A ton of stuff in this episode, folks! We review Lords of War, Amerigo, Polis: Rise of the Hegemony, Tomorrow, Freedom, Cheaty Mages, and Steam Park. Brian takes a look back at Acquire, Bill at convention scheduling, Geoff at a most unusual dinner, Dexter and the Chief at King of Tokyo, Mark at ASL, James at Essen, and Roger at Kickstarter!
Contributor: Mark Zielinski
Segment Contributor
Of course I started my gaming career playing lots of family style board games with my family. I was first introduced to wargames by my cousin Michael while I was visiting him when I was 11 or 12 years old. My first game was Avalon Hill’s Richtofen’s War followed closely by Avalon Hill’s Luftwaffe that fateful day. I played mostly Avalon Hill wargames all through high school.
Right after high school my gaming group and I discovered Dungeons and Dragons (the old blue book). I remember fondly pulling the numbered chits that came inside the book from Dixie cups, since we did not have any access to anything besides a six-sided die at the time.
While I was in college I discovered Avalon Hill’s Squad Leader. I was involved with a lot of playtesting and scenario design work with the old Squad Leader/Advanced Squad Leader fanzine “On All Fronts”. During this time I also continued to play Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, as well as other RPGs of the day, other wargames by various companies, as well as playing historical miniature games.
My wife Debbie and I then discovered the CCG Spellfire by TSR. We never got into Magic, but we were very involved with the Spellfire community and demoed Spellfire for TSR at GenCon.
When my wife decided to attend law school I opened a mail order hobby shop, in the days before the internet was in full swing, in order to keep my self busy while she studied. I then took the mail order business and converted it into a brick and mortar FLGS which sold a lot of Games Workshop products as well as CCG’s, wargames, board games, model kits, etc. Shortly after selling my interest in the store I became an Outrider for Games Workshop for a number of years.
Once I retired from the Outriders I began to focus back onto ASL and joined our local ASL group. I regularly attend ASLOK (Advanced Squad Leader Oktoberfest) which is held each year in the Cleveland, Ohio area.
I have been a Dice Tower listener since episode #26 and I now play a variety of games including (but not limited to) wargames, board games, card games, miniature games, and euro-games. The euro-games I enjoy playing today are thanks to the effort put forth by Tom, Joe, and Sam. Thanks guys!
My wife and I are the proud parents of the founding members of the Sam Healey fan club, and I work as the Vice President of a real estate management company.
Mark provides wargame and family commentary to the Dice Tower.
All Content With Mark Zielinski
September 17, 2013
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Lots to talk about this time! Tom and Eric look at Phantom of the Opera, Safuasa, Dwarven Miner, Takenoko special edition, Escape, and Last Will! We also go to the vault and discuss San Juan and Star Wars: Queen's Gambit. Geoff talks about analogies, Brian takes a look at I'm the Boss, and we have three other special segments.
July 3, 2012
Posted by Anonymous (not verified)
In this show, we add two new contributors, one who takes a look at Clout: Fantasy. We also talk about several new games including Pret a Porter and Behutunsburg. Greg visits another store, and Mark reviews Rodeo Rummy. Finally, we end the show with a question of what to do with multiple games going on at the same time in a
June 12, 2012
Posted by Anonymous (not verified)
There seems to be some sort of invasion on this show, coming from Origins. But once we ignore all that, you'll see that we answer quite a few questions, and then Tom and Eric take a look at the Top Ten "Trading in the Mediterranean" Games. Or something.
May 8, 2012
Posted by Anonymous (not verified)
In this show, we review several games, including Shootout, Nefarious, and Catan Junior. We take a look a the latest gaming news, travel the country looking for game stores, and announce a new, upcoming podcast. Finally, we talk about our favorite gaming partners - who do we want to game against?
April 24, 2012
Posted by Anonymous (not verified)
In this show, we find out what's happening with Dexter, Mark makes a huge mistake, and Geoff talks about game criticism. We also talk about how much we play games - and is it enough?
April 10, 2012
Posted by Anonymous (not verified)
In this episode, Tom muses about different types of games, and Chief comes to the grand finale of his gaming group. Geoff talks about crowdsourcing, Eric goes over a ton of new games he played at Conn Con, and we review several games, including Abaddon and Lords of Waterdeep. We finish up the show talking about our favorite types of interaction.
February 21, 2012
Posted by Anonymous (not verified)
In this episode of the Dice Tower, Tom and Eric talk about a bunch of games that start with the letter "D", while Greg examines Kickstarter. Chief continues his quest to build a gaming group, Geoff talks about copyright issues, and Ryan rants about hidden information. Finally, we end the show talking about games we want to see reprinted.
April 18, 2011
Posted by Anonymous (not verified)
In this episode, we visit a game store and give you an opinion, Tom reviews a pile of games, and we discuss how to deal with annoying gamers.
May 28, 2010
Posted by Anonymous (not verified)
In this show, we give a couple of character stereotypes, talk about the future of game publishing, and the horror of moving games. The Dice Tower gang give info and tips for Origins 2010, and Geoff eulogizes Marvin Gardner. Erik talks about D6 shooters, Giles about Traders of Carthage, and we finish up the show with our top ten games that give 'bang for the buck'.
