This week, we have Falk, from Table Top Fix. The place to see new and upcoming stuff from just about all of the modeling companies out there, big and small, Falk covers them all! If you havent seen Table Top Fix, go there now! So without further ado, lets get right to the good stuff!
MWC - How long have you been into the gaming scene and what got you started?
Falk - My Dad was a big SciFi fan and I started reading his books when I was eleven or twelve. The ignition for my interest in wargaming was pretty much the german White Dwarf issue 9, with the classic Hive Tyrant on the cover and articles about the Valhallans and the Hellhound inside – boy, what a revelation! A couple of days later I’ve had ordered the 2nd edition starter box.
Another important event was reading “Way of the Clans” by Robert Thurston at about the same time. After that, BattleTech easily dominated my hobby life for the next 10 years.
MWC - Do you play tabletop games? And if so, how often and what are your favorite games and armies?
Falk - I like to pretend that I actually play with all the stuff I’m buying but in reality it’ s just piling up in my room :)
Warhammer 40K has the highest chance to see the table, and I usually play my Imperial Guard (or variant of it like the Demonworld army I fielded in a tournament recently). BattleTech is my favorite tabletop and I own a significant amount of Mechs (250+) and support units. If I can chose a faction, I will always take Clan Hell’s Horse.
My newest favorites are Mighty Armies (15mm has so many advantages) and Brushfire (awesome in so many ways!).
MWC - If you could meet anyone at all in the gaming industry, who would it be and why?
Falk - Dan Abnett. Okay, he’s not exactly someone from the industry, but he is one of the most entertaining authors I’ve ever read and someone I admire a lot.
Otherwise, I hope I‘ll manage to meet Emily Fontana from On the lamb Games sometimes in the not so far future. I would also like to hang out with Bell of lost Souls crew. Maybe I should go to GenCon next year ;)
MWC - Do you have any favorite board games?
Falk - Sadly, I’m not playing many board games at the moment but Pandemic is always worth a game and, although it’s not exactly a board game, I rarely refuse to play Munchkin.
MWC - When you do any type of gaming, how competitive are you?
Falk - Well, I don’t have a lot of time to play, so most of it happens at conventions and tournaments. Of course I play to win, but I’m too lazy to be really competitive. Which doesn’t mean that I take any shenanigans from my opponent.
MWC - Do you read any hobby related fiction such as Black Library books?
Falk - Of course! The 40K books from Black Library books are good entertainment (especially the Horus Heresy series and everything from Dan Abnett), but I never really got into their Fantasy novels. I can say that I’ve read every BattleTech novel at least once, and I enjoy good sourcebooks for basically any fictional universe.
MWC - What do you consider yourself primarily? Painter, modeler, gamer, general purpose dork?
Falk - Compulsive collector. I have a short attention span, a regular income and a lack of self-control when it comes to shiny new models J
Otherwise, I usually enjoy building miniatures more than painting them.
MWC - Why did you start the Tabletop Fix?
Falk - I was a bit annoyed by most hobby portals. Some of them offer too much, some of them offer not enough, some are slow and some are just dominated by megalomaniacs who want to be told that they are the savior of all hobbyists. All I wanted was a place to go for let’s say 5 minutes at lunchtime and get a good dose of plastic crack and heavy metal. And suddenly I realized that there might be a lot of other people feeling the same. So I just started. The Tabletop Fix is the blog I wished someone would do, so I did it myself.
MWC - How do you find all the news on your blog?
Falk - It’s actually not as hard as you might think. I roam about 125 websites every day, and another 100 whenever I’ve enough time, but you usually just need a couple of seconds to see if there was an update or not. Then there are the newsletters from all the companies and often people send in news directly. Sometimes I see something on one of the other portals and use it (of course with the proper source and back-link). And posting is actually quite quick, too. My philosophy is to let the readers decide if they like something or not, therefore my posts are very short. All I do is tell them “Look, over there!” and then they can decide if they want to click on the link to the manufacturer and get more information.
MWC - What it your favorite tip, trick or lesson to share with others?
Falk - In most cases things are way easier than you expected them to be. Be bold and just do it!
MWC - How long has your blog been around and how much have you seen it grow?
Falk - I started not even a year ago. When I began tracking the number of visits on the blog, it was literally like a dozen. Now it’s between 800 and 1400 every day – mind-blowing!
MWC - What was the most important event during this time?
Falk - Joining the BolS alliance. Larry immediately contacted me and asked if I want to start writing a weekly column, and so “Outside the Box” was born. Nowadays, the majority of the visitors on my blog find it via Bell of lost Souls, and it was definitely the event that boosted the success of the Tabletop Fix the most.
MWC - What do you think makes your blog special or unique?
Falk - I provide what I like to call “fastfood news”. As I said before, I wanted to create a place you can visit for a short period of time and get all you need. It’s basically a picture and a link, and if you like what you see, you click the link. I wanted the Tabletop Fix to be very visual. You don’t even need to read the text. You can go to the blog, scroll down in 20 seconds and be on your way to new adventures. On average, people spend less than 2 minutes on my blog. It works exactly as intended.
MWC - Is there anything new you have coming that you could give us some hints about?
Falk - There are many thousand wargamers out there, and I got the feeling (or is it certainty?) most of them have no idea that the Tabletop Fix exists. Therefore, I’ll be on the offensive again soon. First, I need a proper logo (working on it, or rather have someone working on it who actually knows what he’s doing). Then, I have some ideas how to spread the word.
Additionally, there is some talk about starting something especially for the german community, but that’s all at very early stages. Anyway, I won’t get bored.
MWC - When you achieve world domination, what will your headquarters look like? OR Is it true that being in New Zealand you have hobbits working for you?
Falk - Hobbits are terrible minions, always complaining and asking for at least seven meals a day. I would rather like some bloodthirsty Ewoks!
The important question here is HOW I will achieve world domination. If I can trick you all and get it peacefully, I guess I would like a nice underwater habitat somewhere warm and colorful. If I have to suppress you all with an iron fist, I go for a pimped Prussian Sky Fortress style airship. Or, if available, a TARDIS would be handy J.
Falk - Thanks again for this opportunity!
MWC - No, thank you Falk! Keep up the amazing work with Table Top Fix!
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