From all of us here at the Dragon, peace and goodwill to you and your loved ones during this holiday season. Remember to treat others how you want to be treated.
Smash City
Smash City from WizKids is a dice-chucking game of Kaiju combat. According to Dice Tower News: “Aim well and roll your monster dice into the city to knock down buildings and attack anything and everything in your reach. Each Kaiju has special powers and each favors a particular energy type. Use your strengths effectively to crush your foes and smash the city to pieces.” Smash City debuts in March 2019.
Source: http://www.dicetowernews.com/destroy-cities-with-foam-monster-dice-and-kaiju-combat/55965
So Say We All
The ACD Distribution blog reports that Battlestar Galactica: Starship Battles is now available. “[P]layers take control of Colonial and Cylon spaceships and face each other in furious dogfights and daring missions. The innovative game system features easy to learn rules, a unique set of maneuver cards for each spaceship, and two exclusive devices—the control panel and the rotating miniature base.”
Source: http://acddistribution.blogspot.com/2018/11/battlestar-galactica-starship-battles.html
Eight-Card Engine Building
Over on BGG W. Eric Martin previewed Tom Lehman’s Res Arcana. “Res Arcana is a game for 2-4 players that takes about 10-15 minutes per player, although that playing time is misleading because as with the potato-chip goodness Race for the Galaxy, you will undoubtedly want to play multiple times each session.”
Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/83309/game-preview-res-arcana-or-eight-card-engine-build
Digital Valhalla
Coming soon from CMON: the digital version of Blood Rage. Kickstarter campaign begins December 3rd.
Source: https://twitter.com/CMONGames/status/1065288740178927616
Fixing Shards
Designer Justin Gary reflects on mistakes he made while creating Shards of Infinity and how the new expansion fixes it. “[H]aving a giant, cool-looking character that represents you with a unique art piece changed the emotional reaction to the game dramatically. Whereas before, nobody cared that each player had an identical starting position, looking at these character dials, everybody wanted them to have special powers that differentiated them from other characters.”
Source: https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/2018/11/16/how-i-created-screwed-up-and-fixed-shards-of-infinity/
CMON Stock Slides
According to Tabletop Wire, CMON reported a $4.1 million loss this year and saw its stock decline 30 percent from last year’s price. “The company blamed the losses mainly on decreasing Kickstarter revenue and increased convention expenses.”
Source: http://www.tabletopwire.com/cmon-reports-losses-stock-continues-slide/
Game Sales Up at Barnes & Noble
Sales of toys and games were up at Barnes & Noble during the company’s second quarter. According to ICv2.com B&N Chairman Len Riggio said, “The positive sales trends, the shutdown of Toys ‘R’ Us, the importance of the kids market make Toys and Games a ‘strategic category’ for Barnes & Noble.”
Source: https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/41890/toys-games-up-double-digits-barnes-noble
Board Games As Commodity
Excellent article from Nick Bentley of North Star Games. “[B]ecause publishers are focused on more at the expense of better, consumers have been conditioned to think in a similar way: to pay attention to whatever the new thing is, try it, maybe kind of enjoy it, and then never play it again because the NEXT new thing is dropping and we need to try that. For hobbyists, game nights aren’t game nights anymore; they’re rules-learning nights.”
Source: https://www.nickbentley.games/commodity-board-games/
Robberies at Essen SPIEL
Seems like every year vendors are getting robbed at Essen SPIEL. Japanime Games shares several stories about the companies who were targeted at this year’s event, including their own.
Source: https://japanimegames.com/pages/spiel-robberies
Chess
Chess has been all the rage in Norway lately, thanks to the country’s world champion, Magnus Carlsen. From chess cafes to chess podcasts, “The effect then, can be seen everywhere. In a country of around five million people, close to half a million play chess regularly online”
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/sports/world-chess-magnus-carlsen.html#click=https://t.co/jJCcip8LVT
Upcoming Board Game Conventions
December 27-30. CAP-Con. Atlanta, Georgia.
Visit casualgamerevolution.com for more convention listings.