Apparently People Are Zombicide Themselves To Get The New Version - Boards & Swords #287
One of the pillars of 40K has passed away, Asmodee is making buckets from CMONs failures, and apparently D&D is a big deal? Who knew!?! Also, we've got some dirtbag GM advice to give as we dust off our vacation clothes.
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News
John Blanche, father of Warhammer 40,000's grimdark aesthetic, has died (from Wargamer)
John Blanche is the man who created much of the early artwork for Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000. He sadly has passed away, leaving a long legacy of artwork and style in his wake. Working with Games Workshop from 1977 all the way until 2023, his contributions to the tabletop gaming industry can be seen EVERYWHERE. Anything proclaiming to be "grimdark" can thank John Blanche for pioneering that style back in the 80s.
Why do they keep making Zombicide board games? Answer: $$$$. Asmodee, now the owner of the Zombicide board game IP, has taken to Gamefound with the first version of the popular zombie miniatures game under their watch, called "Zombicide: Dead Men Tales", a pirate-themed version of Zombicide. The game has since funded with $4.1 million, showing everyone that people are still yearning for the mines zombie miniatures. All CMON had to do was actually fulfill their campaigns and people would have continued to give them money, but hindsight is 20/20.
Any time I hear "venture capital", "AI", or "startup" in the same sentence as tabletop gaming, it's usually not a good sign. Board is a company making essentially a large tablet for people to play board games on, combining technologies that allow people to use physical pieces along with digital assets. It's a neat idea, and I could see some practical applications for it - I just don't see a large enough group of people paying $400 for it. I also don't really trust the group behind the device, given how they want to use AI to power development of more titles.
Designers support BackerKit's collab-funding, say there's no crowdfunding fatigue (from Rascal)
BackerKit continues to show how they seem to know what they are doing in the crowdfunding space, as this article from Rascal talks about how the company is leaning in on "collab-funding". What is that? It's when projects are grouped together by a common theme, and there are benefits when backers support more than one campaign. The website has seen a lot of success using this model, and creators are talking about the advantages this model provides over more "stand alone" style of campaigns.
Mantic Games has announced a "1.5" version of the rules for Halo: Flashpoint, their miniatures game set in the popular video game IP. The fundamental gameplay has not changed, but the new ruleset correlates a bunch of errata and tightens up some of the various keywords to make the game easier to play. They've also created a product that contains just the new rules, tokens, and a piece of cardboard terrain for those that don't want to buy a whole giant box of minis. The company hopes these changes and products will make the game even more accessible to people new to the game.
Paizo lays off 12 employees in the fallout of Diamond Comics’ bankruptcy (from Rascal)
In a classic tale of crappy decisions ruining it for everyone, Paizo has had to lay off 12 employees as the company is restructuring itself in the wake of losses in 2025. The key source of those losses was the bankruptcy of Diamond Comics in early 2025, a distributor holding about $10 million worth of unsold Paizo product. Paizo has done a lot to try and get that product released, to no avail, and so the company in unfortunately having to deal with the financial impacts of all of that unsold inventory.
DnD 5.5e set to replace the Essence 20 system for Renegade after poor sales (from Wargamer)
I'm sorry if you liked Essence 20, the RPG system that Renegade Games used for its Transformers, GI Joe, and Power Ranger RPGs, but the company has decided to stop using it. Also, it sucked. Going forward, the "new" versions of those RPGs will use the DnD5.5e system, to no ones surprise. Why? Because people will buy it up and actually play it that way. So many people only want to play D&D, that companies would be crazy not to offer versions of their game in that format.
Continuing my above thought, D&D has announced that White Wolf has licensed a company to make an official sourcebook for Vampire The Masquerade for D&D5.5. The news was shared via D&D Beyond, so I'm not sure at this point if there will be a physical product or just digital, but like many other RPGs, White Wolf has decided to scoop up that easy D&D money and now players can make vampire player characters in their D&D games.
D&D Beyond turns on content sharing for new 'drops' after fans complain in droves (from Wargamer)
It's kind of silly that this is needed, but Wizards of the Coast announced that they now have a "Community Advisory Group" to help steer the direction of D&D. The company hopes that the group will help "challenge" them and give them helpful ideas for D&D's future. The real question will be - will Hasbro allow them to listen to their fans? Especially when the CEO of Hasbro apparently has a very vivid idea of what D&D is supposed to be like, and wont stop telling us about it? As a favorable sign of said group, D&D Beyond announced that the previously un-shareable drops that they have been putting out will now be able to be shared to players if one person in the group is subscribed at the "content sharing" level.
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