31 Jul
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, CCGs, Electronic Games, Miniatures, Modern Board Games, RPGs, War Games
On Monday, Asmodee North America announced the upcoming departure of CEO Christian Petersen. The founder of Fantasy Flight Games, and then CEO of Asmodee NA after the merger with Asmodee in 2014, is leaving the company at the end of the year.
Petersen said in the announcement that his departure has been “long-planned” and that he is leaving to “focus on family, health, and the pursuit of other interests.”
With the leadership change also comes a restructuring of the company. Two separate business units will emerge, Asmodee North America Publishing led by Steve Horvath and Asmodee North America Distribution led by Andre Kieren.
As a themed variant, A Game of Thrones Catan plays a lot like the original. Terrain tiles produce resources that players can trade and use to build roads, settlements, and keeps. Subtitled “Brotherhood of the Watch”, though, the board in this version represents an area of land that belongs to the Brotherhood and is known as the Gift. Toward one end of the board is the wall. Behind it, miniature figures representing Wildlings slowly gather, eventually breaking through to fill sections of the Gift (making tiles unproductive).
Through the game, the players also have the opportunity to call on help from characters of the A Song of Ice and Fire fiction series, each with a special ability, such as trading resources or chasing off Wildlings.
One way to win A Game of Thrones Catan is, like in the original, be the first player to 10 victory points, mostly acquired through improvements in the Gift. Should the game, however, end prematurely with the Wildlings breaking through the wall three times, the winner and new Lord Commander is the player with the most guards remaining.
A Game of Thrones Catan, produced by Fantasy Flight Games, is now available at retail for $80.
25 Oct
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, CCGs, Electronic Games, Miniatures, Modern Board Games, RPGs, War Games
The Asmodee Group today launched new branding consisting of a new logo, new motto—”Great Games, Amazing Stories”—and new corporate website. The company described the changes as…
An expression of Asmodee’s ambition to offer a narrative transmedia experience around its intellectual properties, while continuing to develop and expand its premium physical and digital games catalogue.
After a series of acquisitions that’s united major game properties and design studios under the Asmodee umbrella, the company looks to be taking steps toward a broader business strategy. As an example, the company on the same day separately announced the formation of Fantasy Flight Interactive, a digital development studio “not just adapting tabletop games, but creating fresh, new digital experiences based on Fantasy Flight Games’ beloved brands.”
It was also recently reported by Variety that Sony Pictures is in negotiations to acquire the film rights to Catan from producer Gail Katz, with potential plans for a series. It’s not clear, however, what Asmodee’s role might be in those plans, as Katz’s acquisition of the movie rights dates back to 2015.
Asmodee’s new logo is meant to focus on the company’s B2B position in the industry. Branding for the group’s various publishing studios (Fantasy Flight Games, HeidelBear, Asmodee Studio, Space Cowboys, Days of Wonder, Plaid Hat Games, Ystari, Z-Man Games, and Pearl Games) will not change.
Fantasy Flight has announced a Fallout board game based on the video game series from Bethesda Softworks. This’ll be a scenario-based, adventure-style game that can be played solo or with up to four. The scenarios in the box include The Capital Wasteland, The Pitt, The Commonwealth, and Far Harbor and players can adopt human, super mutant, or ghoul characters.
To win Fallout, players attempt to accumulate the most influence via influence cards. Some of these award points based on a character’s own achievements, while others are tied to the accomplishments of the various game factions (Railroad, Synths, Brotherhood of Steel, The Institute, Slaver) that a player may have aligned themselves with during the game.
The Fallout board game should be available at retail later this year for $60.
Fantasy Flight Games has announced a new Catan game based on George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels. A Game of Thrones Catan: Brotherhood of the Watch will have players settling and developing the Gift, an area of land donated by the Starks, while at the same time placing guards at the wall to defend against a raid by the Wildlings.
As in the original Settlers of Catan, players will gather and trade resources (lumber, brick, wool, grain, and ore), lose resources to the robber (a Wildling character), build roads and settlements, purchase development cards, and earn victory points. Ten victory points earns a player the win and title of Lord Commander. Or should the Wildlings manage to breach the wall three times, the position of Lord Commander immediately goes to the player who’s contributed the most guards.
08 May
Posted by Thomas Deeny as Classic Board Games, Modern Board Games, Other, RPGs
Okay, this is strange.
So there’s Shut Up & Sit Down, a games review site that publishes game news, and they’re kind of a big deal. Like, crazy big in the general gaming otherspace that’s not actually involved in designing or publishing games. Over 50,000 people are subscribed to their YouTube channel with several review videos having over 100,000 views.
Now they’ve decided to leverage their brand to launch a quite small gaming convention in “annoyingly beautiful” Vancouver, Canada on October 6th through October 8th of this year. Aiming to sell 740 tickets to a board game convention based in a downtown hotel (The Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown), they’re bringing the Seattle Megagames Society to run a few events over the weekend and a few select publishers (some small people, like Fantasy Flight Games and Plaid Hat Games) to run demo areas. Mainly funded by ticket sales instead of exhibit hall rental space, Shut Up & Sit Down is hoping that the US$150 admission price will help fund this show and lay the groundwork for future SHUX shows.
In particular, they’re using the funds to pay for flights and hotels for SHUX’s special guests. “You would be shocked by how few conventions do this,” SU&SD writes. SU&SD co-founder Paul Dean responded to that thread on their website:
…We constantly get invited to speak at or put on events at other cons, ones with far bigger budgets, without any offers of accommodation or travel assistance or fees for our time/preparation/work. That basically boils down to people saying to us “Please be an attraction we can advertise at our con for free,” while we look at air fares and hotel costs running into the hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
That sucks and we don’t want to do that to other people.
The mainly UK-based media company said that one of the reasons they chose to debut SHUX in North America is that continent has about 70% of their audience. “The UK is 15% of our audience, and has been from day 1,” was posted on Shut Up & Sit Down’s twitter. “70% of our donors are US and CA. If anything, it was the USA that gave us our start.”
17 Feb
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, Electronic Games, Modern Board Games, RPGs, War Games
White Wolf’s World of Darkness returns to digital with Vampire: Prelude (iOS, Android) and Mage: Refuge (iOS, Android) interactive fiction apps.
Support for Clank! has been added to the Renegade Game Studios Companion App (iOS, Android), providing “mini-quests” and a solo game mode.
GMT Games is working with HexWar Games on digital versions of Commands & Colors: Ancients and Commands & Colors: Napoleonics. Ancients will launch first in this summer, followed by Napoleonics in the fall or winter. At launch, the games will support PC and Mac. A couple of months later, there’ll be support for iPad. Android support will come eventually, probably.
The previous implementation of Dominion online is no longer. It has been replaced by one from Shuffle iT. Accounts, though, were transferred, supposedly with usernames and passwords intact.
Victory Point Games’ Hunt: The Unknown Quarry recently launched on Steam. It’s a “deductive combat game” for 3-6. One plays a monster trying to escape. The others are hunters. A whole group can play with just one purchased license.
Online accounts for Fantasy Flight Games, Days of Wonder, and Asmodee have been merged. If you had an account, you should have received an email.
11 Jan
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, CCGs, Miniatures, Modern Board Games, RPGs, War Games
Pinnacle Entertainment Group (Savage Worlds RPG) is recruiting for a part-time Production Assistant, by which the company apparently means they will do a little bit of everything: project management, marketing, sales, customer service, and graphic design. Working remotely is a possibility.
Panda Game Manufacturing needs Account Managers to work with publisher clients, one with an Asia focus, one with a France focus, one with a Germany focus, and one general. Also the company is looking for a Project Manager. Everything is remote.
Asmodee North America (Fantasy Flight Games) is looking for a Legal Assistant, an Application Developer, a Help Desk Support Technician, and people to work in the FFG Games Center. All positions are in Roseville, Minnesota.
In Rhode Island, there’s a Design Manager position available with Hasbro Gaming. Duties involve coordinating between market feasibility, production, licensing relationships, and other aspects of product development.
Hasbro subsidiary, Wizards of the Coast, has a several openings, including Software Developer, Program Manager, and Digital Marketing for MtG in Renton, Washington; Community Coordinator in Spain; and WPN Senior Store Lead in Germany.
22 Sep
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, CCGs, Modern Board Games, RPGs, War Games
North Star Games is hiring. The company is looking for a Content Marketing Manager and a Customer Service and Shipping Coordinator. The former will run the social media program and company website. The latter will be responsible for distributing samples, demo copies, and replacement parts. Both positions are located in Kensington, Maryland, just up the street from me. Get the job and we can hang out!
Among a few others positions, Asmodee North America is searching for an Organized Play Coordinator to run international Catan tournaments and a Licensing Coordinator for administrative functions related to licensing partners.
Open positions with Panda Game Manufacturing include Web Developer and Prepress Specialist. There are actually two of the latter, one of which requires fluency in both English and Mandarin Chinese.
GTS Distribution needs Account Representatives in Woburn, Massachusetts; Hauppauge, New York; and Jacksonville, Florida. Responsibilities include sales to retailers and representing GTS at industry events.
Paizo has openings for a Webstore Coordinator and a Technology Manager, the former to consider products and deal with suppliers, the latter to manage “internet operations strategy.”
MYMIC needs someone at the Pentagon with a Top Secret clearance to support war games and tabletop exercises.
SAIC needs two people to help with the “execution of analytic games, tabletop exercises, conferences, presentations, and reports,” one a Defense Policy Analyst with a current TS/SCI clearance, the other a part-time Student Intern.
11 Sep
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, CCGs, Modern Board Games, RPGs, War Games
Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight Games have terminated their license agreement. According to an announcement by FFG, the company will end sales of all products based on GW properties—Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40,000, and Talisman—as of the end of February, 2017. All previously-announced products, however, will be delivered before that date. That includes a couple of Talisman and Warhammer 40,000: Conquest expansions.