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The Village Square: September 22, 2016

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This weekend I attended the Long Beach Comic Con, which has a small-but-growing tabletop presence. In addition to the usual suspects (Alderac Entertainment Group, Steve Jackson Games, Renegade Game Studios, and Cool Mini Or Not), there were a few recently Kickstarted games and I was able to geek out over The Others: 7 Sins’ fantastic figurines.

Mechs vs Minions
The hype train has been chugging along for Mechs vs. Minions, Riot Gamesā€™ (League of Legends) first foray into tabletop games. The company announced that it will arrive October 13th. ā€œIn the fiction of Mechs vs. Minions, Runeterraā€™s diminutive, gnome-like Yordles ā€” Corki, Tristana, Heimerdinger and Ziggs ā€” are all learning to ride and fight on mechs. But, during their first training exercise, something goes wrong and LoLā€™s minions begin to attack.ā€ Producer Chris Cantrell says the game is “reminiscent of the classic Robo Rally, which uses a similar card-based action system.ā€
Source: http://www.polygon.com/2016/9/19/12949698/league-of-legends-board-game-mechs-vs-minions-launch-date-price

Intriguing
Over on boardgamegeek.com Rio Grande Games posted that the second editions of Dominion and Dominion: Intrigue are shipping to distributors next week. Both feature ā€œnew covers and replaced a few cards in each game to make them even more interesting and fun to play.ā€ Owners of the originals will be able to buy upgrade packs containing the new cards. There are updated rules and card text and the extra Base Cards have been removed from Intrigue.
Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/article/23764442#23764442

ACD Brain Games
ACD Distribution now carries Brain Games, including Ice Cool, the penguin dexterity game that got a lot of buzz this summer. I saw a demo at Gateway 2016 and was impressed by the components and simple gameplay.
Source: http://acddistribution.blogspot.com/2016/09/acd-distribution-now-carries-brain-games.html

Limited Turtles
Due to the bankruptcy of shipping company Hanjin, there will be a limited supply of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles HeroClix: Heroes in a Half Shell Gravity Feeds. According to the announcement, ā€œWizKids is one of many companies being effected [sic]by the situation with a reported 85 ships being barred from docking due to Hanjinā€™s inability to pay port fees. ā€¦ The majority of the product has arrived and all pre-orders will be filled. We will update our distribution and retail partners when more information about the container is available.ā€
Source: http://wizkids.com/blog/2016/09/14/limited-supply-of-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-heroclix-heroes-in-a-half-shell-due-to-bankruptcy-of-shipping-company-all-pre-orders-will-be-filled/

Stranded Conquest
Also affected by Hanjinā€™s bankruptcy is Atheris Gamesā€™ first title, Cul-De-Sac Conquest. After a successful Kickstarter last November backers have received their copies from China, ā€œbut the trade print run [is]stuck on the Hanjin ships.” According to ICv2.com, CEO Andrew Birkett said, ā€œFor a small company like ours this is a kiss of death. We’re already struggling financially and now this means our loans cannot be paid with the revenue from our game, which we expected to have arrived weeks ago.ā€
Source: http://icv2.com/articles/news/view/35557/hanjin-bankruptcy-strands-shipment-start-ups-game

New Robinson
Portal Gamesā€™ new version of Robinson Crusoe is currently in pre-order, but the company released the rulebook as well as a look at the differences between older printings and the latest edition.
Source: http://portalgames.pl/new_en/article-robinson-crusoe-changes-and-rules/

Rebel Yell
Zach Bunn of Team Covenant reviews builds and strategies of Rebel factions for an Imperial Assault skirmish game.
Source: https://drafts.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/9/21/it-is-the-future-you-see-1/

Pokemon Evolutions
According to purplepawn.com, the final expansion in the Pokemon TCG: XY Series, XY – Evolutions, will be available at Toys R Us on October 30th, Gamestop on October 31st, and other retailers November 2nd. ā€œThis expansion has the look and feel of those classic Base Set cards, with updated game logic and stats. Long-time and new PokĆ©mon fans alike can see PokĆ©mon-EX in the Base Set frame, offering a nostalgic twist on these powerful cards.ā€
Source: http://www.purplepawn.com/2016/09/pokemon-tcg-xy-wraps-up-with-evolutions/

Thunderbirds Expansions
The second Thunderbirds expansion, Above & Beyond, is now available from Modiphius Entertainment, reports tabletopgamingnews.com. ā€œThis new set features a new rulebook (containing 4 new ways to play the game), 5 new Level 5 Scheme cards, 18 new character cards (which allow you to level up your abilities as you play), 10 new vehicle models and 10 new disaster vehicle cards (giving you new rewards for avoiding disasters), and a sand timer so you can play in ā€˜Crisis Mode.ā€™ā€
Source: http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/thunderbirds-above-beyond-expansion-now-available/

Digital Preservation
Kelsey Rinella of pockettactics.com recently spoke to Jon-Paul Dyson, director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games about the challenges of preserving digital material, namely games. ā€œmost of our work with video capture of game play on mobile devices has been experimental, but we expect to continue to grow our emphasis on this area of video game preservation in the future as part of our mandate to preserve the history of video games.ā€
Source: http://www.pockettactics.com/news/quintessence-the-challenges-of-digital-preservation-part-1/
Part two of the interview here: http://www.pockettactics.com/news/quintessence-the-challenge-of-digital-preservation-part-2/

Upcoming Board Game Conventions
September 24-25. Congress of Gamers. Rockville, Maryland.
October 8. Mid Meeple. Las Vegas, Nevada.
October 14-16. Big Bad Con. Walnut Creek, California.
October 15-16. RetroWorld Expo 2016. Wallingford, Connecticut.
October 21-23. What-Khan. Rockford, Illinois.
October 28-30. ConnCon (Falcon 2016). Stamford, Connecticut.
November 11-13. San Diego Historical Games Convention. San Diego, California.
November 11-13. MEPACON. Scranton, Pennsylvania.
November 25-27. Chessiecon. Timonium, Maryland.

Visit casualgamerevolution.com for more convention listings.

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