When you had the word "Battlemist" in the article describing this game, my heart jumped. I read more furiously and saw more words like "Battlemist 2nd Edition".

I was never able to get a copy of Sails of War and ended up recreating it through many sources, including learning how to translate german because that was what the rules were posted in. Mr. Godwin if you read this please contact me. The only reason I ever knew about FFG was because of a Battlemist I purchased when I went to my gaming store to get minis to paint. ... Come to think of it, I never got any minis. Anyways, this game looked so outdated and dusty too, but for some reason I had to get it. Because of Battlemist and all the variants and hard work I did for it, I was given the keys to the gaming store when the proud owner decided to retire. I put much of that same dedication into other games like WoW AG, Twilight Imperium, and at the moment Chaos in the Old World.

I would love to actually contribute more than just articles. I can email you the images and variants and figures we have made with plastic molds. Unfortunately for the FFG community I made a promise to my players to keep much of this hard work for ourselves. My players felt privileged and lucky to have an awesome store to hang out at, and they told me that by giving all the work I do away for free it makes them feel less privileged or as I say "special".

Whether you contact me or not, I do want to let you guys know how happy I am to see you leaning back towards your original fan base of players rather than trying to draw Games Workshop players, WoW players, and the players of other acquired licenses. One thing many large companies are doing right now is trying to take in all genres of crowds and in the process losing the original fans that kept them alive and strong. 

darkkami said:

I could not agree more.

As to the question in the title of the thread, it's a bit too late for that; the game is listed as being "at the printers" meaning the playtest stage is long over.

And with my luck it will be finished directly AFTER Spiel 09....

ach as long as they bring Seas of Blood and Chaos Marauders they will get my Money

So true! I wonder how one can become a play tester for Fantasy Flight. That would be a dream side job for me. 

I think this game is already past "playtest" stage - it's listed as "at the printers".

(Oops, missed the previous post that said that :P)

Jakews said:

Keep an eye on their News page and submit your resume every time they say they're hiring.  Try to find other projects (employment-related or extracurricular) that could be used as experience for game testing to pad your resume.  If you've ever worked on making your own board games or heavily modifying existing ones, those projects are good to add.

Applying for a game testing position is one of the best jobs to apply for (even if you don't get it) because it's one resume where bragging about all the time you spend playing video games and writing up rules for conversions will probably help you!

I just sent them an email. They invited me to playtest something about a month later and I couldn't make it and they never contacted me again.

Most of the playtesters for them I've talked to have been pretty dissappointed in the experience; they've said they have very very little influence in anything that will happen to the game so it's probably not what you hope it will be.

It's true that there's a difference between testing a game and designing a game.  You should be clear about which side of that fence you want to be on.  Designers decide what the rules are and how the game works, testers are only there to make sure no details got missed and that game play actually functions as the designer intended.  If you're serious about getting into the industry, though, it's a lot easier to become a tester than a designer (more job openings anyway.)  Once you're on the inside you can start pitching ideas to whoever decides what games will be made next.