Mike Cooper
United States
Flower Mound
Texas
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Kyle showed up Saturday night and I got a chance to talk to him for about 20-30 minutes. Evidently his day job has kept him extremely busy - so busy his website expired. He has since rectified that situation (kinda), and informed me that he's got another game pretty much ready for publication (needs art and production, but will be done on a limited-run basis before shopping it to bigger publishers).
But I digress. Back to Arctic Scavengers:
Kyle informed me that AS is *not* dead and should be going into production Real Soon Now(tm) - still with the HQ Expansion built in.
In one of my previous updates, it was said that Jay at Rio Grande had too much on his plate to publish in 2010, and Arctic Scavengers was reluctantly delayed because of this. Kyle re-confirmed this with me and also advised that Jay had contacted him, but he missed it due to the website issue. Once that got cleared up, things started rolling again.
Kyle said I could give general information, but no timelines or details, so this is as much as I can say.
FWIW, I sincerely hope that the influx of deck-building games that have come out in the last year haven't diluted the market. I'm still looking forward to this.
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Byron Grimes
United States
Champaign
Illinois
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I really hate to say it, but I think AS is now too late. I don't want to sound bitter, but Jay has sat on the game for pretty much a year plus, and there are now a veritable horde of deck builders out there. With the monster hit Dominion has been, I do not see how he missed how many imitators there would be. It will now be difficult for this well themed game to stand out from say, Ascension or Thunderstone or Heroes of Graxia.
Licensing to Jay was no doubt a good move, but perhaps Kyle should have done another run of the game first, to build its reputation, and move higher on Jay's priority list.
I am also well aware of how the industry in the US has been hurt this year by European shipping problems and manufacturing delays.I hope this would eventually cause some of the publishers to consider creating a quality game manufacturer in the US or CA. Each publisher could have shares dependent on initial investment. It's getting sad when the most reliable manufacturer is a vanity press POD company.(Not that this is against The Game Crafter, just sad that they deliver best on their products as advertised.)
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Scott Everts
United States
Foothill Ranch
California
MITCHELL!!!
Push the button, Frank!
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Great to hear that it hasn't been cancelled but agree with Bryon that Rio has kind of missed the boat. Considering this was the first deck building game to come out its virtually forgotten now. When people talk about deck building games this one never gets mentioned.
But hopefully Rio will try to push this up on the release list and give it some proper advertizing. It's got one of the best themes out there and so glad I own the original edition.
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Mike Cooper
United States
Flower Mound
Texas
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Unfortunately, I agree with both of you. By sitting on this, the buzz was effectively squashed to the point that I'm sure there'll be *some* interest when it does finally come out, and hopefully there's enough of a twist on the mechanic to make it commercially viable.
Based on our conversation, I think Kyle is aware of this as well; which is why he's still going to release his games in small print runs under his own label, then shop them out to publishers. (Note: Speculation on my part)
This isn't the first game that's been tied up during publishing, and I'm sure it won't be the last.
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Stefano Castelli
Italy
Rome
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Thosw wrote:
This isn't the first game that's been tied up during publishing, and I'm sure it won't be the last.
I think this has been a lost opportunity for Rio Grande Games: they had the "right game" at the "right moment". It would have sold very well on the wake of Dominion.
Now it will be perceived like just one of the various games with deck-building elements, regardless of its quality.
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Surya Van Lierde is pure Eurosnoot and proud of it!
Belgium
Gijzegem
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Some badmouthing people have accused certain bigger publishers of sitting on games just so they wouldn't be competing with their own products. I'm not accusing Jay of doing that at all, but I could see why people would think that is this case.
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Nate Simons
United States
Johnston
Iowa
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Good news - Thanks for the update. Regardless of the influx of deck building games, this game is still #1 on my wishlist and I'm excited to see the headquarters expansion.
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Casey Hughes
United States
Iowa
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Glad to hear it is still on.
While the genre is starting to get crowded, AS still has a unique place due to its effectively simultaneous turn and end of round combat.
I'm anxious to see what the HQ expansion brings. Most of the reviews mention the base game feels unfinished, and well, basic.
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Paul Rubin
United States
Lexington
Massachusetts
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Also high on my 'buy' list. Looking forward to seeing it published with the HQ expansion (hopefully first of many) in the near future.
I liked the original base game, but it didn't have much staying power.
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Dennis FitzPatrick
United States
Garden City
Kansas
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I have waited to buy a deck building game--this is the game I want. Here's hoping my patience will be rewarded.
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Adam O'Brien
United States
Raleigh
North Carolina
Even Cleverer Overtext
The Hellfish Bonanza!!!
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Arctic Scavengers is a very good game, one of the best in the genre.
I have to say I am a little cheezed that the HQ expansion is only going to be available packaged with the RGG base game. It is a poor thanks to me for supporting the original small press company to make me re-buy the game to get the expansion.
And I agree that it was a lost opportunity to RGG to not publish this much sooner. It will still do well, but they could have damn near cornered the market on deck-building games had they moved it to the head of the queue a year ago.
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Chris Z
United States
Arizona
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I've been trying to hype this game at my LGS since last Spring (only based on reviews, videos, and what I've read here) but at this point I'm pretty sure people have given up on the game. I'm still looking forward to it. But I'm pretty sure I am the only one that will buy it at my LGS now instead of 3 or 4 copies right off the bat had it come out during that earlier estimate of Q1/Q2 2010. I love deck building games and am looking forward to this one. I just hope that RGG didn't sit on it too long.
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Robert K Gabhart
United States
Keller
Texas
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Things are moving along. There is now a page up on RGG's site and word from Jay on a release in 2011. Follow the thread here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/575652/new-edition-statu...
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