- Steven Duke: one of Texicon's Premier Board Game GMs.
Wargamer for 35+ years and counting. First game given was Tactics II from Avalon Hill. First game bought was
Ogre by Steve Jackson Games. Favorite series used to be Squad Leader.
- Retired after 25 years of active duty in the Army as an armor and cavalry officer, now working for a defense
contractor and living in Georgetown, Texas.
- I used to think that games with a lot of rules were more ‘realistic’ and I craved the details. Squad Leader to Cross
of Iron and the other expansions, then to ASL were exactly what I was looking for.
- A few years later and seeing how things really work with Soldiers and orders and chaos and all that makes real
war nothing much like you read about. I now appreciate simpler, more abstract games that play faster but still
Favorite games now are the Command and Colors system by Richard Borg, and Wings of War. I really like Card Driven games because of their teaching of history
even though sometimes they feel scripted.
Combat Commander is also a favorite and feels more like real missions than any other game I’ve ever played despite its relative simplicity.
What I appreciate most is an elegant design that can give players the feel of enough reality without burying them in a 50 page rule book. We can always talk about
what ‘realism’ actually is later. Stop by sometime when you see me at Texicon and we can debate it then. Your units not doing everything you want them to do the
way you want, when you want, it is pretty realistic. Might make some gamers frustrated, but, to me, it is a lot more like reality…and a lot more fun.
| Premier GMs |
| Texicon |
"Where the West Begins"
This page last
updated
4 Jan., 2011
updated
4 Jan., 2011
This is the Premier GM page. Here you will find the biographies of all of Texicon's Premiere GMs.
Both attendees and GMs will be able to turn to them for questions, help, and to give comments about anything occurring at Texicon.
Also, only Premier GMs can run back to back events. This Texicon policy will help ensure all GMs are fresh and ready to game.
Both attendees and GMs will be able to turn to them for questions, help, and to give comments about anything occurring at Texicon.
Also, only Premier GMs can run back to back events. This Texicon policy will help ensure all GMs are fresh and ready to game.
| Board Games |
| Miniatures |
- Vance Frey: one of Texicon's Premier Miniatures GMs.
- I started gaming in the early eighties and have been running games since the late eighties. D&D was my first game that I
played as a gamer; my first war game was the Old Warlords. First game that I was the game master for was D&D in
Pittsburgh and two years later Warlord here in Dallas.
Some of the great games that I have played or run at conventions are as follows:
The games that I am playing at this time are Fire as she Bears, Star Wars miniature, War Master , Bother in Arms(My game based on War Master), and The Sharpe
end of the Peninsular Campaign 1808 to 1814(My game based on War Master).
Games that I plan to run at the next Texicon are:
*War Master rule set: battle for middle earth, the last battle of the first war at the foot of Mount Doom.
*Bother in Arms rule set: On January 1, Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson marched north in bitter cold from Winchester to Bath with the objective of
- disrupting traffic on the B&O Railroad and C&O Canal.
~ Vance Frey
- Frank Waugh: one of Texicon's Premier Miniatures GMs.
- I have been wargaming since Christmas 1975 at the age of 11 when I got Avalon Hill's Panzer Blitz that I had
wanted. My dad and uncle had served in WWII and therefore I have always been fascinated by that conflict.
Panzer Blitz began my lifelong fascination with tanks and armor.
- I continued to purchase and play many Avalon Hill and S.P.I. games throughout my junior high and high school
years with our group of friends that went to school together and played games on Saturdays. After graduating
High School, I fulfilled a lifelong ambition as a wargamer and got to experience the military lifestyle as a 19D
Cavalry Scout, first stationed at Ft Knox, and then spending the remainder of my time in Germany as part of 1st
Platoon, E Troop, 2/2 ACR (now famous due to my unit's performance at 73 Easting in Desert Storm).
- Since finishing my tour of duty I have spent many years researching, gaming, and designing armor games
drawing on my experience in the field. As a veteran with experience in the field as well as having fired and
qualified with many weapons systems (from the Bradley to the M2 50cal, grenades, M60 Machine Gun, M16 Rifle
and other weapons systems) I believe it has given me an advantage in portraying modern combat and its
nuances. I am proud to say that my Cold Steel armor game has provided almost identical results and casualty
rates for modern battles. In this way it has become an excellent predictor of combat results for many scenarios.
I have greatly enjoyed my local miniatures group which is composed of individuals and veterans alike that like to play modern micro-armor and learn more about this
period of history (the Cold War).
We have a hobby that has fascinated me for 35 yrs...
~ Frank Waugh
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Convention Dates: July 20-22, 2012
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Premier GM
Friday 2:00pm - Sunday 6:00pm
- Eric Couch: one of Texicon's Premier Board Game GMs.
- My mother taught me chess when I was 5, which sparked my love of board games. As a youth, I enjoyed
games like Risk and Spades with my family. My gaming group from high school played Heroquest and
D&D. After high school we reunited to play Risk, Poker, and Spades every weekend. Heroscape became
a favorite for me and my two teenage kids in 2004, which once again rekindled my love for board games.
- I enjoy learning and teaching new games to both my gaming group regulars and non-gaming friends. I have
games that are good for just about every occasion, some euros and war games for my gaming group, party
games for my friends, light games I play with my wife, solo games, and a handful of children’s games that I
play with my 5 year old son (Corwin).
- I enjoy abstract strategy games because of my affinity for chess. Party games allow for a unique and
entertaining interaction with groups of people. My son Corwin can learn structure, rules, and motor skills
from the children’s games we play. I also enjoy fantasy dungeon crawl games.
- I met a lot of really interesting folks at Texicon's first year in 2010. One example is the famous Rick Loomis
from FlyingBuffalo, who is a game designer and publisher from way back. He taught me how to play
Nuclear War. Last year was another great year at Texicon. Once again, I was a GM and there were
several new games I had the opportunity to teach and learn.
- Currently I'm working on upgrading the components and cards to some of my games. I've also recently
began research on how to port games and scoring utilities to Android and iOS mobile operating systems.
- ~Eric Couch
"Ahhhhhhh!!!!!" ~Brian
This is the moment that Brian
realizes that he was born a Nerd!
"Oh Man! I gota get some cool."
~Brian
Brian begins working on his mojo.
Spring 1991.
"I've almost got it." ~Brian
He's almost got Master Nerd status.
"Oh yeah! I've got cool." ~Brian
Brian becomes Master of all he
surveys.
The Clock is ticking. Have
you gamed with Brian lately?
Do it before it's too late.
- Gaming, where did “IT” begin. I think it started way back around 1983 when I received the Dungeons and
Dragons Red Box as a gift. This was followed shortly by Marvel Super Heroes, Star Frontiers, and Dungeons and
Dragons choose your own adventure books. Around 1986, there appeared this little quaint box at Fantastic
Worlds Games called Battletech. My friends and I started playing immediately. Being broke middle-schoolers, we
played with the original and expanded card board cut outs, and the Battle Tech tactical game. This invariably led
into Miniatures and comic book conventions. I met a bloke by the name of David E. Gower who was a dealer
around 1989. One of the best Battle Tech GM’s I had played under. I learned a lot from Mr. Gower, who
introduced me to other miniatures games like Micro-armor and Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader. Whenever I put
together a game, I try gauge it by DG’s standards. Most of all because “Is it fun, and fudge it if there aren’t rules
for it.” Invariably there would be a Mechwarriors guild person complaining about something in Mr. Gower’s game.
This stood always as a measure of how fun the game actually was. I try to integrate his creativity into my games
today. I was saddened to hear he passed away a few years back. After Mechwarrior, I started running
Shadowrun, for years, at Dallas Fantasy Fairs and Dallas Con’s. At DFF’s I met a lot of great individuals over the
years like John Manning, Matt Sims, Kent Henry, Lloyd and Karen Acker, and Tish Groller who taught me how to
forty people chasing me down a fire escape, and very confused security people. (I didn’t stop running, I had 40 people behind me and images of crushing doom to
worry about. I let them worry about the pedantic angry security staff screaming “HALT”.)
Now-a-days I’ve got bills, a family, a full time job, and real life stuff. I moved to Boston for ten years and moved back in 2008. These days but I focus on painting,
modeling, and enjoying my time in my garage work room. (The rest I spend with the family.) I still run the occasional Shadowrun game but mainly focus on
miniatures, terrain, and the occasional board game. I’ve run and demo’ed semiprofessionally Shadowrun for Fanpro and Babylon 5 A call to Arms for Mongoose
Publishing. I just picked up the A Call to Arms: Star Fleet Battle rules to read. After this year’s con, my next project is to run a game based on Terminator 2032 and
work on some 6mm scifi.
Conventions s I’ve been too:
DFW: Dallas & Fort Worth Fantasy Fairs, Dallas Con, Anime Dallas, Project Akon (3 – 7) , Con-niption, JusticeCon, Origins 93’, Yule Con, Fencon. Boston: Havoc,
Arisia, Total Con, OGC, Hobby Bunker Game Day, Anime Boston.
Game Masters Who I consider top notch: Don Fergoso, Lloyd Acker, Dave Gower, Kenneth Hann (Cuthulu) , Paul Hume (Shadowrun), and Brennan Holms (a great
friend and for re-introducing me into historicals in college and Tony Karsons letting us run on his basement mega board in Lynn, Ma).
Games I’ve played: (I tried to make a list but there are too many to list.)
Quote: “I drank what?” & “Relax, have a beer”
Games I want to run at Texicon but they won’t let me: “Dresden Files Larp”
~ Brian Guarnieri
- Brian Guarnieri: one of Texicon's Premier Miniatures GMs.
