21 Sep
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, CCGs, Electronic Games, Miniatures, Modern Board Games, RPGs, War Games
Hasbro is partnering with Epic Games to produce Fortnite-based toys and games. Of course, there’s to be a Fortnite Monopoly (due this fall) but also other unspecified games.
Shinobi 7 announced acquisition of the Conan license for tabletop games. Two products are planned. The first, a miniatures game via Kickstarter project. The second, a direct-to-retail card game.
With a license from Sony Interactive, Steamforged Games is pursuing plans for a miniatures-heavy Horizon Zero Dawn board game via Kickstarter. Pledges already total more than $1 million, though Steamforged estimates delivery not until March 2020.
Things from the Flood is a just-launched Kickstarter RPG project that’s a sequel to Tales from the Loop and based on another of Simon Stålenhag’s art books. The new one from Free League Publishing is more grim and bleak than its predecessor.
Coming to Kickstarter on the 1st of October is The Hunger Games: Mockingjay from River Horse.
Then scheduled for November 13th is Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood of Venice from Triton Noir. The company promises a cooperative miniatures game focused on stealth mechanisms.
WizKids recently announced a licensing arrangement with WWE. The company will add WWE wrestling personalities to HeroClix and Dice Masters and create WWE board games.
Available now from WizKids is Star Trek Galactic Enterprises, a game in which you play as Ferengi.
Also available now at retail is Munchkin Starfinder. It’s the Munchkin grab-the-loot card game from Steve Jackson Games, based on the Starfinder sci-fi RPG from Paizo Publishing.
Next up for Munchkin is Munchkin Warhammer 40,000 based on the property from Games Workshop. I love the meta of this previewed card, Unpainted.
But Steve Jackson isn’t the only company with a new Warhammer 40,000 license. Devir has made a racing game, Gretchinz, out of the property. WizKids has adapted Warhammer 40K to Dice Masters in Battle for Ultramar. Ulisses did Wrath & Glory, a Warhammer 40,000 roleplaying game. And USAopoly has made Warhammer 40,000 Monopoly.
Based on Warhammer Age of Sigmar, PlayFusion recently launched Champions, a collectible card game with an online play option. A non-collectible card game, Warhammer Doomseeker is available from Ninja Division.
EN Publishing, under license from Rebellion, is launching a Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000AD roleplaying game on Kickstarter.
IDW will ship to retail this coming February Nickelodeon Splat Attack!, as well as an expansion, Reptar Rampage. The game represents a food fight between teams of characters from various Nickelodeon shows, including Spongebob Squarepants, Hey Arnold!, Rugrats, and Invader Zim.
IDW also signed on with Toei Animation for a series of Dragon Ball games. The first two are due in stores this holiday season. Dragon Ball Super: Heroic Battle has players flicking tokens at each other, while Dragon Ball Z: Over 9000 is supposed to provide a more strategic gameplay experience. In 2019 (after a planned Kickstarter campaign), IDW will release a Dragon Ball Z miniatures game.
Coming this fall from USAopoly is the Dragon Ball Z Power Up Board Game in 3D. Also scheduled to deliver soon is a new Disney Chess Set celebrating 90 years of Mickey Mouse. Available now is one celebrating 25 years of Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas. The company’s latest Monopoly games include Five Nights at Freddy’s Monopoly, Ren & Stimpy Monopoly, and BoJack Horseman Monopoly.
Looney Labs recently released Mary Engelbreit Loonacy, a matching card game with the artwork of Mary Engelbreit.
Dog Might Games is now making officially licensed Vampire: The Masquerade dice trays, storyteller screens, and storage boxes, each with a choice of clan symbol. Orders ship with exclusive V5 loresheets tied to the new Geek & Sundry show, LA by Night.
Elderwood Academy is taking preorders for a Vampire: The Masquerade Spellbook gaming box made from walnut and leather. It also ships with LA by Night loresheets.
31 Jan
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, Modern Board Games, RPGs
Expect a Sonic the Hedgehog board game on Kickstarter soon. The game was announced by Shinobi 7, previously a joint venture with Ninja Division Publishing but recently acquired in its entirety by Seven Seas Entertainment. Sonic the Hedgehog: Battle Racers, based on the SEGA video game series, will allow players to choose between Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Tails, and Dr. Eggman, each represented with 40 mm painted figures.
Up on Kickstarter now is Highlander: The Board Game from River Horse. This one naturally comes with a 32 mm figure for each immortal and has players dueling to the last.
All Things Equal, publisher of Loaded Questions, has acquired a license from NBC Universal to produce The Big Lebowski board games. At least two are planned, with details expected around New York Toy Fair.
Billing it as the first in a series of X-Files games (even though the company previously published one in 2015), IDW recently announced Everything is Connected: The X-Files Conspiracy Theory. As a story-telling party game, Everything is Connected has players inventing theories to explain case evidence and then attempting to convince the others of their theory’s plausibility. It’ll also include an alternative game mode, based on the episode “From Outer Space”, in which the players take turns trying to weave together in to a sensible narrative the invented eyewitness testimony provided by the other players. Everything is Connected is supposed to ship in March.
Pegasus Spiele has announced plans for a series of four new games based on Games Workshop’s classic title, Talisman. The first, due later this year, will be a children’s game. Following that, are planned an expandable card game, a roleplaying game, and a dice game.
24 Jun
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, CCGs, Electronic Games, Miniatures, Modern Board Games, Other, RPGs, War Games
Indie Boards & Cards is merging with Action Phase Games to create “a single games publishing behemoth.” Most of the company’s products will carry the Indie Boards & Cards name, though the Heroes Wanted line and certain other products will continue under the Action Phase brand. Distribution will remain managed by PSI.
Funnybone Toys has signed on with Lion Rampant for distribution in Canada. Previously, the company was handling Canadian sales directly. Funnybone says the move is the first step of a global expansion.
Ninja Division Publishing (Super Dungeon Explore) and Seven Seas Entertainment have formed a joint venture, Shinobi 7, that “will focus on producing tabletop games that are based on hit anime, manga, and pop culture brands.” The new company’s first title will be Space Dandy Galactic Deck-Building Game.
Superstore chain, Hastings, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy while owing PSI, Ultra PRO, and ACD Distribution each hundred of thousands of dollars.
Spin Master is opening an office in Australia and will take over the distribution of its own products currently distributed by Funtastic. The company is also expanding its operations in Mexico and Central and Eastern Europe and recently purchased children’s app makers Toca Boca and Sago Mini.