Dr Strangelove has returned!

I've just finished posting 75 auction items of various Axis & Allies Miniatures items after my absence of almost a month. There are quite a number of Set V 'Reserves' items up for grabs; even a Russian IS-3 which it pains me to let go of. I will be posting some other old gaming items over the next week. Now the funny thing about old gaming items is that they are definite treasures for some people. I was once an avid GURPS player but have lost interest there. So I am letting go of a number of books there. Now all of these are based on the Version III rules but it is my understanding that Version IV is compatible with a lot of them.

Stay tuned for more!

Axis & Allies Miniatures: Set V has arrived!

I've already gotten E-mails from several of you asking if I would be selling any of AAM Set V? The answer is 'YES!' and the first auctions will start tomorrow. I picked up three cases yesterday and am very please with the general quality of this release. I have already gone through and picked up several of my beloved Red Army pieces for my own collection but there is still quite a bit left.

These three cases seemed to be heavy on the vehicles so quite a bit of my initial auctions will be the new tanks. I am very impressed with the sculpts on most of these and the plastic does appear to be better. They quality is very similar to what we saw with Sets I and II. The paint jobs are not quite as elaborate but still good; the new Fuel Depot, Ammo Depot and Headquarters pieces are really quite well done. The German 'Goliath' is both well done and looks like an interesting addition to the game.

I am also thinking of putting up some of my other older gaming items for auction. The store has not been very active for the last month and this is going to stop shortly. It has been very busy the last few weeks for me and very prohibitive of my selling efforts. I am also tenatively making plans for at least two conventions next year; these are great opportunities to acquire rare gaming treasures!

Check the store late in the afternoon tomorrow and you should have some items to check out!

Last night at my Friendly Local Gameshop...

...the topic of Ebay came up. Now this shop is your typical small family owned brick and mortar establishment and pretty typical of a lot of gameshops. It sacrifices space for merchandise in order to hold a dozen or so tables that are lined with a variety of gamers playing everything from 'Dungeons & Dragons' to 'Magic'. Now I, there across the table from my good friend Ron playing a game of 'Axis & Allies Miniatures'; Ron and I are fighting out another battle between my Russians and this time he has the courage to lead the Imperial Japanese Army at the 1939 battle of Nomohan. My T-26 Infantry tanks are doing their best to show that Bushido will not hold sway over the wrathful will of the Red Army.

During the course of this the topic of Ebay comes up; these little shops have a hard time competing with online sellers. There are a lot of buyers taking their dollars to Ebay and away from the traditional gameshops. Now the shop I frequent has been making a heroic effort to get into Ebay ( you can look them up at 'Unicorn Games Attic') and Ron has been the man posting all of these sales. They have had some success and with some luck it will help them keep their doors open.

Now Ron pointed out that a lot of gameshops consider Ebay as a sort of 'Evil Empire' they have to struggle with. The games they sell our essentially social activities and the shops provide the place a lot of people gather to play their games. It costs the shops money to maintain these public spaces with their tables, chairs, air conditioning and light. In a normal store this space would be turned over to product display but not in a gameshop. The shop provides the item essential to all these games; the place to play.

Now the online shops do not provide this and this simple fact irritates the brick and mortar store owners. They also understand perfectly well that online venues such as Ebay are not going to fade away. So, as in the case of the Unicorn, if they can't fight it they will join it. This is quite a transition for some operators! Gaming is one of the geekiest hobbies one can find but for some gamers the jump into online selling represents a completely new dimension of geekdom. It is one thing to bury your face in the ink and paper books of many of these games and another to manage your way through the complex paths of the internet.

This is where I come in. I spend far to much time on the internet as is. I work 40 or more hours a week with my face attached to a computer screen. Then I come home to my DSL or wireless and do it all again. The thing is this is a wealth of knowledge for fellows like Ron. I know if grates him to watch the proverbial friendly local gameshop struggle with the likes of Ebay but it is a harsh reality that simply can not be avoided.  Its a 'do or die' sort of thing for them and I am happy to help in their struggle.

It struck me like a diamond bullet in the forehead...

To borrow a line from 'Apocalypse Now', it struck me like a diamond bullet in the forehead! So there I was, the wife and I were on the road and spending the night in a Hampton Inn in La Crosse Wisconsin. We are watching the television and there is this car commercial on showing various things falling from the sky and exploding into newer, better items. It starts with a old computer tape drive and falls and explodes into numerous laptop computers, then it is an old stereo that explodes into MP3 players, then a telephone booth that explodes into cell phones. You get the idea.

My day job is working in the telephone industry, in particular for an RBOC (Regional Bell Operating Company) and it is easy to see and fell the stress of technological transformation there. We are losing market share as people opt to give up their landlines for cell phones. Now we make a fair amount of money off DSL and commercial broadband circuits but with the advent of broadband wireless I can see our market share further degraded. We already see some of this in the form of the cable broadband providers; now some of these companies are even trying to get into the old traditional dialtone business.

The whole telecommunications industry is in a state of flux as new technologies turn over the proverbial apple cart. Now here I am using Ebay as a potential way of further financing our retirement. It started as an experiment of sorts but has kind of grown on me. Then I start seeing messages here about 'Net Neutrality'. Then I see information from the CEO of my company taking an opposing position to what is being said here on Ebay. I have a lot of respect for our CEO at Qwest but I get the feeling that he is being blindsided by the technological evolution that is going on. I don't think the RBOC's are going to be able to retain their control over the cost structures of the backbone circuits that we provide.

So now here I am watching all of this from both sides of the issue. I work for the company that provides a lot of the fiber that internet traffic flourishs on. I also work increasingly as one of those little guys using the internet to a practical end. I feel a fundamental disconnect with some of the realities of this technological transformation while I'm at my day job. So many of the people that spend their forty hours week installing and maintaining portions of this network know relatively little of what is actually happening on the network. I wonder if they will all be caught like deers in the headlights as change rolls over them.

Preparing for the Con!

I really am a fortunate guy. It isn't every guy who can talk his wife into going to a gaming convention with him. I imagine that some guys would rather not have their wives come with them. It seems like a lot of women don't get a lot out of wargaming. I've heard more than a few fellows talk about awkward moments when their spouses would try to explain why their husbands were playing with "toy soldiers" to their friends. I have also heard of 'wargame widows' who worry that they are playing second fiddle to a fascination with a, sometimes, bizarre game. My wife doesn't seem to have these qualms.

Now you have to understand that my wife is not your average woman - if there is such a thing as an average woman. Our first date was to authenticate a American Civil War cavalry sabre she bought at an auction. We spent our first honeymoon attending her Little Bighorn Association convention. It was being held in Louisville, Kentucky that year which made it easy for us to make a side trip to the George Patton Museum at Fort Knox and the Army Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. You might say we both have a passion for history.

Now I am planning on taking her to a series of gaming conventions. She has been one with me before and she didn't seem particularly bothered. She even found out she liked a odd little cardgame called 'Killer Bunnies'; she even managed to hold her own playing with a group of somewhat grizzled gamers. Now I am planning on taking her to at least three local conventions over the next year.

I know that she can see the Ebay related motive I have in this. Gaming conventions are a great place to keep up on what is happening in the hobby. It is also a great place for vendors to sell remainders and overstocks at great prices. Sometimes what is a remainder one day is a rare treasure the next. I really don't see buying like this as a ultimately lucrative venture but it has done well for me every so often. Now with Ebay as a sales venue for my finds this might be even more interesting.