If you're new here "Welcome!" (you can find out more about Second Thunder and me in the about section here). If you've already bought from Second Thunder and play my games then "Hello again! And thanks for your continued support!" :)

Why the new website? A number of reasons but the main one is that Payhip (where this incarnation of the website exists) handles all the VAT and gubbins associated with selling digital files online to non-UK customers. It's something that's been gnawing away at me for a while and this solution takes away the need for me to deal with it myself.

Along with rebuilding the website I've been doing some deep thinking surrounding the aims and plans for Second Thunder and product development and this is the beginning of the new, more focused direction.

A big shout out and hefty dose of thanks and gratitude to Sarissa Precision (opens in a new tab) for looking after the shipping and order handling. Plus their helping out with the previous Shopify version of my website while I was recovering from illness - thanks guys. If you've not heard of them, check out their website for MDF terrain and more.

Open Combat Miniature Skirmish Game

The Open Combat miniature skirmish game has now been available since its publication in 2016 following a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2014. It has gained a small but incredibly creative and cheerful following who have fully embraced the 'build your own' concept of using any miniatures in their collection and creating the profiles they feel suit the models in their games of Open Combat.

I now have only 300 hardback books remaining from the original print run so I've been looking to the future and considering what to do when they finally sell through. I recently had a long and very useful discussion with Henry Hyde of Battlegames (opens in new tab) covering many aspects of the tabletop gaming hobby and running a small business within it. One of the threads of our discussion covered the developments in print on demand technology and how the quality and distribution connections have come on leaps and bounds. It's a subject I've kept half an eye on for a few years and the discussion with Henry helped solidify my understanding of it. The outcome of this is that I'm going to publish future Open Combat hard copy publications through print on demand services.

There's a lot (and I mean A LOT) more Open Combat news which you'll find gradually filtering out over on the Open Combat blog. I'm incredibly excited about the future of Open Combat and I hope it will provide you with loads of opportunities for high adventures with your miniature collection over the coming months and years.

Lucrum - two play strategy board game

In the summer of 2022 I published my first board game, namely Lucrum a two player strategy board game. Unfortunately its release coincided with a dramatic downturn in my health which meant I never really gave it the marketing push it needed to get it off the ground. I'm now looking to remedy that and give Lucrum its own time to shine. You can follow developments with Lucrum on the Lucrum blog.

PDF Format Ebook & Print and Play Board Games

One thing I'm going to be doing a lot more of is publishing PDF products. These will include small PDF expansions for Open Combat along with Print and Play board games. These will be either standalone products or in conjunction with print on demand as the situation suits but I'll be talking more about how this will work as time things progress. I'm also considering revisiting crowdfunding for a number of projects but that's a discussion for another time.

Thanks for reading, Carl :)

Technical Note: If you're a customer on the previous incarnation of my web site I'm afraid I've not been able to migrate the accounts across so you'll need to create a new one.