21 Feb
Posted by David Miller as Miniatures, Modern Board Games, War Games
Along with a few Warhammer 40,000 Funko Pops (due April-May), Games Workshop had on display at the company’s Toy Fair booth prototype mock-ups of three more entries in its series of introductory board games. These are expected to hit retail in the 4th quarter.
Combat Arena ($40) is a prequel to Warhammer Quest Blackstone Fortress and is similar in complexity to this past year’s intro game, Space Marine Adventures. This one is a dueling game representing a training scenario for one to four characters (one for each player but a total of five are included). Eventually, rules will be provided for integrating Combat Arena characters in to Blackstone Fortress.
Storm Vault ($45) is a cooperative adventure game in the Age of Sigmar for up to five players. The goal is to find the three keys required to unlock the vault. Every location on the board has a corresponding card, face down along the edge. When a hero stops in a location, the player flips the card, revealing either a key or some other possible benefit. Every turn, the players will also draw chaos cards, spreading foes around the board. Chaos foes are represented by cardboard tokens but for heroes there are Age of Sigmar minis, each with its unique special abilities.
Warhammer Underworlds Dreadfane ($50) is a trimmed down but compatible version of Underworlds. It has predefined objectives and no magic.
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.
18 Nov
Posted by David Miller as Electronic Games, Miniatures, Modern Board Games, War Games
Le Havre: The Inland Port has hit both iOS and Android ($5 on either platform) with online, cross-platform, multiplayer support at launch.
Steam: Rails to Riches, which I previously reported was available for Android, is now also available for iOS.
New DLC, The Jungles of Lustria campaign, is available for Warhammer: Arcane Magic ($4 on iOS). The campaign adds new wizards, spells, monsters, and challenges, as well as bug-fixes and GameCenter achievements.
The industrial revolution, in the form of the board game Brass, has reached both iOS and Android lands ($7 for either). It can even be played live cross-border (that is, both versions support networked multiplayer games).
Button Mash Games is developing Gamwright’s Forbidden Desert for iPads but has not yet specified a release date.
Kosmos’ puzzle game Ubongo, however, does have a release date. Conversions to Android and iOS (from developer United Soft Media) should both launch November 25th.
Inspired by video games, Krosmaster Arena returns to its electronic roots with a PC and Mac version through Steam. The basic tactical combat game is free but expansion packs with seven Krosmaster characters each run $15-20.
Games Workshop is in the process of rebranding its brick-and-mortar retail shops to “Warhammer” stores. It’s also expanding, opening new stores worldwide. A search of the website CareerBuilder.com tells us to expect new U.S. Warhammer shops in:
Store manager jobs are available at each of these locations, as well as at an existing store in Columbia, Maryland, for $33,000 annual salaries plus bonus.
Looking for a job? Games Workshop has some openings! Listings are from around the globe, and while they’re mostly run of the mill, there’s one that stands out.
Chief Executive, Games Workshop Group PLC: Nottingham, UK
Yup. If you’re in the UK and you think you’re Executive level, there’s even a position for you! The requirements are a piece of cake:
What are you waiting for! Games Workshop wants to give you money this time, instead of taking it away!
Major changes are underway in the world of Warhammer. Whether it leads to a new rules edition or simply a new storyline, what Games Workshop is calling “The End Times” has launched with the return of Nagash, the Great Necromancer.
Nagash himself is a multi-part plastic kit selling for $105, plus of course there are Nagash’s undead legions, including Mortarchs, Morghasts, and Spirit Hosts.
A Nagash book ($85, or $165 for the deluxe) is actually a two-volume set—one a 296 page narrative, the other a 96 page collection of rules and scenarios. New rules for The End Times allow armies to field 50 percent more Lords and provide wizards, mages, and sorcerers with access to The Lore of Undeath for their spells.