It's taken a few weeks, but we've reolved most of the problems that knocked Hawgleg Publishing offline for almost a month. I will go into more detail about this shortly, including an honest assessment of what went wrong and the name of the company that is to blame. Bur for now, here's our status:

• hawgleg.com -- Completely back online, including the forums
• drawrpg.com -- Completely back online
• arnicarealestate,com -- Content moved, but not visibile to the public

We'll provide updates soon.

-- Mike Mitchell

A note from Mike Mitchell:

My wife had foot surgery on Sept. 15. Saturday night we notice a red splotch near her knee... by Sunday evening we were in the hospital trying to control an outbreak of cellulitis with IV antibiotics (they are being aggressive because of the recent surgery).

I am staying at the hospital with her, and as such, have not done any work for Hawgleg or Arnica. We will probably return home Wednesday, at which time I will try to get caught up on castings and mold making.

In the meantime, if you have an orrder with us waiting for shipment, we ask that you please bear with us. We'll try to contact everyone individually, but if we miss you, please accept my apologies.

I will post additional information as it becomes available.

We just wanted to give a tip of the ole 10-gallon hat to our saddle pal, Kevin G. Nunn. It seems our good buddy has received a high honor for his board game, Duck! Duck! Safari: it's been nominated for an Origins Award for "Children’s, Family, or Party Game" of the year! If memory serves us, this is Kevin's third nomination. Previous nominees include: Nobody but us Chickens and Duck! Duck! Go!  As ya'll know, Kevin is the original author and game designer for the Draw! RPG (you know, the one we're going to publish).

So, this feather in his cap is a feather for us all. And we couldn't be happier for him. His games are fun, expertly designed, and this honor couldn't be bestowed on a better guy. If you've got some young 'uns (or a missus) who you'd like to introduce to the world of gaming, these games are a great place to start (Mitchell sent the Chickens game to his sister and her family a few years back, and it's their favorite game -- she's even taken it to her Sunday School class and it's been a big hit there, too).

But aside from being kid friendly, these games are of that rare breed that are also a whole lotta fun for adults. 

"The ability to be simple enough for kids, yet complex enough for power gamers is one of the hallmarks of Kevin's abilities as a game designer," said Hawgleg co-owner Mike Mitchell. "He has a rare talent and we're very pleased to see that he's being recognized by his peers."

Congratulations, Kevin... we're all proud of yuh!

-- Mike Mitchell, Mike Murphy & Paul Mauer