• ACD has also announced U.S. street dates for a few titles from Queen Games, which ACD now carries exclusively within the U.S. Coming available June 1, 2012 is Edo from Stefan and Louis Malz, Lancaster: The New Laws from Matthias Cramer and Wolfgang Panning, and Arena: Roma II from Stefan Feld. Yes, I know that Arena and Lancaster: The New Laws aren't new, but Arena has apparently been out of stock for a while and New Laws has been available only at Spiel and via the Geek Store.
Titles from Queen with a June 15, 2012 street date are Panning's Maharani and the "Alhambra Family Box", which (after a call to ACD, I discover that it) contains Alhambra, Alhambra: The Vizier's Favor (the first of five expansion packs for that game), and the standalone Alhambra-ish game Granada.
Also of interest, as of June 15th, 2012, ACD will ship new releases from Queen Games to brick-and-mortar stores two weeks before it ships them to online retailers. This change is part of the "Queen Games Retailer Support Program" – which is amusing since only some retailers are being supported by the change – but as a longtime fan of local marketing and good B&M game stores, I'm intrigued by this new program. What will win out for gamers? The desire for early adoption, a discounted price, or the need to get all ranty about Queen interfering in the marketplace?
• Dutch publisher White Goblin Games is releasing a miniature expansion for David Ausloos' Panic Station titled Parasite Control that consists of two new cards to be added to the game's item deck: Parasite Radar, which allows rerolls for parasite movement, and Heavy Grenade, which can cause lots of damage, even to adjacent rooms.
Panic Station: Parasite Control will be distributed in the Dutch game magazine Spel! in June 2012, then available for sale in BGG's Geek Store afterwards. WGG notes in its press release for the expansion that owners of the German edition of Panic Station would need to use sleeves to include these cards since the Pegasus edition of PS has a different format for the cards.
• At Gen Con in mid-August 2012, U.S. publish SlugFest Games plans to debut two small expansions for its The Red Dragon Inn series in a new series titled "Allies". Each Allies set - the first two of which are Pooky and Erin, the Ever-Changing – includes all the components needed to add a completely new character to any standalone RDI title. Pooky lets loose the rabbit familiar from original character Zot the Wizard, while Erin, the Ever-Changing features a shape-shifting character who needs to be in the right form at the right time in order to stay conscious and stay at the table.
• Into the land of Kickstarter once again, this time for Pirate Dice: Voyage on the Rolling Seas from designers Sean Brown and Clint Herron. The obvious question: How do pirates play dice with having them fall into the ocean? Perhaps they unscrew their peglegs and assemble them into a square in order to contain the dice. I don't think this game answers that question. Instead it presents you with the following situation:
You will need more than pure speed to win. Use your wits to block, ram, and fire at your opponents – while doing your best to keep them from doing the same to you! As you take damage, your ship will become more difficult to pilot. But no matter – treasure awaits! So weigh anchor, set the sails, and run out your cannons – there's no room for lily-livered landlubbers here! It takes a shrewd captain with a sharp eye to navigate the rolling seas of Pirate Dice!