It’s been more than a decade since I’ve participated in a tournament. Though attending conventions is my job, I usually work at the Portal Games booth at those events and don’t have time to spend hours in competitions. Also, it probably doesn’t befit someone working in the industry to fight for main prizes with other competitors. At some point in my life, I stopped competing in wargaming. I didn’t join the fight for keys in Keyforge or road building in Catan. Tournaments are a thrill, a rush of adrenaline, but also a lot of frustration, when one of the competitors focuses too much on the prize and destroys the fun for everyone else, ignoring the rules of fair play. I haven’t experienced all of this in years.

Last weekend, after my decade-long break, I took part in a tournament. I was stressed out, of course! But I packed my Arkham Horror LCG cards and went to the small, local tournament organized in a board game pub in the city I live in.

John Wick is one of the most important creators in the RPG games industry. I had the pleasure to meet him in person just once, for a short time, when he was a guest at one of the Polish conventions. I’m that guy from the board games industry, and he’s the star of the RPG scene, but we somehow always manage to pass by each other.

John designed some of the best games in the history of RPG—Legend of the Five Rings and 7th Sea. I had lots of fun playing both these titles, but what’s equally important, they heavily influenced my beginnings in the industry. John is also a great writer—his series of articles about Orkworld, published online in 2000, had a huge impact on my narration style and marketing of my first games. This legendary collection of opinion articles, printed and bound, proudly stands on my RPG bookshelf to this day. Right next to the Orkworld, of course.

My most expected book of the year arrived. It’s not a new novel from Brandon Sanderson. It’s not a new Stephen King novel. It’s not even the new novel about my beloved Troll Slayer. It’s Dice Men by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. It’s about the beginnings of the Games Workshop. 

You know, I am a sucker for everything that covers behind-the-scenes information. I loved these extras that back then were added to DVD discs. I loved documentaries about creating and developing games (like Indie Game: The Movie). I cannot express how I enjoyed  Designers & Dragons series by Shannon Appelcline. And now this – the origin story of the Games Workshop! OMG!

I’d be rich. If the idea I want to discuss today were reality, I would buy a castle – just like Sting. I would have a massive library in it and would not work for the next 20 years. Are you ready for a ride to an alternate reality? Let’s go.

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We are living in the subscription era. The new format became popular a few years ago and spread like a virus in all different directions. Movies? You can subscribe to Netflix to have a vast majority of movies and tv shows. Video games? You can subscribe to Origin or Xbox Game Pass and have countless titles at hand. Music? We all use Spotify these days, right? The same goes for audiobooks, comic books, and any other content we consume.

Except for board games.

Yesterday I played a new game from Ludonaute called Precognition. When I opened the box and found these standard, classic meeples, my heart smiled. Carcassonne was first released in 2000. It’s been 22 years now. Since then, all publishers have had all different variants of meeples in games. And here I am discovering a classic Carcassonne meeple in a new game. I took it in hand and well, it felt just like home. #geek #nerd