BattleLore has been a hot game for Days of Wonder, but today the company announced that it is transferring all rights for the BattleLore system to Fantasy Flight Games. Terms for the deal were not revealed, however, Days of Wonder has acknowledged that production costs and the commitment of resources necessary to satisfy demand for future expansion were both factors in the company’s decision. Meanwhile, Fantasy Flight CEO Christian T. Peterson has stated that “Battlelore is as perfect a fit for FFG as could possibly exist in the marketplace.”

BattleLore’s designer Richard Borg will continue to work on the game and expansion, now with Fantasy Flight. Days of Wonder has already removed the game from their online store but for now continues to support it with forums and the Adventure editor. The company will also be trasferring all their existing stock of BattleLore products to Fantasy Flight at the end of August. Those who already ordered the For Troll and Country directly from Days of Wonder will be sent the battle map for free. Those of us who didn’t do that yet will have to wait until they are available from Fantasy Flight. Days of Wonder’s other Commands and Colors based game, Memoir ‘44, will remain with the company.

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Wild Cards is a new campaign setting for Mutants & Masterminds by Green Ronin Publishing. Following the Wild Cards stories, in the universe described in this book an alien virus has not only eliminated most of Earth’s population but left those remaining either hideous freaks or super-powered individuals. Certainly a different take on the superhero genre.

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Lock’n Load Publishing has released issue number 3 of their PDF magazine, Line of Fire. This nearly 60 page publication includes new World at War scenarios, interviews with game designers Richard Borg and Dan Verssen, an excerpt from the upcoming World at War novel, and a variety of other articles.

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I wasn’t going to mention this when the insult was made, because it didn’t really seem to be newsworthy. Michael Goldfarb, a Republican blogging at McCain’s official site, made a nasty comment about liberals, but dragged D&D players into the mix:

It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman’s memory of war from the comfort of mom’s basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others.

Who cares? Some people took umbrage at how D&D got lumped into the insult, but I didn’t think anyone would take this seriously. Well, now Michael has taken the trouble to apologize for it, and in a gamer-friendly style:

If my comments caused any harm or hurt to the hard working Americans who play Dungeons & Dragons, I apologize. This campaign is committed to increasing the strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma scores of every American.

Good grief.

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Sixteen is a card game from the single-game company Alpine Games. It’s accumulated some good reviews, and comes with instructions in four languages.

From the BGG description:

Each player is dealt three cards. The remaining cards are placed face-down in the middle of the table as the draw pile. The cards are numbered 0-6. There are two of every card, but only one zero card for each suit. There are also two wild cards. Players take turns, picking a card, and then adding a card to a fanned-out, face-up play pile.

There are two ways to win a set: when the face-up cards total 16, or when the last three cards in the win pile are all the same color or number. If the play pile goes over 16, a “bust” is declared and the other player gets the win. The player with the most sets when all cards have been played wins the round.

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