Warcraft Boardgame Planned

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out that Fantasy Flight Games have announced a boardgame version of the seminal Warcraft videogames. Fantasy Flight are particularly known for their Lord Of The Rings and Dragonball Z licensed boardgames, as well as the Game Of Thrones CCG and the Legends & Lairs and Dragonstar lines for the d20 System. Gameplay details and artwork aren't yet forthcoming, but the press release claims the boardgame of the classic RTS series, due in time for Xmas 2003, will feature "..innovative designs [that] will portray the real-time strategy element of the computer games and make time itself a resource."

Too much focus on time?

[Shishio]

They may be "particularly known" for their other games (Dragon Ball Z, the board game?!), but WarCraft 3 seems like a pretty decent choice for a board game. I just hope they don't make it overly time dependant, being able to walk away from a board game for a little while is a great feature. I probably wouldn't have made it through some nights without being able to pause WarCraft to get some caffeine and a little food.

Re:Too much focus on time?

[kabir]

It's a board game. How on earth could they make it so time dependent that you couldn't just agree with the other player to take a break? I mean, it's not as though it's going to do anything without you...

Opencraft

[KU_Fletch]

Now if Opencraft makes a board game first, can they sue Blizzard for trademark infringement?

Re:Opencraft

[Schnapple]

Actually I know you're joking, but there's a company called Late for the Sky [lateforthesky.com] and they do Monopoly clones. Literally. For example, I went to Texas A&M and we're the Aggies, so they have Aggieopoly. They essentially went around town and looked at restaraunts and buildings and such and plugged them into Monopoly, boxed it and sold it. They do this for all kinds of colleges and cities. So, since this is a pretty blatant ripoff (IMO) of Monopoly, how do they get away with it, exactly? It's not like the "real

Re:Opencraft

[misuba]

Companies that do fill-in-the-blank-opoly games pay a licensing fee to Hasbro (corporate parent of Parker Brothers, which I think is what you mean by "P&B"), unless they're flying way under the radar.

But does it run in 3D?

[Anonymous Coward]

True colour? High resolution? Do you need friends to play.... :(

Re:But does it run in 3D?

[dpete4552]

Not only does it run in 3D, but it runs in true 3D, provided you have two eyes. It also runs in the truest color, and highest resolution known to man. :)

ehn not that impressive

[standsolid]

hey i've had a better [amazon.com] RTS board game for over 40 years now. and i also have the computery version. SO THERE!

beh who needs warcraft.

I don't want it...

[Anonvmous Coward]

Afterall, my laptop has extra batteries. Although if the power was out for a reaaally long time...

Blah...

[sevensharpnine]

So after a large story about Blizzard canning the Freecraft project, the editors follow-up with an advertisement for Blizzard's fucking board game? What next, stories about how evil the MPAA is followed up with "news" about the LoTR and Matrix releases?

Just don't use your own dice...

[TrebleJunkie]

... or you might get a cease-and-desist in the mail.

Useless

[chazzf]

There's no need for this. The ultimate fantasy boardgame, Titan, fills any such niche admirably.

Fantasy Flight

[Stargoat]

Fantasy Flight games are pretty cool. I've played a few, and often play their best game, Twilight Imperium. If they do a game, it'll probably be cool, even if Warcraft sucks.

If you don't want to wait..

[ronfar]

If you are boycotting Blizzard or don't want to wait, you can head on over to Wizards of the Coast and buy some of their Chainmail sets. [wizards.com] Really, Chainmail is where it all started. If only Wizards of the Coast had good IP lawyers, they could sue Blizzard for implementing a version of their Chainmail game as a computer game (as the TSR intellectual property holders. TSR: Tactical Studies Rules, TSR was doing wargames before that whole Dungeons and Dragons thing took off.) Unfortunately, then Wizards of th

Re:If you don't want to wait..(footnote)

[ronfar]

I noticed that Wizards of the Coast says that "Chainmail is based on D&D." Well, I beg to differ. [acaeum.com] (I suppose it is possible that the new version is... but the original Chainmail is where D&D and all Role Playing Games come from.)

Re:If you don't want to wait..(footnote)

[YomikoReadman]

TSR may have been doing Chainmail long before that, but Games Workshop has been doing strategy miniature gaming long before TSR. They are coming up on 30 years of gaming.. TSR just hit 25.

Great news!

[WG55]

No one else here seems to be interested, but I think this is outstanding news. Fantasy Flight is an outstanding board game publisher, with great designs at Twilight Imperium, Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings cooperative board game, and Tom Jolly's Drakon.

By the way, people on this site may not be familiar with the great innovations that are happening in the board game world recently. Since the mid 90's, the Germans have revolutionized the industry, and there are many more original ideas coming out in board gaming recently compared to the stagnant computer game world. See Keith Amman's "German" Board Game FAQ [faqs.org] for more information.