After a hectic last few days, I made it into Indy for the unofficial Gen Con start. Travel went smoothly and, due to time and packing concerns, I didn’t bring anything fragile this time so no broken minis to fix.
Even though the Con doesn’t start until tomorrow, the Fantasy Flight Report happened and was an interesting kickoff to the show.
Sorry for the blurry pics. Low-light iPhone camera shots zoomed in are pretty terrible.
After last year’s surprise giveaway, this year the hall was packed. There were no giveaways but some surprises as FFG announced two new Armada ships and that they apparently have access to the Marvel license.
I’m not sure what that means but the first game to use the license will be a new co-op Living Card Game. This really had no interest to me and they went on and on about it, making what is usually a pretty dry and awkward product presentation even worse.
They weren’t finished with Marvel as they brought out newcomer Atomic Mass Games to announce a new miniatures game, Marvel Crisis Protocol. From the presentation, it wasn’t clear what the relationship was between the two entities, save that the two company heads are good friends.
The game sounds very much like Knight Models Marvel miniatures game that got the license pulled (or not renewed). I’m sure there will be differences but it’s sad that the game simulacrum already existed and had to be torn down.
The base game will feature hard, sprue plastic that will require assembly and painting. It will also feature terrain elements of n addition to the initial set of minis. No word on scale or map size but the press demo table outside the room looked like it was 3′ x 3′.
Ten figures come in the base set with single expansions coming out later. No news on cost.
Atomic Mass Games may have gotten ahead of themselves with this announcement as they don’t have an active website and very little online presence (their FB page was only created last week).
In other news, we selected our bourbon of the Con, a bottled-in-bond King’s County Distillery. It is ok and a bit overpriced but not terrible.
After picking the bourbon, we settled for some quick games of Rummy. Tomorrow, the real convention gets underway and I’ll have more to say then.
Russ Spears
I’ve been wondering what would happen after Knight Models didn’t get the Marvel license renewed. I honestly thought they (Marvel) would go with a bigger/known company. But it’s super hero minis, I’m in at the beginning at least.
But most importantly….
NO BROKEN MINIS (regardless of circumstances)!!!!
If loyal followers get to make requests, if Wizkids is showing anything from their WWE license can you take a few pics? I’ve seen stock-promotional propaganda but wonder what it’s really going to look and play like.
Christian
Yep, no broken minis 😀
Wizkids oddly didn’t have a booth, or not one that I could easily find. That has been a trend for some companies like WOTC and Wizkids to disregard the dealer hall over the past few years. I was hoping to see some of their new Transformer minis but nary a Wizkids case in sight.