Could it be ... a blog post!

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We know, it's been a little while since our last blog entry, not because we've been sleeping off the excesses of the US road trip, nor because we've been driving blazing cars into Scottish airports but because we're just lazy gits. Oh and we're trying to conquer the world with a board game and it's a time-consuming business.

So what's new? Well, we've put in the order for another 5,000 games, we're exhibiting at GenCon UK in Reading at the end of August and most importantly, we're very happy to announce a distribution partnership with Studio 2 Publishing in the United States. Studio 2 also have links with distributors in Australia and throughout Europe, so watch this space - we'll update the site with the full extent of distribution as soon as we know.

That's bullshit. I've won at least three timesWe also have a cheeky little plug to sneak in. Andy T has got himself involved in an impossibly weird and wonderful project: The Magnificent Revolutionary Cycle Cinema. Do check it out - it's a fantastic idea and revolutionary in many ways. The hard-peddlin' cycle chain gang are taking their pedal-powered cinema on the road, doing a special gig at the Big Chill Festival from 3 - 5 August, followed possibly by a national tour. Maybe? Who knows ... Sad thing is, this means you'll be seeing less of the Curly-Haired One round these parts. Not to fear though, Tom 'Two-Bloody-Marys-For-Breakfast-Please' Morgan-Jones has stepped in to fill the Dictator Boots. We march on ...

We leave you with some far-from-final words from Mr Andy T and a selection of weird photos from Andy and Tom's west coast road trip back in May. And let that be an end to our holiday - I mean, business trip. We shall speak of it no more.

"I've heard the rumours that the reason I got involved in the cycle cinema is because I had only won one game of War on Terror. I'd like to say that's bullshit. I've won at least three times*. After three years working on such a crazy project I just needed to stretch my legs... Big thanks to everyone who helped keep me sane over those years, who helped with the game, who risked their own sanity to test the thing... And rock on Tom & Andy, the TerrorBull is in good hands!"

Andy T promises to return from his tour for 'any decent parties', so we'll see him soon, no doubt. Don't forget to check his blog.

* Actually, Andy T only won twice. The 'third' win was handed to him to stop a potential tantrum.

Reflections on America

Since this is normally a collective blog, we try to keep a little distance and objectivity. But with Andy T and Tom still somewhere on the West Coast, taking some well deserved time out, I'm left to contemplate our Stateside experience alone. So be forewarned, this is an Andy S blog entry.

I've brought back much more than just a chest infection from America (too many late nights, smoky casinos and too much talking). The reception we got in Vegas and the people we met in both Vegas and LA gave us all pause for thought.

Before we went, we genuinely thought there was a good chance that we wouldn't last the course at the convention. We thought Americans would flip out; that they'd be outraged. We were going to save the orange jumpsuits for the last day, convinced that it was a one-way ticket out of Vegas. We even worked out escape routes should angry mobs form. When we were greeted by unequivocal support, it confused us. OK, this may be the 'safe' environment of a game fair, but the only extreme reaction we got was wide-eyed enthusiasm.

Then in LA, the common response was that people not only *got* the game, but thanked us for making it. Even those who didn't necessarily agree with our tactics - a Vietnam vet, for example, who'd lost both his sons in Iraq - recognised and respected the fact that we had this fundamental right to criticise and satirise and that we were taking the initiative, rather than waiting for others to do so.

It was a pleasing irony that the country that christened this impossible war, now welcomed its ridicule. We saw none of the hand-wringing and nervous excuse-making we've experienced back home. We're not imagining that there will be no frustrations or obstacles in America, but just the fact that we instantly secured US distribution, while in the UK we've been talking to distributors for 9 months and have got nowhere - it makes you think, maybe America is more open-minded than one might believe.

It was at this point that a Media Lens Alert landed in my inbox, criticising an apparently too forgiving Radio 4 series on 'anti-americanism'. I hesitate to comment on things I haven't personally seen/heard/read, so I'll try and avoid talking about the programme directly, but Media Lens's criticism of it seemed to overstretch the point. I have to emphasise that Media Lens is normally vigorous, objective and logical, but in this alert, I got the sense they were going out of their way to undermine America's democratic foundations. Just because the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights aren't being universally applied today (or even then) doesn't invalidate the sentiment or ideas contained within them.

We may as well throw out our entire philosophical heritage because the Ancient Greeks had slaves and buggered little boys. When they dismiss as "mainstream convention" the idea that America was "forged as a nation dedicated to the democratic ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all" I couldn't help but wonder if the two Davids (who run Media Lens) had read any Thomas Paine or Thomas Jefferson. Those men, and indeed the documents they influenced and contributed to, are truly inspirational. They are, in every sense, revolutionary, progressive thinkers and have contributed much to the notion of 'rights' and also to democratic theory. And to try and negate these ideals, as Media Lens did, by highlighting the simultaneous oppression of the indigenous American Indians is specious in the extreme. We may as well throw out virtually our entire philosophical and mathematical heritage because the Ancient Greeks had slaves and buggered little boys.

Overall, it felt like Media Lens were worried that to admit any beneficial American contribution to democratic thought would in some way negate their other arguments or detract from the magnitude of America's international crimes against humanity. Not at all. But there is a thing called 'anti-americanism' and there is countless anecdotal evidence of Americans being treated unjustly and even violently when travelling abroad. The sins of a government are being visited upon its population and demonising an entire group - especially one as large and diverse as America - is both pointless and dangerous.

Just remember, both the UK and Australia are just as complicit in America's wars. We destroy the environment with equal carelessness (in fact, Australia is reckoned to have the highest per-capita greenhouse gas emissions of any country in the world). No matter how unilaterally America likes to think it can act, the Iraq war would not have been possible without any international support. We also sell arms to known dictators. We also aid in the illegal transportation of terror suspects. We also detain people without trial. We also practise and endorse the use of both physical and mental torture. But when was the last time you saw a UK or Australian citizen come in for the same flack as Americans regularly get?

I hope that Media Lens - post-eagerness to criticise what America stands for - comes to admit that anti-Americanism does exist and that it's not deserved on an individual level.

The people we met and talked to - and became instant friends with - were uncritical, open-minded and believed passionately in those fundamental rights and ideas which Media Lens mocks as "mainstream convention".

For me, our trip really brought home the follies of assumption and prejudice. How could 250 million people be similar in any way beyond the fact they all live within the same borders? Everyone's an individual and they deserve to be treated and judged on that basis.

The War on Terror, LA style

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We get up early, not altogether with it after yesterday's marathon desert purgatory. We need to help Bill prepare Meltdown Comics for the world's first War on Terror Tournament. Spirits run high, even if our blood sugar doesn't.

When we get to Meltdown on Sunset Boulevard, we're immediately impressed at the rather insane lengths Bill has gone to for this tournament. There are giant posters up all over the place, American flags, colourful backdrops, bins filled with ice and chilled beer, ammo cases, army hats, sofas, snacks ... this man has gone to town. At this point we're hoping it's just going to be us four, hanging out and drinking all weekend.

Tom and Andy S rush off to Home Depot just before the doors open to get some mural painting equipment. Meltdown's owner, Francisco has set aside a large, white wall for Tom and a mixture of fear and excitement soon sets him on his feverish way.

With new tournament rules to hand, the first group of five are well into a game before midday. Then another four turn up and another four. There's shouting, laughing, cursing and happy chaos filling the room - it's a lovely sight.

There are people from Al Gore's cable network covering the entire weekend, so with two camera crews, there's a bit of tussle for premium angles. We were hoping for some 'Man Bites Dog' crew-on-crew violence, but sadly everyone got on just fine. That's the thing about Los Angeleans - they're just too damn friendly and nice.

There's shouting, laughing, cursing and happy chaos filling the room - it's a lovely sight. The rest of Day One is spent advising on tricky rule decisions, illicitly helping out weaker parties and generally soaking it all in. It's quite an unusual and - dare we say it - special event: strangers from different walks of life coming together to play this strange game. Some of them really get into it as well, playing up to 4 games over the two days. We get a great mix of people along over the weekend. Even the technician for the Happy Mondays stopped by. But that's about as celebrity as it got.

DAY TWO: We kick-start the following day by heading to Mann's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. We're told this is the place to be if we want to draw in even more people than yesterday, so we don the jumpsuits, grab a load of flyers and jump in the van.

We've already got a feel for Hollywood as not quite being the place you might imagine. It's got a pleasant, slightly seedy atmosphere and everything's a little run down, with pockets of both insanity and genius liberally sprinkled around. Mann's Chinese Theatre is definitely a pocket of the former. In fact, it's a refined concentration of pure looniness.

First off, it's the place to promote anything and everything. That means wearing an orange jumpsuit and shouting "War on Terror! Play the War on Terror!" does NOT get you noticed. We positively blended in. Catwoman was the first 'character' to express an interest. She looked pretty bored with being Catwoman, so talking about a satirical boardgame seemed welcome relief. Catwoman was surprisingly lucid and vocal on the subject for a cartoon supervillain and Superman was soon drawn into the huddle. Superman was very keen on the idea and was all up for having a game there and then on the famous star-emblazoned pavement (sorry, sidewalk), but a photo request sadly pulled him away again.

We met a couple of kids on their way back home from a big night out who declared they would take the "detour of their lives" to attend the WoT Tournament. We gave one of them a free balaclava as a reward and he pulled it on immediately and then ran off to scare Elvis.

Meanwhile a heated argument was breaking out between Princess Lea, Andy T and Catwoman. Princess Lea had apparently spent too much time in orbit, since it was difficult - to say the least - to get even the most basic of facts through to her. How, for example, do you begin to explain to someone that Saddam Hussein was not piloting one of the planes that hit the World Trade Centre on 9/11?

After almost two hours wearing boiler suits in the midday heat, talking to random crazy, funny and scared people, surrounded by slasher movie villains and bickering superheroes, we had to call it a day.

Back at Meltdown and our work had - thankfully - born fruit. Balaclava dude was there playing a particularly heated game with his mate. They both agreed this was the best thing they'd done since being in LA. Result! He gets a raven on a skull for being such a hardcore nutter.

Elsewhere, the highscore table is getting cramped near the top. We present Miro, an eight year old kid who double-nuked his own Mum (who then nuked him back) a special reward of a signed set for being such a pre-emptive hero. Miro wants to "put the world straight" when he grows up. The kid's had a good start.

The end of the Tournament and a brief prize-giving ceremony sees smiles and tears all round. We can't all be winners. And yet, we all are. Isn't that cool?

That evening, we go out with Bill and Catwoman for a farewell meal. Conversation takes some weird turns and - for once - stays clear of the War on Terror. Sexual politics and anthropomorphic ducks are on the agenda instead.

After a final day in LA, we're all smitten. It's a great place, full of weird and wonderful people. We'll miss it for sure. A special shout-out to Bill Gilman for his endless hospitality and for having the balls and ingenuity to pull off this sort of event. We couldn't imagine a more fitting end to such a fantastic and educational trip.

America. Fuck yeh!

Leaving Las Vegas ...

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The last day of the toy fair is traditionally a quiet affair and we prepared well by getting an early night for once, although Andy S somehow managed to end up at the Playboy club alone, "just taking a look around".

But the third day was as full-on as the other two. We barely get a moment to rest, especially as today is the day The Distributors do the rounds and nervous new publishers try and entice them over to change their fortunes.

Luckily for us, the word on the street appears to be that WoT is a must-have game. For the first time in our brief commercial existence, we were actually spoilt for choice. Instead of begging shops and distributors to look more closely at the game and reconsider, we had retailers telling us they "had to have it, no matter what". We rounded the day off with a couple of meetings and something about Santa Claus and sodomy and that was it.

When the bell sounded, we packed up knowing that the fair couldn't have gone any better for us. Overwhelmed by everyone's response, helpful advice and encouragement, we left with that warm glow that comes from being wanted and appreciated - or possibly it was just sweating inside an orange boiler suit for 3 days straight.

We particularly liked their creative marketing ideas, mostly involving Santa Claus and sodomyNo sooner had we packed up, than we were in the car, on the road, heading out of Vegas on a scenic route taking in Death Valley, the Mojave reserve and on to Los Angeles. It was an unspeakably moving experience to watch the buildings of Vegas trickle and stutter to a stop as the desert started, the sun setting brightly in front of us. We did what any normal human being would do: we stopped and played frisbee amongst the cacti until we could see no more.

After spending the night in the slightly 'Dusk to Dawn'-ish Long Street Hotel Casino - a state-border casino in the middle of nowhere - we set off early along the edge of Death Valley park, through Shoshone and Baker and down through the Mojave desert. We can particularly recommend the Shoshone museum and the Ashford's silver teapot.

The desert was too vast and impressive to take in all at once, leaving us all in quiet appreciation and awe for most of the journey. Again we expressed our amazement at the desert with a spot of frisbee, this time in a place called Baghdad. Apparently once a bustling little town, it's now only marked by a single tree. Let me tell you, looking for a tree in a desert is no easy task, so it deserved a stop once we eventually found it. Incidentally, we can also recommend the desert as a near-ideal frisbee location - still, warm air is perfect for straight, steady flying.

The other place of note we stopped was Amboy on the historical Route 66. It's classified as a ghost town, but really, we decided, it was just a bad business decision. Some one built a motel, it went out of business, end of town. We got talking to some friendly bikers at the non-functioning gas station and then hit the road again.

The last image of the day was driving into LA at night, passing endless development for a good 40 miles until the dramatic downtown skyline loomed suddenly into view. We crashed the first night on Bill's floor - the guy who had organised the tournament - almost too tired to speak, but we quickly found out Bill was a cool dude when we woke to coffee and doughnuts the next morning.

Awesome!

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Day one of the games fair and it's a rough, slow start as we managed to find a decent bar in Vegas the night before and celebrated finishing our stand in style with crazy bikers and bar girls who brandish megaphones. We knew we were in for a good night when they stopped the music as we walked in to announce, via the megaphone, that Andy T had taken away the 'Napoleon' title from a regular, due to his apparent similarity to Napoleon Dynamite. TerrorBull Games fully endorses 'Hogs & Heifers' in downtown Vegas.

So we arrive at the games fair a little late and sweating whisky, only to have to put on our jumpsuits which increases our body temperatures by another 10 degrees. We managed to get them on just in time for the big opening. Before long our stall in surrounded by retailers and press and within 30 minutes we've lost count of the number of 'Awesomes' we received.

The general reaction is 'your game looks great', 'your stall looks great', 'where did you get the banners made'. Not one bad reaction. Not one person telling us we're 'sick'. In fact, we even heard 'best game here', 'best stall here', 'best outfits here', so all in all fairly positive, which is the moral boost you need when hungover at a games fair. Everyone seems to get the joke, and most people couldn't believe that Essen, London and the other toy fairs wouldn't let us exhibit.

Business cards flying back and forth and it seems our game will be turning up in a fair few US shops just as soon as the new stock arrives over here. Other exciting 'business deals' were talked about and we've got a number of 'power meetings' arranged for the next couple of days.

Before we know it, it's the end of day one and we're feeling great, so many people wishing us well and lots of useful advice and information about the games industry, it's about time we started to learn about this stuff.

Back to the hotel for a power-nap and to spruce ourselves up for the 'GAMA High' prom-themed welcome party. Not quite Hogs & Heifers, but we'll take the megaphones just in case.