• In the department of timely announcements, WizKids has given a head's up on three titles that they'll announce in more detail at the 2017 GAMA Trade Show, which opens Monday, March 13. (BGG will be on site in Las Vegas to livestream game demonstrations from the show. I'll post the schedule before the end of Monday as I'm still tweaking it with small additions.) The three titles are:
—Approaching Dawn: The Witching Hour, a 3-6 player cooperative card game with linked scenarios (that can also be played individually) in which the player witches must "bind and banish the demons, imps, fey, possessed animals, and warlocks entering our world". Due August 2017.
—Dungeon Hustle, a dungeon crawler in which as the players move around, they pick up room cards with symbols that allow them to fulfill quests, fight off monsters, level up, and purchase trinkets, treasures and artifacts, while collectively needing to keep monsters in check. Due August 2017.
—Fantasy Realms has you trying to combo cards together for sorcery or military powers. Due October 2017.
• Another title being demoed at GAMA Trade Show comes from Alderac Entertainment Group, which will be showing Custom Heroes, a trick-taking game in which plastic cards are added to sleeves in order to modify the cards already in those sleeves. Yes, the card-crafting system in Mystic Vale is apparently being put to other uses. Curious to find out more about this one...
Power up!! #CustomHeroes demo it at GAMA trade show in Las Vegas next week. pic.twitter.com/PQcx7i5nVB
— Alderac (@alderac) March 10, 2017
• Another GAMA Trade Show possibility is CMON Limited's new edition of Modern Art, the famed auction game from Reiner Knizia that turns 25 years old in 2017. Why has this game been out of print? I'd say that's a crime, but that would be a stupid law to have on the books, so let's just say not having it in print is a questionable business decision.
Modern Art, for those who don't know, is an auction-driven game in which you're trying to make money by buying and selling art. Four-and-a-half different auction types are used in the game, and at the end of each of the four rounds, only the works of the three most prominent artists will be worth something to those who hold them. You want to sway the market with each work you put up for bid, while also using knowledge of the works you hold to make smart buying decisions.
For this edition of the game, due out Q3 2017, CMON Limited is featuring works of actual modern artists on the cards, and the rulebook includes four pages for each artist that highlights their work and history.