To tweak perfection?

Old news is good news

That cover, the true
story of which can
be found here

Word broke on the internet some weeks ago of news that at first sight seemed almost too good to be true: Valley Games have acquired the rights to Up Front and are working with designer Courtney Allen on a new edition, to be funded via Kickstarter later this year for a planned publication date in 2013. The initial excitement felt by fans of this all-time classic will have been quickly tempered by healthy scepticism upon all-too-immediate recall of the vapourware that was MMP’s ill-fated Up Front 2000. The lapse- in March 2011, of MMP’s licence with Hasbro was nothing less than a mercy killing. No one really believed anymore that MMP were going to bring this one home, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s ultimately relieved that some of MMP’s more esoteric suggestions for their new edition of Up Front (first announced in an ad in ASL Journal #2) didn’t see the light of day.

'Death Ray Manta': indie, still psychedelic after all these years

“Like, cosmic, man!”

The origin of Death Ray Manta

The many-splendoured universe that is digitial gaming is terra incognita to me I must confess. I mean, I’ve played video games hundreds and hundreds of times: across different platforms- arcade games, Spectrum games, PC games, console games, social network games; in genres too numerous to mention, but which barely amount to a representative sample of what digital gaming is and has been. All those games, and all I know about the single most important new gaming medium of our age is the depth of my woeful ignorance.

The 2012 ENnies

In the nick of time…

Not just D&D anymore

Voting closed a few days ago in the 2012 ENnie RPG Awards. I don’t play D&D in any of its variants and Gen Con Indy is a bit off my patch, so the build up to this year’s voting had completely passed me by (yeah, yeah, I know that this information would’ve been spread far and wide across the adventure-gaming internets, but all that somehow passed me by too!). Still, I did pick up on the announcement of the opening of voting on July 20th. Why not, I thought? At the very least I’d get some material for an article here at RD/KA!. It turned out that I got that and a whole lot more to boot. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

“Awards, what are they good for?”
It’s fairly easy to assemble a self-appointed panel of judges to pronounce on the year’s output of a sector of the adventure-gaming industry via a set of awards; easier still, in this internet day-and-age, to establish fan-based awards; and easier even than that to scorn any and all such exercises as piss-pot ego-stroking on the part of hole-in-the-wall special interest groups. So, what are the ENnies actually worth?

Q-workshop STRIKE!!!!

Journey to the unknown land of dice manufacturing
Remember that mention I gave back in June to Q-Workshop, the novelty dice company? I thought I was just honouring my side of a bargain made at UK Games Expo 2010, when I wangled a small discount on some dicecups in return for a promised mention here at RD/KA!. Little did I know then the ancient emnities- as long as beards and as sharp as ears, with which I had become involved for the sake of those two quid. What am I talking about? Watch this video and you'll see.



It seems then that the introduction of new design and manufacturing technology means that big changes are afoot at Q-Workshop, including:

• New cheap classic RPG dice sets.
• New premium 3D dice.
• New deluxe metal dice.
• New box packaging.
• New lower prices for older dice sets.

"New" and "lower prices": phrases which are bound to delight dice geeks everywhere, especially those who are already fans of Q-Workshops' wide range. But is this really good news all round?

The pen: mightier than the sword?

But whose pen will it be?
Dave and Tony joined the regulars to give us a full table of 6 last Sunday. First choice fell to Andy. After a short swither which included a disparaging nod in the direction of my mention of Battlestar Galactica, he plumped for History of the World. This choice pleased me because I'd been hankering lately to revisit this fine old game.

History of the World and all that
Looking back from the vantage point of the second decade of the 21st century, it is possible to see 1991's History of the World as the last word in a unique moment in British games design; a moment which- though quite self contained, was simultaneously widely influential; far more so surely than anyone could really have imagined at the time.

"Worse than being talked about?"

The shadow of hindsight- cast by FFG's announcement last Friday 11th of next year's Horus Heresy big box boardgame, has left that 'Cease and desist' letter GW served on BGG looking perhaps a little more than just another 'eccentric' interpretation of fair use on the part of the company's corporate legal lackeys?

Fanciful to suggest this it might be, but when Purple Pawn gaming newsblog staff writer rjstreet pleads that FFG aren't GW- so that he doesn't have to boycott, passing on this shiny new offering of 40K boardgaming goodness; well I can't help but speculate that this act which has enraged so many across those thar intarwebs these past 3 weeks; that this otherwise senseless purge finds its rational kernel in its peculiar echo of the infamous Exterminatus of 40K lore. The apocalyptic overtones of much of the quite justified outrage just adds to the effect.

Resistance is futile!

My last words after reporting a few weeks ago on the games of Ivanhoe I'd played with Badger and my neighbour Liam were, "He'll be back!" This prediction was proved correct when Liam joined Donald, Gav, Tony and myself for our recent Sunday session. Liam being new to that table first choice went to him, which left us playing Risk, a game Liam knows.

In my innocence I thought we'd get the game finished in 2-3 hours but we were still playing 4 hours later, when the game had to be put away unfinished so that we could eat in time to settle down for the latest Doctor Who special, The Waters of Mars. Still, the game was great fun and Liam is keen for more. I guess I'd call that a result.

Something rotten? But where?

I feel I have to tread a careful line with this post. Why? Because it'd be so easy to get snarky about the storm in a teacup the RPGpundit generated with his recent blogpost about FFG and WFRP3, all the while forgetting that I am part of it all myself by virtue of making not just one, but two posts on the topic here at RD/KA!. For example, I could make some cheapass jibe about how el pundito has managed to pad the whole story out into 3 posts (#2 and #3) on a blog whose reputation for padding is surely second to none, but that would be to enter into pot and kettle territory don't you think?

All that said, I cannot but suggest that a measure of gentle ridicule is called for in respect of the tone of wounded innocence our 'intrepid' self publicist conjures under the title of 'Responding to The FFG Controversy', as if said controversy (spread now across 3 threads: FFG's own WFRP3 forum; theRPGsite- the Pundit's own forum; and RPGnet) wasn't entirely the intended outcome of his own efforts in the first place.

If controversy was the Pundit's goal, then why am I getting involved? Does this not mean that I'm giving him what he wants I hear you ask dear readers (Andy, I'm thinking of you in particular here!). That's as may be, but I have my reasons.

To begin with, I feel I have an obligation to follow this story because I took it up in in the first place. That may sound strange, but that's what happens when you start reporting on stuff: you feel the need to follow through.

In addition I must confess to having a soft spot for the Pundit (pauses for the obvious jokes to flit through readers' minds); I'd hardly be keeping tabs on his blog to this day if I didn't, don't you think? Seriously though, as I wrote more than 3 years ago, the Pundit was the individual most singularly responsible for inspiring me to take to blogging, for which I remain grateful. Precisely where this fits in the cocktail of reasons prompting me to return to this story is as invisible to yours truly as it no doubt is to everyone else, but there you go.

On top of those more personal motives I feel compelled to point out something that has, at the time of writing, been missed by all concerned on the threads linked above. That is to say: the Pundit's own motives. I believe the Pundit essentially gives these away in today's post on the controversy (#3 above) when he includes the link to Brett Bernstein's post of 10/11/09 on 'Brett's Blog' over at Precis Intermedia. There Brett reminds us of what he points out in the RPGnet thread inspired by the Pundit's original rumour-mongering: that the Pundit's second RPG - GnomeMurdered - is soon to be released by Precis Intermedia, as is RPGPundit's Guide to Game Mastering. And there you have it in my opinion: the whole thing is just an advertising stunt by someone who has already revealed a genuine talent for internet self-advertisement of the lowest sort.

What this might reveal about the initial rumour is straightforward enough. If we take at face value the official FFG statement that there "is nothing accurate in this fabricated post whatsoever", then we have to ask ourselves about the rumour's credentials. Was there a genuine email? Or did the Pundit just make it up so that he could generate some timely publicity? That is speculation on my part but, having followed the Pundit's online career these past 5 years I for one believe that he quite capable of such lies and deception in pursuit of his selfish interests. You, my dear readers, must make up your own minds. ;)

Related@RD/KA!
- Stuff and... nonsense?
- This, that and the other

Stuff and... nonsense?

He is The Law!
Passing through Borders bookshop the other day in search of a classic 20th century novel and that search proving futile, I made a beeline for the graphic novels there to surrender gleefully to the impulse I'd carried over from my last visit to those same shelves, picking up what I know will only be the first of many more: Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01 (59 progs' worth of strips in 320 pages for £13.99?-: a real bargain!).

Moments when a cultural encounter profoundly define a person are relatively few and far between I reckon and become rarer as the years go by, for simple reasons I would suggest:

• There is naturally some kind of limit to people's self-definition through cultural consumption; a limit determined both by the dynamics of human growth and maturation on the one hand, and by the available cultural wealth on the other.
• I would aver that there is too a limit to people's capacity for reinvention; a limit imposed ultimately by age.

Perhaps rarer still even in our increasingly rich and diverse culture are those moments when you can get in right at the very beginning of something that proves to be a genuine phenomenon.

Mounting anticipation

Another downswing is upon me painfully suddenly, so my recent gaming has gone unreported. Meanwhile, here is the latest update on the game currently at the top of my 'must buy' list.

GMT Games' August update last week confirmed my speculations about the possible release date for Chad Jensen's new WW2 tacsim Fighting Formations: Grossdeutschland Infantry Division: there is no sign of the game as far ahead as February 2010. Grognards eagerly anticipating this new release were recently consoled by series developer John Foley's announcement that the playtest rules are available for download.

Old hands might remember that I was first alerted to Combat Commander when I happened by accident across playtest rules while browsing GMT's site (where I'd gone in search of info about a reprint of Ivanhoe IIRC). As I write the FF P500 stands at 535 preorders; I wonder if the availability of the rules will mark a significant increase in those numbers? In the meantime, I'm looking forward to see the new game's systems laid more bare. ;)

Related@RD/KA!
- Fighting Formations preview #1: Some background
- Fighting Formations preview #2: The frakkin' game!

WTF?! WFRP3... & FTW?

An otherwise fruitless trip last week to the big F in Glasgow's FLGS- Static Games, netted me some news which frankly had my mind reeling in horror and tooling me up to join an internet mob of torch-and-pitchfork-wielding heresy hunters. I refer of course, to FFG's announcement on August 12th of the impending Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition (all rumour of which had completely passed me by). My entire vocabulary of superlatives distilled into ichor would barely summon the merest whiff of my rage, instinctive and despairing, at another oh so typical corporate betrayal in the face of which I was already brewing vituperation and vitriol (all sight unseen, naturally enough).

Kenny, Static's proprietor was pretty astonished himself. Telling me of reports from the FFG WFRP3 seminar at Gencon, he explained that this was going to be a completely new system. What? Why? What was wrong with WFRP2 (except that it wasn't FFG's own product, naturally enough)? We both agreed easily that WFRP2 was an exemplar of how to do a new edition well, and that it had been successful and popular. We discussed the issue at length and I left, none the wiser but determined to remain true to the prejudices awakened by my spasm of geek rage.

Fighting Formations preview #2: The frakkin' game!

(A quick note: this post was supposed to go up soon after the first part, posted a fortnight ago. Unfortunately the CSW website crashed for more than a week so that I couldn't get the information I needed to complete the article, hence the long delay.)

**********

Fighting Formations went live on the GMT P500 at the end of June. It crossed the 500 preorders line in mid-August (17th AFAIK), meaning that will go into production. An xmas release is possible although I'm not holding my breath on that score to be honest: it's just a bit too much to hope for.

Opening FF@CSW last November, Chad announced:

I'll begin by answering the obvious question first: "No, this is not Combat Commander with tanks."

The most obvious difference was made clear immediately: FF is not card-driven. This should've been obvious to fans of CC who've followed Chad's oft rehearsed explanations of why the inclusion of tanks would quickly overload and crash the CC card engine.

It's for real; it's big; and it's incoming!

The GW company blog yesterday confirmed the rumours that've been floating round the net for some 6 months now: there is to be a new edition of the classic boardgame Space Hulk; and it will be about as spectacular as some were predicting. That this much is true can be seen from the pictures below, which I culled from the GW site. First, a look at the promotional video clip.


Next, a selection of the pictures (you'll find the rest on GW's site, naturally enough).

The box and its contents

The game will be released on September 5th, in what GW is calling "strictly limited numbers". I confess find myself wondering how GW might choose to define the term "strictly limited", if only for the simple reason that I can easily imagine a print run of several tens of thousands selling out via internet preorders in the scant 3 weeks before the new Space Hulk 'hits the shelves' (I preordered 2 myself thanks to Andy's kind offices; I know from the B&C that I'm not the only person in Glasgow to do so; and I'd even think about turning up and queueing on the day to get a 3rd set- yep, it's one of those games dear readers!).

In any event, months of rumour and anticipation coupled with some last minute stoking of the fires with talk of a 40K 'mystery box' means that however large a print run GW have prepared (and the company must've figured on having at least a day or two's stock available for their stores and their distribution chain, surely?), it will sell out in no time at all as fans old and new clamber over each other to get their hands on copies. Assuming this is what happens, will we I wonder see GW resort to this marketing strategy again?

Meanwhile, what about the contents of the box? I won't repeat the list of goodies which you can find on GW's site. Sufficeth to say that 40K fans are only too aware that the samples here are very high quality pieces even by GW's standards. The posing on that Terminator is extremely dynamic and I imagine modellers the world over will be setting to work in the weeks and months to come to make their regular Terminator minis look similiar. This all looks very promising.

Key questions right now for this ardent fan of the previous editions are:

• Will the board pieces be backward compatible with those from the previous editions? There is no reason why they shouldn't be, but you don't have to have been a GW customer all that long to be only too familiar with the built-in obsolescence at the heart of their marketing model. I guess we just have to hope that the design team will have proved every bit as keen to expand on their own existing Space Hulk layouts as are the rest of us.
• What will the heavy flamer rules be like with the obvious return to the larger flame templates as used in 1st edition? I confess I'll need something special to persuade me that these rules will be better than the 2nd edition flamer rules, which were one of the better features of the new edition.
• How will the extra wargear and characters work? There'll always be the option, as with the flamer rules, of returning to older rules or bringing using homebrews, but your silver tongue might fail you in the face of opponents who prefer the current official version.

But this is mere speculation right now. All these and other mysteries will be revealed very soon. ;)

Addendum, 19/08/09
One of Andy's comments referred to more pictures over at the Warseer forum. For those who are interested, they can be found here. It's also worth keeping a regular check on GW's Space Hulk product page, because it's being updated daily with new pictures until the end of this week.

Related @RD/KA!
- Part 1. In the beginning was the hulk
- Part 2. The timer rule and player point-of-view
- Part 3. Tactics, tactics, tactics!

Fighting Formations preview #1: Some background

Readers who know me from the days of yore will remember the effort I put into designing a viable model of operational command and control for WW2 tabletopping. At the same time, regular readers should be only too aware that I regard Chad Jensen's Combat Commander as second only to Courtney Allen's classic Up Front as an exemplary gaming treatment of these matters, albeit both on a smaller scale (and that's a very close second, which has as much to do with accidents of history and biography as it does with matters of absolute quality).

Just to remind readers:- Chad's Combat Commander has enjoyed remarkable success in the past 2½ years:

• Two boxed core games - CC:E and CC:P (the first already in reprint).
• A boxed system expansion - CC:M.
• Two zip-locked battle pack expansions - BP1: Paratroopers and BP2: Stalingrad.
• The 3rd of the planned battle pack series - BP3: Normandy - sprinted through GMT's P500 system last April in record time.
• A similarly continuous stream of new scenarios, maps and counters appearing in C3i magazine.

Snippet snackage

I've not played any games for nearly three weeks and, vicissitudes having abounded, I'm reduced to a rummage through the ragbag in search of a posting.

Expo rolls!

Hot on the heels of the success of Expo'09, UK Games Expo a couple of weeks ago announced dates for 2010, 2011 and 2012 (the last two still TBC). Organising an event on the scale of UK Games Expo must be something of a mammoth undertaking and an often thankless task, so it's an encouraging sign for the long-term future of the event that the organisers are already looking ahead into the next decade of this 21st century.

After the success of CC@Expo'09, you can be sure that I've already set aside the long weekend of the 4th to the 6th of June 2010. More in due course, naturally enough.

In the news

The bad news
The DiceCon website has officially announced the sad news I'd learned from Gordon Lamont at UK Expo'09: there will be no DiceConWest'09, because the Central Hotel has been in administration, leaving DiceCon without a venue. Searching for details of the Central Hotel story, I stumbled on the latest news @Evening Timesonline: the Central Hotel has found a buyer. Does this mean that there will still be a future for DiceConWest at the Central hotel? Only time will tell.

I confess I hope so, because I have a sentimental attachment to this particular relic of Victorian imperial pomp. Quite apart from beginning there my acquaintance with DiceCon, the Central Hotel was the venue for my first ever SF convention - a memorable Albacon - some 20 or more years ago. There was another games con there too, which was unfortunately never repeated. So I can't help but hope the place'll provide more pleasant geekish memories for yours truly.

The good news
The premiere event in Scotland's gaming calendar - South East Scotland Wargames Club's Claymore - makes a long awaited move to a new venue this year. The new venue is Edinburgh's Telford College, which should be a better space for a games convention than was Meadowbank Stadium. It certainly enjoys better onsite facilities, according to the details on SESWC's Claymore page. That Telford College is, if anything, less central than Meadowbank is not really a complaint: many will arrive by car and there is ample parking; otherwise, public transport should be quite adequate.

Old hands and regular readers will know I'm a longstanding visitor to Claymore underwhelmed by the event in recent years. This change of venue gives me a renewed interest in Claymore. I don't know what impact this move will have on the event, but I can say that I'm looking forward to finding out.

The other news
Battlestar Galatica, your humble scribe's favourite new multiplayer boardgame of late is to be expanded, as had been anticipated by many fans, not least Andy and myself. Announced a couple of weeks ago, Evolution and Rebellion adds new boards, characters, cards and playing pieces to bring the game up to speed with more of the show.

Catching up on the show- I'm into season 3 now thanks to Andy's DVD's, I've been increasingly impressed at Cory Konieczka's adaption, as plot-twist after plot-twist exposed the logic underlying the game's dramatic dynamic. Cross-media adaptions are hardly new in geek culture; but I have particularly enjoyed in recent months the unique experience of having the primary source and a major adaption unfold in parallel as object and image. I look forward to seeing how the designer fills out the rest of the story with this new box of stuff. ;)

UK Games Expo'09 #4: Old friends and new stuff

I commented yesterday on the "paramount contribution the tournaments had made to my enjoyment of the Expo". More than a matter of mere highlights, they were the absolute backbone of everything I did on that long weekend. Having something to do each day meant that I wasn't just drifting aimlessly, as I have done at conventions so often in the past. And even the familiar drifting through the various halls seemed more enjoyable. Perhaps because they were a part of a greater whole? Or perhaps just because I enjoyed telling people I met about my own part in the Expo?

All of which is by way of introduction to a highlight of my wanderings through the halls crammed with trade stands, demo games, and people- lots and lots of people.

Gordon Lamont and Snow Tails
The oldest of old hands or most dedicated readers of blog archives might remember that Gordon Lamont (one half of the dynamic duo that is Fragor Games) featured in the 2nd post here at RD/KA!. Regular readers will probably remember Gordon from my reports about DiceCons, which he helps organise alongside his associates in the SBGA.

I'd heard about Fragor Games' new game Snow Tails on the net, naturally enough; had seen some preview pictures; and had seen Gordon sheltering under an umbrella from our lovely summer rain while I was heading to the Clarendon on Saturday, so I knew he was at the Expo. For some reason though, I was still surprised to find Gordon demoing Snow Tails.

The irrepressible Gordon Lamont demonstrates Snow Tails

I enjoyed my first game of Snow Tails, a game about racing dog sleds in the snow. I spotted 1 or 2 similarities with the only Euro-racer I own: Mississippi Queen. Most of the game though, was completely new. The most significant new feature is the cardplay players use to control their movement.

Each player has their own deck of dog cards, each numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 IIRC, and from which they will maintain a 5-card hand. As many as 3 cards can be played each turn, 1 each into 1 of 3 places:

• Left dogline.
• Right dogline.
• Brakes.

These cards set the sled's speed according to the simple formula: (left + right) - brakes. The difference between left and right also determines whether the sled drifts; and how far and to which side if it does.

There are various tweaks to this core mechanic. Among the more important are:

• Each time you collide with something bigger than your sled (ie. not another sled), or exceed cornering speed limits, your sled is 'dented', and you have to add a dent card to your hand; useless cards that count against your 5-card hand limit and which cannot be disposed of in any way, dent cards limit the range of choices you have each turn.
• You can only play more than 1 dog card in a turn if they are all the same value.

The upshot of these simple rules is a game which is quick to pick up; which plays fast enough so that you could easily fit 2 or 3 games into just part of a comfortable evening's gaming; and whose hand management rules are sufficient to induce brain-burn in the most hardened card gamer. I liked it, enough to think seriously about buying it.

Gordon shows off Fragor Games' UK Games Expo'09 award for 'Best New Boardgame'; and the winner: Snow Tails

I wasn't alone in that. I met several groups of gamers that Saturday afternoon who were just settling down to play their newly acquired copies of Snow Tails, and who were all excited at the prospect of meeting one of the designers. It was just a shame that I couldn't offer them better directions as to how they might track Gordon down.

In any event, the praise for Fragor Games' latest offering was sufficient to give our favourite dynamic duo of designers the UK Games Expo 2009 award for Best New Game. Congratulations to Fraser and Gordon both. Lang may yer lums reek!

And stuff
Entry fees and beerage aside you can be sure, dear readers, that money changed hands between me and traders last weekend in Birmingham. I bought a couple of games that had been on the horizon of my interest for some time. I also picked up an absolute bargain boardgame 2nd hand from a fellow C&C:A campaigner (thanks again matey!). More on these as they hit the table, I expect.

Books too figured large in my quietly conspicuous consumption. I picked up a good half dozen or so new WW2 books. That particular splurge began on the Saturday when I chanced to notice Rommel's Infantry Attacks. My swither was just some kind of game I played with myself before succumbing. Other books quickly followed, opening the floodgates so that I had several games and doubly several books in the luggage I took home as compared to the luggage I'd brought south.

One last big thank you...
... goes out to Andy.

Andy does what a man's gotta do

Andy booked our hotel, our tickets, and did all the driving; so that from day one of my plans I could relax in the knowledge that all I had to deal with was my own event. I couldn't've done it without your support pal. Thank you very much. ;)

Related@RD/KA!
UK Games Expo'09
- #1: Time to kill
- #2: And so to war
- #3: I eat dirt and die

Blogging through the slog

"Incoming!"
The slog? Yep. Not just the mood swing - which had already slowed down the lickety-spit with which RD/KA! began 2009; but also a flash of déjà vu when three out of four of the easter extravaganza reports (count them: #1, #3, #4) were marathon sessions at the GIMP, working on yet more "ever thinner Combat Commander battle reports... become uninspiring drudgery to this blogger", to remind readers what I wrote last September. This time, the drudgery was at least productive (all hail the GIMP!); not just nineteen new maps, but a new avenue in fleshing out battle reports with real history and geography.

Even so, that game of Rogue Trooper came along in the nick of time. All the more so since there's shedloads more Combat Commander on the way.

"We go!"

The unstoppable charge of Chad Jensen's Combat Commander continues with the addition of Battle Pack #3: Normandy to GMT's P500. Scheduled to include 17 new scenarios (1 a campaign), 8 new maps, extra counters, and a host of new rules to cover the terrain, units and operations in the Normandy bridgehead in the summer of 1944, BP#3 looks set to provide hours of fun for CC fans everywhere.

There is no release date as yet, as you would expect from the nature of the P500 system, but there is every reason to expect the pack to appear this year: at the time of writing there are 320 preorders, and that's within 24 hours of the announcement of BP#3's addition to the P500 list. I imagine a fair proportion of them are automatic preorders. Even so, I'll be surprised if the crucial 500 preorders hurdle hasn't been crossed before the month is out.

In other news

Badger's coming round soon for another session of WW2 gaming, so I've just got time for a couple of quickies.

Space Hulk rumour mongering
A recent visit to the Bell of Lost Souls GW fansite and a quick search for 'Space Hulk' has updated the rumours about the rerelease of this classic boardgame. The talk at Bell of Lost Souls is of "a full bore rework with all the bells and whistles you could ever want." You can find the full story here.

With as many as 6 months before the much-touted Q3 2009 release date, there is plenty of time for GW to do some serious viral marketing by drip-feeding rumours into the online GW community. As the comments at Bell of Lost Souls and elsewhere demonstrate, this could bring the Space Hulk fanbase to a pitch of excitement perhaps exceeding even that of playing the game itself! Myself, I want pictures.

Now that was a bughunt!
Google have finally got round to fixing a bug with the user stats for blogger, one I seem to recall arriving when they upgraded the system back in 2005.

The 'Profile Views' stat is the only counter of any sort I use here at RD/KA!. That upgrade all those years ago had the unexpected consequence of making the counter increment whenever I looked at my own profile, so I'd half the number and round down conservatively to get any idea of how many visitors had clicked through to check my profile. I actually sent google a bug report on this back when the issue arose. Is the delay in fixing this an indication of how backlogged their inbox is, I wonder? ;)