WSJ video has a piece on Settlers of Catan being the hot new thing in the Silicon Valley. I love the description of it being the new golf. I hate golf.

http://online.wsj.com/video/settlers-of-catan-sweeps-silicon-valley/ECECF81B-F220-4BCF-9BBA-384D0ED0E41D.html

Quoted from Rob S on BoardGameGeek:

"I just came from the Complete Strategist here in NYC I was shocked to see some price markdowns at a store that is not known for cheap prices.

Some (not all) of the Avalon Hill games are now 19.95...just like the Toys r Us deal. The sticker on the boxes say "Manufacturers Closeout $19.95" I noticed that A&A Europe is still full price.

Also, miniatures for Babylon 5 Wars and Star Fleet Battles are %50 off. The SFB minis are limited to Gorns, Lyrns, one ICS and one Tholian. ...But there are a ton of B5 minis.

Anyway, I just thought I should pass i

I know, you've been jonesing for a wargaming podcast for a long time now. Well in case you missed it, these guys have been up and running and they do a real nice wargaming podcast. Point 2 Point They review games, talk to game designers, and they play a LOT of the games we enjoy. They did a nice review of Shifting Sands in the last podcast, and they recently had a two part interview with Jerry Taylor, creator of Hammer of the Scots and Crusader Rex.

I've decided to open up the next version of the site for y'all to check out. WARNING: It's still a little rough around the edges, but it's got a bunch of nice features, and is much easier to administer. Ultimately, this will become the Meeple2Meeple project I've been talking about.

One are that's very cool, but needs some work, is event management. You can flush out events in more detail, and you can even set up signups so you know who's coming. This part is a little tricky, so bear with me. I haven't figured out a way to have unlimited signups, so feel free to set it at 999 or something like that. There is also no ability to wrap multiple games into one night.

But please, do check it out HERE. If there aren't any showstoppers, I'm going to cut over the main site to it over the next few weeks, since I don't think we'll be losing any functionality. Yes, you'll need to re-register.

Brooklyn Eurogrognards, v2

For those of you with time on your hands who are looking for more gaming opportunities, you might want to check out www.redscape.net.  I think I might have mentioned it to some of you, but this is a great site for PBEM Diplomacy (as well as some other faves like Adv. Civ. and AGoT).  I spent many an hour pondering my moves for games at this site and I met some excellent folks: the mythical Barry and the apochryphal George.  Generally, the games are GM'd by volunteers -- although I believe there is now a web-based AI GM program that will adjudicate moves.  It is a great way to play Diplomacy and it lets you play all sorts of great variants.  One of my absolute favorite gaming experiences was playing the WWIV variant -- something like 40 countries vying for worldwide domination -- there appears not to be an active game up on the site right now -- but this is a link to the current version of the map (which is being hosted at another Dip site).  I played several games of WWIV and it can be great fun.  Anyway, I'm starting to feel the jones for some Dip -- even standard -- if we got 7 we could see if we could find a GM or I'll look into the webjudge thingy.  Let me know.

This may be old news to some, but for those who don't know (and therefore haven't been reading the current Geek of the Week thread), Mikael is the founder/creator/godfather of Spielbyweb (www.spielbyweb.com) which allows you to play turn-based games of Wallenstein, Amun Re, Reef Encounter, among others.  I played one of the innaugural games of Wallenstein and it was really well done... guess too much face-to-face gaming has gotten in the way for me to revisit...

 but -- for those who can't get enough... check it out.

These are the games I want to play this year.  You're all gonna help me out. 

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/12851

Actually, I dont' care what we play as long as we have a good time.  I just created the list to help keep an eye on some of the games I've been wanting to try out.