GAMA Trade Show 2012 Report 1

The coverage of GTS 2012 begins! The companies appear in no particular order and are not sorted by genre, type or anything else. I am just not that organized. If you have a specific comment or question about a game, drop a comment and I will try to get an answer for you.

 

Chessex Dice

Chessex had their usual assortment of lovely dice and they are adding to the range of colors with some new green and pink colored dice releasing in June. Here are  new colors.

 

 

 

Wildfire

I spoke with Matt Grau about the state of Wildfire after their publisher Sandstorm went bankrupt.  He did note that their miniature line is on hold, but otherwise the company is pressing forward with renewed vigor.  No specific releases for the show, but I know their fans might like to hear that they are still kicking after their publisher setback.

 

Square Shooters

The dice/card poker game from released last year released a new game called “Rodeo Rummy” that is more family friendly.  It uses the same dice but includes a scoring pad, spinner and cup designed for playing rummy. Heartland hopes this will be a more family friendly game than the original set that is clearly marketed for poker players.  Retail is $17.99

 

Cool Mini or Not

A couple of entries for Cool Mini. Starting with a new skirmish miniature game called “Sedition Wars.”  Virus-infested “Strain” players do battle with the heroic Vanguard. This will probably release this summer with a $90-100.00 retail price for the introductory box. Game mechanics are simple opposed dice rolls and each faction has their own set of powers. Vanguard has greater variety in terms of weapons, but the strain can subvert vanguard units to join their cause. As the strain advances they evolve into more powerful units.  I was deeply impressed by the miniature sculpts. They were quite well done and some of the better miniatures I saw at the show. My photography does not do them justice.  The rule book is under 50 pages, so this qualifies as a “rules light” miniature game. Check out the Sedition Wars site for better images and the rules.

 

Cool Mini also had a very fun new board game called “Zombicide” from Guillotine Games. This is not a hobby game, but it comes with a pile ‘o zombies and some heroes to hunt. Oh, and guns. Lots of guns.  Try to escape a zombie-infested town by annihilating as many zombies as possible. A neat mechanic involves your character getting better as their body count increases. Sadly, the zombies also scale up, so you are still in a world of hurt. This is a collaborative game for 2-6 players and comes with tiles and scenarios to vary the game.

 

Sadly, this is a short post due to real world obligations. I will be back with more tomorrow.

 

Trask, The Last Tyromancer.