of it.:  

"The Game is a high-end thematic tabletop boardgame from Gale Force Nine (GF9). It will be the first in a series of tabletop hobby boardgames and miniatures games from GF9 set in the Firefly Universe."

     A series. Of boardgames. And miniature games.  Set in the Firefly Universe.  Could I be smelling a Unification War minature game on the horizon?  It'd be fairly easy to produce, and seeing as Battlefront just acquired distribution rights for DUST, they're about to be real familiar with the "early 20th century meets future tech" genre, backing that up to "late 19th century" isn't much of a stretch.  Add to that the success of recent properties like Blackwater Gulch and WWX, and there's a market- and one a lot less crowded and overburdened with games than Medieval Fantasy or "True Scifi."  An easy companion game would also be a ship-to ship combat game... especially since GF9 is also planning on releasing this beautiful gaming mat. 

     #neverhavemoneyagain.  Someone call an ambulance for B97, wherever he is, he either just fainted, or just exploded.