DC Fans! Wizkids Wants Your Input!

Wizkids is looking to the fans to see which character should be included in the next DC-themed Heroclix set due out in Summer 2012!

The first round of voting, which includes 12 characters, is open now and closes on October 5. Round One will narrow the field down to 6 characters. Round Two will narrow the choices down to 3 characters. Finally, the last round of voting will choose the character to appear in the next set.

The initial choices are: Big Barda, Amazo, Captain Atom, Fire, Kanjar Ro, Starfire, Red Star, Gentleman Ghost, Kyle Raynor (Blue Lantern), Red Tornado, Sand and Thorn. Who will make the cut? The choice is up to you! (Personally, I voted for Captain Atom).

Outside of the contest, we now know the next DC Comics Heroclix set is quite a ways off. Summer 2012? That's a long time! I'm willing to bet that the next set will be showcasing the new look sported by most DC characters as a result of the relaunch of the entire DC Comics line this month. I know the relaunch caught many DC-licensees, such as Mattel, a bit by surprise causing the shuffling of product release plans. I don't know for a fact that this is the case with Wizkids, but it seems to be a reasonable assumption.

In the meantime there's lots of other Heroclix to enjoy! And, don't forget to vote! To cast your vote go to: http://heroclix.com/heroclix/dc-fan-vote/, select your favorite character and hit the submit button. Simple as that.

A Call to Arms: Star Fleet

Earlier this year Amarillo Design Bureau and Mongoose Publishing announced a partnership to produce a new game set in ADB's Star Fleet Universe and based upon Mongoose's popular A Call to Arms starship combat rules set.

The result is A Call to Arms: Star Fleet. It's due this November and it just be my most anticipated game of the year.

Seriously.

I love Star Trek, and have since it first aired back in the 60s. I wanted to love Star Fleet Battles, the venerable star ship combat game set in the Star Fleet Universe...but it just was for me. Too much minutia to manage for my tastes. It's a good game, but just not my style.

Federation Commander was released back in 2005 and it presented a simpler (but not simple!) set of rules, and brought in an entire new fanbase. I played one basic game of Fed Comm a few years back at my store, and have been meaning to get back to it but just never did.

But then, this year, two big announcements were made that piqued my interest. ADB and Mongoose announced A Call to Arms: Star Fleet and Wizkids announced Star Trek: Fleet Captains. Both were exciting, but I didn't really need two ship combat games...especially ones that were basically in the same setting ('though with significant differences). But, as details about each became clearer...and, especially after playing Star Trek: Fleet Captains at Gen Con...I learned that they were two entirely different games.

A Call to Arms: Star Fleet is a pure star ship miniatures combat game, whereas the Wizkids game is more of a exploration/combat boardgame. Entirely different.

I never played a game of A Call to Arms, but got a review copy of the main rule book that I still need to review and post soon. However, from a cursory reading I like what I see. I'm really excited about the possibilities of A Call to Arms: Star Fleet as well as the all-new CAD designed resin minis that Mongoose is producing to go along with the new game. They're slightly larger that ADB's Starline 2400 series of minis, and producing them in resin is a nice move, in my opinion.

A Call to Arms: Star Fleet should be in stores in November, with the first miniatures arriving shortly thereafter in December.

Check out www.mongoosepublishing.com for more information

Ares Games Keeps 'Em Flying

Back in July we had some relatives come out from California to visit us here in Central Ohio. While they were here one thing they really wanted to do was visit the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton. I've been wanting to go there for the past decade that I've lived here in Ohio, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

The place was immense and so interesting. Well, this blog isn't about family trips...it's about gaming, right? Well, upon coming out of the museum I found myself really wanting to get into Nexus Games' Wings of War. Wings of War started out as a card based game (and was published in the US by Fantasy Flight Games), but over time morphed into a miniatures game as well. There's two versions of the game. One is set in World War I, while the other is set in the skies during WWII.

It was almost immediately following that visit to the museum that Nexus Games announced they were shutting down operations. Now, I know that there's a bunch of existing Wings of War product out there in stores...but, hearing the company was shutting down really put a damper on my enthusiasm. And, really, like I need yet another game to play? I don't have time for the games I already play, right?

Shortly thereafter a new player emerged in the European gaming scene: Ares Games. Ares announced that they'd be picking up the rights to another popular Nexus game: War of the Ring (based, of course, upon the classic works of J.R.R. Tolkien). Was this a glimmer of hope for Wings of War? Would Ares Games also pick up the pieces to this game as well?

Well, just yesterday, Ares Games issued a press release announcing they reached an agreement to produce Wings of War under a new name: Wings of Glory.

Ares Games reaches an agreement with Andrea Angiolino e Pier Giorgio Paglia to publish the game "Wings of Glory"

The best selling game of WWI and WWII aerial combat comes back with a new name

Camaiore, Italy – September 1, 2011 - Ares Games, a Tuscany-based games publisher recently established, announces an agreement with Andrea Angiolino and Pier Giorgio Paglia, the authors of the best selling game that recreates aerial combat during the WWI and WWII, formerly published with the name "Wings of War".
Ares Games will publish the game under a new brand, "Wings of Glory". Wings of Glory will be published with a new rulebook, while maintaining compatibility with the previous Wings of War products already in the market.
"We are happy to be partnering with Andrea and Pier Giorgio to bring this wonderful game system to market." said Christoph Cianci, CEO of Ares Games, "Thousands of fans worldwide will be pleased to know that their planes and maneuver cards from Wings of War will be compatible with the new Wings of Glory."

Initially, Ares Games will focus on developing new miniatures for the game, but also plans to release new starter sets.

"This game has a very strong and loyal fan base around the world, which gave and will surely continue to give a great help to the success of our game with their support and creativity. They have high expectations of it, in spite of several attempts to imitate it with other settings and chrome," stated Andrea Angiolino, co-creator of the game. "We chose to partner with Ares Games because we believe they understand our game, and that they will take care of the wishes of its fans, as well as be respectful of its creators."

The first Wings of Glory products to be released will be four airplanes for the WWII game series: the American P40, the Russian Yak-1, the Japanese Ki-61 and the Italian Re-2001 Falco. Ares Games will publish a Starter Set with these four models, containing the introductory rules and all other elements needed to start play. The complete schedule of the next releases will be announced soon.
With this announcement, Ares Games now publishes two important games from Italian creators that have achieved international recognition. In July, Ares Games aquired the rights from Sophisticated Games to publish the award-winning board game "War of the Ring", based on the J.R.R.Tolkien's trilogy, "The Lord of the RingsTM", and created by Roberto Di Meglio, Francesco Nepitello and Marco Maggi. A new edition of the game, in English, will be available this Fall, with other language editions forecasted for Spring 2012.

So, there you have it. Wings of War lives on in a new incarnation. Mad props to Ares of saving these games from a far too early demise. Wings of Glory is back on my gaming radar. I'll be keeping my eye out for the new starter set, and maybe even check out the folks at the Wings of War Aerodrome to get some games in!