News Collider - Board Game News 14th August

After the glut of news from Gen Con the news ferrets, and the board gaming community are putting their feet up for a little while it seems as we relax into the mid August quite zone.  That's not to say there is no board game related news at all, in fact  we have the big release from Stonemaier Games, Asmodee's continued growth and a new (yet very old) player joins the board game market. 

Stonemaier Games Announces Tapestry

On 7th August, Stonemaier Games’ latest release was announced by Jamey Stegmaier himself on a live feed on Facebook. Andy got involved and found out some of the more pertinent details. Tapestry will be a Civilisation-based game where you control one of many asymmetric factions trying to build your culture to be the biggest and best.

Tapestry will feature pre-painted building miniatures, tiles, cards, “positive player interaction” and a nice little engine builder under the hood. There’s a few photos of content floating about the internet, but your best bet is to head to Stonemaier’s website 

Wil Wheaton Sues Geek and Sundry

Wil Wheaton, the host of the very popular Tabletop as well as being a well known star of Star Trek: The Next Generation and returning guest star on The Big Bang theory has filed suit against Geek and Sundry’s production company, Legendary for breach of contract.

The claim states that Wheaton was hired to create, produce, and host a how for them, Titansgrave: The Ashes of Valkana.  For this he would receive payment to the tune of $50,000, plus 50% of all net profits from the show.   The alleged breach occurred when Legendary looked to secure distribution with Sinclair Broadcasting, Hulu, and Pluto TV without “consulting meaningfully” with Wheaton.

Asmodee Acquires New Distribution

Asmodee,the board gaming distribution behemoth has swollen further with the acquisition of 3 smaller distribution companies.  Heading north first, Canadian company,  Lion Rampant Imports joined Asmodee after many years of partnership.

Not content with that however, the Asmodee arm reached south to Chile and snatched up Skyship Distribution with whom Asmodee has had a firm partnership with since the company was founded in 2014..

And then on to Taiwan to consume Kids Power International.

Funkoverse Games Outsell Expectations

If I were to use the word “cynical” in describing my thoughts regarding the slew of Funkoverse Games it would, perhaps, be too mild.  Upon learning that sales of these games have exceeded even the expectations of Funko president, Andrew Perlmutter, the word “flabbergasted” would be equally too mild.

But it turns out I know very little about this time of thing as the games have not only been flying off shelves, but orders are being placed by stores that don’t traditionally stock board games, according to a company conference call held last week (SeekingAlpha) .  Funko have now readjusted their sales and profit targets for the years based on this success and it looks like the future is in fact vinyl.

Historic Playing Card Company Joins the Board Game Scene

Chances are that if there is a deck of standard playing cards in your house, it was produced by Bicycle.  They’ve been around since 1885 and their products are available pretty much anywhere in the world where there is a shop, now they are moving into the board game market.

Games by Bicycle is the new wing of the playing card publisher and at Gen Con this year they were showing off their first three games; Shuffle Grand Prix, It’s Blunderful (available now), and Tattoo Stories which will be out in October.