I blame Jeffro

OK, to be entirely fair, Eric Raymond was my gateway drug for piquing my interest in *[Commands & Colors: Ancients](http://www.gmtgames.com/p-627-commands-colors-ancients-6th-printing.aspx)*, but it was Jeffro who made post after post showing gameplay of *[Talon](http://www.gmtgames.com/p-581-talon-reprint-edition.aspx)*, and more recently, *[Space Empires 4x](http://www.gmtgames.com/p-533-space-empires-3rd-printing.aspx)*.

Of course, both are out of print. So now I’m on the sign-up pre-order list for P500, so that when they get to 500 orders they’ll publish and ship copies.

But no, that’s sortof like Kickstarter, but better because they don’t get your money until they cross the finish line. 

The real kicker was the gameplay examples from the expansion set, *[Close Encounters](http://www.gmtgames.com/p-376-space-empires-close-encounters.aspx).*

* *

You see – what I didn’t want to do was finally, *finally* receive a copy of SE4x and then turn around to buy the expansion, and discover I’m back in P500 limbo.

So yes, I paid perfectly good money for a game expansion for which the core game I’ve only looked at the rules and twiddled a bit on Vassal, and won’t receive a physical copy for months, at best.

Having looked at the rules, and given how much I’ve loved other [GMT games](http://www.gmtgames.com/) I’ve played, I’m sure it will turn out to be a wise decision.

In the meantime, joking aside, thank you Jeffro for showing me how awesome the game is, for your enthusiasm for not only the games you play, but the hobby as a whole. Finally, thank you for the wonderful job you’ve done at the [Castalia House blog](http://www.castaliahouse.com/).**Update**: In the latest email from GMT, we have the following tentative shipping schedule. Despite still being marked “Not there yet” at 397 and 276 pre-orders respectively on the site, *Space Empires 4x* and *Talon* are off to the printers, payments will be taken in early July, and shipping is tentatively set for July 15-25th of this year.