Mixed Signals

Straight-forward gaming

I've been thinking about why I enjoy games, and what kinds of games I tend to gravitate toward. The more I think about it, the more I find that it's probably an unsolvable riddle (but that in itself seems a little like a game). Either the gamer or the technical part of my brain has taken the bait, a...

I'm the developer and publisher of Skuffle Wammer, the universe's smallest wargame. It's designed to be played in 5 minutes or less, with the intent of being the tabletop gaming equivalent of a good stand-up-and-stretch at work. The play area is an A4 sheet of paper, you throw out some miniatures...

The Horus Heresy book series is set in the 30th millennium, just 10 short millennia prior to Warhammer 40,000. It's the story of how the Emperor of Man found his lost sons, the Primarchs, from all across the galaxy, and ultimately how one of them turned against him, causing civil war within the...

I decided that during 2024, I'd remix one game every month. Last month I created Rebel Blackjack. This month, I've created Magick jack, an extreme remix of Blackjack.

Colour pie

The colour pie in Magic: The Gathering (MTG) isn't often appreciated by people who don't play the game, but it's...

I'm watching the Interrogator animated series on Warhammer+, and this is my review of the final episode. There are spoilers in this post, so don't read on if you haven't seen the show and have a good memory.

Over the past two episodes, my interest in Interrogator was starting to falter a lit...

The D&D 5e book Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft includes an adventure called House of Lament. Last year, I ran House of Lament as a side quest in an Expedition to Castle Ravenloft game. This is my review of the House of Lament module as a Game Master. It mirrors my review as a player.

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I'm watching the Interrogator animated series on Warhammer+, and this is my review of the penultimate episode. There are spoilers in this post, so don't read on if you haven't seen the show and have a good memory.

So we know who's killed Bellona, Jurgen just has to exact his revenge. But the k...

I play an Adeptus Mechanicus army in Warhammer 40,000 and the new Adepus Mechanicus Codex recently came out. I've purchased it and read it from cover to cover, and this my review of it. In short, it's good. I'll talk about why in this blog post.

Before talking specifics though, it's worth explai...

I don't like sports. I tend to think of geek culture in general as being against sport, but that's a sentiment influenced strongly by my own social experience. If you think about it, sport and tabletop gaming share a lot in common. They're competitive, they're games, people play them for fun, there...

Last year, I developed and published Skuffle Wammer, the universe's smallest wargame. It's designed to be played in 5 minutes or less, with the intent of being the tabletop gaming equivalent of a good stand-up-and-stretch at work. The play area is an A4 sheet of paper, you throw out some miniature...

Blackstone Fortress is a Black Library novel by Darius Hinks. As its name implies, it's largely about a fortress. Made of noctilith, also known as blackstone. The reason it's significant that the fortress is made of blackstone is that noctilith famously both channels and repels the powers of the wa...

It's obligatory. If you're in the IT business or hobby, and if you get into Warhammer 40,000, then your favourite faction has to be Adeptus Mechanicus. Well, it's not actually obligatory at all. You can do whatever you want. It's your life. But it feels obligatory. The Cult of the Omnissiah is the...

The D&D 5e book Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft includes an adventure called House of Lament. Last year, I ran House of Lament for a group of players, and later that year I played in House of Lament with a different group of players. This is my review of the module as a player.

Before I b...

I've been painting lots of Pathfinder and Cursed City miniatures lately, using my Citadel Contrast and Vallejo Xpress Color paints. Because I've been using them a lot, I thought it might be useful to provide a review of each Xpress Color paint based on how I've been using it, and what I thin...

I'm reading the Stardrifter series by David Collins-Rivera, and reviewing each book as I finish it. The short story Robot Overlords, is a story about a troublesome AI (which I know sounds like the very tropiest of science fiction tropes but it's not like that, I promise). This review contains sp...

I'm watching the Interrogator animated series on Warhammer+, and this is my review. There are spoilers in this post, so don't read on if you haven't seen the show and have a good memory.

No way to sugarcoat it, this is a filler episode. The previous episode changed everything, and this is the...