Expanding the Shop: New Products in the Near Future

Saturday, 21st June 2014

I've had a number of queries from potential customers about variations and new products for the shop, so I thought I'd update you on my plans for it.

Firstly, people have asked about games with light-coloured king and defenders, and dark attackers. This has become a de-facto standard nowadays; the only reason I didn't adopt it is that I think the games look better the other way around - especially with the dark veneer borders.

I recently bought a batch of pawns to check out the colour combinations. You can see what they look like in the picture. Rather than sell countless permutations of light/dark for each different game, I plan to start selling "separates": bare boards, and various choices of pieces to go on those boards: pawns with dark king, light king, glass pebbles, and probably counters too. So you'll be able to mix and match your pieces and boards as you please. You'll even be able to buy a 7x7 board and a 25-piece set for games like "ard ri" and "fidchell".

In the short term I'm concentrating on building up stock of the existing items, which have run a bit low. But hopefully in the next few weeks I will be able to start offering the separate boards and pieces.

Secondly, people have asked about a bigger 11x11 game. This is certainly on my list, and I plan to have Standard and Deluxe 37-piece games available by August when the various tournaments are going on. I buy the pre-cut plywood boards in bulk, and a stock of 12in (300mm) square boards will also allow me to start selling Basic and Compact 49-piece games, using 13x13 boards.