Most of us at the Pawn are pretty in the know when it comes to who’s doing what, but I discovered something today: Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) is probably one of the busiest hobby gaming companies out there. Why is that?

  • Legend of the Five Rings RPG: I got some hands on time with the new rulebook and I’ll tell you, AEG has really been paying attention to the trend towards full-color, high quality RPGs. This book is beautiful. If you’re even half-way interested in the L5R universe, you’re probably going to want to pick this one up.
  • Legend of the Five Rings CCG: AEG was packing the full current range of L5R cards and people seemed to really be going for them.
  • Board Games: AEG has been putting out a good number of board games recently and had their newest, Mad Zepplin on display. The game has some outstanding artwork and looks fairly interesting, but…
  • Thunderstone: Thunderstone is the real talk of the AEG booth. No one (including AEG!) was expecting the new expansion, Wrath of the Elements, to be at the show, but somehow they made it happen. And then it sold out. There are a few copies left right now, but those will be put out Saturday and probably won’t last long. This won’t be the last expansion though, in addition to the already announced Doomgate Legion expansion (4Q 2010), a third expansion is already in the works for 2011.

  • Dust Tactics: Speaking of unexpected surprises, AEG showed me the production models from their Dust Tactics starter set. If you’ve been on the fence, but thought the pictures shown thus far we’re dressed up, check out these shots. These models are sporting some very serious detail. Even better, AEG is bound and determined to support this as a viable, new miniature game for hobby gamers, with expansions to follow later in the year (the game officially launches at Gencon).


But even with all that, not everything is going their way. The long-awaited L5R boardgame, Art of War, is just going to have to stay long-awaited. Quality problems with the manufacturing side are keeping this title in limbo. That said, AEG is putting out an enormous amount of product and really making a name for themselves.