Arcane LegionsArcane Legions is a new collectible miniatures combat game from Wells Expeditions. The game, of course, comes with its own setting, a fantasy-Earth history where magical Roman, Egyptian, and Han empires battle for supremacy. Play is clearly intended to be more elegant than most miniatures games. Arcane Legions relies on a standard plastic base, not only for holding all the miniatures together (tabs on the bottom of each figure fit in to holes in the base), but also for tracking offensive, defensive, and movement capabilities. Common units come unpainted, while commanders and other special figures are prepainted. Wells Expeditions is also taking a new approach to packaging, not entirely eliminating the blind purchasing aspect of typical collectible games, but separating the commons from the uncommons and rares and offering a fully-playable, non-random starter set.

I gather these features have been chosen with the goal of attracting new fans to miniatures gaming, while also becoming a home for hobbyists wanting something simpler, requiring less dedicated time, and easier on the wallet. It looks to me like Wells Expeditions has addressed the key issues. They sent me a free starter set, so stay tuned for more info on how the game plays. But as to whether this will be a breakout hit, I remain skeptical. I tend to think that potential customers in this category actually prefer complexity and challenges to collecting.

Arcane Legions closeup