I've been hassling Joe Knapper (AKA spider AKA the Michael Jordan of Heroscape) for the last couple years to write an article about what sort of preparation and skills are really important for going home with a trophy or 20 dollars worth of stuff you already have.

But he never does. Truth is, he probably doesn't enjoy writing as much as I do, and I finally won a tournament again, beating him along the way no less. I liken it to when MJ came back after baseball and tried to jump right into the playoffs and wasn't even able to wear his own jersey right away. He'll be back, just like the terminator he was.

All right, that's enough analogies. On to the advice, in semi-chronological order. The even shorter version of this is to be confident without being overconfident.

1. Don't stress about your army build.

Nine times out of ten, I may come up with thirty different builds, but the one I actually end up playing is one of the first...

Not a whole lot to say.

Between watching all the new D1 units get played at a high level, participating in a budding tournament scene for Summoner Wars, and just hanging out with some good friends for one really long weekend away from work, words cannot adequately express how much pure enjoyment I expect to experience for those four days.

If you're on the fence about going, and you're reading this, start saving up now (or last August).

Discuss.

So it begins.

The playtesters and some people who live near certain FLGS' have already received their Master Set 3: Battle for the Underdark. Sandra over at HMG reported earlier that she'll get hers in today, ready to ship out soon. I'm sure that WGHQ and the other online retailers will follow suit shortly, and we'll start seeing them in Wal-Mart before too long.

There has been a lot of discussion over the last few months, ranging from people being ecstatic to enraged over the proceedings. But once the previews started coming in, and hints were dropped, it seems (to me at least) that the community response has been more and more optimistic.

Having the set in hand has helped me too. Setting up cave systems with shadows and stalagmites has been pretty cool. I don't think that adding fun new scenarios should in any way detract from the game we all know and love. It'll just give us a new way to enjoy it, and for some, it might be just what...

I don't talk about them much here, but I've got an older brother and sister.

While my sister and I were growing up, I'd drive her crazy every time we'd go to a fast food place. You see, she did something which I absolutely couldn't comprehend.

She never ate ketchup. Ever. She still hasn't to this day.

But for many years, I'd ask her why.

"Why don't you eat ketchup?"
"It's gross."
"But you've never tasted it."
"It smells bad."
"But it tastes good." Then I'd put my fry into some ketchup and eat it for emphasis.

I didn't get it. She ate spaghetti. She liked tomato sauce. She liked dressing, and some other things made with vinegar. Yet she arbitrarily decided at some point in her life that she would never eat ketchup.

Now, she lives a perfectly fine life sans-ketchup, but I think about her every time I enjoy that...