Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Interesting News on the Gaming Front for Fantasy Movie Fans


Two Years ago I gave a review of Fantasy Flight's excellent game Beowulf the Legend, designed by Reiner Knizia. If you haven't played it, you should check it out because it might just alter the way you look at board games. The game utilizes a series of different bidding systems that, as the game unfolds, reveal a winner. The game mechanics are very common in "euro" style games, the kind of games that Knizia develops, but are rare in the "american" style war games.

It seems that Fantasy Flight is releasing a "follow up" to this game that will be released in "October." I put October in quotes because Fantasy Flight is notoriously tardy with game releases and the FFG website lists November. The follow up game is a licensed board game adaptation of Robert Zemeckis' upcoming Beowulf film. I cannot understate how HUGE a deal it is that a small time game company, though FFG is certainly an excellent and growing company -- they are no Hasbro, to acquire this license. The board game will share the Beowulf theme with the prior release, but will use systems based on Reiner Knizia's game Kingdoms. Unlike Beowulf: the Legend, the Kingdoms game (which the upcoming Beowulf the Boardgame's systems will be based upon) is a territory control game where players attempt to acquire resources.

According to the press release the Beowulf rules will significantly modify the basic rules of Kingdoms, including the addition of a "three act" structure which follows the Beowulf narrative. The game will feature high quality plastic pieces and use artwork from the film.

I am excited to see this game released and hope that it might provide a "gateway" for new people into the board game hobby.

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