I am up now painting miniatures an applying decals for some Solaris 7 styles duels which the Characters in my A Time of War campaing will be doing tomorrow.

Paper cutouts work just fine, I just love painting.

The bad news is that it doesn't look like A Time of War will be printed this year.

BlueMax

When I used to play Battletech I used cardboard, the plastic minis in the box, and all sorts of stuff. Some of the people I played with used well painted minis. I loved that it didn't matter as long as we could figure it out for the game. I once used cardboard minis from my old Marvel Super Heroes RPG. This distinction is why to this day I will play Battletech, but won't touch Warhammer or any of its cousins.


For a few years, I had no gaming group. Even now that I do, most of them are not into Battletech. Mekwars, the Java app you refer to, is a great way to get a fix in. You can get involved in campaign servers that are out there, or simply set up a game between friends. The beauty is it plays just like it would on a table (with the calculations done to speed things up), but you can play with the same friends that you used to play with, even if they are 2,000 miles away.

My enjoyment of Battletech has sometimes drawn me back to Shadowrun; got me so juiced I found/made a new group just to play. Similarly, sometimes my love of Shadowrun will get me back to Battletech. This chaos here brought Mekwars back to light, so I've been playing Battletech again as well as Shadowrun now.

In all honesty, I think its good for both games that they are owned by the same company. They are both fun, enjoyable games, yet they are completely different. However, that they are both fun and different allows both games to grow as new people wander into one, they often at least see the other. I assume that this, along with printing costs and such, were part of the reason that other games had been licensed to CGL previously (some of which are teaming back up with Sandstorm). Exposure is good for the industry on the whole. Keep them with one company, no matter what happens with the license, and just accept that most people will lean more heavily on one game or the other. We don't need West Side Story because of it though.

He either condoned or turned a blind eye to Coleman's business practices (see this thread) which makes him complicit in my book. There is also the allegedly leaked statement about him being willing to drive the company into the ground rather than jeopardizing his friendship with Coleman. I'll accept that one isn't factual enough for me to stand on, but all of the little things about Bills that have come up through this mess have just made me less than wild about him. You are right though.. he isn't on the same level. I'd still buy the products of Bills remained but Coleman were somehow removed.

Exactly. I was trying to say the same thing but I was banned because of it.

I'm no mod, but you were banned for many other reasons.



I don't want to take sides here, but this is factually incorrect according to both stories.

Since AH said he is willing to drop it, can we just drop it please?

QFT

Nothing about the way you put it was mean-spirited in my book. On the outset both those games do look very similar. You know, just like all hobby games ever look identical to anyone outside the hobby. (Ask them, it's true 9/10 times they'll think it's all D&D)



I've done up some very nice looking cube-counters that can be folded into cubes for play and unfolded flat again for storage.

Just a point of information here. MegaMek is the java program that allows you to play Battletech on the computer. MekWars is a campaign "wrapper" around the MegaMek app.

This is what gets me threw work everyday.

I will just say megamek is flat out awesome. In the time of war game we are playing when it comes time for a mech fight we use megamek. The GM set up an old computer as a permanent megamek server so we could play anytime and for the ToW campaign all easily hook up for massive fights. It saves a ridiculous amount of time especially in the firing phase since all of that is done and calculated simultaneously. Though it seems to be crit happy whenever I am the target. If my Gyro's get crited again I'm just giving up on bipedal mechs. (I've lost my gyro in the first or second shot in the last 4 fights I was shot at)

Get a Xanthos and you won't worry about that.

Man, I have no idea why you'd quite a job rather than risk going to jail for four years. Surely feeding your kiddies should win out...

/sarcasm.

To me, that Tiger Eyes was asked to defraud Topps is the single most damning piece of evidence in this entire thread. It has never been addressed by Coleman and Company. It is the statement I'd most appreciate clarification on!

Was the income ever properly reported? What about to the IRS?

Topps is conducting an audit of CGL right now to determine wtf is going on. Speculation on this thread is that the contract was extended so that Topps can get their pound of flesh from IMR.

I would presume that the audit is completed by now. Also there's a release stating that an extension within the terms of the contract is coming down the pipe. No matter what people want to believe about pound of flesh and other nonsense that all but guarantees CGL will continue to run shadowrun at least another year, likely another 3.

I would agree with you, if there weren't rumors that the audit itself was a problem. I understand there were two audits, one by Topps and the other internal at IMR. On the internal one it has been reported that freelancers were only being asked to confirm that checks were sent to them. Speculation on that being that missing documents had reduced their ability to track checks to what the bank had on file. In my experience audits are a pain in the ass with solid record keeping, I can't imagine what it must be like at IMR right now. Though it has been a few months, and you may be right about it being over, I just don't know if you could call it complete.

We've seen an announcement that Topps is willing to sign a contract to IMR for an unspecified term. They are currently working outside of the original contract terms, so an interim contract may just be a formality. So I doubt this thread and the situation at CGL are going away anytime soon.

It's extremely hard to complete an audit when the total business records consist of the bank records of withdrawals and deposits, which is apparently the case at CGL. Apparently "someone" threw out contracts, NDAs, business correspondence, 1099s and all the usual stuff that an auditor expects to see. Hence they are mailing letters to every freelancer asking what they actually did for the money, because they don't have any records.

What is extra odd about this is that people who worked there only a few months ago said that at least some of this data was in the company files. Hmm.....

Compounded in all this is the fact of the "unreported convention sales." That means it isn't just a matter of looking at two columns of numbers and seeing if they add up. It means that a physical inventory has to be done so that they can try and arrive at a number of units "sold" but never reported by LLC. IMR owes Topps royalties on all of those products too and it takes time to chase all that down when records are as shoddy as IMR has demonstrated (and as Topps I wouldn't trust their records as far as I could kick LLC).

I wonder if that has anything to do with the claim that L was paying building contractors and reporting it as freelance writing during the whole "co-mingling" affair.

What, by the way, would really be the benefit of such a move besides defrauding the other owners? Are there any tax-related reasons to claim home improvement expenses as business expenses?

He wouldn't have to pay himself the money first and thereby avoided owing income tax on it.

Which is text book tax evasion.

-M&P

Actually, it isn't tax evasion even though you're avoiding paying income taxes. That is one of the advantages of an LLC as well as other business types. The advantage to having your company buy you a BMW 7-series is you avoid the income tax of receiving the money and buying the car yourself. The disadvantage is that if your company fails, the bmer is a company asset, and you lose it.

Mesh

No, it's just a different sort of tax evasion. As Coleman's personal house is his house, and not the companys house, and it's not an excluded good, someone is liable for taxation - now as it's almost certainly a taxable benefit, it IS income tax evasion as he should have reported it

Not necessarily:

If certain conditions are met, employer provided meals and lodging may be excluded from an employee's gross income. If meals are furnished (1) by the employer; (2) for the employer's convenience; and (3) provided on the business premises of the employer they may be excluded from the employee's gross income per Section 119(a). In addition, lodging furnished by the employer for its convenience on the business premise of the employer (which the employee is required to accept as a condition of employment) is also excluded from gross income.

There are ways to do it without paying taxes. I don't know the details of IMR/CGL's arrangements. I'm just saying it's not necessarily tax evasion.

Mesh

Wow, double post and I didn't click twice, back, refresh or anything. Odd.

Though, it's my understanding that his prior house did become Catalyst's house, or is where Catalyst was operating out of, which may have been part of his reason or excuse for moving.

However, I don't remember where I saw Catalyst taking over his old place as an office. I could be mistaken.

You are correct. Sorry for not being more specific.

Wait, so we're really defending purchasing the house with company money as a legimate business expense approved by the business and/or business owners? If so, how could he have POSSIBLY comingled funds then?

I'm not defending it. It just raises its own set of issues, and I'm not even sure I'm correct. It could be I'm mistaking some reference that was just using LLC's address as a contact when CGL was first starting up, and that everyone was just operating out of their own homes. Even now I don't really know if CGL operates out of a central location or what.

Even if I'm right, it's possible that there was absolutely no agreement to provide any sort of reimbursement. Based on the reaction from at least one of the people with access to financial information, I would guess that is the case. In other words, whatever the status of the previous home is, any funds spent on the new home would have still been inappropriate.

AFAIK, that's a rumor or accusation, not a fact.

I've got to be honest, I question how much of that is true, but then again I'm of the opinion that everyone involved is twisting the truth to some extent, and I have no way to know who's being the most honest. And even if they are being honest it's not a guarantee they're telling the truth as people's point of views can alter perception of anything immensely.

No look, it's one of these four scenarios

A) He defrauded the Company

B) He defrauded the Government

C) Building himself the mansion was legitmate business expense signed off by the relevant business stakeholders.

D) He didn't use company funds for bulding the house?

Do you think it was A, B, C or D?



Just to be clear, do you mean that Tiger Eyes is lying and that she wasn't asked by by either Coleman or Bills to falisfy royalty reports?

Yeah, they just refused to publish her Netcat & Slamm-0 romance novel and she flipped out, quit and then started spreading these malicious rumors.

Must. See.

Yes. Thanks for pointing that out. The only person who has claimed that so far was Frank but since it is out there it is something that Topps would be silly to overlook. If auditors are anything, they are thorough.

Damn. Heavy trigger finger.

Am I a horrible person to compartmentalize my gaming purchasing decisions? Meaning, I could kind of care less what mismanagement, corruption or legal matters CEOs, Presidents and management is involved in when it comes to buying a game book. Hell, I could care less about the moral and ethics of the freelancers, line developers and other employees, when it comes to making my decision to purchase a book.

I don't think that makes me immoral or supporting their bad habits, just the same that buying a band's CD doesn't mean I support their alcohol or drug abuse...

Here is a hypothetical for you:

I'm a record producer.
I get a band to make a recording. I don't pay the band.
I get a recording studio to record it. I don't pay the recording studio.
I get a distributor to print and distribute the album. I don't pay the distributor.
I take the profits from the sale of the album and buy a yacht.

Is it okay for you to buy a copy of the album? Should you buy more music from this producer?

For me personally, the challenge here isn't what to do in this situation when this is all true. The challenge is, what do you do in this situation when you have little hard evidence proving any of this? It becomes a gamble.

If you DON'T buy the album and it's not true (or less true than it is being presented), you risk harming people undeservedly.

On the other hand, if you DO buy the album and it IS true, you've just rewarded the corrupt record producer and you encourage him to continue with the same behavior in the future.

THAT is the real dilemma.

There are people who buy music?

And that dilemma only is one if you buy on the basis of ethics. Ifyou buy a product because you want a product, then whether or not someone in the company producing it is a world class dick is irrelevant.

I'm talking about people who DO buy on ethics. That audience (which seems to include a fair number of folks here) is faced with an entirely different dilemma - for them they already know that "no, you don't buy from the person in my example" but they face an additional dilemma - the one I outlined in my post. How to choose when the evidence is incomplete.

I have to say, even if every last nasty thing that is rumored is true regarding CGL, I still find the Chinese government to be more repulsive and I really don't have the effort to go out of my way to try and ensure everything I buy is Chinese manufacturing free. I don't even know if it is possible in today's economy.

BT Box Set, double-zinger!

I know, I think Randall was going to cry every time we brought up poor little Chinese girls.

Watch carefully as I, yet again, refuse to debate whether or not people SHOULD try to buy based on their ethics, and focus again on the fact that some people here DO buy on ethics and these people are faced with the dilemma I outlined in my original post.

I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm here to speculate about what the "right choice" is in this situation for people who already care about this sort of thing.

It varies for me at least. Take Roman Polanski, he got a girl drunk, drugged and when that still wasn't enough forcibly raped a 13 year old. I won't see any of his movies, and while my memory is spotty I avoid to a lesser degree the movies of his recent Hollywood support crew.

In this case we got.

Paying the freelancers late. I do not think there is a we were never going to pay them situation just they are consistently and horrible late on payment. What else, um possible tax evasion and possible minor dishonesty to topps, and a lot of people not really understanding the type of corporation that they have.

So a bunch of allegedly and paying people late. Yeah that doesn't even blip on my radar yet.

I feel that the reality is most, if not all businesses, have shorted ethics at some point in time. Its just that some are a lot better at covering it up. So, its not a matter of if, its really when does a business crap on itself enough to push consumers away.

I think for people that care about "this" sort of thing the only option you have is to organize and be vocal, as well as not purchase. But, I don't think enough people care that much to do actually follow through with it. But, I could be wrong.

That's what _you_ see. A lot of other people see something totally different. In some cases more - in other cases less.

I really don't intend to argue whether what may or may not have happened at CGL was bad enough to warrant not buying from them - there are too many opinions and precious few facts. We've done that for 8 threads now.

I'm mainly curious about how other people think about this - do you react to the unproven situation and risk harming the innocent? Or do you ignore it and risk rewarding the guilty?



I think you're too cynical. I think most small business do things in an honest, fair, and forthright manner. I don't think most businesses skirt the laws or treat the people they work with badly. I think that's the exception - not the rule. That's just my personal experience, having worked with and for many small businesses over the past 20 years.

I think the people who need to make their own moral/ethical/professional decisions now are not the players and fans, but the freelancers. The freelancer's decision has to be whether they are willing to continue working (or start working) with CGL given the payment delays and past history. I think the true test of CGL's future survival will rest with its ability to convince freelancers that they have made changes so that this sort of thing doesn't happen again. I am not just talking about current freelancers, but future potential freelancers as well. I am no expert on the RPG industry, and I know the consensus seems to be that freelancers get treated like shit everywhere, but I find it hard to believe that CGL hasn't blown some serious trust in that community at this point, which will have repercussions. Personally, I am hoping that those bridges get rebuilt and CGL rights the ship, so I can continue to buy their products and given that I think buying their products will increase the chance that freelancers get paid sooner, the last thing I would do is boycott them.

Yeah, I very well may be too cynical. But, people are, well...human. I'm not saying every business has an owner that steals money (allegedly) or doesn't pay its workers, but there are skeletons in everyone's closet. Granted, there is a difference between business ethics and moral ethics, but I have a hard time believing that if someone makes purchase decisions based on business ethics, why you would stop short of moral ethics as well.

Personally, there's nothing that CGL has done or will do that will affect whether I buy a book from them or not. And if the license goes elsewhere, those same feelings apply...

I wanted to just post "ditto" but felt it would be misconstrued. The post puts into words my position on the subject.

BlueMax