microtactix
First Post
MicroTactix Year of Budget Battlefield starts at GenCon Indy
MicroTactix Games will be at GenCon in Indianapolis August 19 - 22 with a blitz of new releases and improved versions of old favorites. "We've taken a huge booth at #2806 in the exhibit hall, where we'll be running demos and offering most of our downloadable games and accessories in special GenCon-exclusive CD-ROM packages", says Executive Editor Guy McLimore.
Central to the MicroTactix GenCon blitz is the new third edition of the Origins-Award nominated Budget Battlefield Universal Miniatures Rules. "We're calling this the Year of Budget Battlefield", with a lot of our efforts put into giving the many fans of the game the things they've asked for," says McLimore.
Designer Greg Poehlein has expanded Budget Battlefield and added hooks and enhancements to make it easier to use Budget for any sort of tabletop combat. Now incorporated into the basic rules is an expansion of material originally presented in the separate Battle Magic supplement to the 2nd edition rules. Also added is a newly-clarified and extended play sequence that makes the game flow more smoothly and makes it easy to add any sort of special powers and abilities into play.
The new edition of the rules is being rolled out at GenCon Indy in a deluxe CD edition from The Cabil, which will be available soon from local game dealers. The CD edition includes the 34-page third edition rulebook in PDF format, a new set of easy-to-use player handouts, and ten pages of spells and magical creations for use with the expanded combat magic rules.
Also included in The Cabil's deluxe CD edition are two complete cardstock fantasy armies, the human Royal Army and a skeletal Undead Army. These full-color armies come with new color Unit Cards, expanded Army Lists, plus an exclusive set of scenics featuring a church and cemetary. A complete combat scenario, The Battle for Eternity Acres, is designed to pit the two included armies against one another using the exclusive scenics pack.
The army figures and scenics pack have been redesigned for this edition to the currently-popular 30mm scale, making them more useful with the most popular brands of miniature figures available. "This is a change that many people asked for, and our Art Director, Gary Williams, has worked very hard to make this package everything they wanted and more," McLimore says.
This deluxe CD-ROM edition marks the first time The Cabil has released a MicroTactix product directly to stores before its downloadable offering, but MicroTactix isn't abandoning the growing downloadable market by any means. Soon after GenCon, the 3rd edition Budget Battlefield rules will be released via RPGNow. The armies will also be available as a separate downloadable product.
Nor are purchasers of the Origins-Award winning 2nd edition being abandoned. "Everyone who bought the 2nd edition via RPGNow and registered their email address will be offered a download of the complete new edition at no cost," says McLimore. The same is true of the new, larger miniature armies.
Also being released in special CD-ROM packages at GenCon are four more expanded and enhanced Budget Battlefield Army Packs. Two fantasy sets will pit Tribal Elves vs. Orcs and Dwarves vs. Barbarians. Two science fiction packs will set the Fighting 53rd Power Armor Brigade against the insectoid Shee'tok and the Steel Dragons mercenary band against the slimy alien Squarn.
All of these full-color armies have been enlarged to popular 30 mm scale, and enhanced with color unit cards, combat scenarios, and brand-new 3-D scenic accessory packs by Gary Williams. Each of these will be released to game stores by The Cabil over the next year in deluxe CD-ROM editions, and all armies and scenics packs will also be available individually for download sales through RPGNow. Once again, purchasers of the original color armies through RPGNow will be offered free downloads of the new expanded versions.
Continuing the "Year of Budget Battlefield" at GenCon Indy, cardstock guru Gary Williams has created his largest, most versatile cardstock creation yet. Budget Battlefields BattleLands are a new series of kits designed to provide complete environments for tabletop battles with Budget Battlefield or any miniatures rules. The first BattleLands setting, "The Ruins at Riverside Farm", features a farm built in the shadow of a ruined riverside town with a stone bridge, chapel, manor hall, and the remnants of the city walls. The package features a new modular approach which allows you to combine the components on the tabletop in hundreds of different configurations. The massive deluxe CD-ROM set available at GenCon will be broken up into multiple sets for download sales on RPGNow soon after the convention.
Also making a debut at GenCon Indy is a long-awaited followup to another of MicroTactix Games' most popular products. Dirt Cheep Cityscapes Skyscrapers Expansion Set 1 is an add-on to the original Skyscrapers product, adding five new modular wall types for building a variety of new skyscrapers. "The first Skyscrapers product was extremely popular because it gave you a real big-city environment for all the great superhero and modern adventure minatures games out there," says product designer McLimore. "But many people commented that the building designs all ended up looking too much alike." The new expansion remedies that by adding wall panels for concrete and stone, glass and chrome, and three kinds of brick buildings. The new panels work with the rest of the original set to give you a city full of variety. The new building styles can be used with a standard 1 inch grid or a "heroic scale" 1 1/2 inch grid designed for large base and dial base minis games. This new set will be also be available at RPGNow for download soon after the convention.
All the new releases, as well as special GenCon CD-ROM packages, will be available at the MicroTactix-Cabil booth, #2806, along the back wall of the GenCon Indy Exhibit Hall. A new illustrated and interactive PDF catalog will also be distributed at the convention booth, and will be available later for download as well. The catalog comes with a free, exclusive cardstock building set by Gary Williams along with an assortment of free sample products.
The full compliment of MicroTactix personnel will be at the convention, including designers Greg Poehlein, Bob Portnell and Guy McLimore and the wizard of cardstock, Gary Williams. Come meet the MicroTactix crew and see samples of the company's variety of over 100 games and game accessory packages. Demos of Budget Battlefield will be run throughout the four days of the convention in the booth's demo area, and special events featuring Compact Combat and Simply Roleplaying!, the other cornerstones of the comprehensive PlainLabel Game System, are scheduled as convention activities.
For more information, contact:
Guy McLimore, Executive Editor
guymc@microtactix.com
www.microtactix.com
MicroTactix Games will be at GenCon in Indianapolis August 19 - 22 with a blitz of new releases and improved versions of old favorites. "We've taken a huge booth at #2806 in the exhibit hall, where we'll be running demos and offering most of our downloadable games and accessories in special GenCon-exclusive CD-ROM packages", says Executive Editor Guy McLimore.
Central to the MicroTactix GenCon blitz is the new third edition of the Origins-Award nominated Budget Battlefield Universal Miniatures Rules. "We're calling this the Year of Budget Battlefield", with a lot of our efforts put into giving the many fans of the game the things they've asked for," says McLimore.
Designer Greg Poehlein has expanded Budget Battlefield and added hooks and enhancements to make it easier to use Budget for any sort of tabletop combat. Now incorporated into the basic rules is an expansion of material originally presented in the separate Battle Magic supplement to the 2nd edition rules. Also added is a newly-clarified and extended play sequence that makes the game flow more smoothly and makes it easy to add any sort of special powers and abilities into play.
The new edition of the rules is being rolled out at GenCon Indy in a deluxe CD edition from The Cabil, which will be available soon from local game dealers. The CD edition includes the 34-page third edition rulebook in PDF format, a new set of easy-to-use player handouts, and ten pages of spells and magical creations for use with the expanded combat magic rules.
Also included in The Cabil's deluxe CD edition are two complete cardstock fantasy armies, the human Royal Army and a skeletal Undead Army. These full-color armies come with new color Unit Cards, expanded Army Lists, plus an exclusive set of scenics featuring a church and cemetary. A complete combat scenario, The Battle for Eternity Acres, is designed to pit the two included armies against one another using the exclusive scenics pack.
The army figures and scenics pack have been redesigned for this edition to the currently-popular 30mm scale, making them more useful with the most popular brands of miniature figures available. "This is a change that many people asked for, and our Art Director, Gary Williams, has worked very hard to make this package everything they wanted and more," McLimore says.
This deluxe CD-ROM edition marks the first time The Cabil has released a MicroTactix product directly to stores before its downloadable offering, but MicroTactix isn't abandoning the growing downloadable market by any means. Soon after GenCon, the 3rd edition Budget Battlefield rules will be released via RPGNow. The armies will also be available as a separate downloadable product.
Nor are purchasers of the Origins-Award winning 2nd edition being abandoned. "Everyone who bought the 2nd edition via RPGNow and registered their email address will be offered a download of the complete new edition at no cost," says McLimore. The same is true of the new, larger miniature armies.
Also being released in special CD-ROM packages at GenCon are four more expanded and enhanced Budget Battlefield Army Packs. Two fantasy sets will pit Tribal Elves vs. Orcs and Dwarves vs. Barbarians. Two science fiction packs will set the Fighting 53rd Power Armor Brigade against the insectoid Shee'tok and the Steel Dragons mercenary band against the slimy alien Squarn.
All of these full-color armies have been enlarged to popular 30 mm scale, and enhanced with color unit cards, combat scenarios, and brand-new 3-D scenic accessory packs by Gary Williams. Each of these will be released to game stores by The Cabil over the next year in deluxe CD-ROM editions, and all armies and scenics packs will also be available individually for download sales through RPGNow. Once again, purchasers of the original color armies through RPGNow will be offered free downloads of the new expanded versions.
Continuing the "Year of Budget Battlefield" at GenCon Indy, cardstock guru Gary Williams has created his largest, most versatile cardstock creation yet. Budget Battlefields BattleLands are a new series of kits designed to provide complete environments for tabletop battles with Budget Battlefield or any miniatures rules. The first BattleLands setting, "The Ruins at Riverside Farm", features a farm built in the shadow of a ruined riverside town with a stone bridge, chapel, manor hall, and the remnants of the city walls. The package features a new modular approach which allows you to combine the components on the tabletop in hundreds of different configurations. The massive deluxe CD-ROM set available at GenCon will be broken up into multiple sets for download sales on RPGNow soon after the convention.
Also making a debut at GenCon Indy is a long-awaited followup to another of MicroTactix Games' most popular products. Dirt Cheep Cityscapes Skyscrapers Expansion Set 1 is an add-on to the original Skyscrapers product, adding five new modular wall types for building a variety of new skyscrapers. "The first Skyscrapers product was extremely popular because it gave you a real big-city environment for all the great superhero and modern adventure minatures games out there," says product designer McLimore. "But many people commented that the building designs all ended up looking too much alike." The new expansion remedies that by adding wall panels for concrete and stone, glass and chrome, and three kinds of brick buildings. The new panels work with the rest of the original set to give you a city full of variety. The new building styles can be used with a standard 1 inch grid or a "heroic scale" 1 1/2 inch grid designed for large base and dial base minis games. This new set will be also be available at RPGNow for download soon after the convention.
All the new releases, as well as special GenCon CD-ROM packages, will be available at the MicroTactix-Cabil booth, #2806, along the back wall of the GenCon Indy Exhibit Hall. A new illustrated and interactive PDF catalog will also be distributed at the convention booth, and will be available later for download as well. The catalog comes with a free, exclusive cardstock building set by Gary Williams along with an assortment of free sample products.
The full compliment of MicroTactix personnel will be at the convention, including designers Greg Poehlein, Bob Portnell and Guy McLimore and the wizard of cardstock, Gary Williams. Come meet the MicroTactix crew and see samples of the company's variety of over 100 games and game accessory packages. Demos of Budget Battlefield will be run throughout the four days of the convention in the booth's demo area, and special events featuring Compact Combat and Simply Roleplaying!, the other cornerstones of the comprehensive PlainLabel Game System, are scheduled as convention activities.
For more information, contact:
Guy McLimore, Executive Editor
guymc@microtactix.com
www.microtactix.com
