Mantic Games has secured a license from Dark Horse Comics for a Hellboy board game.

The Hellboy board game will be a co-operative experience in which players face off against some of the comic’s most famous foes. Up to four people take control of iconic BRPD members, such as Hellboy, Abe Sapien and Roger the Homunculus, before exploring gothic locations and uncovering ancient artifacts.

Mantic is planning a Kickstarter project for the game in April and says the product will feature preassembled plastic miniatures.

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New products for Dreadball this month! Mantic Games has announced the release of 2 new teams, and a 3rd All-Star MVP pack. The 2 new teams, The Nemion Oceanics: Sphyr Team and the allion Roses: Hobgoblin Team, both come with 10 amazing-looking miniatures. The new All-Star MVP pack contains 3 new MVPs to round out your teams.

Of course with new teams and MVPs we’ll see a Season 4 Rulebook. The new book contains:

• 48 Pages
• Stats and background for four new teams – the Sphyr, the Rebs, the Hobgoblins, and the Brokkrs.
• Stats and background for 7 famous MVPs
• Expanded rules for Fans, Coaches and Cheerleaders
• A new achievement system to push your players a step further
• A host of new abilities and MVPs to add to your games.

Notice how 2 more teams were listed in that description? I can’t wait to see what they’re going to look like.

Each new team will cost and the MVP pack will cost $29.99, while the Season 4 rulebook will be $24.99.

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Come December you’ll be able to mix your love of Mars Attacks and Dreadball with the brand-new Red Planets Martian team for the best damn sports game there is. The team is currently available for preorder, and costs $20. Included in the package will be:

• 4 Martian Jacks
• 2 Martian Guards
• 2 Martian Strikers
• 2 Martian Dead Bodies
• 10 Clear Transparent Helmets
• 10 Clear Plastic Hex Bases
• 1 Mantic Point
• 1 Mantic Carry Case with Foam
• Rules for playing the team in DreadBall

I’m really interested to see how they play in the game.

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Mantic Games has a new game hitting Kickstarter on August 4th. Dungeon Saga: The Dwarf King’s Quest will be for 2-5 players, and will have 6 scenarios for the heroes to play through, getting stronger each time, until they face the evil Necromancer at the end.

There’s not many more details at this time, and most likely won’t be until the Kickstarter is launched.

Mantic puts out Dreadball, and that’s enough reason for me to be interested in this, even though the two products aren’t related in the least.

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I must preface this post by stating, with full intensity and sincerity, that I am by no means a sports fan. Most of my knowledge of sports comes from the fact that my kids play them, and the GFL series of books by Scott Sigler.

That being said, Dreadball has fast become one of my favorite games.

Miniatures? Check. Violence? Check. Sports?

Check?

Yup. Check.

In Dreadball you’re coaching a team of intergalactic sports players who’s goal is to get the weapons-grade ball into one of 3 scoring zones on the opponent’s side of the pitch. You’ve got 3 player types: Strikers, Jacks, and Guards. Strikers can run the ball. Jacks can run the ball and dole out hits. Guards can only hit. Your team is built of these 3 types of players, though only 6 can be on the field at once. The others are benched, waiting for another player to be switched out, injured or killed to come in to the game. There’s also rules for MVPs and Giants, but that’s a bit beyond the scope of the basic set.

Players take turns over the course of Rushes, each taking 5 actions each before the Rush counter is moved up and the opposing player takes their turn. Players run, pass, smash, and push their way towards goals. Everything is dice based, and actions can fail, succeed, or double, which gives you special actions that be taken. Through all this you’ve got fans to please, and a ref that can be caught off guard if you feel you want to cheat a bit. The rules can get pretty in-depth, though not in a complicated manner. You can peek at them here.

Something about this game just clicked with me right off the bat. I’ve already pre-ordered a new pitch, and am planning on getting some more teams, and the corresponding rulebooks for those teams. One of these days I’ll get my teams painted.

The game is much more accessible than a game like Bloodbowl, which may be why it scratches the right itch for me. It’s a sci-fi, customizable sports game that doesn’t take too much time or money to get into.

A copy of Dreadball was provided free for review by Mantic Games.

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I’m a huge fan of Dreadball, as you’ll soon see in my upcoming Second Look of the game. Mantic has currently sold out of its run of the game, and will be reprinting it with a Limited Edition version. Dreadball: Azure Forest will contain a special, Azure Forest pitch, as well as A’teo Adyssi, a Metal Azure Forest MVP mini. They’ll also be selling a Mega Bundle, as well as a very limited supply of stand-alone, Azure Forest pitches.

I, for one, have already pre-ordered my new pitch.

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StoneBlade Entertainment

The creators of Ascension Chronicle Of The Godslayer have just put a new electronic CCG for the PC and iOS devices called SolForge. The game is a line-based battle CCG with Richard Garfield on the design team. It’s free-to-play, but you can purchase more cards and tournament vouchers as in-app purchases. I was able to fool around with it for a bit, and even try a draft tournament out. It’s very solid, with great art and gameplay. As you use cards they’re discarded, leveled up, and eventually brought back into your hand later. Combining this deck-building mechanic with traditional CCG play is a great combination.

Mantic Games

One of my favorite games at the show that I saw was DreadBall from Mantic Games. DreadBall is a sci-fi sports games where players are trying to get a 200mph, weapons-grade ball into one of three goals. There’s a bunch of teams available to purchase and play, and an in-depth set of rules that can scale up or down depending on how complex you want the game to be.

There’s a couple ways to get into the game. There’s the base set, or you can buy one of the rulebooks and a few teams to get started.

I’m by no means a sports fan, but I can’t deny how much fun I had demoing this one.

Mayfair Games

Mayfair had a few things to show, but most has been seen before. What new game I did get to see and demo was Mad City. It’s a light game where you’re drawing 9 random tiles from a bag and trying to group the colors of the city pieces together to score the largest chains before the minute sand-timer runs out. There’s also bonuses for large parks and the longest road. It almost feels like speed Carcassonne where you’re only scoring the farmers. A single round plays and scores in 2-3 minutes, which makes this a great filler game.

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