Anyone who has ever played the Magic: The Gathering card game will probably remember the high price of the game’s original beta print run. These cards are basically the same as the first set regular edition cards except for some sizing differences. Collectors, on the other hand, must have them.

If you’ve got $89,000 collecting dust in some savings fund, you can head on over to eBay to bid on a Beta Black Lotus with a grade of 10, which is allegedly the only one in existence.

For anyone that doesn’t play Magic or has never played it, a mint condition Beta Black Lotus card is the equivalent to an Amazing Fantasy #15 for comic book geeks. If you don’t know the significance of either of those two items then you need to keep reading our site for further knowledge of geek culture.

You’ve seen them on gaming tables or in display cases, preserved and painted to amazing quality. If you’re a Dungeons & Dragons player like myself, odds are you have one of your own to represent your fantasy persona. They come separately packaged or in multi-figure kits, typically sculpted from plastic or pewter. These days, they can even be bought pre-painted for the avid gamer who would rather spend more time rolling dice than sitting at a painting table.

But where’s the fun in that?

If you’ve ever looked at a beautifully painted miniature and said to yourself, “I wanna do THAT!” then this, my friend, is the column for you.

I’m sure some of you may be thinking, “There’s no way I could ever be able to paint like that,” but don’t be discouraged! The people who do those incredible paint jobs started off just like you, and with the right guidance and plenty of practice, you could be giving them a run for their money in no time.

For the duration of this column, I will be discussing the techniques of painting your own miniature. I do not profess to being a professional by any stretch of the imagination, but that is the beauty of this rewarding and relaxing hobby… You don’t have to be a professional to share the tips and techniques that you’ve discovered!

John Fusco‘s latest screenplay to hit the big screen and about to be released on DVD this Tuesday is The Forbidden Kingdom, which will be remembered for the first on-screen appearance of both Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Fusco was the pen behind the Young Guns films, as well as the Viggo Mortensen flick Hidalgo, and he also scripted the Weinstein Company’s upcoming re-imagining of Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai.

Geeks Of Doom: Were you aware of the Chan and Li team-up when you began writing the script?

John Fusco: It actually began as a bedtime story for my young son who was beginning martial arts. Because I have a background in kung fu, I wanted to introduce him to what I felt was the right foundation: the philosophy and literature and mythology that informs the practice. If I had tried reading Lao Tzu or the Four Classics to him I would have lost him. So I made up a fun time travel journey that would be something of a primer.

While I was out in the desert with Casey Silver making Hidalgo I told him about this story I was making up for my kid and why. He felt that I was onto a movie and he encouraged me — and hired me — to start the screenplay.