Block Mania strikes!

Block Mania returns.

Its back, seemingly a straight reprint with the White Dwarf expansion included. That was unexpected!

Really wild! I guess that Rebellion are leaning in to analogue gaming as a viable stream for their IP, what with the titles released in the last few years by Osprey and that Block Mania card game, as well as the handful of recent tactical minis games and RPGs. I note that they have a sub-brand "Rebellion Unplugged" that has two games in progress, one RPG and one board game, so they are trying to open a market for themselves rather than just sell licences to other publishers. Could bode well for more games set in the pages of 2000AD.

No mention of GW so I wonder if the rights on the design ended up in the pockets of Rebellion; usually these things become lost because there are IP rights on one side and design rights on the other. I know that Richard Haliwell was having a rough time a few years back so I hope there is at least a cut of proceeds going back to him.

Curious to see the price for this. I'll be tempted of it's reasonable, but realistically I don't think this is a game that will get played for me.

I wonder if they will bring back either the Judge Dredd boardgame or the Rogue Trooper. I have played both back in the day, the Judge Dredd one was silly fun but the Rogue Trooper one could play slow.

The Dredd one has a special place in my heart as we played it quite a bit when I was a young kid, then drifted toward Block Mania when I got older and wanted something a bit more complex and tactical. I still have both games but they are boxed away, I should probably dig them out because my son has been reading the collected Dredd and is really into it.

I picked up Rogue Trooper a few years ago and didn't really enjoy it, it felt like the game wasn't really about the comic strip and either the IP was just tacked on or the game had been bent out of shape from a solo adventure to a multiplayer mess. Fury of Dracula almost went the same way so I imagine mid-80's GW were looking for designs they could squeeze 2000AD IP into rather than commissioning more synergistic designs from scratch. Block Mania was the only one that actually felt like it was designed with the comic in mind. The two titles from Osprey feel much the same, fine games in their own right but the IP is just pasted over the top of games that were never designed with bringing it to life in mind. Still waiting on that perfect 2000AD game.

I had both Block Mania and Mega-mania in pretty good condition but traded them away in a BGG Math Trade because they just weren't being played, admittedly I got a copy of Star Wars: Epic Duels for them but I often think should I have kept them.
They come up often on eBay here in the UK so I'm thinking no matter how much I'd like them on the shelves again with that in the back of my mind I don't think the price for these new editions will be moving me.

$67 for the reprints of the game and the expansion, plus $33 shipping to the US... yea gonna pass on that one.

Ah_Pook wrote: $67 for the reprints of the game and the expansion, plus $33 shipping to the US... yea gonna pass on that one.

Yep, needs a complete 21st century redoing of the game and mechanics for that price.

Yeah, this is a Lando Calrissian deal. I still have my original and expansion (though don't have the WD expansion and don't really care), and it still gets played every Thanksgiving Eve with my son.

Unless the completely update everything, and by the looks of it it just looks like a straight reprint, it's a hard pass.

southernman wrote:

Ah_Pook wrote: $67 for the reprints of the game and the expansion, plus $33 shipping to the US... yea gonna pass on that one.

Yep, needs a complete 21st century redoing of the game and mechanics for that price.

I owned this few years ago and Southern, you nailed what I had problems with it. I ended up selling it after a handful of plays.

Its definitely an old school design with a lot of dice and card/tile drawing based luck.
I played a friends modification which streamlined it quite a bit - fixed CPs, all Armourys and Malls have fixed contents (still drawn randomly) and fire spreading due to a little formula with no dice required. Was quicker but still a couple of hours to play.

Anyone interested in a copy of the expansion, Mega Mania? I got sent an extra copy for free and would be happy to pass it on for the cost of shipping (I'm in the UK).

Claimed!

sornars wrote: Anyone interested in a copy of the expansion, Mega Mania? I got sent an extra copy for free and would be happy to pass it on for the cost of shipping (I'm in the UK).

Gawd, twisted my arm - I actually bid on a base game in the weekend but missed out (it went for nearly the new price, wasn't that keen).