Osprey Publishing, the venerable publisher of military history/reference books, showed off its latest offering, the “Raid” series. “Raid” books each focus on a specific military raid in tremendous detail. “Raid” looked interesting and the art diverged a bit from the usual ink and paint of other Osprey titles to a more digital look. Here is one of the upcoming titles.

Osprey Raid Cover

Osprey also had several samples of their “Field of Glory” miniature combat game books on display as well, in addition to the literally hundreds of historical titles.

A non-GTS interlude: I purchased an Osprey title “Saracen Strongholds” a few weeks ago and the review will go up next week.

Additionally, while writing this post I noticed a 20% off sale on all their “campaign” titles over at the Osprey Publishing web site, good until 4-30-09. I do not make any referral cash off sales, this is just a public service announcement.

Numbskull Games

Numbskull had a clever little card game involving psychiatrists treating patients in an asylum called “The Looney Bin.” Did not get to play it, but the cards were a riot.

Steve Jackson Games

“Chez Goth,” the goth answer to “Chez Geek” hits stores in August 2009. Tagging along is a 15 card expansion for “Munchkin” called ” Munchkin:Fairy Dust” It has the cutest little fairy on the front cover, with a carefully concealed warhammer behind her back. Every card is full color with “glittery pink and silver fairy dust effects.” Considering we are talking about “Munchkin,” this new addition is slightly disturbing…

Acrylicos Vallejo

I am not a miniature painter, but I thought some of the oxidized and distressed colors on display here were pretty interesting. Worth a look for miniature painters.

Arcane Legions

“Arcane Legions”  from “Wells Expeditions” is a newcomer to the miniature wargame world and has an interesting premise. Magic erupted onto the world and three factions now compete for superiority, the Romans, Han Chinese and Egyptians. Here is a shot of the game board and 25 mm miniatures. The miniatures are early prototypes and not painted. Take note of the plastic peg-board on the left side.

Arcane Legions At War!

“Arcane Legions” is a massed combat game with a twist. The peg-boards you see in the photo above have templates placed on them. The templates define what type of units go on the board. Moreover, they also determine attack/defense/speed characteristics depending on where miniatures are placed on the board. It is difficult to see in my image, but there are different icons on each “peg” location on the template. These define what characteristic the miniature in that particular hole receives. For example, all of the occupied holes in my image give combat bonuses, but nothing to movement. During the game players change formations for different effects.

Units move as a group, using the movement tool included in the base kit. It is the plastic “T” in this image.

Arcane Legions Movement Tool

More interesting to me was the business model for “Arcane Legions.” Subscribers to the “Centurion Club” site have access to special resin miniatures and the ability to create and print their own templates. There is also a system for verifying the authenticity of the template through a serial number. This prevents photoshoppers from creating “illegal” templates. The miniatures are relatively inexpensive, with the base set of 110 figures only $34.99. In a smart move, “AL” has three options for adding additional units. Army packs have a random assortment of 40 unpainted figures, faction specific per box. There is no guessing when you buy as to what you get. Cavalry packs are the same setup, with 15 mounted figures, also unpainted. Booster packs contain 1 rare, painted figure, a base card/template, two additional rare/uncommon units and five additional base cards for use with the booster/army packs. These additional sets are priced between $11.99 and $14.99. I was never a fan of the random, blind miniature purchase business model. I like the fact that randomness is only a small part of the army building process.

“Arcane Legion’s” reps indicated that the game probably releases at Gen Con this year. I will post any updates as I get them.

Wells Expedition's Kiosk at GTS 2009

Tasty Minstrel Games

Tasty Minstrel had two prototypes on display “Homesteaders,” a city-building game and “Terra Prime,” a game of interstellar exploration. Neither game is released yet and are scheduled to ship in Q3 2009.

Konami

I sat down with the Konami demo team and played a round of “Blue Dragon.” Konami calls BD a “Role-Playing Card Game.” Many of the mechanics are CCG standards, but “Blue Dragon” adds a “level up” component. As you discard spent cards, they accumulate and you can “spend” them to upgrade your primary monster. It made discarding an actual tactic, as opposed to just a side-effect of playing cards. “Blue Dragon” clearly skews to the younger gaming crowd, but was fun.

One3 Productions

One3 Productions had a very cool, multimedia booth dedicated to their prototype game “Fury.” The game premise is that a treatment center for anger management actually puts the patients into gladiatorial pit-fights and watches the blood fly! The game plays in 3 dimensions and sounded like a blast to play. The combat system was relatively simple and the game board was…interesting.

One3 Production's "Fury" Board Game

Here is another view.

Fury, The Board Game

“Fury” was looking for a publisher at the show and it appeared that some were interested, but I did not hear if it sold or not. I will update this post if I get any firm release dates on this game.

Enough blogging for a work night. I am off to do real-world necessities.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

Exillis GTS 2009 Banner

In many ways Exillis from Bastion Studio is just another miniature combat game, in the vein of “Warhammer” or a dozen other tabletop wargames. Exillis miniatures are all plastic and come disassembled.  You buy kits from the company and assemble and paint the models yourself. Here is a shot of the sample distributed at the show.

Exillis Miniature Kit

Here is a shot of the assembled models facing off on a game table.

Exillis Tabletop Setup

Here is a shot of the world map and some of the characters of Exillis.

Exillis Character Types and World Map

At this point, you are probably wondering what makes this game so unusual. Look closely at the shot above, see if you can spot any dice, rulebooks or rulers. No matter how hard you look you will never see them on an Exillis table. Rather than this old technology, Bastion Studios is going for a more modern approach.

The Iphone.

Ipod Touch (Thanks to the Exillis team for this correction)

Here is how it works. When you buy a pack of Exillis miniatures, you enter a code into the Exillis website and those units are now assigned to your account. When you want to play, you use an Iphone, PC or Mac  to login to the server. Exillis requires internet access. In the application you setup your opposing arming and choose the terrain configuration for the battle. Each side sets up their “real-world”(RW) miniatures. The battle begins.

Each player submits actions to the server and it resolves combat transparently. The application also tracks casualties, movement, effects and damage for the RW miniatures. Each round takes only a few seconds to resolve. During the resolution process, animations of the appropriate miniatures appear on the screen and do battle in the digital world. The developer worked on “Assassin’s Creed” and the experience shows in the nice graphics.

The demo I saw used only a single Iphone that passed back and forth between the players, but multiple computers are also an option. A combination of Iphone and a PC/Mac also works fine. I asked about totally online play, but Bastion said that was not planned. They want to focus totally on people using RW miniatures in person.

Exillis has an interesting back-story as well. Fantastic creatures and powers exist because of the “Lapis Exillis.” The Holy Grail to the rest of us. Magic and creatures of fantasy abound, as well as human forces with technology and force of will to do battle in this Dark Age. I believe the world is set in the 13th century, but my memory fails me right now.

My reason for giving Exillis the “Best of Show” award is the integration of modern technology into an ancient game. While many miniature games use computers as aids, such as army building applications, most miniature wargames are still using 19th century paradigms. Dice, rulers and dense rulebooks are still the order of the day. Exillis will not use these archaic methods and leverages existing, widely available technology.

I also think Bastion Studios demonstrates real courage in developing Exillis. They could have just gone with a standard “publish new books and release new miniatures model” so common in the miniatures industry. Instead, they embraced technology and a new business model. I anticipate a backlash from “traditionalist” miniature wargamers against this digital interloper. I would not be surprised at all if the same pointless flame wars ignite between older and younger gamers that we saw after 4th Edition D&D came out.

When I spoke with some of the development team at Bastion they impressed me with both their technical skill and gaming mindset. They actually “get” gaming and gamers. Small details like their plans to allow transfers of miniatures show forethought and understanding of the secondary market.

I am not saying Exillis is industry-shaking. Parts of it already exist in various forms. CCG games have long had online versions of RW cards and online play as well. The business model of selling miniatures for new armies is well established. My feeling is that this particular configuration of gaming and technology, put together by the people I met at GTS was the most interesting game I saw at the show.

There is no release date for Exillis yet except for “sometime in the Fall.” The tentative plan is for the basic set to have enough miniatures for two players to do battle immediately. Pricing is still not determined. Even though it is very early in the software development cycle, I asked to participate in any beta testing that Bastion might undertake before the release.

There is no official website for Exillis yet, just the one for Bastion Studios and it is just a placeholder. I will keep you updated with any Exillis news as it becomes available.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

Wood Expressions

This California-based company had one of the more interesting booths at the show. It was floor to ceiling with wooden board games. Chess mostly, but they also had a nice assortment of more unusual games like Mancala and Ur. I know it is not exactly cutting-edge games, but the elegance of a simple wooden game appeals to me. I think they just look cool. They do not sell to the public, only to retailers.

Wood Expressions UR set.

Chess Sets Aplenty!

Randolph Rose Group

“Big Sunday” is a football simulator/board game. The mechanics involve offense and defense choosing pre-packaged plays and then resolving the play based on their choices. Not my cup of tea, but the game looked like fun for a football fanatic.

Out of the Box Publishing

Out of the Box has an array of family and party games for all occasions. I played a quick demo of “Word on the Street.” It involves moving letters back and forth across a “Street” by using the letters in words. It seemed more educational than a party game, but I could see how some adults might get a kick out of it.

Word on the Street

Studio 2 Publishing

Studio 2 had a nice display regarding their new Deadlands: The Flood supplement. It contains information about the west coast after a devastating flood consumed the land. It also adds rules for martial arts.

Games Workshop

Miniatures are not my thing, but I know GW’s products have a rabid following, hence this entry. I chatted a bit at the GW booth and they mentioned that there is a new empire army coming out soon, as well as 3 new classic armies. I did not get the names of the armies, sorry. A friend also sent me to GW’s booth in a quest for “greens,” but none were available. I am such a GW novice that the kind gentlemen at the GW booth had to explain what a “green” actually is (it is a prototype epoxy version of an upcoming miniature). I was also instructed to ask about the potential of Thunderhawks in plastic versus resin. The booth had no information on this subject. They also discussed the upcoming Warhammer 40k Planetstrike rules. It went a bit over my head, but I think it boils down to rules and such for running planetary invasions.

Upperdeck

A new “World of Warcraft” miniature set is on the horizon. There are 51 new miniatures in the set and it adds rules for equipment on the miniatures to enhance their abilities when fighting. The date for all this miniature carnage is May 5th, 2009. They were also passing out an “Ethereal Crypt Raider” promo miniature.

ImagiGrafx Games

Imagigrafx is not a game company, it is a game printer. Juan Mendez, IG’s VP discussed how IG can do almost everything from printing and assembly to graphic arts for the aspiring publisher. The printing samples on display were quite attractive. I include it because I know there are aspiring game publishers out there that could really use an integrated printing service like IG.

Shard Studios

Shard Studios had a very nice booth that featured the “Shard,” the role-playing game. I was able to take a look at the main book, some supplements and an elaborate map of the world.

Shard: The Role-Playing Game

Shard: The RPG Map and DM Screen

The production quality was excellent on everything. All maps for “Shard” come in a tube, so no creases. A nice touch. The Shard book itself is massive and beautifully illustrated. All the pages and artwork are in a sort of washed-out, sepia tone color scheme. Art is top notch throughout and has a unique look, rather than the screaming, action-packed images in your average WOTC offering. I look forward to this release in the near future.

I am off to complete real-world demands. Come back tomorrow for my pick for “Best of Show” from GTS 2009.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

Royal Chess

Royal Chess’ booth had a simple chess set setup and some cards with chess pieces printed on them on either side of the chess board. You have a hand of 5 cards and you have to play cards to move your chess pieces. If you do not have the card, you cannot move the piece. It simplified the game and added a layer of bluffing to the dynamic, since you never knew what pieces your opponent could move.

Royal Chess

Warball

Duncan YoYo offered this variation on the CCG. The game combines cards with marbles, excuse me “warballs,” to resolve combat. The marbles were nice and some of them had little creatures imbedded in them that reflected the various card creatures. There is some actual physical skill involved in shooting the marbles, so it is a bit more challenging than a standard CCG. The images below are of the organized play arena setup. This does not come with the basic set.

Warball Tournament Table

Dragonfire Signs Lasercrafts

Dragonfire produces a line of laser-cut and etched cards, buttons and tokens. Their latest offering is the licensed Traveller ships below for the venerable RPG game. The laser also added shading to the plastic and gave these ships a nice overall look.

Dragonfire Signs Traveller Ship

Reaper Miniatures

Reaper goes resin! The thing that caught my eye at the Reaper booth was the “Dark Maiden” below. Releasing in July for $129.00 retail, this is a massive piece. The “Dark Maiden” used to inhabit the prow of a pirate ship, but something went horribly wrong and now she is…annoyed.

Reaper Mini Resin "Dark Maiden"

Battle Foam

Battle Foam was new to me, but then again I am not a miniature player. They had some nice miniature carrying cases, but their major offerings are the custom foam blocks for odd sized miniatures that go in the cases. They support Warhammer, Blood Bowl, AT-43, Flames of War and several other army types off the shelf. Should you need a custom cut piece of foam, they can do that also. There is a helpful video on their website on how to create a template for their cutting machine. The fully loaded cases cost between $100 to $200.00, but given the cost of the miniatures in the case, it is probably a bargain.

Battlefoam Samples

Small Battlefoam Case

Looney Labs

The always reliable Looney Labs did very well at the show this year with “Traitor.” Coming out in June, 2009, this is a modified version of the classic party game “Werewolf.” “Traitor” involves wizards, keys and, of course, a traitor. The goal is  to get a magic key to the “good” wizard. Problem is no one knows who the wizard is and there is an identical evil wizard that also wants the key. Sadly, I did not get in a game of this, but it looked like all the participants were having a great time.

Mayfair Games

Haaldaar, my co-blogger is a huge Catan geek. He sent me specifically to the Mayfair booth with a mission to discover new Catan information. I pressed for deep, dark secrets of upcoming Catan releases and came up empty. Although I did get a look at “Catan Geographies: Germany.” The shots below are from that game. There was also a new release called “Pack and Stack” that involved stacking blocks on trucks. Very Tetris-like, but with board game mechanics. Martin Wallace has a new entry in the “Age of Steam” board game series entitled “Steam: Rails to Riches.” There is also a 350 limited edition version of the game coming out for collectors.

Mayfair Games "Steam: Rails to Riches"

Mayfair Games "Catan Geographies: Germany"

Asmodee Games

Asmodee’s latest offering is “Giants.” You have to move Easter Island Moais around to score points. Even though this game is out already, I had to mention it because I have a soft spot for giant statues.

Asmodee Giants Game

More to come! Remember, a list of all the exhibitors are available on RPGSeek.com.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

The show is a chock full of gaming goodness. There were some truly exciting games and prototypes on offer that promise great things to come in the gaming industry. It was refreshing to see some new, smaller companies entering the market with fresh ideas ( I will write more on those in the days ahead). I also saw some new games from established companies like Green Ronin and Steve Jackson games. I have a huge amount to write about, some tasty stuff will go up in the next couple of days, stretching into next week.

Now for the bad news. I felt the show attendance was low, given it is one of the biggest trade events for gaming. I checked with previous attendees and they also said attendance was down. I chatted with a distributor that wished to remain anonymous who stated that new clients were significantly off from previous years.

There is also a rumor floating around the show that some of the larger companies might not attend next year. It is strictly a rumor, but telling and I would not be surprised at all if it comes to pass.

There was one disappointment that I thought worth mentioning. “Wizards of the Coast” has a nice array of new products coming out this year, but it all had a distinctively stale air about it. Their main push was in regards to the “2″ books (their term, not mine) MM2, PHB2 and DMG2. There was also a mention of the “Player’s Handbook 3″ in 2010. 4E, for good or ill was exciting at release. Now it seems like WOTC is copying movie studios trying to squeeze yet one more sequel out of the franchise. 4E is successful, no question, but I would like to see WTOC branch out a bit and try something new. WOTC has the talent, marketing and financing to take a little risk.

I am going to wrap up so I can catch up on email. There is more coming about GTS 2009 this weekend, but if you would like to see what exhibitors attended, check out the GTS 2009 Exhibitor List on rpgseek.com.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

Aided Awareness 89% (brand recognition)

80% WOW

89% D&D

54% have played D&D

94% think D&D is the same or better than other games (WOW, etc)

56% of respondents have high interest in buying D&D products in the next six months

For 2009 will continue to market to existing players and hope to have a halo effect on other new gamers.

Three new titles for this year, MM2, PHB2, DMG2. There will be a greater focus on creating new game groups, either through creating new DMs or aid in organizing game groups.

Focus on marketing to support the “2″ books. Game days, targeted advertising (primarily online), new D&D website, web strategy and community building are all part of the plan. The Penny-Arcade podcast drove 700k to the D&D website. Marketing will focus on bloggers and podcasters.

PHB2 sold out in one week. More in stock on 4-30-09. D&D game day took took long to run encounters and paragon level PCs were a bad idea.

Monster Manual 2 comes out May 19, 2009. Rust Monster and Frost Giant will be back. Divine Power’s PCs will be available for the next game day.

DMG2 contains, traps, hazards and new locations. Robin Laws will have a chapter on storytelling in 4E. They have received feedback that the 4e game is a tactical wargame with limited role-playing.

DMG2 game day will have players creating encounters and then playing them the same day in the store.

More organized play, Delve Night, Game Days and Living ForgottenRealms. Delve Night numbers are fading, WOTC wants more stickiness to make players come back.

Plans web-based DM/player game “meet-up” page. “Organized Play” rewards for new and veteran DMs. Training videos for new DMs, such as table management tips.

“Dungeons and Dragons Insider” has doubled subscribers base since January.

Overview of existing D&D Insider features. future applications include “Campaign Tools” for monsters, enounters, maps and adventures for DMs.

“Eberron Player’s Guide” comes out 6-16-09. “Eberron Campaign Guide” coues out 7-21-09.

August “D&D Minis:Dungeon Lords” with huge minis comes out.

“E3:Prince of Undeath” module comes out 10-20-09. The final battle with Orcus!

There were a few questions for retailers, but nothing notable. Will post more later tonight. I will also try to get the entire release schedule for this year and post it.

UPDATE:

Scott Rouse responded to this post over at Enworld. I am re-posting his response here.

I will correct, expand, or further some of the notes taken in the live blog as I presented a ton of info in a short amount of time.

Overall our strategy for 2009 will be to continue to market to the existing D&D fans. Lapsed players, current players of other editions, and fans of the brand who participate in other ways like novels and video games. Our hope is that as D&D becomes a multi-generational brand with players now becoming moms & dads, the next generation starts being recruited with in existing playing families. we also will get some halo effect acquistion through our efforts focused on core fans. In 2010 we’ll start to focus more on pure acquisition on non-players.

We are continuing to invest in expanding our Organized Play efforts including re-tool Delve night, 3 game days this year, and a new DM rewards program.

Our marketing efforts will focus mostly on core hobby media and less on mass type media. This will include a focus on bloggers, podcasts, core RPG sites, and more “viral” web based media. Print will be minimal with some trade adversting and a few core magazines like KQ and Level Up.

We really want top counter the perception that D&D is a tactical, combat focused war game. We want to show off the roleplaying potential with the system. I have been told Robin has written an excelennt chapter on storytelling inthe DMG 2 and we hope to demonstrate the RP potential of the system in other ways including a 4e version of Village of Homlet.

To clear up something on the PHB2 game day. We received feedback that the Paragon level play was a little too much for a game day event. This is not a concern that Paragon play has issues but in a limited time event with players (possibly newer players) using pre-gens of new classes this type of event maybe better using mid-tier heroic PCs.

Also, the MM2 game day will feature a pre-gen Paladin with preview content from Divine Power.

I’ll add more later. I am going to watch Lost with my wife __________________
Scott Rouse

SR. Brand Manager – Dungeons & Dragons
Wizards of the Coast

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

I had went to the PSI demo event last night. Playing games with half-blasted gamers is always amusing. Saw some interesting stuff, including some prototypes not releasing for a couple of months.

So far, the high point of the show is Exillis which is a new tabletop miniature/computer game. No, that is not a typo. It is both.  I will have a full report on that tomorrow.

That is all for now, I just did not want anyone to think I was slacking.  More later

Gods, trade shows are hard work!

Trask, The Last Tyromancer