Two weeks ago I posted a column listing 7 questions I wanted to try to get answered at the upcoming Alliance Open House. I forgot about the one I had for Steve Jackson Games, sorry about that guys, and only part of my WizKids’ question came up during the hour long conversation I had with Justin Ziran of WizKids on Saturday night. Also, I forgot to ask Chris Pramas of Green Ronin Publishing about the possibility of signed copies of Titansgrave, so if anyone from either Steve Jackson Games and/or Green Ronin Publishing reads this and wants to send in answers, ICv2 and I will happily take them. On with the answered questions.
1. Wizards of the Coast, what about your catalog of boardgame titles? When I asked this at the WOTC booth, they introduced me to the Avalon Hill brand manager, whose product portfolio is most of the back stock of board games the company owns, and said WOTC did have plans to revitalize and revisit the Avalon Hill catalog in 2016 but was vague on what those plans actually were. So, at least the company will look at them.
2. Fantasy Flight Games, was there anything in the X-Wing Core Set sold exclusively at Target to drive customers to game stores? The FFG rep during their workshop did not know but another retailer said that the box had a flyer inside showing other ships and indicating they were available. Unfortunately, despite the popularity of their products, Fantasy Flight Games does not have a retailer locater on their website, so no way to include one in the box.
3. General in-stock of games from companies like Fantasy Flight Games, Days, of Wonder, Z-man Games and Plaid Hat Games over the upcoming holidays? All of these companies have a track record of running out of product midway through the holiday season. This year, they assured me, enough product is in the pipeline to make certain stores will have enough stock for everyone. Huzzah!
4. WizKids Organized Play software? Forgot to ask about this during the conversation mentioned above. However, Ziran did indicate WizKids had no plans to put an earlier date into place for stores to sell off older OP support products. He did say nothing in the agreement stores have with WizKids precludes them from using the OP product for other purposes, such as prizes for casual events or as a premium for purchasing other product, say buying a Star Trek Attack Wing ship and getting one of the OP tournament blind booster boxes as a premium. Stores just cannot sell them outright.
5. Plaid Hat Games, out of stocks and expansions? See the answer to question 3 for the answer to the out of stock question. As far as expansions, I gathered no plans for any at this time.
6. Steve Jackson Games. As noted above, I forgot to ask about the Evil Stevie plushies, but it did come up in other conversation that the Guest Artist Munchkin sets would come out in celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of the game, just in case those who bought a copy 15 years ago might find their copy just a wee bit worn out.
7. And finally, Green Ronin: Fantasy Age? Titansgrave? Both games sold out at Gen Con but stores should see them coming through distribution in late September. As noted above, I forgot to ask about a signed limited edition of Titansgrave but, Green Ronin, that would be tres cool.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
