The Apathy of New Releases (May 2011)

The third week of April snuck up on me, so I was suprised to see GTM #135 available already. Perhaps with the announcements this month for the the 30th Anniversary CoC book and OGRE-sized OGRE anything else is anti-climatic.

I'm going to go off format this month and jump around a bit. Certain things deserve more than a quick blurb.

First off, there's nothing in GTM this month that I would pre-order. A couple things caught my eye, but I'll get to them.

The very first thing I see on the first page of listings were a couple of different LED mini-flashlights. Seriously? I know gamers are in the dark about a LOT of things, but stock them in a store? To make things stranger, the items are listed at PI (Please Inquire), which means the store will get them at a higher cost than their regular discount and will make up their own price. I want to see a display of those bad boys, maybe at a store with nearby steam tunnels.

Next, Chaosium is releasing the Miskatonic University Handbook in hardcover for $42.95. Why? The MU Handbook is a decent book, with lots of good material for a Keeper to use, but why reprint it in hardcover. The mind boggles.

Are you a Cultist looks to be coming out in July. It sticks to the theme of Are you a Werewolf/Vampire/Mob Snitch games, games you could play without any printed materials! At least with The Great Dalmuti they produced a "family-friendly" version of Asshole.

Mongoose released a Judge Dredd minis game? when? why?

My final observation is from WotC:

IKUSA BOARD GAME - Sweep Across the Land and Secure Your Empire! It is the sixteenth century in feudal Japan, where war rages across the land. Amid the chaos and conflict, you have risen to power as one of five warlords mighty enough to conquerand control the whole empire. Your victory depends on how expertly you extend your domain while defending it from your enemies. Send your daimyo leaders, samurai, and ashigaru warriors into battle to seize new provinces and lay siege to castles. Spend your hard-won treasury on building fortifications and bolstering your forces with ronin and ninja. Prove thestrength of your strategy, defeat your rivals, and earn the exalted title ofShogun! Scheduled to ship in July 2011. $80.

Does this sound like Shogun/Samurai Swords to you? If it does I may actually get giddy.

Now, the Viscount's "Cool but I don't have the cash" list:

• Atlas Games: Cliffourd The Big Red Dog. Ken Hite is at it again, adapting the Dunwich Horror to a classic children's book.



• Kittens in a Blender card game - Save kittens from an obvious fate :$9.95



• Villans & Vigilantes Rulebook $16.95 and adventure Intercrime Hostile Takeover $9.95. Wow, V&V back in print. There may be hope for civilization.



• I have been hearkening on Dust Tactics as the game my imaginary store would currently support. Finally, something has come out for them that intrigues me. American and Axis walkers are coming out, they look decent, and my thought was, "Would they fit a gnome? A new boxed set with more scenarios, tiles, and info is coming out.

The Store List:

• A new WoW TCG expansion



• 2 3rd party pathfinder books



• Black Curse (The 40k chaos rpg). A wee bit ouchy at $59.95



• Kenzer is releasing a 3rd printing of Aces & Eights and the much awaited one-volume Hacklopedia of Beasts. For all the whiners who complained about 8(+) hacklopedias of monsters at 20 bucks a pop can now get all the "serious" monsters in one fell swoop for $59.95. I didn't mind picking up the Hacklopedias each month back in the day. A $60 outlay focuses more on the quality of the physical book than the contents inside.



• Mongoose has two new traveller books, plus one for paranoia!



• 4 products from Paizo.



• WotC has a little variety this month for a change. There's the previously mentioned Ikusa board game, D&D - Champions of the Heroic Tier HC, and the silliest thing of all, a Magic: Commander boxed set. Commander is the "official" name of multi-player Highlander (only one of each card can be played). Why they needed a boxed set for this, probably has something to do with "revenue streams"



• Heroclix is releasing a Thor boxed set, pretty late after the movie.



• And I'm not talking about the Smurfs' releases, although if they eventually release some inexpensive Smurf homes, I might become interested in that.