• Ystari Games has picked up Emanuele Ornella's La Loire, which debuted at Spiel 2012 in an English/German version, and will release the game in French.
• In a late Nov. 2012 blog post, I mentioned that Bombyx' Gentlemen Thieves will be available in the U.S. in Q1 2013. The French version of the game – Gentlemen Cambrioleurs – is due out in France on Dec. 10, 2012.
• Privateer Press' Level 7 [Escape], which sold out quickly after its debut at Gen Con 2012 and official release in Sept. 2012, now has a second print run available. The press release announcing the new print run included one detail about the game that I hadn't noticed previously: "LEVEL 7 [ESCAPE] is the first in a series of games set to explore the science fiction world of LEVEL 7 created by Matthew D. Wilson," Wilson being the owner and Chief Creative Officer of Privateer Press.
• Whoa – here's one I missed in early November, possibly when I was still stuck in the oxygen tent post-Spiel. In Q1 2013, U.S. publisher Plaid Hat Games will release City of Remnants from designers Isaac Vega and PHG's Colby Dauch. Here's an overview of the setting and gameplay:
In City of Remnants, players take on the roles of gang leaders, each one with unique qualities and motivations. Players will struggle to control the city, but only the winner can decide the city's future. Many paths to victory lay before you. Bid for gang members who provide a variety of shady skills. Get an edge with weapons and other sundrys from the black market. Build districts that can provide you with advantages, production and income, but beware because a greedy opponent might sweep in and take over the work of your own hands.
City of Remnants combines strong resource management, auction, and conversion mechanisms with spatial tactics, assymetric player powers, area control and direct conflict. A variety of tools, different every game, are at your disposal to build up your gang and claim the city for yourself. But watch out for the Yugai police force, who will meddle with everyone's plans!
• Oh, hey, here's another Plaid Hat title I've overlooked, one announced while Spiel 2012 was ongoing. How dare publishers announce things at such times? In any case, Plaid Hat has landed the board game license for the video game BioShock Infinite, and sometime in 2013 – ideally, according to PHG, in February 2013 when the video game debuts – it will publish BioShock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia from designer Isaac Vega.
Details on the first-person shooter BioShock Infinite, along with a trailer for the game, are available on the publisher's website. As for the board game, you can get a taste of it from the description below:
Bioshock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia has players combating one another, stealing objectives from one another, assassinating leaders, destroying strongholds, bidding against each other for control of unfolding events and more.
The board game, based in the universe of the Irrational Games-developed video game BioShock Infinite, will come with 52 miniatures, cards, dice and a colorful game board. One of those miniatures – the Handyman – comes with the Premium and Ultimate Songbird editions of the video game.