Best laid plans often find themselves at the mercy of fate, and a customs hold on our shipment of The Village Crone has put us a bit behind so we are sliding the release date to September 30.
We have confirmation it has been released by customs and is in the warehouse. We need some time to get it logged into inventory and prepped for outgoing shipments, but we will definitely make this new release date.
You may also want to meet up with us on the road as we start the Something Wicked Tour this weekend in Brookline, MA at Eureka Puzzles & Knight Moves Cafe on September 19. You can see the entire tour schedule with dates and venues in our tour announcement blog or by viewing our Calendar.
Don’t forget you can download the 3D printer files for the game components and make your own minis on your personal 3D printer, and if you pre-order through our website, you will get the exclusive Silver promo coaster! (Ask at your FLGS, as they may have gotten a few of these at recent retailer shows.)
We’ll be sharing more game play videos and game reviews as they come in and stay tuned for fun updates from the Something Wicked Tour!
There is a crispness in the air and something whispers on the wind. Fall approaches, as does the witching hour. We invite you to join us as we bring The Village Crone to game stores across New England with the Something Wicked Tour!
Our newest game is full of spell-casting and witchy fun, and releases in September. We are hitting the road to traverse the Northeast United States, teaching new witches how to play and visiting some spooky places along the way.
Anne-Marie De Witt (designer of The Village Crone) and Justin De Witt (co-owner of Fireside Games) will be making the following stops to demo The Village Crone, talk about game design, share promos for the game, and generally be enchanting! We hope to see you along the way.
It’s that time of year again already! Next week we will be heading to Atlanta, GA along with 70,000 other people for DragonCon.
This year the Exhibitor Space is in AmericasMart Building 2. We will be on the First Floor in Booth 1425.
We will have copies of The Village Crone for advance sale, so you can take it home with you before it releases in stores in September. But we only have a limited supply, so be sure to come by early.
DragonCon is a unique show and we get to see some pretty sweet costumes walk by the booth! If you are going to the show this year, stop by and say “Hi!” You can pick up the 6th Level Agranok card for The Dark Titan or an Alarm Clock for Bears!
Oh, and we’ll have these super sweet Deluxe Monster Draw Bags for Castle Panic for sale. We just got them back in stock!
Another Gen Con has come to an end. We came, we played, we conquered.
This year had record attendance, according to the official count from Gen Con, and the sea of people around the booth indicated they all made it through the exhibit hall at some point. Things went very smoothly for us this year, thanks to our awesome volunteers and staff!
Our demo tables stayed full with barely a lull. Players were scrambling to get in one more round each night at closing time and were snagging chairs minutes after the hall opened each day. Many thanks to everyone who came by to play with us, you made the con such fun for us!
The Village Crone debuted at this year’s Gen Con and we are thrilled so many people came by to demo, get an overview, and take an advance copy home with them. If you missed Gen Con this year, never fear. It is now available for pre-order on our website or through your Friendly Local Game Store. If you need help finding a game store near you, check out our Store Locator Map.
You can also download the special 3D printer files we created for The Village Crone components on the product information page. They are FREE to download until the end of the year, so get them now and use them later!
We are already brainstorming about how to make next year even better and we have several new games that will be coming your way in 2016. So, go get some sleep. Recuperate and rest assured there are big things coming your way at Gen Con 2016 and we invite you to join us for the fun.
What were your favorite moments from GenCon? Tell us in the comments below!
GenCon Indy 2015 is fast-approaching and we’re busy getting ready to offer some really fun stuff in our booth (#1949) this year!
First & foremost, we will have The Village Crone out on tables for demos all weekend, as well as Castle Panic with The Dark Titan, Dead Panic, and Bears! with Bears! Trail Mix’d.
We will also have a limited number of advance copies of The Village Crone available each day for purchase. You can get a copy SIX WEEKS in advance of it’s release in mid-September! Come to our booth (#1949) in the morning, as we will only release 100 copies each day.
As if that’s not enough reason to come by the booth, we will have promos for The Dark Titan, Bears! Trail Mix’d, and The Village Crone, so stop by and ask our booth staff. You are definitely going to want to see what we have lined up for The Village Crone!
To read more about our GenCon plans and see what show pricing and demos we will be hosting, visit our GenCon Page on our website.
We’re really excited to see you all in Indianapolis in just a few weeks! Please come by to say hi, play a game, pick up a promo, and meet some of our great volunteers in the new Torch Program!
The July 4th Holiday weekend is upon us once again and what better time to introduce your friends and family to some new games?
Here is our list of 10 fun, portable, family-friendly games perfect for the picnic table:
1. Bohnanza (Rio Grande Games) – Plant your bean fields and harvest your crops to sell them at market for top dollar. The art is playful, the theme light-hearted, and it’s easy to teach to non-gamers. Plus, it’s fun to declare yourself the Stink Bean Mogul.
2. Sushi Go (Gamewright) –A pass and play card game with deliciously adorable art and fast-paced rounds, this game becomes addicting and will surely be a go-to game for future family gatherings.
3. Red Hot Silly Peppers (Rather Dashing Games) –In this silly game of salsa-making, more is better. Play card combos to make the hottest salsa, but watch out for other players using more ingredients and stealing your points!
4. Telestrations (USAopoly) – Pictorial telephone is the way of this game. Illustrate your clue and pass the book, taking turns drawing and guessing what the clue is. At the end of the round reveal the hilarious interpretations from the group.
5. Gravwell (Renegade Games) – Use the elements to escape the blackhole and boost your spaceship closer to the safe zone. Watch out for dead ships and other players using the forces of gravity to advance their own ship past yours. There’s actual science behind this one, so go ahead and geek out a bit.
7. Roll for It (Calliope Games) – Roll your dice and stake a claim to the cards that match your rolls. Go all in to score big, or go for the sure bet and watch your winnings stack up steadily. Play as many rounds as you like with this portable, easy to learn, dice game.
8. Bang! The Dice Game (Da Vinci) – The Wild West is alive and well in this dice game of hidden identities and flying bullets. Roll the dice and play them against the bandits or the Sheriff, depending on whose side you’re on. Careful, there’s the quick and then there’s the dead, so stay on your toes to survive this standoff.
9. Citadels (Fantasy Flight Games) – Fortune and city-building, with some good old-fashioned intrigue, this game requires a balance between long-term strategy and short-term opportunity. Choose your identity carefully each round to secure the wealth needed to build your city with an and come out on top.
10. Mag Blast (Fantasty Flight Games) – Who needs diplomacy when you have laser-blasters? Captain your own fleet of inter-galactic ships, using your cards strategically to take out your opponents before they reduce you to space junk.
What are your favorite games to break out at the family picnic? Share in the comments below!
Kris and Maureen were on location this past weekend at Who’sYerCon in Indianapolis, IN to share The Dark Titan and kick-off recruiting for our new volunteer corps, The Torch Program*.
We arrived on Friday afternoon and found the con already in full swing with the game library hopping and the open gaming area full. We saw several familiar faces and met lots of new friends.
Agranok tried to scare us up some Torch applicants and managed to hypnotize a few fans of our games that first night. We moved to the open gaming room around 8pm and played games until 11, giving some new players a chance to tackle The Dark Titan.
Saturday morning came and after scavenging for breakfast we headed back to the Wyndham Indianapolis West to meet some more gamers, recruit some more volunteers, and play some more games. We got to tell a bunch of people about the Panic Line and saw our games coming and going from the game library all day. That evening we played some Dead Panic as well as Castle Panic with The Dark Titan.
Who’s Yer Con is a free gaming convention that is open to anyone who wants to play. It has a very friendly, laid-back vibe and every one we met was a having a great time. We hope to get a chance to get out and do this con again in the future.
*We’re working on a web page for The Torch Program, so if you are interested in volunteering and teaching Fireside Games games to others stay tuned as we bring the application process to a computer near you! Also feel free to ask about the program when you see us in person at events coming up this summer!
We had representatives on the ground at two additional events for International Table Top Day this year. We’re excited the growth of the company has provided us the additional staff so we can play games with more people in more locations on more occasions in the future.
First up, we started the day in Hudson, OH with Kris and Maureen on location at The Malted Meeple, a gaming cafe that offers a wide variety of snacks and beverages (craft beers and sodas, and hand-crafted milkshakes!) as well as an extensive game library. Kris debuted the Flame Hat in her intro video for the event. You can watch it in action below:
We got set up in an event space off the main room around 11 AM and there were already several gamers at other tables enjoying games. We were set up to handle demos of Castle Panic with The Dark Titan, as well as Dead Panic and Bears! Partway through the day they broke out a copy of Munchkin Panic to show a few gamers how they were different and get a couple more demos underway.
Aside from the event room we had copies of the games out at tables in the main room among the throngs of people who kept the staff at The Malted Meeple hopping all day with milkshake orders and lots of snack prep! There was rarely an empty table and the place stayed full well into the evening. Maureen even played a couple of raucous games of Bears! right at the bar!
It was great fun to see our games making the rounds and meet some big fans who came out specifically for Castle Panic swag. We even got to see our Troll coasters all over the place with each drink order!
Next up, a few hours later and entire time zone away, Edgar and Gabby were at Dragon’s Lair Comic & Fantasy in Austin, TX for their in-store event!
They ran several demos of Castle Panic with The Dark Titan as well as a few with Castle Panic and BOTH The Dark Titan and The Wizard’s Tower expansions! Edgar also ran some people through some exciting games of Bears! They ran out of space and time as the tables remained full all day, but managed to talk to a lot of people about the upcoming Bears! Trail Mix’d expansion to Bears! as well as the forthcoming The Village Crone, expected out this fall.
Dragon’s Lair is an awesome store and they planned a big event with several game companies represented and lots of open gaming happening. The staff there was very accommodating and supportive and the event attendees were great fun. There were even a few people who survived The Dark Titan! It was a long day full of fun, Castle destruction, and awesome people.
We look forward to future events at Dragon’s Lair and hope to see more of the Austin gaming community out at events like this. Thanks to the folks at Dragon’s Lair and The Malted Meeple for helping us have such a successful International TableTop Day!
Kris & Maureen will be back at The Malted Meeple later in the month as we are in their Publisher Spotlight this month. So if you are local in Ohio and missed TableTop Day you get a second chance at the fun. Check our calendar and watch our Facebook for information on the next visit.
You’ll be seeing more of Edgar as well as he heads up our new volunteer corps, The Torch Program. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer for Fireside Games, we are currently actively recruiting for the Austin area as well as for GenCon 2015. Contact us for more details.
Anne-Marie and Justin took a whirlwind trip to LA to attend the flagship TableTop Day event at Geek & Sundry’s secret Headquarters in Burbank. The day started off early with people lining up to get in. The “secret” headquarters weren’t so secret with giant, inflatable G&S logos everywhere, so it was pretty easy to find.
Justin and Anne-Marie got there early and were able to see the place while it was still empty. Geek & Sundry has a pretty sweet soundstage to work with!
Since we were sponsors of TableTop Day, we were given a VIP table where we could show off The Dark Titan. We had help this year from local game gurus, Eric Burgess and Devi Hughes. These two were awesome, running demos and keeping players entertained all day long. We couldn’t have done the event without them! Plus Eric brought famous strawberry donuts from The Donut Man, which of course Justin had to try.
Before long, the doors were open and gamers came flooding in! Tables were filled and many games began. People were excited to try The DarkTitan, but a lot of the people that came by the table hadn’t played Castle Panic yet at all. They soon realized they were getting a special treat when the designer of the game taught them how to play!
Felica Day kicked things off with a quick speech and was there all day playing games with people and shaking hands. Geek & Sundry had a library where players could check out games, as well as a merchandise booth where you could get a drink or pick up some sweet G&S swag!
While Eric and Devi taught some demos, Justin and Anne-Marie went out into the crowd to visit with fans and take in the whole event. We found some Bears! players, and Anne-Marie was able to teach the game to them, but she didn’t get the highest score that game!
There was a photo op with a couch and cutout of Felica Day that got a lot of attention that day as well as a Loser’s Couch. Here our buddy Patrick from Crash Games poses with a group of players that were defeated.
It was a great time with a great feel to it. Justin took this panorama shot standing in the middle of the soundstage, which kind of gives you a little bit of the feel of the whole thing.
The event was so large, they had to extend it out of the soundstage and into a tented area in the parking lot. And it was NEVER empty.
We also encountered a group of Munchkin players diving into the world of Munchkin Panic, so we stopped to talk with them. Once they realized they were talking with the designer of the game, they wanted to get their photo taken with Anne-Marie. It was a lot of fun to meet fans of our games at this event, since so many of them are new to gaming they are very passionate and very excited to meet the creators in person.
There were also 3 food trucks at the event providing Hawaiian shaved ice, Japanese-style hotdogs and gourmet grilled cheese. The lines may have been long, but it was worth it.
Later in the afternoon, Wil Wheaton arrived and thanked everyone for coming. It’s fun to see how drawn to him people are, and he really does make a great ambassador for gaming. He was running a live stream on Twitch that should be available shortly, and we’ll let you know once we have access to that.
We ran a bunch more demos and made a lot of players happy. Even if Agranok did crush their towers, players still left with smiles on their faces.
Eventually though, 6:00 rolled around, and it was time to close down the event. Wil and Felicia gave a very nice closing speech reminding everyone that this hobby brings us all together like nothing else and also pointing out that this year TableTop Day was celebrated on every continent on the planet, including Antarctica! It was really great to be a part of something so big, and we hope everyone had a blast playing games with old friends and new ones. Thanks to everyone that helped organize an event, or just joined one to make it more fun!
We are honored to be the featured publisher for The Malted Meeple’s Publisher Spotlight in the month of April.
The Malted Meeple is a new game café that recently opened up in Hudson, OH, not too far from where our Marketing Manager, Maureen, is based. The Malted Meeple is owned by the fine folks who also own and operate Ravenwood Castle in New Plymouth, OH.
The Malted Meeple offers snacks, hand-crafted milkshakes, and craft beers alongside their selection of board games you can play on-site with your party. This is a family-friendly environment and they encourage gaming for all ages. We are really enjoying this growing trend of game cafes and encourage you to seek one out in your neighborhood for a fun dining/gaming combo experience.
In honor of our spotlight, The Malted Meeple is showcasing some of our games this month and Kris and Maureen will be heading out to their location on International TableTop Day on Saturday, April 11 to play games with patrons and hand out some fun promos.
If you are in the area we invite you to join us on April 11 for a fun day full of games, milkshakes, and good friends!
We met the Malted Meeple/ Ravenwood Castle team last year in person after email correspondence and fun social media banter. They have grown to be fast friends of ours. We are happy to be able to participate in their new endeavor and to welcome another great place to get together and play games to our growing list of game stores around the country.
The skies finally cleared over Salt Lake City as we made our way to Game Night Games for an evening of monstrous fun. Game Night Games not only features a great selection of games but they have a really nice gaming area in the back, which we promptly filled with players anxious to get a look at the newest addition to Castle Panic!
Faster than you could say “8-point Monster” We had our first game up and running. Our first group of fans wanted to try the base game with the new expansion, and they got off to a great start, clearing the board early and keeping the Monsters well under control.
While the first group fought on, Anne-Marie was busy giving overviews of the game to some interested gamers and a third game of just Castle Panic got underway to help some new players get a feel for the game before jumping into the expansion.
Before long, we had another game going and our teams fought on. The Cavalier was definitely the MVP of the night, and more than 1 player agreed that he may be their new favorite addition to Castle Panic.
And it’s a good thing our first group was using him a lot too. Take a look at this.
The Dark Titan expansion introduces a new mechanic called Banishing that removes cards from the game. Slay cards that are used against Agranok only cause 4 points of damage to him and are Banished. There are other ways you can have cards Banished, and the first group ended up losing all the cards shown here during the game.
Imagine having to fight off the Monsters without using any of these cards!
Thanks to some REALLY lucky draws and carefully planned moves, our team did more than fight off the Monsters. They stomped them flat, losing only 1 Tower when the dust settled.
After the second group survived their game, we started up a combined game with The Wizard’s Tower and The Dark Titan. This time our heroes would lose all but their last 2 Towers (including a rebuilt Wizard’s Tower), but still claim victory.
We signed some games while we chatted with our players, and then spent some time talking with Mike, the store manager. It’s always great to talk some business as we get to know all the great stores that help spread the love of our hobby.
Our next stop on The Dark Titan Cometh Tour will be an afternoon event this Saturday, March 7th, at Dragon’s Keep in Provo from noon to 4 p.m.
Check out how nicely laid out this store is! It is well-arranged for customers to easily find exactly the right game to take home.
The preview event for The Dark Titan, the next expansion to Castle Panic, has begun! We arrived in Denver late Saturday, and on Sunday afternoon we headed over to Shep’s Games in Aurora to start the tour.
After talking with Shep, we set up our new banners and dove right into the first demo of The Dark Titan. The crowd was small but enthusiastic about seeing the new game! First up was the basic version of Castle Panic combined with The Dark Titan.
Things were going well until the Elite monsters arrived all at once, in the same arc. Shortly after that, Agranok himself appeared and our brave crew of Castle defenders began to wonder if they would be able to survive the onslaught.
Giant Boulders rained down on the Castle and many brave Swordsmen and Knights were used to defend the walls from the incoming tide of Monsters. Thanks to some clever cardplay, Agranok met his end and the battle raged on. Our heroes rallied for a final turn, bringing out the Cavalier to charge into battle, but the Dark Sorceress appeared and her ability to reduce everyone’s hand size proved too much and the last Tower fell to the monstrous horde.
Clamoring for revenge, our heroes started up a second game. This time, we tried it using the Alternate Rule “A Man’s Home Is His Castle,” in which each player chooses a Tower to represent him/her in the game. Despite our heroes best efforts, the tension to protect their own Tower proved too much and once again the Monsters trampled the Castle to dust.
A third game saw Anne-Marie jumping in to help provide backup for the team and new players taking on the challenge.
Many Monsters were destroyed, and the players rebuilt damaged Walls as fast as they were knocked down. The Dark Sorceress fell to some powerful card combinations and at one point in the game, the Cavalier helped to clear all the Monsters from the board.
Sadly, it would turn out to be too little help as a rush of new Monsters, including Agranok, brought serious damage upon the Castle, ending with the Dark Titan himself breaching the Walls and destroying the last Tower.
The last game of the afternoon was a full combination of Castle Panic, The Wizard’s Tower, and The Dark Titan. Magic spells were furiously cast, and the Monster horde advanced tirelessly. The Dragon, Basilisk, and Necromancer did their best to destroy the Castle, but thanks to a last-minute casting of Wizard Quake the game ended with 2 Towers still standing. VICTORY!
It was a great ending to a great day, and the perfect beginning to our demo tour! Thanks to everyone who came out to Shep’s Games to get their promo card and help us fight off The Dark Titan.
For all our Colorado fans, be sure to come see us at our next store event at The Haunted Game Café in Fort Collins on Saturday, February 7th, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.! Check out the full tour schedule to see where else we’ll be in the coming weeks.
2014 was an amazing year for Fireside Games. We appreciate all the opportunities that came our way this year and would like to especially thank everyone who plays our games and shares them with new players. We love making games as much as you love playing them.
We put our heads together and came up with our Top 5 Highlights from 2014.
Celebrating 5 Years of Castle Panic – It was such fun getting to share behind the scenes details and talk directly with our fans at the Google Hangout and the official Birthday Party, sharing the Oracle as a bonus game piece, reminiscing about the early days and hearing from all of you as you shared your Castle Panic memories, and the cake, oh yes, the cake!
Company Growth & New Staff – A major step forward for Fireside was expanding and growing the company with the addition of Kris and Maureen to our full-time staff. Kris has elevated our Customer Service to enviable levels and Maureen has helped keep our planning on track so we get to see more of you out and about in the world. We look forward to more expansion in the coming year and being able to serve you even better.
Upgraded Website & Ecommerce – Our website got a great-looking facelift with added features and lots of helpful information for our long-term fans and new customers alike. The addition of e-commerce has allowed us to bring you the fun branded merchandise you used to only be able to get a conventions, like T-shirts, patches, and replacement pieces.
Expanding the Panic Line – With the release of Munchkin Panic we have expanded our line of Panic games, which already includes Castle Panic and Dead Panic, by giving you another unique play experience built on familiar mechanics with new features and objectives. We were also very excited to get How To Play videos up for all our games to make learning more accessible to everyone who gets a copy of one of our games. We even have small, break-out videos for many of the new twists in the different Panic games so you get the best experience and training you can.
We are taking some much needed rest time in the next week, but are already working on big plans for 2015. We invite you along for the ride. It’s going to be amazing!
Add a little Castle Panic cheer to your holiday with this FREE snowflake pattern.
It’s easy to make and you can use them for fun, gamer decor this holiday season. Hang them on your tree, on a window, make a garland of them, or just attach one to that special package under the tree… you know, the one that holds The Wizard’s Tower expansion for the Castle Panic player in your life!
Fireside Games will be traveling to the mountains January–March 2015, bringing “The Dark Titan Cometh” Tour to Denver and Salt Lake City and surrounding areas.
Here are the dates and venues we currently have booked. Check back often as we may be adding more!
The Dark Titan is the next expansion to Castle Panic, our cooperative tower defense board game. It is scheduled for a Spring 2015 release. You can learn more about The Dark Titan and it’s related base game, Castle Panic, and additional expansion, The Wizard’s Toweron our website.
This time of year is all about traditions and the enduring sense of wonder and excitement that the dawning of a new year can bring. We would like to share some of our favorite traditions, both old and new, with you.
Kris, Customer Care Manager
When I was a kid I loved hiking out into the woods to find and cut down a Christmas tree. It was usually just me and my dad and maybe one of my brothers. It was a nice quiet time spent outside.
As an adult, New Year’s Eve is my favorite. It’s all about expressing gratitude for the past year and hope for the new.
Anne-Marie, CEO
My favorite childhood holiday tradition was baking cookies for the Christmas tree. My mom used a special sugar cookie recipe that made cookies unusually thick. We stuck a toothpick through the tops of them before we baked them, decorated them after they cooled, and then strung yarn through the holes to hang them on the tree. My brother, sister, and I would sneak cookies off of the tree until Christmas day.
My favorite current holiday tradition is lighting farolitos (candles set in sand in paper bags). When Justin was growing up in New Mexico, his family adopted the tradition that originated with Spanish merchants, who were influenced by Chinese paper lanterns, and then picked up by the Roman Catholic church as a way to symbolize hope that the spirit of Christ would be guided to the home. Typically, roadways and driveways are lit to show the path to the home. There’s something warm and comforting about seeing those little flames against the cold.
Justin, Chief Creative Officer
My favorite holiday tradition from when I was a kid was that we would get to open one present on Christmas Eve. It was always a really big deal and I would spend the days leading up to it looking over all my presents trying to pick that special one.
Now that I’m older, my favorite holiday tradition is probably decorating the outside of the house with lights. While I don’t go as overboard as I do for Halloween, I do get a kick out of trying to be creative with strings of white and multi-color lights.
Maureen, Marketing Manager
On Christmas Eve when I was a kid we would get to give and open the presents we had bought for each other (Christmas morning was for Santa). I grew up with 4 siblings. I love GIVING presents & I am terrible at waiting, I would spend the week leading up to Christmas begging to be allowed to give someone something. I was always giddy about getting to see everyone’s faces when they opened my present to them.
As a “grown-up” I still love giving presents more than getting them. But I also really love the new tradition we started with friends for New Year’s Eve. We have a themed party and everyone dresses up in costumes to match. We drink, play games, and all look fabulous doing it!
What are your favorite holiday traditions? Share in the comments below!
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