Whilst officially GenCon starts later today in the US. However FFG traditionally do their In-Flight presentation on the eve of GenCon.
The In-Flight presentation is where FFG do all their announcements for GenCon. The equivalent in the video gaming world would be the presentations by Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo at E3.
Midnight in the UK was when the In-Flight presentation took place in the US last night. And for the first time it was live streamed on Twitch and YouTube. For the record I did not stay up to watch it. I watched the video 5 hours later after letting the attack chihuahuas out.
After the In-Flight presentation there was an unstreamed Q&A. Which for the love of me I can’t think of a reason they didn’t stream this also. Maybe next year. However they did stream after the Q&A some live plays/looks at some of the games announced.
So let’s look at the announcements. I’ll summarise them here with a brief reaction to each.
First up was a new game, Arkham Horror: Final Hour. FFG describe the game as a “fast-paced, fully cooperative Arkham Horror gaming experience that can be played in under 60 minutes.”
My reaction: yawn. Yet another Cthulhu/Arkham Horror game.
Genesys is getting a new rules supplement in the form of an expanded Players Guide. It will have 3 new genres (classic horror, post apocalypse and classic myth). additional rules for vehicle and adversary creation, and a step by step guide to world building. There will also be a GM screen (long over due). Plus a new settings book. Which will be for the Keyforge universe. Oh and from today on DriveThruRPG will be Genesys Foundry where players will be able to buy fan-created content.
My reaction: The expanded Players Guide and GM screen are probably the bits of most interest here for me.
Star Wars saw the miniature games (Legion, X-Wing and Armada) getting some love. Basically new ships and units. And the Super Star Destroyer for Armada is available from today (as it’s arrival at my FLGS – photo below, shows).
My reaction: Meh. Don’t play them. Although that Super Star Destroyer is massive. As is it’s price. Apparently the rules have changed to cater for it.
Keyforge had the next set announced, called Worlds Collide. Which will see two new houses introduced. These will replace two of the existing houses. Plus a range of Keyforge accessories such as deck boxes and sleeves.
My reaction: There is no meta for this at my FLGS. Sadly although it’s a nice game. Not really bothered.
A second new game was announced, Marvel Champions. Which is “a cooperative Living Card Game® of super heroics for one to four players!”
My reaction: Yet another LCG from FFG! The important part of the announcement from the web page announcement is “although previous Living Card Game Core Sets required multiple purchases to get a complete set of cards, Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce that just one Marvel Champions: The Card Game Core Set will give you a complete set of cards, giving you everything you need to customize your heroes!” Which makes it a bit more attractive. But the characters in the core set of, “Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, Black Panther, or She-Hulk” seems to be more there for diversity than popular characters that fans want to play. She-Hulk over Hulk? Where is Scarlet Witch or Black Widow? More characters in packs etc as regular updates. First character pack being Captain America. Which is one I’d want to play. But it’s the same story for the villains also. And there will also be villain packs. It’s not very inspiring. At the moment I can’t see much reason to buy this over Marvel Legendary. And what is the status of that licence now? But Legendary I have so many hero combos, and villains to play with. Plus the mash ups I can do with other IP such as Buffy. At the FFG release schedule it could be years before I get to play with characters I like. The TL;DR interesting idea, but…
They finished off with a “one more thing” where they invited Atomic Mass Games on to stage to announce a third new game from FFG. That game being Marvel Crisis Protocol Miniatures Game.
My reaction: lost me with tough plastic and cutting stuff off sprues. Let alone gluing on top.
Over all reaction: meh. Very underwhelming. Bit of a let down really. They have better In-Flights.
CMoN snuck out a press release yesterday announcing Zombicide Second Edition.
Sadly I’m kinda excited about this. I’m going to have to break my self imposed ban on buying from CMoN. Which since The Others and the shitty treatment of non-US backers has been easy to keep thanks to them not producing anything I actually want.
CMoN are promising that “the classic rules have been refined, streamlining game play and getting into the thick of the action faster than ever before!”
Plus for those of us that have a lot of the first edition stuff “Veteran zombie hunters will still be able to use their current collections as updates will be available.” Fantastic news.
This will be hitting Kickstarter early next year. So my guess is September/October before it gets into people’s hands.
And remember folks, once CMoN have finished milking this, they can do second editions of those awful reskins (the Zombie Apocalypse is modern day not fantasy or space thank you very much).