Precinct Omega

This week, I look at some emerging miniatures wargames:

 

Blood & Plunder: Raise the Black Flag 

Takkure 

Mighty Armies: Invasion 

HOF 

 

But wanting a bit of a break from the in-depth industry analysis we've been doing for the last few episodes, I thought I'd talk, instead, about the emotional bedrock of game design and, of course, how it applies to these four and to Precinct Omega.

 

Also, I take an unscheduled side quest to look at translation and localisation of games.

In August, Hasbro announced that their Pulse programme would run a "HasLabs" crowdfunding campaign for HeroQuest.  But HeroQuest has an iconic and troubled history, and feelings about this sort of thing tend to run high.

So for my listeners' benefit, I've dug through the history, the trademarks and the controversy to try to understand what's going on with HeroQuest, why it's happened how it has and what might, possibly, be coming next for the game.  WARNING: total speculation ahead!

Anyway, enjoy.

This week, the only new worth talking about is the release of the latest (fourth) edition of Infinity.  Actually, that's totally not true.  We could also talk about the HeroQuest announcement.  And the new Age of Exploration fantasy sailing game, Armada, from Mantic Games.  But those will just have to wait, because this episode is all about Infinity.

 

But you know me: I'm not just here to froth about a new product.  In fact, although I will talk briefly about what's changed, we'll not be looking at the detail of the new edition at all.  Rather, we'll be asking what it tells us about Corvus Belli's strategic plan for Infinity, what lessons they've learned from their competition and how this fits in to my ideas about the lifecycle of tabletop wargames.  Obviously, I'll also talk about how I've taken these lessons and applied them to my own work.

 

We are also joined by an exciting new... guest?  You'll see.  I think she's pretty cool and I hope we'll hear a lot more from her in the future.

With six pieces of news plucked from what was a huge range of options (it's like the industry has woken up from lockdown), I look at:

 

TTCombat

Warploque

Corvus Belli

Steamforged Games

Parabellum Wargames

and

Gripping Beast

 

Then I unpack what each of these can teach us about the methods of brining a new game to the market.

This week I noted news from:

Wargames Atlantic 

Wyrd Games 

TTCombat 

Warlord Games 

And this inspired me to take a look at how wargames miniatures manufacturers have approached the question of materials technology over the last thirty years, how it's changed and why; and to look ahead and ask how the new push for desktop 3d printers is going to change the market for wargames miniatures.

CONTENT WARNING - This is one of those episodes that needs a content warning. There is reference to war crimes, genocide and other nastiness.  And a little strong language.

I was all set up for a nice episode about miniatures manufacturing and how I was expecting to see things shift over the next few years.  And then AK Interactive and their book, Condemnation, happened.

On the plus side, it was genuinely nice to hear from more than one patron - and non-patron listeners - who wanted me to cover this and hear my take on the issue.

If there's a topic in miniatures wargames that you'd like to me to cover, do let me know.  I try to make sure that these issues are covered when there is at least an oblique connection to the latest news.

CMON's Massive Darkness 2 Kickstarter concludes with $3.8m in funding, while Core Clash scrapes in at $46k, and New Osaka has "successfully" funded at about $10k.  Oh, and if that weren't enough giant robots, there's also Galaxy Hunters* which is about one-third of the way towards its funding goal.

But rather than talk about Kickstarter, I'm interested in miniatures board games.  For some reason, they rub me up the wrong way somehow and I'm not sure why, because on the surface they seem to make a lot of sense.  So I take apart what my problems might be and reflect, as ever, on what that means for Precinct Omega.

 

*Incidentally, is it just me, or is a game that involves killer mercenaries being hired by mega corporations to hunt down and kill invasive mutants just a teeny-weeny bit dog-whistley?  Perhaps I'm just becoming over-sensitive.  Not sure.

When this article popped up last week, it predictably set the twittersphere alight.

Having asked for thoughts on my Facebook page, I thought I'd take some of those and address the different aspects of the story that people have settled upon and, of course, give you the questionable benefit of my own opinion.

Steamforged Games has killed Guild Ball as a product, pretty much effective immediately.

 

This is a story positively packed with industry significance and I couldn't possibly cover it all a half-hour slot, although I do my best.

I'm back!  If you thought you missed an episode last week, you didn't.  I was away on holiday and decided to spare myself the stress of recording.

 

This week, I decide to look closer at three new-ish comers in the miniatures wargames market in the UK, and to explain how I think they're going about their business, how they are each different but how they are all, in their own way, doing things "right".

 

Mantic Games 

TT Combat 

Warcradle

 

Do you have any minis from these companies?  If so, what are they and what do you think of them?