War on Terror - The Boardgame

Tuesday 18th August 2009

Our largest convention yet: GenCon in Indianapolis

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The Indianapolis tourist board has a hard time of it. Famed for just three things - corn fields, a car race and a rather geek-niche game convention - it's no surprise to learn that, when extolling the city's virtues, people often shorten this already anaemic list to just "corn and cars".

GenCon attracts around 30,000 visitors a year and really should get more respect. It's quite an amazing spectacle, even if you've never played a game in your life, and the enthusiasm and passion for the subject is quite contagious.

TerrorBull Games is still the 'special' runt of the litter though. For a dyed-in-the-wool gamer, our games are almost as foreign as their own practices are to 'normal folk'. This is something that only really hit home during the convention, but since War on Terror and Crunch take their influences more from the real world than other games, they end up being relatively hard to categorise in a hobby that is quite rigidly defined in numerous categories and subcategories of games.

The upshot is that a game like War on Terror is quite a hard sell to a proper gamer. Is it a war game, or a strategy game, or a party game, or a light-hearted game, or a deep, cerebral game, or a 'Euro-style' game or an 'American-style' game? We certainly developed some sympathy for the Indianapolis tourist board over the course of the weekend.

War on Terror is like a dowsing rod for lovely weirdos It was this demanding audience however that made the eventual successes all the more rewarding. Those that were happy enough to throw caution to the wind and buy a copy ended up having a great time that evening with their fellow gaming friends. They learnt that a game with non-fantasy graphics, a spinner, dice, money and a balaclava can still be rewarding 3 hours later. At the same time, we learnt a little more about the existing games market and that a certain amount of (re)education is needed on our behalf to persuade the really hardcore gamers to try something new.

In short, it was a tiring, but hugely entertaining convention, made all the more enjoyable by the addition of meeting friends, both new and old. In fact, it never ceases to amaze us how this game (it's mainly War on Terror that's responsible) keeps introducing us to kind, funny and unique people all over the world. It's like a dowsing rod for lovely weirdos.

Highlights of the con included taking the bus out to the suburbs to an Army surplus store to buy extra camo netting (a very "real" excursion, as Tom rightly identified). There was also a particularly evil moment when a banker came up to our booth to learn about Crunch. After we explained the market-driven price system we had going, he asked if he paid more than the asking price, whether this would push the price up for everyone else. We said it would, so he did - and walked away chuckling to himself.

Of course, we couldn't forget to include the night of the masquerade ball and the vampire party (see the gallery for photos), which rates among as surreal and surprising an evening as we ever experienced in Vegas/ LA. Indianapolis isn't so bad really.

So another piece of the puzzle is laid. America is succumbing, city by city ...

- posted by TerrorBull Games on 18 August 2009 - 1 comments

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Wednesday 12th August 2009

Crunch officially launched. Banker Pinata officially dead.

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So it took us three months to sort out the party, but finally the day had come to celebrate the upside of down and announce to the world that the Crunch is upon us, just in case they hadn't heard already.

The Foundry turned out to be a great choice of venue, we took residence in the old bank vault for the evening and soon had everything set up ready for the party. A good mix of friends, journalists, game shop owners, 'business contacts' and general rif-raf soon started to arrive and the party was in full swing with music being provided by the one and only Pedophile Stepdad.

Before long it was time for Banker Bingo and everyone seemed to enjoy the stupidity of the whole thing, searching for the strangest banking terms and numbers with earnest. Before long we had three happy winners walking away with a mixture of original artworking from the game and pre-cut sheets of Crunch cards straight from the press.

After more schmoozing and beer, and some rather bad-ass break dancing with the aid of the gold bullion turn-table, it was Banker Pinata time, always the highlight of any party. Unfortunatly the banker was just to fat and stuffed with gold to last, the first crazy to attack it had it on the floor and beat the living shit out of the poor thing. Obviously some seriously pent up 'banking rage'.

Just as the frenzy over the chocolate gold had died down the party was over a little too soon. Time for a victory cigar and a brandy and the TerrorBull Trio headed back to the condo to start planning the next party (game).

Big thanks to Stubsy for photography on the night, Rob & Andy for the sounds, Jenn for all the help, Johnathan and the gang from the Foundry and everyone else who made the night a good'un.

- posted by TerrorBull Games on 12 August 2009 - 0 comments

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Wednesday 22nd July 2009

It's a Crunch Party!

Next Tuesday 28th July sees the official launch party for our new game, Crunch. It's going to be at the Foundry in London from 7pm - 11pm and we're inviting all of you.

The Foundry used to be a bank and the party's downstairs in what used to be the vaults, so it's a rather fitting location to launch Crunch.

There'll be plenty of fun and games, including a banker piñata and banker bingo, plus music in the form of a DJ set by 'Paedophile Stepdad' (we're not making this up) and a generous dose of prizes and goodies. We're also encouraging everyone to come in 'banker themed' fancy dress and we'll award a special prize for the biggest banker at the end of the evening.

So in a time of hardship and restraint, please join us for a rare evening of decadence and waste. Enjoy the upside of down! Long live the Crunch!

Facebook event page here.

- posted by TerrorBull Games on 22 July 2009 - 1 comments

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Monday 20th July 2009

TerrorBull Games instore @ Borders

This Saturday 25th July we shall be instore at Borders, Cambridge from 11am - 6pm, demoing our new game, Crunch and throwing in some War on Terror shenanigans for good measure.

There'll be games (duh!), prizes, silly hats and guaranteed fun. Actually we don't guarantee fun - that'd be crazy. What if your idea of fun was nailing otters to trees? Then you'd be demanding your money back. And we'd be like, 'But it's a free event'. And you'd be, like, 'See you in court, suckers!'. And then we'd be like, 'Your honour, it's just an expression ...'. And the judge would be like, 'Shut it, underling, I have your guarantee here in black and white. You lose. I sentence you all to death by stabbing.' And that would be a bummer. So please, let's stop this talk of guarantees. Come with few - or better, no - expectations.

All three of us will be there to demo games, answer questions and sign whatever it is we have to sign to keep everyone happy. If you're in town, do drop by to say hello. It's nice for us to think we have friends.

Plus, we need to impress the overlords at Borders, so if you've ever considered buying one of our games and have resisted this impulse for whatever bizarre reason, now is the time to do it. Thanks! And see you on Saturday.

P.S. Stay tuned for news on the Crunch lauch party very soon ...

- posted by TerrorBull Games on 20 July 2009 - 0 comments

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Wednesday 3rd June 2009

UK Games Expo - Birmingham, UK

First of all, grovelling apologies for the prolonged silence. We've been working on a couple of things and will have some cool news for you soon. Meanwhile, the UK Games Expo in Birmingham has snuck up on us. We're going! So should you. Here's why:

- It's only ten quid for a weekend ticket. That's a bargain. Loads of events going on.
- This is your first chance to play Crunch with the people who made it.
- We're going to experiment with a purely market-driven pricing structure for Crunch. This means that when people don't buy it, the price will go down; when people buy it, the price goes up. This may end disastrously for us, but it sounds like fun.
- As part of the above set up, we've bought some cool new props including an awesome bell. That may not sound too inspiring, but seriously, you guys - AWESOME. Visit us and we might let you ring it.
- There's no GenCon UK this year, so this is basically your gaming fix if you live in the UK.

We're also seriously, seriously low on War on Terror. It's looking like this will be the last of edition 1. Your last chance to buy a slice of history. Ah, the nostalgia pound, so untapped.

Hope to see you this weekend in sunny Brum!

- posted by TerrorBull Games on 3 June 2009 - 0 comments

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