Two of the biggest names in tabletop gaming have just announced that they are joining forces. It was announced today that Games Workshop has made a deal with WizKids, primarily to bring new Warhammer 40k games to tables everywhere. This is a big move, and an interesting one as Games Workshop ended their partnership with Fantasy Flight Games last year, which led many to question how Games Workshop would handle their IPs outside of traditional minis gaming.
The multi-year partnership will see WizKids make a number of new games featuring characters and the settings of Warhammer 40k, in board game formats as well as dice building formats, and more. What is interesting to note is that WizKids makes a fairly popular game called Dice Masters, designed by Eric Lang and Mike Elliott. The game is a collectible card and dice game, and generally utilizes characters from Marvel and DC comics, as well as some other IP’s such as Dungeons and Dragons and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Bringing Warhammer 40k to the Dice Masters scene will prove to be very interesting and a good way to introduce various fans to both Dice Masters and Warhammer 40k.
Another key function that WizKids brings to the table is their plastic minis, both painted and unpainted. They have been the makers of the popular tabletop miniatures game Hero Clix for fifteen years. They also provide both Wizards of the Coast and Paizo with unpainted Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder figures, respectively, for players to use in their roleplaying game campaigns. The announcement makes mention of reprinting some classic Games Workshop boardgames such as Fury of Dracula and Relic, which would be easily handled by WizKids and their experience with detailed, plastic miniatures.
The announcement between Games Workshop and WizKids is a very interesting one, and will definitely bring Warhammer 40k fans plenty of options for offshoot games in the near future. It will be interesting to see what else comes of this deal, and maybe one day we will finally see a new printing of Hero Quest.
Source: PR Newswire