So I spoke with Avalon Hill brand manager Linda Cox at length today – she didn’t want to be on the podcast, citing excessive self-consciousness, and since she’s not on the podcast, I actually had to remember what she said. We mostly talked very generally, though. Axis & Allies Miniatures has of course become one of the monster hits of the con, selling out its daily allocation in about an hour each day. I tried to get her to spill about the Seekrit Projekt alluded to in that Robo Rally article a while back; no go. Mostly we talked about the perceived “lightness” of AH’s current offerings compared to its history. I came away from the conversation a little dubious about the claims that hardcore wargamers welcomed this game as a good introduction to historical gaming for beginners (probably a few did, but come on), but confident that AH is doing the right things right now. Avalon Hill’s market is at a point where it needs to be grown aggressively, and you aren’t going to bring in new people by, say, reprinting Kingmaker. (My out-of-nowhere example, not Ms. Cox’s.) Games like A&A Minis and Nexus Ops stand a chance to do that.
Uhh… what else. Laughing Pan‘s Plunder card game looks awfully good, and it’s always telling when you see random people playing it in random places, which I have. Same for FFG‘s totally freaking enormo Descent. I still need to poke through the Forge offerings some more, such as the new edition of Primetime Adventures. FanPro has that new edition of Shadowrun and it’s selling quickly, as is (yes, folks, it’s) the Serenity RPG by Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. And uhhh, Star Wars Universe, which, like Rocketmen, is not technically a show release. I will think of more when I am more well slept okay. More video coming shortly.