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Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Christmas season session of the Gamer’s Update. As many of you are now aware, the holiday season is in full swing, and here I am to help you find the perfect gift for the gamer in your family.

Let’s start with the wargames:

Warhammer 40K - a fast paced game of science fiction combat designed for the novice and expert alike, the core rules contain enough miniatures for two players (great for a gift for nephews and grandkids) and the complete rules for nine of the major races. Couple this with our in store hefty discount program, 25% off all Games Workshop boxed games, this makes an ideal gift for hours of painting and playing entertainment.

Silent Death - in space, no one can hear you scream. This is a spaceship combat game centered on a nice, quick rules set, which includes 48 ships, and multi-player scenarios. If you like the idea of over a hundred starships to choose from, and dozens of variants, this is the game for you!

Chronopia - the forces of darkness creep across the land, and the many races found in the blasted landscape must compete to survive. Elf, Orc, Human, or Dwarf, all must face the tide of rising evil. Which race will lead you to victory? This game is lavishly illustrated and has one the fastest skirmish-level combat systems I have ever seen. And the miniatures are some of the nicest fantasy figs I’ve seen for several years. All you need is a simple rulebook and a few minis, and off you go!

Now for the Role-Playing Games:

The first, of course, is the industry standard, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. The complete rules are now available on CD-ROM, and at the low price of $49.99. Hurry, though, for you get hundreds of dollars of books for this low price, and supplies are going fast. If you just want one or two books, though, check out our selection of TSR manuals. And remember, just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean we can’t get it.

Have you seen the Weird West? Deadlands, by Pinnacle, brings the pistol-slinging days of the frontier with a good dose of horror and the supernatural. Play a gunslinger, frontier preacher, hexslinger, or Marshall, but remember, without a good poker hand, that gun yer drawing may not work. A perfect gift to the Wild West crowd.

Perhaps your list contains a certified Japanofile? Check out the Legend of Five Rings RPG from Alderac Entertainment. L5R began as a card game, became an RPG, and also has a mini game to go with it. In the L5R game, you play a young magistrate sent out to clear the land of trouble and enforce the emperor’s laws. But beware, for treachery hides behind paper walls, and the denizens of the shadowlands have fiends in high places. No pun intended.

And on the card game front:

Magic: The Gathering is still an industry leader, and our supply demonstrates this fact. We have expansions from Chronicles to Urza’s Saga on the shelves, and these make great stocking stuffers! Available in 15 card boosters, 60 card decks, and 75 card master-level decks, MTG is big, and keeps getting bigger each year.

From its sister company, Five Rings Publishing has released the Legend of the Burning Sands, a card game set in the "Middle East" of the L5R stories. Follow the exploits of your favorite L5R characters and learn of new heroes in the land of the jinn and flying carpets. For those who love the flavor of this setting, check out TSR’s Al’Qadim setting. Long out of print (but gracing our shelves by a few strokes of luck), this fan favorite has all of the tales of swashbuckling that any fan of Sinbad would desire to play.

Now let us turn to the cadillac of card games, namely Middle Earth. ICE produces a beautiful game based around the favorites of Tolkien’s world, in which you can play either a Wizard or a Ringwraith in an attempt to rally the people of Middle Earth, search for treasure, or carry the One Ring to is final destination. This game is now available in "challenge" decks so that you and a friend can begin to play almost immediately. Check store for demo times.

Now, in other news, the Warhammer 40ks should be back on the shelves soon, but I sound like a broken record saying this month after month. The truth of the matter is that Games Workshop neglected to do proper market analysis on this matter, basing their entire print run of the success of their fantasy game release of two years ago, which undersells the 40K range by about a 6 to 1 margin in the U.S. I would have sworn that they instructed people in the laws of supply and demand.

Hidden Emperor vol. 6 will be on the shelves by the time you read this, as will a slew of new merchandise from White Wolf and TSR. The big companies are gearing up for the winter madness months, and are producing their wares in fast fashion, so hey!, don’t disappoint them. Check out the new stuff and add it to your collection today.

A final, sad note to end on for the fans of gaming across the country. Alliance distribution is changing their rates and discounts across the board, and while making it better for chain stores to get bigger discounts, makes it harder for the small ones, like ourselves, to function at peak performance. What effect this will have on the local and national gaming front is still unclear, but by the next update, we should have a clearer picture.

Happy Holidays, folks, and may you have a wondrous New Year.

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Copyright © 1998 Craig Gaddis

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