Asmodee Group announced that it is in talks to acquire Rebel, the publisher and distributor of games in Poland. Rebel already distributes many of Asmodee’s games, including Ticket to Ride and Dobble.

Asmodee UK, formerly Esdevium Games, will be taking over distribution of Bananagrams and other games from the Bananagrams company in the U.K. as of April 1st.

Van Ryder Games has acquired the U.S. and Canadian distribution rights for English-language versions of Makaka Editions’ series of French graphic novel game books. Expect a Kickstarter project for these in March.

Pegasus Spiele is partnering with Frosted Games to distribute some of the latter’s titles on an exclusive basis and other titles on a non-exclusive basis. Those games under the exclusive arrangement will get a Pegasus Spiele logo on the box. Among these is Augespielt! (“Game Over!” in English), a murder-mystery game set at the annual German SPIEL game convention.

Pegasus Spiele is also expanding its relationship with Portal Games, taking over exclusive distribution of the latter’s products in Germany.

Renegade Game Studios and Hunter’s Books are partnering to copublish the latter’s roleplaying games, including the upcoming titles Kids on Bikes and Outbreak Undead. Renegade will handle marketing and distribution to hobby retailers.

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Quadrupedly-funded only five days into the Kickstarter: It’s the Conan RPG a/k/a Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures In An Age Undreamed Of. Journey to the savage pulp adventure action of the Hyborian Age with this all-new roleplaying game. There’s a bewildering matrix of reward levels and what you can get with the stretch goals, but it looks like at about $58 you can get everything that’s unlocked as PDFs or the same pledge amount gets you only the core book (physical and PDF) plus an art book (as PDF) and map (physical) or maybe $44 plus shipping for just the core book or maybe $87 for both things but not the art book or… Anyway, delve into the madness of Conan’s reward tiers and see for yourself.

Pinnacle Entertainment Group is bringing the Weird War I setting to the Savage Worlds game system. This is a very short funding drive for the game: only ten days left. In this fourth installment of the Weird War series (WW2, Rome, and Vietnam), it’s crazy horror plus war action in the trenches of Europe. Get the player’s guide and the digital stretch goals as low as $15; GMs will want to pony up $35 for the player’s guide, plus GM handbook, GM screen inserts, a full adventure, and all the digital stretch goals.

Over on Patreon, Guillaume Tavernier is creating amazing location-based map artwork for fantasy roleplaying games. The city of Tahala is inspired by oriental and Indian architecture. Each month, Guillaume will be producing a new building or area, complete with setting and story hooks with the end goal of creating the entire city, building by building. He’s suggesting a $5 patronage pledge per illustration PDF.

Oh, hey, Argo is back! Flatlined Games brings Argo back to Kickstarter with a more-reasonably attained goal (which it already met!). It’s a Bruno Faidutti and Serge Laget-designed game of astronauts waking up from suspended animation to find the ship is overrun with aliens and they’ve got to get to the escape pods. And just like in the movie Alien, there’s simply not enough space in the escape pods for everybody. Ah, cutbacks! 30 Euros for a copy of the game, which is around $33. Canadian, American, and European-friendly shipping options.

Van Ryder Games has Saloon Tycoon, a 3d tile laying game set in the wild west. As you play the game, you’ll be building a saloon by placing cubes and stacking floors, higher and higher, or expanding out along the road. It physically looks a bit like the setup in Rampage (a/k/a Terror in Meeple City), but here the game is all about creating the best saloon, not about knocking down the buildings with armed bands of outlaws (or irradiated giant lizards). It looks pretty darn cool and you can get a copy by pledging $40.

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Being the third Kickstarter project launched by Van Ryder Games, Hostage Negotiator is a 15 to 30 minutes card and dice game for 1 player. The player takes the role of a Hostage Negotiator who has been summoned to a crime scene where hostages are taken by a hostile Abductor.

Each turn is divided into 3 phases: the Conversation Phase, in which conversation cards are played and resolved through dice rolls; the Spend Phase, in which conversation cards can be bought; and the Terror Phase, in which a terror card has to be drawn and resolved, and by doing so, the negotiation process would be affected. To achieve victory, at least half of the hostages must be saved, while the Abductor has to be captured or eliminated.

Currently the game has raised $19,622 more than its $5,000 goal with 13 days to go. For readers who are interested in the full rules, a detailed rulebook is available on Hostage Negotiator’s project page.

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