My Little Pony Upcoming Releases

For you My Little Pony TCG fans, here is the release schedule for the next sets:

My Little Pony CCG Crystal Games Booster

Get ready to train your hardest and cheer on your team, The Crystal Games are here! This is the much anticipated second expansion set for the MLP: CCG and contains over 200 cards, so gamers and collectors alike will be eager to see what's in every pack! This set focuses on the characters, locations, and events of the Crystal Empire along with Equestria Games. Mane Characters will include Spike, the CMC's, Cadance, and Shining Armor. In addition, fans will enjoy using a very special background pony that will appear as both a Mane Character and a Friend for the very first time. Each pack contains 12 collectible cards and a chance of containing a stunning special foil card! 

Code: EPLMLPCCG3567

Orders Due: 10/15/14

Ships: 11/14/14

My Little Pony CCG Crystal Games Theme Deck Deliver the magic of friendship with the My Little Pony Collectible Card Game! Everything a single player needs to get into this fun & strategic 2-player game is included within. This set focuses on the characters, locations, and events of the Crystal Empire along with Equestria Games. Mane Characters will include Spike, the CMC's, Cadance, and Shining Armor. In addition, fans will enjoy using a very special background pony that will appear as both a Mane Character and a Friend for the very first time. The Crystal Games are about to begin, so choose your Mane Character, round up some Friend Cards, and go lend a hoo but watch out for Troublemakers! Collect and play with your favorite characters!  Code: EPLMLPCCG3574  Orders Due: 9/15/14 Ships: 10/20/14

 

My Little Pony Celestial Solstice Deluxe Box Set Fat Pack

My Little Pony CCG Players will be celebrating the arrival of this deluxe boxed set filled with fun new gameplay and highly collectible items. MLP: CCG Celestial Solstice has 2 exclusive oversized Mane Character cards with very special lenticular 3-D treatment, plus 8 new foil cards with 3 copies of each to maximize playability. You also get 70 card protector sleeves featuring Princess Celestia and Luna (10 sleeves for your problem deck and 60 for your draw deck). It's all packaged in a stunning deck box to hold this coveted collection & more! 

Code: EPLMLPCCG3475

Orders Due: 9/15/14

Ships: 10/1/14

Magic Movie

Fox has a Magic movie in the works, with the writer producer responsible for reshaping the X-men and Fantastic Four movies at the studio attached to produce. No date set for release.

This follows a small trend of developing movies from classic board games.  The Battleship movie, released in 2012, flopped hugely, while a film based on the Ouija board releases this October 24, Meanwhile the Candyland movie, with Adam Sandler, is still in development though an animated Candyland film released to almost no interest back in 2005

Knights of the Dinner Table Live Action Series

The store was invited to set up at d20 Expo, the one day game day put on to serve as a set for the KODT Live Action Series. Essentially, our set up in in the background as a dealer at the con the Knights attend during the middle of the series.

I got to watch (and be an extra in) last night's filming at the store swerving as Weird Pete's Games Pit, Hard Knox Games in Elizabethtown, Ky. and I have a better understanding of how it can take so long to film a movie. To shot a five minute scene featuring Dave, Bob and Weird Pete took just under three hours. Incidentally, if you see the series when it finally releases, that's Jolly Blackburn, creator of KODT as the customer Weird Pete yells at to "get yer Cheetos stained fingers off that book". I am standing to the right of Jolly, looking at a Warhammer 40,000 figure box.

GenCon Wrap Up

Here's the final wrap up sent out by GenCon today.  Just over 56,000 people attended, over double from 5 years ago:

Gen Con Attributes Record-Breaking 2014 Numbers to Growing Partnership between Gamers and Indianapolis Community

INDIANAPOLIS (August 19, 2014) Gen Con 2014, completed August 14-17 at the Indiana Convention Center, experienced another year of record attendance numbers and unprecedented growth. For the fourth consecutive year, Gen Con grew by more than 10%. This year, reaching more than 14% year-over-year growth with a weekend turnstile attendance of 184,699 and unique attendance of 56,614. This number surpasses 2013’s previous record of 49,530 unique attendees. Since 2009, Gen Con’s annual attendance has more than doubled.

“Gen Con 2014 is a testament to a more than decade-long relationship between Indianapolis and the game industry, which has culminated in the best attendee experience yet,” said Adrian Swartout, CEO and owner of Gen Con LLC. “Gen Con is a massive yearly adventure that would not be possible without the collaboration and support of our show sponsors, exhibitors, event organizers, volunteers, local business partners, the Indy community, and of course, our attendees.”

Another new record in 2014 was set for donations to Gen Con’s Official Charity Partner. Gen Con raised more than $40,000 for Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana’s BackSacks program, which provides weekend food to children at-risk for hunger. This donation includes a $20,000 check provided by Mayfair Games’ Cones of Dunshire event, a charitable game played Saturday, August 16 on Georgia Street.

"Since their first show in Indy in 2003, Gen Con has evolved into more than just a great convention for gamers - it's become a one-of-a-kind cultural event," said Leonard Hoops, president & CEO of Visit Indy.  "The entire Indy hospitality community is proud to host Gen Con and we congratulate their team on yet another record-breaking year."

Due to Gen Con’s expansion throughout the Indiana Convention Center, the show also featured record numbers of exhibitors (370+) and events (14,000+).
Gen Con 2015 will return to Indianapolis July 30 - August 2, 2015.

Gen Con News

I am not attending GenCon this year but am keeping up with news and new releases announced there through a very hopping Twitter feed. Facebook updates are interesting but usually discuss booth set-up, how tired people were, or how amazing (or not) sales were. People are using Twitter to announce news about new releases.

 Ergo, some major announcements from Steve Jackson Games and Fantasy Flight Games

Take Steve Jackson Games (please). They launched Hipster Dice and Classic Car Wars  at GenCon and announced the following Munchkin releases:  Love Shark Baby, a 15 card expansion pack for Munchkin coming next January just in time for St. Valentines Day;  Munchkin Kobolds Ate My Baby (All hail King Torg. You get the joke if you’ve ever played a game of Kobolds) though no indication as to whether it will release as a 15 card pack, 112 card set or a full boxed set  (my money is on the full boxed set though I have my doubts that Kobolds Ate My Baby (All hail King Torg) is strong enough to support a full box set) and the big get Munchkin Apocalypse Judge Dread.  I have commented before  on the amount of licensing Steve Jackson Games has done with Munchkin in the past year so more licenses do not particularly surprise me but the Judge Dred one is pretty spiffy. Like Kobolds Ate My Baby (All hail King Torg), I do not know if Judge Dred still pulls enough attention in the market to drive large Munchkin sales.

 Adventure Time will, though, and I saw one picture showing Munchkin Adventure Time already on the racks at GenCon.Given the anticipation for that version, it would have been nice if USAopoly had managed to get it in stores at the same time as they offered it for sale at GenCon. WotC and Paizo were both able to do it, so a company with the distribution expertise of USAopoly ought to be able to do so.

Board Game Geek did ae exemplary job live tweeting the Fantasy Flight Games presentation mentioning in the first few minutes that Fantasy Flight has grown over 25% annually since 2000 and that the company has shipped more than 30,000 Organized Play kits.  That’s a lot of Organized Play.

Other notable announcements during the presentation:  X-Wing will introduce the Scum and Villainy faction later this fall with about 7 ships coming in the wave, as well as an online “Mission Control” system for players to track what they own for the game; Star Wars Armada for outer space mass combat coming out early 2105, along with Imperial Assault, a miniatures board game somewhat similar to Descent; Mountains of Madness for Eldritch Horror late this year, along with Order and Chaos for the Netrunner LCG.  Armada and Imperial Assault both have quite a lot of potential but price on them will be key. A big selling point of X-Wing is the comparatively low price point for entry into the game.

By the way, if you get a copy of the new Advanced Class Guide for Pathfinder, check out the major proofreading error on the front cover. Bet that gets changed by the next printing.

D&D Is THE Role Playing Game

Dungeons & Dragons is, in the eyes of most people outside of the hobby game industry, THE role playing game. They haven’t seen Pathfinder, Castles & Crusades, FATE, 13^th Age, Numenera or Dark Heresy played on Community or The Big Bang Theory.  Despite the fact that D&D did not rank in the top 5 sellers according to ICV2’s spring sales chart, (though lack of new D&D product certainly had something to do with that), viewers  saw Dungeons & Dragons played and in the viewers’ minds, there are no others.

Casual customers will come in looking for the new D&D books, as they have heard of them through popular media and we will hopefully sell them a copy of the $20 Starter Set. While I expect to sell quite a few Advanced Class Guides and fewer copies of the Iron Gods campaign, I do not expect to have any casual customers coming in looking for either of those books.

Dungeons & Dragons Is Back, Baby

If you are a WOTC Premier Store (I think that is what the company calls us these days), the D&D 5^th Edition Players Handbook hit the shelves this past Friday (Mass merchants, non-Premier stores and Amazon get them on the 15^th). So did the Space Wolves Codex for Warhammer 40,000, as well as the incredibly short printed Space Wolves Data Cards (Why Games Workshop makes the Data Card sets for the various armies a short run item is beyond my ken. They are cards, for pity’s sake. Print more.)

 As a point of comparison indicating the interest in the two products, we ordered 8 copies of the Codex and had 3 left as of close on Saturday. The D&D Player’s Handbook? We ordered 13, which we figured would last for a week and had sold out by Saturday afternoon, with customers calling from over 60 miles away to make certain we would hold a copy for them so they would not make the trip in vain. As is typical, few bothered to put in pre-orders for the book with us, despite our asking for them. Of those that did, exactly 1 put in a pre-order far enough in advance to allow us to adjust our orders to accommodate them.  Everyone else called in a pre-order  two or three days before our street date, far too late for us to adjust our orders upwards to take advantage of the level of interest that increased from a very low level to off the charts.

From what I have heard from other retailers, they experienced similar sales of the book with almost all underestimating demand and scrambling to put in re-orders to arrive next week. 

We haven’t seen such excitement over a non-TCG release since, well, 4^th Edition D&D and I could make a valid argument that interest in D&D 5^th edition rivals that of 3^rd, given the levels of disappointment players have expressed in 4^th over the past year and the anticipation with which they have awaited 5^th. It shows, that, while more of our customers play and buy Pathfinder on a day to day basis, Dungeons & Dragons is still the stronger brand by far, ruling top of mind both in the hobby game market as well as the casual customer. According to one of my distributors, Pazio plans to ship the Advanced Class Guide and, possibly, the Iron Gods campaign book to arrive this Wednesday, just before GenCon. Needless to say, though we have a strong Pathfinder Society community locally, no-one has put in a pre-order for a copy of either.

Dungeons & Dragons is, in the eyes of most people outside of the hobby game industry, THE role playing game. They haven’t seen Pathfinder, Castles & Crusades, FATE, 13^th Age, Numenera or Dark Heresy played on Community or The Big Bang Theory.  Despite the fact that D&D did not rank in the top 5 sellers according to ICV2’s spring sales chart, (though lack of new D&D product certainly had something to do with that), viewers  saw Dungeons & Dragons played and in the viewers’ minds, there are no others. Casual customers will come in looking for the new D&D books, as they have heard of them through popular media and we will hopefully sell them a copy of the $20 Starter Set. While I expect to sell quite a few Advanced Class Guides and fewer copies of the Iron Gods campaign, I do not expect to have any casual customers coming in looking for either of those books.

September Pathfinder

Coming in September!

PZO9086 Pathfinder Adventure Path #86: Lords of Rust (Iron Gods 2 of 6) $22.99 SRP SDI The heroes of the town of Torch follow a trail of clues to the sprawling junkyard known as Scrapwall, where bands of desperate and violent bandits vie for control over the technological leavings and ruins found within. The Lords of Rust dominate Scrapwall, and their swiftly rising power threatens more than the town of Torch. For they have the support of one of the Iron Gods of Numeria, and what slumbers fitfully beneath the wreckage of Scrapwall could catapult the Lords of Rust into a new level of power if they’re not stopped! “Lords of Rust” is a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game adventure for 4th-level characters. The adventure continues the Iron Gods Adventure Path, an exploration of the lands of Numeria, where savage barbarism clashes with the wonders and horrors of superscience. Several new monsters, an overview of the villainous Technic League, an exploration of the clockwork goddess Brigh, and Amber E. Scott’s Pathfinder Journal round out this volume of the Pathfinder Adventure Path!
PZO9450 Pathfinder Player Companion: Champions of Corruption $12.99 SRP SDI Embrace your inner villain and command the powers of evil! Along with new character options like wicked feats, blasphemous spells, and damnable magic items, this volume contains all the information Pathfinder RPG players need in order to indulge their dark sides and make the forces of good quake in their boots. You’ve been a herald of good with Pathfinder Player Companion: Champions of Purity and mastered the forces of neutrality with Champions of Balance; now embrace the strength of cruelty and revel in wretchedness with Champions of Corruption! Written by Paris Crenshaw, Jim Groves, Sean McGowan, Philip Minchin.	PZO6012 Pathfinder Cards: Skull & Shackles: Raiders of the Fever Sea $19.99 SRP SDI Players set sail upon the pirate-infested high seas in this new Adventure Deck expansion for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Skull & Shackles Base Set! This 110-card expansion includes new locations, monsters, villains, loot, ship-to-ship sea battles, and more, as well as 5 new scenarios that constitute the complete “Raiders of the Fever Sea” adventure. Chart a course for victory with the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Raiders of the Fever Sea Adventure Deck!
PZO3046 Pathfinder Cards: Mummy’s Mask Face Deck $10.99 SRP SDI Give life to your NPCs with Mummy’s Mask Face Cards! More than 50 key characters fill this gorgeously illustrated deck designed for use with the Mummy’s Mask Adventure Path, but suitable for use in any fantasy roleplaying game! Each card includes the character’s name, his or her role in the Mummy’s Mask Adventure Path, space to record key details, and artwork by Paizo’s finest illustrators. These Face Cards bring the most prominent cast members of this tomb raiding Adventure Path to your tabletop and let your players look into the faces of the enemy!	PZO3045 Pathfinder Cards: Iron Gods Adventure Path Item Cards Deck $10.99 SRP SDI Claim alien weapons, inscrutable technology, and breakthroughs of super-science with this collection of radical treasures for use in your Iron Gods campaign. Each of this set’s 54 beautifully illustrated, full-color cards includes space on the back for players to add notes on their treasures. These Pathfinder Item Cards are designed for use with the Iron Gods Adventure Path, but are compatible with any fantasy or sci-fi roleplaying game.
PZO9546 Pathfinder Module: Plunder & Peril $24.99 SRP SDI When the infamous captain of the Magpie Prince sails into port with a bizarre treasure map and the promise of fantastic riches, scalawags of every stripe fight to join her crew. With the heroes aboard, the pirate vessel sets forth on a race around the treacherous isles of the Shackles, dodging enemy pirates, scouring shipwrecks, and bilking the denizens of the deep. But treachery and danger lie beyond every horizon and it’s up to the heroes to decide whether they’ll win their promised treasure or a watery grave! “Plunder & Peril” shares in the stories of the new Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Skull & Shackles, giving Pathfinder fans three exciting new quests that can stand alone or build upon either the award-winning card game or the swashbuckling Skull & Shackles Adventure Path. Includes a giant poster map! Written by: Matthew Goodall, Alex Greenshields, Ben McFarland, Steven Helt.	PZO9273 Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Undead Unleashed $19.99 SRP SDI Be they flesh-hungry ghouls or cunning vampires, the living dead number among the favorite threats of Game Masters and players alike. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Undead Unleashed details 15 unique undead creatures, providing information on their lairs, their minions, and their statistics, enabling GMs to add the walking dead to existing campaigns or base entire adventures on their sinister plots. Among the included undead are the Lirgeni lich Meyi Pahano; Erum-Hel, Lord of Mohrgs; the mummified child-god Walkena; and Ordellia Whilwren, ghostly savior of Magnimar. Put life into your next undead-based campaign with Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Undead Unleashed! Written by: Adam Daigle, Dave Gross, Mark Moreland, David N. Ross, Todd Stewart, Jerome Virnich
PZO30061 Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Tech Dungeon $13.99 SRP SDI Whether the vessel of alien invaders or a labyrinth from the far future, battles from beyond time and space unfold on Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Tech Dungeon. With a distinct technological dungeon on each side, this durable accessory can serve as a setting for exploration, battle, or anything in between in any tabletop fantasy or sci-fi campaign! Don’t waste your time sketching when you could be playing. With Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Tech Dungeon, you’ll be ready next time your players pick a fight! This portable, affordable map measures 24” x 30” unfolded, and 8” x 10” folded. Its coated surface can handle any dry erase, wet erase, or even permanent marker. Usable by experienced GMs and novices alike, Pathfinder Flip-Mats fit perfectly into any Game Master’s arsenal! On tabletops across the world, the Flip-Mat Revolution is changing the way players run their fantasy roleplaying games! Why take the time to sketch out ugly scenery on a smudgy plastic mat when dynamic encounters and easy clean-up is just a Flip away?	PZOBFPPATHCD004 Pathfinder Legends CD: Rise of the Runelords 4: Fortress of the Stone Giants $15.99 SRP SDI Sandpoint burns. Marauding Stone Giants are swarming down from the mountains, raiding every town they find. Can Valeros, Harsk, Merisiel, and Ezren return in time to protect their new-found home? Rumors that the attacks are the first of many spread like wildfire. Are the giants truly rallying for war under the command of the warlord Mokmurian? What horrors lie beneath his unholy fortress? With Valeros in the clutches of a vengeful dragon, and harpies ready to feed on their bones, the adventurers must risk all to travel to the stone giant fortress of Jorgenfist. Karzoug is rising and no one is safe. Pathfinder Legends audio dramas adapt the world and characters of the best-selling Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Each episode runs about an hour and features a cast of professional actors, sound effects, and music that immerse you into the dangerous and exciting world of Pathfinder! Contains: 1 CD Running time: 1 Hour

Dragon Ball Z TCG Returns

This Fall, the fan-favorite Dragon Ball Z card game, originally released in 2000, returns with brand new cards based on the show's iconic anime characters. Completely compatible with original Dragon Ball Z cards and adds to an already successful and balanced card pool . Easy to learn and captures the look and feel of the popular series for new fans. Brand new personality and mastery cards bring fresh deck strategies for returning players. Designed and play-tested by an experienced group of Dragon Ball Z players, including the 2001 World Champion.

Panini TCG Booster Dragon Ball Z All Cards are booster pack exclusives.   24 rare cards per box  8 Foil Parallel Cards per box Ultra rare cards found every third box   12 cards per pack  -  MSRP $3.99 per pack 24 packs per box

 Panini TCG Starter Dragon Ball Z

All cards are starter deck exclusives.

60-card pre-constructed deck (1 of 2 different versions)

5 Starter deck-exclusive Prizm Technology cards 

4 Main Personality and 1 Mastery card (1 of 6 different versions)

4 Parallel cards  1 Prizm parallel of a Mastery or Personality card and 3 foil parallels from the preconstructed deck

69 cards per deck  -  MSRP $14.99 per deck

Konami Comes a Cropper Again

I would be remiss if I failed to note that the “perfection fallacy” I have talked about in the past hurt some retailers seriously regarding Yu Gi Oh Day last weekend. Once again, Konami, in its effort to have prize support arrive as closely to the event as possible, overshot the mark with the promised support not arriving until the week after the event. At least one store I know spent a month promoting the event with TV ads, then when the day came, no playmat or tokens to give away. As I commented regarding the last Yu Gi Oh Day, actions such as this create bad impressions in the minds of both players and retailers. Eventually, retailers will look for other products to promote.