Gamer Conversations podcast by Bas Hamer

February 17, 2015 Gamer Conversations: Fithavil

This week’s guest is Dexter Schiller, the #1 ITS ranked player in the US, co-founder of the Krug podcast and owner of Shark Mounted Lasers. We talk about how he got into the hobby, his start-up of Shark Mounted Lasers, and the small electrical fires it caused, as well as how he managed to go to the International Tournament without any of his models painted.

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http://sharkmountedlasers.com/

Intro: Today’s guest is Dexter Schiller. Fithavil on the forums. He’s a founder member of the Krug and the number one ranked ITS player in the USA in 2014. He’s also the owner of Shark Mounted Lasers, co-owner of Hexagon Mill and a gamer representative for Grex Airbrushes. Outside gaming he’s an improv comedian, single and living alone in the Denver area.

Bas: Welcome to Gamer Conversations. Dexter: Hey, thanks! Bas: Gladly! So, we’ve known each other for a long time, because we’re on the Krug together. So what’s the origins on the Fidafil name? Dexter: Honestly, it was a misspelling I made back when I was like 8 and made my first Gmail account. It’s from a book called Gillad’s Blood and it’s just a character in there, and I botched the spelling on it, and I just kind of kept it, as no-one else has it. Bas: That makes life a lot easier, I found. When your name is unique, it makes your life easier. Dexter: Now, I don’t know how to say it, but it doesn’t really matter to me, so I kinda went with it. It’s nice to have a cohesive username across everything.

Bas: Yep. So when did you first get involved in gaming? Dexter: I started playing D&D back when I was ten. From there I found my first gamestore, it was Valhalla’s game center in weathridge and I just happen to cross it one day and found some plastic lizardmen and bought them, started painting them. Then I started Warhammer and I grew big into that. The rest is kind of history. My first game though, miniature-wise was Warhammer Fantasy. Still wish I... you know, there was community for that. As I have ridiculous amounts of metal models that I think are gorguous, compared to this new plastic stuff. So yeah, I found Infinity when I was... oh, 4-5 years ago, I’m not really sure. They ran a demo wit hit and I thought; “Shoot, this looks cool.” And I got my ass handed to me for like the first 10 games. So that was reassuring. But it was kind of a nice change, so I loved the Skirmish level combat. That was something I never had a chance to play in, and I’ve been playing it since then. Haven’t looked back.

Bas: That a really big change to go from Warhammer to Infinity. Dexter: I mean, my pocket book was happy, that’s for sure! Bas: Yes, warhammer is what.. hundred-ish models per side? Dexter: You know, it depends on the army. Some of them definitely upworths of multiple hundreds of models. I think mine was somewhere around like 68. But I was running a rather expensive army.. or whatever you wanna call it.. points-wise. So it was diminutive compared to some.

Bas: I’ve been there. I painted Skavens. It takes a lot of time and effort. It’s quiet impressive. Dexter: It’s a whole different ballgame. When you’re painting an army that is massive like that, then painting an individual model like in Inifnity. We only have 10 or 20. I really like the.. you know, because you’re not necessarily rushing to get them all done you can put a little bit more effort. There a little bit more fun to paint, simple because you don’t have the daunting task of painting 700 of them, all staring you in the face. Bas: Yes it’s nice when you paint a figure and you’re 5% done. Dexter: Exactly Bas: it a very different experience in that regard.

Bas: So what attracted you to miniature gaming, initially? Dexter: Oh, wow.. I mean I’ve always been a fan of games, I always had a relatively strategic mind. I guess it was just; who doesn’t like miniatures, who was a big fan of.. you know, D&D. Of course you needed your individual models to represent your characters. Hey these are multi purpose! I can play two games with these. But really I guess the initial lure is just luck, you know. I happened to cross it, a gaming group, kinda took me in and thought me the ropes and badabingbadaboom I’ve been doing it ever since. Bas: Yeah, a lot of it, that I’ve heard from other people as well is finding a good first community. Than you’re there for life.

Dexter: Yeah yeah, no, definitely. And I’ve been in it now long enough that it’s.. it’s kinda cool to see the communities come and go. Some games seem to attract a more vibrant community and I’m speaking very explisitive here of Infinity. The people it has attracted so far, and the local metas, and even in the metas abroad are just really solid people. Who love the game, but on the other hand are really neat outside of the game, you know? It’s good to go and have a beer with. It’s neat when you can enjoy them outside of gaming as well.

Bas: Yeah, definitely. You were part of the initial start of the Krug. What do you still remember from that? Dexter: Well, I mean It was ramshackled to say the least. Those first few episodes. We’ve been playing for so long that the three of us.. we were really bring some unique analyses to the game. You know, I think there is a market for this and I think people’ll listen. I think it would be really cool if we got this rolling. So we went in to Joe’s basement and pocked up a platronics microphone and we all sat around that ghetto microphone and tried to have an episode and admittedly some of us had more beers in than the others, and it was horrible. It was rough and it sounded bad, but we had fun. And that was the cool part. So we finally upgraded our microphones a little bit and recorded our first few episodes. And that went a little better. Progressively we got more comfortable, we realized what does and doesn’t work. Specifically Bluedagger from the forums, does not work on a podcast. So yeah, we’ve just been going ever since.

Bas: was it the second episode we tried to record the audio studio? The second time recording? Dexter: Oh yes, yes.. you and I because Joe wasn’t able to make it that evening. So we rented out a recording studio at my university and went in there and that was ramshackled to say the least. Bas: It was interesting to go from a plantronics.. you know, I happen to have this thing laying around to okay, now we’re going into a recording studio and we have no idea what we’re doing. Dexter: Yeah, no, and I think that was kind of a eye opening moment. It was like do it for real, and we don’t know what we’re doing. Bas: Yeah, we were just plugging things together, hoping that we could get sound from one end to the other end. Oh, it was such a mess. It’s a.. you have to take small steps during this entire process. Dexter: That’s something that has been really cool with the Krug, as I feel like we had a really organic growth. With some podcast, you know, I have the feeling they bought some really nice equipment, and started, and they will grow into their equipment, while I feel like with the Krug, we kinda grow with what we had. We started out and we were rough around the edges, and our equipment was too. As we slowly gained confidence in what we’re saying and just the format and all of that sort of stuff. We upgraded again and now we’re kind of at that final plateau where you know, I think we’re all pretty confident in what we’re bringing to the table and also we have to equipment to back it up. So it’s been kind of cool, this organic growth. As the Krug has grown so has everything that kind of .. the individual components have too.

Bas: So, that actually wokred out really well, and I’m happy how that turned out. So what are some of the things that you know, you would tell yourself if you could go back to our first episode of recording the Krug in Joe’s basement? Dexter: Well, I don’t know if there is anything that I’d necessarily say. Like I said, I really have enjoyed the process as it has fallen before us. You know, yeah.. there were some tips and advice that, looking back at some of those early episodes, that is like; oh no! That was atrocious. But on the other hand, that was an excellent way to learn. So really, I think that Former Krug Self, I wouldn’t necessarily tell him anything.

Bas: Yeah, I think back then we’re a lot more worried about the quality we’re producing, and honestly for me the biggest thing would be like ‘you know, just focus on the learning!’

Dexter: Yeah, and also I think part of it is, I guess that’s one thing I’d tell him. When we are initially buying all of this equipment, I put down a big chunk of money to some of the mics and stuff, and I was like.. ooooh, that’s a lot of money for some microphones, for a podcast that has a few listeners. But looking back, no regrets at all. So I guess I’d be, you know, prod me to spend that maybe more confidently.

Bas: Yeah, I remember that our initial set of mics was like 1200 for the mics, and we added a fourth mic for another 400. And then with a soundboard and everything else, it went pretty quick. Dexter: Yeah, all in all we have quite a bit of money in this set up. But I think it has definitely been worth it, and the other cool thing is it allowed us to... for example, you’re recording this podcast on some of that equipment. We have some other offshoots that I’ve been doing. So it’s been kind of cool, that now that the Colorado meta, in a way, has access to this sort of equipment, you know, if someone else wants to record something, or they have an idea, the opportunity is there.

Bas: Yeah definitely is. And you know, you buy it once and it will last you a lifetime.

10:00

Dexter: Exactly! And I think with, you know, you’ve been gaming forever, I’ve been gaming forever, right? We’ll always have something to podcast about. And you know, I think that’s kind of cool. Bas: So have you done any other podcasts offshoots? Dexter: You know, I’ve done a few. We did one quite extensively called The Transit Deed. Which was about a miniatures game that was played with LEGOs, called Mobile Frame Zero. So that one really went kind of strong for a while. We actually had the creator of the game, we flew him out to Denver during Denver Comic Con and we had him on the Cast. So that was really kind of a neat opportunity. Also, we’ve recorded a few episodes of a more relaxed podcast called Drinking with Dexter and Gavon, that is again kind of an Infinity podcast, but it’s more of just two guys getting together and talking about what comes to mind. Yeah, we’re okay with tangents. And also starting one called Audio Tactica, which is going to be a more in-depth analysis of some of the minute tactics and that sort of stuff. Or just things a lot of people might not necessarily know when they’re first coming into the game. So it’s not necessarily a beginners podcast, or anything like that. It’s mainly like the more you know!

Bas: Awesome. I’m pretty sure some people wouldn’t call the Krug a beginners podcast to begin with, but... Dexter: Oh, no no no, but what I mean is talking about things you might not necessarily know. Even as a veteran, I’m constantly coming across rules and how rules interact with one another, and especially here in 3rd edition there is a lot of some of that minutia that kinda needs to be talked about. So that’s gonna be the platform for that sort of thing, where as the Krug is a lot more Tournament-focussed and our foreplay and that sort of tactical analyses. But not necessary as nitpicky as this one’s going to be.

Bas: I had that this week actually. I was actually looking at Devil’s forum. I sometimes just go through forums to read other people’s questions. And somebody asked ‘when do you become Impetuous after you kill something with Frenzy?’ And that’s not until the start of your next turn. And as soon as I realized that I’m like.. this completely changes some models. Dexter: I had the same realization. Because I was really panicked, especially with how impetuous works in the new edition. Not being able to have cover, and if a model automatically enters an Impetuous state. That would be really rough. However, they don’t integrate until the next phase, until the next turn. So you know, that opens up a whole lot of opportunities and doesn’t devalue some of these models as much as I initially thought it did. Bas: Yeah something that’s like.. in Infinity cover is really important and it’s a big swing on the modifiers to hit. So if you lose cover on something with a good gun, it’s a nightmare. Now if it happens the next turn I’m like, okay. So I have an entire turn where this guy is going to be good. I have an reactive turn where this guy’s gonna be good. And then I have a problem, which is much further down the line. Dexter: Yeah, in a 300 point game, that’s a whole lot more acceptable. Bas: So you manage to actually take your hobby and turn it into a business with Shark Mounted Lasers. Dexter: Yeah, so that was kind of a unique venture in and of itself. When I was in college, one of the degrees I was pursuing was Business Administration and my Junior Year you either had to have an internship, or start your own kind of offshoot company. And I didn’t see myself being the type of person for an internship. So I was like, you know what? I have an idea for making some lasercut terrain and doing that. So I pursued that, and I rented a laser from a Makers Space called Clockwork Shop. And I went in there and I came up with some ideas for terrain and I helped them out. Did some initial, you know, sales models and all that sort of stuff. And I realized hey this could be real. There is room for profit here, there is.. it could be a real business. And on top of that, shoot, that’s what I like to do. So it was really solidified that the summer of my junior year. I decided to go out and get a small business loan and buy the laser and ever since it has been growing very steadily. It’s been kind of unique because I’ve never been in the real world of business, so there’s been a lot of lessons that I had to learn independently. So there’s a lot of stuff a degree doesn’t teach you. A degree teaches you very much how to be a good employee in a business. It doesn’t necessarily teach you how to own and manage one yourself. There is a lot of stuff I really wish would be covered in that. That I just had to, you know, put all my chips in and hope that that’s how it work.

Bas: So, what’s a maker’s space? Beause I imagine most people don’t have an idea as to what that is. Dexter: Okay, so these are really cool. They’re popping up all across the nation and the world. And basically what it is in the mundanity, not everyone has access to a woodshop, or a buying their own 3D printer, or welding equipment or a CNC machine, or lasers, or whatever a tool might be. So these Maker Spaces are collaborative enterprises, so you pay a entry fee, or you become a member of these workshops. And you basically get access to all of these tools that that organization collectively owns. So it’s really kind of neat for the artists or the college student, especially. You know, it wasn’t really realistic for me to own a woodshop in college. You know, I didn’t have a place to put that sort of thing. And yet being a member at a Maker’s Space I was able to have access to a lot of things that I wouldn’t even fathom.

Bas: Nice. So, can you describe what like the shape of SML is these days? Just like the physical. What type of equipment do you have now, where are you located, what’s your arrangements?

Dexter: Well, originally the laser was kind of a fun story because I had to knock down a wall in my former house and we put this laser into the house. And it’s kind of a big machine. It’s about 10 ft by 8 ft. So it required some hefting to move in there. And then the room it was in was about 2 ft shy of being completely full. So my workspace. I was literally shoulder to shoulder with the door and the laser. And I had my little computer in there and I did my design stuff. So I finally had reached the point where that wasn’t realistic. I didn’t have any room for inventory, I didn’t have any room for extra materials. So on and so forth. So I found a partner who had some extra space in a warehouse that he owned. So now I am comfortably staying in a warehouse and it has been very nice and I have tons of space. I have access to a freight dock, so I am able to get full, like truckloads, deliveries of woods. So it’s definitely kind of at this next level. Compared to where it was. I now have the space for an extra laser, should things reach that point. And now I’m working on a lot of collaborative partnerships with other companies, with other organizations so on and so forth, that is getting the access to even cooler technology. So for example, we now have 3D printer and we’re looking to do some cool stuff with that. You know we have all this sort of thing that’s coming together just by luck actually.

Bas: I think part of it is luck, part of it is just seeing the opportunities. Dexter: Yeah, no definitely. I am very opportunistic. I mean, really honestly that’s how this whole business started. I had an unique opportunity and I was like ‘let’s do it, let’s see where this can go.’ And that has been my outlook very much on every aspect of life. Especially now with SML growing at the pace that it is.

Bas: Nice. So what’s some of the advice you’d give yourself like, you know when you got your homework assignment to go start a company? Or get an internship. I imagine there’re some pretty good lessons learned there. Dexter: Oh yeah, shoot. I don’t even know where to start honestly. There has been so many hills to climb that were just kinda like I have no idea what’s going on. You know, be it for like business tactics or loan negotiations, or be it managing an inventory or when you’re not having an inventory, how does that work? How to deliver emails? That sounds really silly, but I went from not having to do any email at all. Occasional one for school, to having a dozen of emails a day. And some of these things I thought they wouldn’t be a problem. But you have to dedicate this many hours a day to simply talking to people. So there certainly have been a lot of exploration in that respect. I would also recommend to my former self, I guess, maybe not go as gung ho as early as I did. There were some points where I was completely overwhelmed. During my senior year I was involved in so many different things. I was on our student council, I was on the Senate, I was in a musical. All of these things. And I was running SML fulltime. And I had a month where I got more orders than I though was even possible. And it was great! But on the other hand I went crazy, because I would get of from work and school at 10 at night, and I would work on the lesser from 10 to when I stopped, and I fell asleep at my desk. So I might advise me to simmer down on the store front in those years. But again, it was an excellent learning opportunity. Not many can say they’ve had that experience.

20:07

Bas: No, no nonono. Although I don’t think most people would envy the concept of falling asleep next to going laser. Dexter: You know, I live a pretty hardcore life, I tell you what now. Bas: Your house didn’t burn down, that’s all good. Dexter: Yeah, I only lit a few things on fire accidently. I only burned myself once. Like it’s pretty solid. Bas: That’s good! Dexter: Only had a few electrical fires. Bas: Yeah I imagine those are terrifying. Dexter: Those were definitely a learning experience. I would give my former self the advice in not doing your own electrical work. BAS: What happened there? Dexter: Well, I don’t think it’s that difficult to you know, I done a fair amount of electrical work, but running a 100 watt laser with a refrigerator attached to it, fans and doo-hickeys and all that. Some things aren’t necessarily meant to be run off of a domestic line. So I was running 110 through a huge transformer that would bump it up to 220, that would than you know, phase into, you know I don’t even know the terminology. Most of it was literally a bit more than my fusebox. So one day there was definitely a fire.. that was cool. And that I was definitely against code for a long time as I realized as I realized if I left the fuse box open it wouldn’t heat up enough to cause any problems or blow the circuit so than I just had open wiring everywhere which probably wasn’t safe and definitely against code, which was why I am glad I am now in a warehouse and I hired a real electrician to put in real, you know, there is conduit and everything in it now, really nice. Definitely less illegal.

Bas: So the fact that SML exist today is a little bit of a miracle? Dexter: Yeah, in a way it’s surprising I’m not dead. And again, it’s all a matter of those learning experiences. For example, I now know hire an electrician hire an accountant before you almost kill yourself with those two things. I’m not sure how doing my books killed me, but I probably could have. Bas: No but the I.. you can make mistakes there. It’s very interesting. I find that learning to hire people is hard. Dexter: Yeah, definitely. Again, it’s one of those lessons you don’t realize. You think, especially coming out of college, ‘I know how to do everything! Or Anything’ Or I’ll learn how to do it. And then there is a certain point where you have to realize; do what you’re good at do what you enjoy doing and through those things, make enough money to pay others for the shit you’re not good at or that you hate doing. Because you will safe yourself some stress and probably save yourself some money in the long run. Bas: Yeah, that’s definitely true. That’s the approach I took with starting this podcast. There.. a lot of people have done a little bit of work on this podcast. My editor has done a lot, but there are a lot of people that have a hand here and there. Dexter: Sure, sure. Bas: But hey, it works. It’s the only reason this thing exist. Dexter: No, definitely. And again, it’s one of those lessons I think I learned earlier in live than most people do. Bas: You’re forced to it. It’s a great teacher. Dexter: Yes. Bas: Awesome.

Bas: So, I have a couple of quick questions. So what has been your favorite model, because I’m sure you’ve seen a lot come through. Dexter: My favorite Infinity model? Bas: No. Just general. Dexter: Oh, wow… if you know how many model I own. That’s nearly unfathomable to determine which one was my favorite. Wow, alright I’m gonna throw it, this gonna sound absolutely ridiculous, but it’s still one of my favorite models to this day. It’s not necessarily good, but by goodness I still love the lure of it. In Warhammer Fantasy, 4th Edition, there were some High Elves models, the Lothern Seaguard; old metal models, metal shields, you know.. all that sort of stuff. These were even like there were the plastic shields that used to get worn. These ones came with metal shields, and that was ‘wow, this is hardcore’ and they were all hilariously static poses, but my goodness, when I look back at those guys, I still have them on my shelve because they’re just.. I really like the look of them. They’re really regimented, they.. and, yes, they’re nowhere compared to any of the infinity models. Like, those are all much better sculpts, much better all of it, all the way around. But I would almost have to say my favorite models are those darn Lothern Seaguard from 93. Bas: Yeah, no I know the models. I had those shields that actually, like some of them actually had those patterns in the shield, so you just paint the patterns, right? Dexter: Yeah, yeah. No. So they were like done. The last scurp of models that didn’t required any work. Now, all models are plastic, you have you know, each arm, all that.. you have to put the applica on the shield. And I just ain’t got time for that. So these ones were just really straightforward. They’re probably the only models I actually ever finished painting. And I am notorious, in every gaming community, for not painting anything. So, the very fact that I have painted those, I painted them multiple times. I stripped them because I realized my paintjob when I was eight was horrible. I’ve stripped them multiple times, and repainted them both. And no other model can even come close to that.

Bas: No I believe you suffered a realitively large amount of shed because you decided to go to Spain for a tournament with unassembled models. Dexter: You know, I gathered a lot of shit from the Infinity community, because I’ve showed up to international tournaments with models that needed to be glued to their bases. I’ve showed up to.. yeah..I once had a painted Infinity army. My Morat Aggression forces was mostly painted. And as soon as I got them done I was like, I don’t want to play these anymore. They feel to real. And I haven’t touched them since. One day though. One day I’ll paint an army.

Bas: Ha! That seems like that can be dependent on a lot of factors, considering what you’re doing. Dexter: Honestly a lot of it comes down to finding a colour scheme that I like. And that sounds really stupid. Like, just paint whatever you want. But for example, my Steel Phalanx I’ve a very specific vision for them, and the colours that I envision. I’m not good at painting. PanOceania, I haven’t played them yet. I have all the models. I haven’t build anything yet.. But I guess because they’re blue and white, like those Old High Elves colours. You know, I know how to paint blue and white like a boss. So I think it’s just a matter of time before I find an army that fits my skills and what I like to paint. But I haven’t found it yet.

Bas: I found all my armies ending up in browns and oranges with green. Dexter: No, exactly. And there’s a certain amount of personal, you know, what colours do you like? What colours you’re good at painting? Like my Morats, I decided to paint them tan and red. And I’m atrocious with painting red. So I’ve never been happy with the way these turned out. And it’s.. you know.. a kind of ironically damning feature when you do paint something in your life that you’re like; I don’t like it, and you cant fix it. So that’s why a lot of my minis haven’t been painted, because I haven’t been confident enough to just go forward painting them whatever colour scheme I happen to decide on, because I’ll never clean a model again. If there is one thing I hate, it’s getting out the lacquer thinner and cleaning off models. Because I’ve cleaned a 10,000 point High Elves Army like 6 times. Never again. Never again.

Bas: I can see that. So what are the things that you look for in models that make you feel confident about them? Like what are the elements that you’d like to see in there?

Dexter: You know, that’s kind of a hard question. In term off, like painting, I think part of it I think is.. I like very vivid and bright colour schemes. I’ve never been much of a.. and I mean in terms of quality, painting traditional military colours, you know, like camouflage or any of the darker colours.. I’m not very good at that. So part of it is finding armies that fit the generally more vivid colours, like vivid blues or stark whites and that sort of thing. So I don’t think it’s necessarily the miniatures themselves that ask for a specific colour scheme. A lot of it is what fluff is going behind it? Because you know, with my Morats, I wasn’t good at painting them, regal blue and white, because that wouldn’t match their background, necessarily. So a lot of what goes into painting for me is the background. Bas: So you really want everything to match? You want the model, you want the fluff, you want the paintjob.. Dexter: Exactly, and that’s why I went so extensively in Infinity with my Aleph Army, my Steel Phalanx. I have converted them extensively to fit in a very specific theme. You know, where they’re all using their historically accurate weapons, so as Ajax. Instead of being armed with the hammer that his model comes with. I gave him a spear and a shield, which was a very intensive conversion. Especially by how the model was posed. And now that I’ve reached that point building them, I like how they look that way. Paint-wise I can not come up with something that fits how I want them to look. So they’ve sat unpainted. Bas: Just waiting for inspiration.

30:09

Dexter: Basically, yeah. And I definitely need my muse, on what I want to paint. I’m not the kind of person that sits there and cranks out an army in a forth night. I need to have vision and I need to kinda go gungho behind it. And then I paint like a madman. My Morats were painted over two days. And I haven’t painted since. As I haven’t been graced by a muse. Bas: Interesting. Yeah, I’ve had the same thing. I spent a lot of time looking at my Scots. Trying to come up with a paintscheme I liked for that. And I was like, it’s kind of silly. It’s like I want to try a new painting technique, but in the end I was like I don’t want to paint tartans. I never painted tartans. I painted trolls, back in the day of WarMachine. I never painted those tartans. They just look like hoodless monks, because it was just orange garbs that were drabbed around. Dexter: Sure sure. Bas: And you know, it worked. Dexter: I’d be the other way around. With those tartans, I’d do a pile of historical research. Find a specific clan and tartan that I appreciated. That I enjoyed their history and their former lore and that sort of stuff, and would have gone to town doing very elaborate tartans for that clan that nonone cares about. Bas: Yeah, very different. I ended up just settling on Borderlands. I looked at Borderlands, I looked at the different weapon brands and paint schemes that came with that and I’m like. Ha, I can do that! Dexter: This works! Bas: You’re no longer wearing a kilt, buddy! You’re wearing a dress. But hey, it works. I’m enjoying it. They’re actually receiving paint. I hope to have 10 of them painting by our retreat next weekend. So, you’ve been doing a lot of games and playing a lot of tournaments. How would you describe your playstyle? Dexter: You know I, my playstyle so far. And 3rd edition is really messing a lot with how I think about it. But historically, with all the games that I played I like very close combat oriented armies, and I like very much aggressive armies. So if you look at the things that I’ve played up till this point. It’s been armies that’s what they do. They don’t have stealthy models, they don’t have any hacking shenanigans, or anything like that. They’re very straightforward. I’m delivering bullets to my enemies. I’m not sure if that means I’m a really shooty gamer, I don’t.. my head doesn’t wrap around some of the niche tactics and that sort of stuff. But a) that’s what I’ve enjoyed playing and b) it’s what I’m good at playing. Additionally usually always fits the aesthetic. You know, those armies that play very aggressively, share in my.. in what I find aesthetically pleasing. So for example. Morats, they’re the military order. Very uniform in how they’re dressed. They share an aesthetic across the entire range that is very just uniform. And I like that sort of look. Steel Phalanx is kind of the same way. They have a very distinct feel they were all kinda historically based, so on and so forth, that really played into how I want to do. So honestly, a lot of it has been.. I look at what I like, and what I’ve liked happens to play the way I play so I guess am kind of lucked out in that respect.

Bas: Yeah, that’s definitely true. So you enjoy the aggressive, regular armies. Dexter: Well, I like to have my armies across the table on turn 1. I want to have my enemies on the defensive, the moment the game starts. One thing I learned from my early, even like, computer gaming days.. the best defense is a good offence. Because if you’re consistent with that.. not necessarily Zerg mentality, but from moment number one, they’re having to be really active to what you’re doing. It puts a lot on their shoulders, and it relaxes a lot of what you have to do. Because you know what you’re doing. It’s relatively straightforward, and now it’s up to them to see if they can recover from that point. All the while I’m still going through my mind how do I keep them pinned down. Bas: So what has been your favorite video game? Dexter: Oh, by far my favorite game of all time was Empire Earth, the first version of it, and then they came out with the Ark of Conquest extension, which allowed you to build your own civilization. So you got to choose like, which buffs were across your army and that sort of stuff. It was an RTS game and the neat thing about it was it stands from the pre-historic era up the space age. Not our space age, but like the nano-age, so into the future. And in 24 different epox, that you had to expand through. And I just loved the heck out of that game. I have spent more hours playing that game than any other computer game, and considering I’ve been playing WoW for a long time, that’s saying something. Bas: Been there. I’m terrified of those games at this point honestly. Dexter: Haha, well, I am.. I used to be big in MMOs. I went gung ho into like even really bad ones. So like, Star Trek Online. I’m a big role player. So I would get into the main cities and what not and I would just be typing up a story. And I would get into RP Guilds and all that sort of stuff. And I really enjoyed that. On the other hand I also had like a captain’s chair with a joystick, and one of the little hand keyboards and I’d sit on my computer with voice command so when I would say ‘fire proton torpedos!’ it would and there was just something very nerdily gratifying to that. But honestly things haven’t.. I prefer real, face to face games, and Infinity has kind of filled this slot, where we have a big enough meta, that if I want to game, I call up 4 people, and I have game every night of the week. If I want one Bas: Yep, once the community is there, it’s amazing. Dexter: Yeah, and that’s the only reason I went really gung ho in computer games. Because you could find people to do it with, where as with some of the other games I played it was difficult to find a game on a Thursday or whatever the case may be. So it was nice to have something that no matter what, I could log into and do for the next hour and a half or whatever. Bas: Yeah, I definitely agree. Awesome. Today’s guest was Dexter Schiller. Thank you for being a part of gamer conversations, and for all you’ve been doing for the gamer community. Dexter: Thank you and have a good day.

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