Tao W.

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GottaCon 2012 Con Report

Tao W. posted an article on - Feb 7, 2012, 4:56 pm
What an amazing weekend. GottaCon 2012 took place between February 3 – 5, 2012 in Victoria and it was packed. A lot of gaming (and selling for us) happened throughout the weekend and we had a lot of fun catching up with old customers and meeting new one’s too.  I would say it was our most succe...
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Video Reviews – Ticket to Ride Europe

Tao W. posted an article on - Feb 6, 2012, 1:32 pm
And here’s the game itself: Ticket to Ride Europe.
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New Board Games & RPGs: February 2, 2012

Tao W. posted an article on - Feb 3, 2012, 12:38 am
Star Trek Expeditions Expansion Set Wiz-war Hex-a-Gon Dark Heresy : the Chaos Commandment Tanto Cuore : Expanding the House Phantom League : Mostly Harmless Expansion Shadowrun : Conspiracy Theories
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Video Review: Blood Bowl Team Manager

Tao W. posted an article on - Jan 31, 2012, 2:11 pm
After a brief hiatus brought on by the Christmas rush and its aftermath, we’re back with a look at Fantasy Flight’s Blood Bowl Team Manager. From here onwards, we should be on a regular once-a-week release schedule for our video reviews. If there’s anything you’d really like to see us revie...
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New Games: December 26th, 2011

Tao W. posted an article on - Jan 26, 2012, 10:24 pm
New Games Angry Birds : On Thin Ice Bang! Gold Rush Expansion Black Crusade : Hand of Corruption Chibithulhu Halloween Plush Dust Tactics : Corps Officers Dust Tactics : Heavy Kommandotrupp Command Squad Giza: The Great Pyramid Mini Chibithulhu Plush – Black Mini Chibithulhu Plush – Red Nexus O...
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New Board Games : January 19, 2012

Tao W. posted an article on - Jan 20, 2012, 1:55 am
New Board Games Spielbox Issue 6 / 2011 Spielbox Issue 5 / 2011 Drako War of the Rings : 2nd Edition Tin & Sleeves Kingpin Total Rumble Target Earth Luna Llena : Death Moon Expansion Mecanisburgo Exp 2 : Mutants on Mars Mecanisburgo Exp 1 : Moon & Ceres Mecanisburgo 1812 : Invasion of Canada War...
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Cashflow, Retail Prices & Kickstarter

Tao W. posted an article on - Jan 16, 2012, 11:34 am
I was recently thinking about Kickstarter again, with the number of new and interesting projects popping up on that site for funding.   Now, having helped fund a few games – none of which have arrived; I’ve started trying to figure out at what level (on a purely mathematical basis) a discount ...
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New Board Games : January 12, 2012

Tao W. posted an article on - Jan 12, 2012, 10:51 pm
New Board Games: Ticket to Ride : India & Switzerland Power Grid : First Sparks Power Grid : the Robots Pathfinder Heroes & Monsters : Black Dragon Promo Pathfinder Heroes & Monsters : Standard Booster Pathfinder Heroes & Monsters : Large Booster A Game of Thrones LCG : Where Loyalty Lies Chapter P...
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December 2011 Bestsellers & Hottest Pre-Orders Updated

Tao W. posted an article on - Jan 11, 2012, 7:04 pm
Our apologies on the delay getting the December 2011 lists up.  We were just swamped over the past few days, but have now managed to update everything.  As always, here’s November’s 2011′s information as a record and comparison. Following is the Bestseller’s list for the month of Novemb...
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New Board Games : January 6, 2012

Tao W. posted an article on - Jan 6, 2012, 8:01 pm
New Board Games 011 Opera Fortuna Node Star Trek DBG : Next Phase Edition Command & Colors Ancients : Expansion 6 – Spartans Santiago de Cuba Ora & Labora Road to Canterbury
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Running a lean inventory business

Tao W. posted an article on - Jan 6, 2012, 11:55 am
One of the biggest drains on capital and cash in a retail business is inventory.  Now, inventory comes in two parts for us – general gaming stock & accessories and packing materials.  With our gaming stock, we manage it as best we can on a Just-in-Time basis; while packing materials we actually ...
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FedEx and Free Shipping

Tao W. posted an article on - Jan 3, 2012, 7:13 pm
As some of you might have heard; we decided to turn off Free Shipping via FedEx completely.  The reason was a simple financial one – it costs too much.   Aftera quick review, we realised that while most of the time it wasn’t bad – the occasional ‘worst case’ scenario could really hurt u...
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Year in Review : 2011

Tao W. posted an article on - Jan 1, 2012, 7:30 pm
What a year, 2011 was our best year so far; with solid growth through most of it.   There were significant challenges throughout the year; but I continue to be grateful to all our customers who have made this possible. Sales & Categories We continue to be a board game store primarily – the vat...
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New Board Games : December 30, 2011

Tao W. posted an article on - Dec 31, 2011, 3:06 am
New Games Ascension : Storm of Souls Dungeon Petz Rogue Trader : Hostile Acquisitions Puerto Rico Anniversary Edition Empires : Age of Discovery Builder Expansion Dust Tactics : Operation Cerberus Core Worlds Savage Worlds : Totems of the Dead Player’s Guide Savage Worlds : Totems of the...
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Selling Online : A Primer

Tao W. posted an article on - Dec 28, 2011, 12:59 pm
I recently have had a few friends and acquaintances look into selling online.  It’s a complicated business, partially due to the fact that the information needed to set-up an e-commerce store properly is relatively specialised knowledge and the various players out there are incentivised to keep p...
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Musings on the game business

Tao W. posted an article on - Nov 2, 2011, 4:30 pm
A lot has changed in the gaming business since our launch in 2007.  I thought I’d give my own perspective on changes that we’ve personally seen / felt and some trends that might continue. The Explosion of Deck Builders By far, the biggest change has been the creation of the entire category o...
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November 2011 Newsletter

Tao W. posted an article on - Nov 1, 2011, 3:36 pm
Video Reviews We’ve got a new video review page up on the site. New RPGs As we announced last month, there’s a new category – Role-Playing Games. We’ve added even more stock and systems to the category including fleshing out our Pathfinder core rulebooks.  Do let us know if we’re missi...
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Guest Review : Quarriors

Tao W. posted an article on - Nov 1, 2011, 12:55 pm
Quarriors Game In Quarriors, you and your opponents must quest for glory by purchasing spells and monsters that will allow you to destroy enemy critters while keeping your own alive. This is accomplished by gathering and spending “Quiddity”. Quarriors can be played by 2-4 players and takes very...
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Video Review : Small World

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 31, 2011, 4:48 pm
Our third video review for Small World is now up and live. Note that we’ll have a break for a few weeks while we shoot a number of new videos. Expect quite a few to turn up just before Christmas and then a lull as we scramble to deal with the Christmas rush.  
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New and Restocked Games: October 27th, 2011

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 27, 2011, 10:22 pm
New Games: Advanced Squad Leader Rulebook Airship Pirates Bag o’ Zombies Battletech: Technical Readout 3067 Belfort Call of Cthulhu LCG: The Breathing Jungle Asylum Pack Call of Cthulhu LCG: Dunwich Denizens Asylum Pack (Revised) Cthulhutech: GM Screen Cthulhutech: Vade Mecum Dark Heresy: Book of...
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Changes to Local Pickup Hours

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 24, 2011, 5:16 pm
One of the biggest benefits of having recently hired another full-time employee is that we can now have staff at the office on a regular basis. As a result, we’ve finally managed to do away with the appointment system for Local Pickups and extend our hours. From now on, customers wanting to pick ...
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Video Review : Arkham Horror

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 24, 2011, 3:22 pm
Here’s review 2 – Arkham Horror. Let us know what you feel about the review or if there’s any other reviews you’d like to watch. We’ve decided to see if we can do a ton right before Christmas, so expect more reviews to appear mid-November
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Guest Review : Tales of the Arabian Nights

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 24, 2011, 12:44 am
How many board games provide an experience entirely unlike any other? Very few, it must be said. Many new board games have clear ancestors, and an experienced hobbyist is able to describe most new games by describing their mechanisms and where they’ve been seen before. “It is a worker-placement...
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Pre-Orders & Capital

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 21, 2011, 1:24 pm
Our Pre-Order Shelf at os October 16, 2011. No laughing at the sloppy build job. That’s our current pre-order shelf as of Tuesday, October 16, 2011. All the pre-orders that we have that had games on the order outside of the pre-order itself. That’s obviously doesn’t include single game pre-or...
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New and Restocked Games: October 20th, 2011

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 20, 2011, 10:04 pm
New Games: Angry Birds: Knock on Wood Arcana (Revised Edition) GD ’42 Lord of the Rings LCG: The Massing at Osgiliath Martian Dice Nippon Rails 2011 Edition Summoner Wars: Goodwin’s Blade Summoner Wars: Hawk’s Strike Summoner Wars: Master Set Restocked Games: Advanced Squad Leader Starter K...
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Hiring & Business

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 18, 2011, 11:12 am
It’s amazing the sheer amount of work that goes into hiring someone. Never having had to run the entire process from start to finish, I never really realised how tiring it is and why it becomes so important to reduce your hire rates if at all possible. I thought I’d list out the individual step...
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Video Reviews : Citadels

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 17, 2011, 3:01 pm
Hi Everybody, And here it is – our first Board Game video review for Citadels. Let us know what you think.
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Guest Review : Glory to Rome

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 16, 2011, 9:24 pm
In Glory to Rome, you play the role of a Roman aristocrat overseeing the rebuilding of Rome after it is destroyed in the Great Fire. You will do so by directing the reconstruction, gaining influence by completing buildings – or by unscrupulously selling building materials on the side, like any suc...
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New and Restocked Games: October 13th, 2011

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 13, 2011, 10:45 pm
New Games: Blood Bowl: Team Manager Carson City – A New Beginning Expansion Dreadfleet Grave Business Little Dead Riding Hood Timeline: Inventions Warmachine Prime: Remix Restocked Games: 1805: Seas of Glory A Touch of Evil, The Supernatural Game Agricola Ascending Empires Battles of Westeros ...
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Video Teasers

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 13, 2011, 1:30 pm
As those of you who follow us on twitter might know, we’re in the process of creating a series of video reviews. We’ve seen the first drafts and are in the process of having them done up; but we thought we might tease you guys a bit: Here’s the Intro as done by Rob from Phasefirefilms (our vi...
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On Categorising Games

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 11, 2011, 7:07 pm
I’ve recently been playing with the backend of the site in preparation for a review of our sales / margins / turn rates and a redesign of the website.  Among other things, I’ve been trying to categorise our income streams a bit further from ‘Accessories’, ‘Games’  & ‘Shipping’.  I...
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Guest Review : Pandemic

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 9, 2011, 2:52 pm
Pandemic is a cooperative game for 1-4 players taking on different roles in the fight against four diseases that are ravaging the population of the world. Players must work together to prevent catastrophic outbreaks and find the cures for four regional diseases.   Appearance Pandemic is played o...
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Sales Revenue by Manufacturer – September 2011

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 7, 2011, 3:31 pm
Sorry I haven’t posted anything interesting lately; it’s been a busy couple of months. I’ll probably finish the draft blog posts I have on what’s been keeping us busy, but in the meantime, I thought readers might be interested in the following pie chart. Chart is for September 2011 and shows...
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New and Restocked Games: October 6th, 2011

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 6, 2011, 11:48 pm
... Snow Battletech: 25 Years of Art and Fiction BattleTech: Jihad Hotspots 3076 Battletech ... Battletech: Jihad Conspiracies Confusion: Espionage and Deception in the Cold War Cthulhutech: ... Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords – The Skinsaw Murders Pathfinder: Second Darkness Companion Pat...
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Bestsellers and Hottest Games List

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 6, 2011, 4:06 pm
And the new bestsellers list and the hottest upcoming games list for September. As always, here’s the previous month’s list for August 2011. 1. Settlers of Catan 4th Edition 2. Lord of the Rings : Conflict at Carrock Adventure Pack 3. Lord of the Rings : Hunt for Gollum Adventure P...
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October 2011 Newsletter

Tao W. posted an article on - Oct 3, 2011, 2:37 pm
New RPG Section, Pre-Order List & MMP Games Many of you might have noticed a new category – Role-Playing Games. We’ve recently introduced this new category and have entered 4 different systems at the moment. If there’s a system you’d like to see us carry more of (other than D&D which we are...
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New and Restocked Games: September 29th, 2011

Tao W. posted an article on - Sep 29, 2011, 10:27 pm
New Games Call of Cthulhu LCG – Conspiracies of Chaos Asylum Pack (Revised) Call of Cthulhu LCG – Curse of the Jade Emperor Asylum Pack Deadwood Fantasy Flight Blood Dice Bag Fantasy Flight Sword Dice Bag Fantasy Flight Tentacle Dice Bag Fantasy Flight Vortex Dice Bag A Game of Thrones LCG : He...
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New Category: RPGs

Tao W. posted an article on - Sep 28, 2011, 5:18 pm
One of the biggest pieces of information to come out of the survey we conducted a few months ago was the fact that quite a few of our customers are interested in traditional roleplaying games (RPGs), which we haven’t been carrying many of up to this point. In order to fill this gap, we’ve brough...
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New: Wednesday Sales

Tao W. posted an article on - Sep 28, 2011, 1:19 pm
In an effort to make room for some of the exciting new stock we have coming in, and to showcase some good games that have not gotten the attention they deserve, Starlit will be holding a small weekly sale every Wednesday! Each week, we’ll be singling out a few games and marking them down dramatic...
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Guest Review : Caylus

Tao W. posted an article on - Sep 26, 2011, 12:10 pm
In Caylus, you and your opponents play the roles of builders who are tasked with building a village and castle for King Philip the Fair in the year 1289. Caylus is a fairly heavy strategy game that revolves around a worker-placement mechanic. Resource-management is also a very important part of the ...
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Pre-Order Games List

Tao W. posted an article on - Sep 24, 2011, 1:19 pm
SKU Name Release Date BOARD GAMES FFGDU14 DEADWOOD 9/21/2011 FFGMEC02 LORD OF THE RINGS LCG: “HUNT FOR GOLLUM” ADV-PACK 9/21/2011 FFGMEC03 LORD OF THE RINGS LCG: “CONFLICT/CARROCK” ADV-PACK 9/21/2011 GTM140 SENTINELS OF THE MULTIVERSE 9/23/2011 CZE 01212 WALKING DEAD BOARD GAME (TV) 9/28/201...
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New Game Update: September 23rd, 2011

Tao W. posted an article on - Sep 23, 2011, 10:33 pm
A few more games to add to our new arrivals list, as well as a new selection of back issues of Spielbox magazine, for your reading pleasure. New Games: La Bataille de Moscowa 20th Anniversary Edition Lifeboat Lifeboat Expansion #1 – Cannibalism Lifeboat Expansion #2 – Liquid Courage Spielbox Mag...
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New & Restocked Games : September 22, 2011

Tao W. posted an article on - Sep 23, 2011, 12:02 am
New Games Age of Industry: Expansion 1 Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #3 Beyond Valor – ASL Module #1 Chocolatl Limited Edition Dungeon Raiders Guderian’s Blitzkrieg II Jump Gate Karnaxis King Philip’s War Mansions of Madness: The Silver Tablet Expansion Star Trek: Fleet Captains S...
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Guest Review : 7 Wonders

Tao W. posted an article on - Sep 21, 2011, 12:46 pm
In this hobby, German-style games often fall under two broad categories:  the complex games for serious hobbyists, and the light, fast and fun games made for families and more social gaming groups. Occasionally, a Eurogame comes out that defies easy categorization.  7 Wonders is neither a typical ...
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Pre-Orders, Returns and Policy Changes

Tao W. posted an article on - Sep 17, 2011, 11:33 am
There recently has been a highly contentious thread on BGG on Return Policies for Online Game Stores.   I am not going to discuss the other store’s policies, though we thought we’d clarify our own thoughts on the matter and bring up a question that has been on our mind. Return Policy For tho...
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New and Restocked Board Games: September 15th, 2011

Tao W. posted an article on - Sep 15, 2011, 11:18 pm
New Games: The Adventurers: The Pyramid of Horus The Adventurers: Pyramid of Horus Miniatures The Ares Project Bears! Fortune and Glory: The Cliffhanger Game Galapa Go! No Retreat! Order of the Stick Adventure Game: Deluxe Edition Space Empires 4x Talisman: Dragon Expansion Restocked Games: 7 Won...
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Guest Review : Battlestar Galacitca Board Games

Tao W. posted an article on - Sep 12, 2011, 3:56 pm
Battlestar Galactica is a 3-6 player semi-cooperative game based on the re-imagined series. Players take on the role of one of the major characters on the Galactica trying to survive after the Cylon’s attack on the Twelve Colonies. Throughout the game, players must manage of finite resources while...
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New and Restocked Games: September 7th, 2011

Tao W. posted an article on - Sep 9, 2011, 12:25 am
New Games: Crappy Birthday Dust Tactics Core Set (Revised) Dust Tactics Unit Card Upgrade Pack Elder Sign Fantasy Flight Supply Plastic Stands Gears of War: The Board Game Gnome Crystals Guards! Guards! Lord of the Rings LCG: Journey to Rhosgobel Nitro Dice Quest: A Time of Heroes Tannhauser: Iroh ...
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Bestsellers & Pre-Orders Games for September

Tao W. posted an article on - Sep 7, 2011, 2:37 pm
The latest bestsellers and pre-orders games list have gone up on the site. A surprising number of Lord of the Rings Adventure Packs sold last month; and we have excluded all accessories since otherwise, they’d dominate the list (in terms of quantity sold). As a reference; here’s July’s pair o...
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September 2011 Newsletter

Tao W. posted an article on - Sep 7, 2011, 12:03 pm
Guest Bloggers & Conventions We recently made a request for some guest bloggers to help us write and review more games. We currently have 3 writers rotating through on a weekly basis. Let us know if you are enjoying reading the new guest reviews and who you enjoy reading the most – that includes ...
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