Brainwaves Episode 135 - New Knockout

The Brainwaves Team are back from our festive hiatus. Every two weeks we bring you the best in tabletop gaming news from the controversial to the down right strange. This episode we cover Hasbro’s unwanted Christmas present, Wizards in AI art trouble (again), Tabletop Mentorship programme expanding, and can you guess what Iain thought he would never type into the show notes?

Headlines

Hasbro cuts workforce in the run-up to Christmas

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/11/toymaker-hasbro-layoffs

 

Wizards under fire for AI art. Again

https://www.polygon.com/24029754/wizards-coast-magic-the-gathering-ai-art-marketing-image

 

D&D Beyond on AI

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1642-updated-statement-on-ai?utm_campaign=DnD-D%26D-Beyond&utm_source=FACEBOOK&utm_medium=social&utm_content=12126547969

 

Tabletop Mentorship Programme joins Unpub

https://unpub.net/tabletop-mentorship-program-now-part-of-unpub/

 

Punchboard UK Link

https://punchboard.co.uk/

Updates

Brooklyn Strategist Unionises https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2023/12/14/third-new-york-board-game-cafe-in-a-month-wins-fight-to-establish-union/

 

News

Votes for Women wins Summit Award

https://sdhist.com/votes-for-women-2023-summit-award/

 

https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2024/01/11/facebook-bans-ads-for-award-winning-votes-for-women-board-game-claims-sensitive-social-issue/

American Economic Liberties Project

Public Citizen  

Open Markets Institute.

Rally the troops

Amazon secures 40k series

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2022/12/16/warhammer-starring-henry-cavill/

 

Nightfall Games picks up on AI art

https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/the-terminator-rpg-t2-judgment-day/news/the-terminator-rpg-t2-judgment-day-ai-generated-art-discovered

Jared Earle Interview

 

Kelp counterfeited before release

https://wonderbowgames.com/en-uk/blogs/news/counterfeit-copies-of-kelp

 

Steamforged partners with Lucky Duck

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/55980/steamforged-partners-lucky-duck

 

Chess back in the news

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/27/chinese-chess-champion-stripped-of-title-after-defecating-in-hotel-bathtub

 

Obituaries

Bernward Thole

https://www.spiel-des-jahres.de/trauer-um-bernward-thole-ein-leben-fuer-das-spiel/?fbclid=IwAR05jc6FA0gD8O5tfBAtR9AUkNhMK4JO4KnPW6Dx8qe9CGRQqqDKqsY1v

 

Bryan Charles Ansell

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Ansell

 

Jenell Jaquay

https://www.gofundme.com/f/jennell-jaquays-has-a-long-road-back?member=22972805&sharetype=teams&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=cust