Here at Goonhammer, we know that it’s hard to keep track of all the news happening all the time in the games industry. So much is always going on with games of all sorts, and their related media, it can be a real blink-and-you’ll miss it situation.
That’s why every week, we round up five of the biggest stories in the gaming sphere from the past week in the Games Industry News Roundup. Our trusty news boy, Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson, is here with the scoop.
Hivestorm Box Brings a New Edition of Kill Team and Return of Alien Favorites
Games Workshop hosted a preview livestream on Twitch this past Saturday, shifting the spotlight away from its core games to focus on showing off the new Hivestorm box set for one of its most popular specialist games, Kill Team.
The new box set takes place on a world known as Volkus, as the daring members of the Tempestus Aquilons take on attacking Vespid Stingwings. The Tempestus Aquilons are the first major Scion release since the subfaction’s introduction over ten years ago, with each squad member equipped with grav-chutes and specialized gear for rapid aerial insertion missions. As for their Xenos foes, the Vespid auxiliaries of the T’au Empire finally get a plastic kit after being introduced in 2006. The new Vespid design is much sleeker than their previous sculpt, emphasizing their skills as special operatives in the T’au military structure.
Hivestorm not only brings these two new Kill Teams to the game, it also heralds a new edition. Hivestorm will be the first place that players can get their hands on the new core rulebook for Kill Team, as well as the Hivestorm Dossier containing the rules for playing the Vespids and Scions. Hivestorm also includes ruined hive city terrain, and various barriers, upgrades, and accessories players can use in their games of Kill Team in the new edition.
The WarCom article states that with the new edition will come with updated rules for existing Kill Teams, and that more information regarding these rule changes as well as Hivestorm’s release date will be given in the coming weeks.
Steamforged Brings P3 Paint Line Back to Kickstarter
After Steamforged Games bought the rights to Iron Kingdoms products and accessories, many were left wondering if it meant the return of the popular P3 paint line run by Privateer Press. Last week, Steamforged answered the questions of curious fans with the announcement that a new line of P3 paint will go live on Kickstarter on September 10th.
The new launch of P3 paints aims to keep the smooth blending that the line was originally known for, as well as making improvements on the line to keep with modern paint technology, according to Steamforged Games CEO Mat Hart.
“During development of the new P3 formula, we’ve pushed pigment load as far as possible to give rich, vibrant colours that pop, without losing the classic consistency and feel. We’ve also fine-tuned the finish to give a slight satin effect that sets the new P3 range apart from many other modern paint ranges” Hart writes in the announcement blog post, “This ensures vibrant colour saturation as well as providing an ideal surface for washing, layering, glazing and, of course, wet-blending, while also providing better protection than matte finishes.”
Those curious about the new P3 paints can see popular YouTube painting channel “The Painting Phase” for an interview with Hart regarding the new paint line.
Details about the contents of the P3 kickstarter are currently unknown, aside from the fact it will probably include paint sets of some sort. More details about the campaign and its stretch goals will be given when the P3 Kickstarter goes live on September 10th.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Unveils Release Date
BioWare released a new trailer for the next installment in the wayward Dragon Age series, giving fans of the series a release date as well as a handful of other exciting details about the game.
Firstly, the big reveal from the trailer is the imminent release date. After ten years of production limbo, fans only need to hold out until Halloween of this year to get their hands on the game.
The trailer itself shows off a few bits of gameplay mixed into what appears to be mostly cutscenes from the game, teasing new details like the nature of the game’s antagonists as well as the conflicts of the core party members in The Veilguard. The most exciting surprise is the return of voice actress Claudia Black as Morrigan, a mainstay in the series since Dragon Age: Origins.
The last big surprise reveal for Dragon Age: The Veilguard is its relatively forgiving system specs on PC. As shown on the steam page for the game, the minimum system requirements for DA:TV list the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970, a graphics card that was released in 2014, as the lowest viable GPU needed to run the game. It will still need 100 GB of your hard drive though, no way around that.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is available now for preorder, with both a standard and deluxe version of the game available.
Two More Big Names Join the Konflict ‘47 Team
After bringing on gaming royalty to the Konflict ‘47 team with the addition of Andy Chambers earlier this year, Warlord Games is upping the ante by announcing that two more big names are joining the team.
The first name is novelist William King, who’s writing credits include several Gotrek and Felix novels for Warhammer Fantasy, as well as the World of Warcraft tie-in novel Illidan. King brings with him design experience working on Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 as well, and will be assisting Chambers in both the design of the World of Konflict ‘47 as well as the ruleset.
William King shared his excitement to join the team on the Warlord Games blog, writing “World War 2 plus Dieselpunk! Undead! Monsters! What’s not to love? Konflikt ’47 speaks to any number of my obsessions–retrotech SF, alternate history, WW2, to name but a few. I am also very happy to be working with Andy Chambers again, and the rest of this great team.”
The second major addition is Cam Rogers, a who’s writing credits include Quantum Break and The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land. Most notably, Cam Rogers is the longtime lead writer and voice director for popular online shooter Warframe, developed by Digital Extremes.
“Andy assigned each of us an empire and it’s been fascinating to see – even in the early stages – how events in our respective little corners of Europe have informed the work our co-creators have done in theirs,” Rogers writes in his announcement post on Warlord Games. “There’s a dark cloud moving across the face of Europe and I think you’re going to love what’s hiding in it. Thanks to Andy and Warlord for giving me the chance to help make a World War weirder!”
Like King, Rogers will be brought on in both a story writing and rules development capacity, and Warlord Games has teased that even more big names could be joining the Konflict ‘47 design team in the near future.
First Wave of HeroScape Reboot Sells Out Prior to Release
The reboot of the popular tabletop strategy game Heroscape has sold out on the publisher’s webstore prior to the games August 29th launch.
Renegade Games, the team behind the reboot and other tabletop franchises like Axis and Allies and the World of Darkness TTRPGs, announced in a blog post on Monday that copies of the new Heroscape core box, as well as the two expansions set for simultaneous release, have sold out on the publisher level. For those who want to get their hands on the game, Renegade made it clear that while the publisher copies have sold out, copies allocated to game stores will still be available for the August 29th launch. Overwhelming demand for the game has still affected this release however, as Renegade stated that supply issues may cause some retailers to have changes in their allocation of Heroscape products.
Renegade Games said in their blog post that those who miss the first wave of the Heroscape release won’t have to wait long for a second printing, as all products are planned to be back in stock by the end of 2024.
For those who have already ordered their copy of the game, or manage to get their hands on a copy from their game store, Renegade Games states that the next step for Heroscape is the launch of organized Play on September 6th.
And that wraps it up for our Games Industry News Roundup this week! Join us again next week for more news about the tabletop games industry and related media.
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