By the Staff of Victory Point Games
It’s Time for Another Mid-Month Madness Weekend Sale, September 20-21!
In our “mini” weekend sales, we plan on spotlighting a pair of our games, classic and more recent, as items we want to tempt you to come off the fence and at last try. The gameplay’s the thing, as we say here, and you’re encouraged to check out these weekend sale wonders! (Each sale runs from 12:01 am Saturday to 11:59 pm Sunday, Pacific standard time.)
Villainous Vikings Suspends Shipping, to Receive Additional Development
As announced recently on our website (Read More here), we have suspended shipping of what will be known as the “first edition” of Villainous Vikings. In the meantime, working on the “second edition” of this terrific game has been a top priority and our best development firepower is on the case. Save for the cool Viking sticker dice, we are revising everything in the box for better balance and clarity: the map, the cards, the rules, and even the counters (the awesome Viking longboat pieces will remain a feature, but with a fifth one added for five player games, and they will receive brighter colors to more easily tell who is who as they sail around the map).
As of today, we are intensely focused on playtesting, but our in-house testing is nearly complete and should be wrapped up next week sometime. We will want some out-of-house playtest groups to try out this new edition ofVillainous Vikings (the second edition being subtitled The Voyage to Valhalla), but they would need to leap on playing it right away. People are waiting for their Vikings out there, and we want to avoid long delays for what will really be end-project “polishing” playtesting. If that sounds like your gaming group, please send us an email atcontact@victorypointgames.com and let us know about your group and experience with this game and/or this kind of playtesting.
Concurrently, the art department has been eagerly charging ahead withVikings, broadsword in one hand and stylus in the other. Here, Michelle Ball has taken the reins and is working with re-developer Kevin Fortuna to provide those graphic touches that truly take a game to a higher level. An attractive second edition box sleeve is ready, and the first test prints of the new map, cards, and counters are on the game tables. So, this entire project is on a rapid development cycle and has the wind at its back as we row the oars once again from the Northlands to a game table near you.
Finally, once we lock in all of these changes, we will sort out how to get first edition owners plugged into required second edition components. We know we have to make first edition owners whole, but we would be essentially replacing almost their entire game, and there has to be a smart way to do that…
The VPG “Reverse P-500” System Announced
Also announced today on our website (Read More here) is a slight policy tweak from The Little Game Companyaimed at reducing our distributors’ “catalog clutter” and preserving retail stores’ shelf space in the face of our virtually “never going out of print” game titles. To help them select just the best VPG games, we’re going to be monitoring your rollout direct sales. This will also help us, as every P-500 system does, to ease cash flow problems and overhead burdens, and so should be a win-win all around.
Have You Reddit Yet?
We’re getting a little love on Reddit! The question was asked: “I’m intrigued by [VPG] games … like Mound Builders,Cruel Necessity, and Darkest Night, but I only know about these through playthroughs by people like Ricky Royal [at] Box of Delights. I know about a tiny proportion of VPG’s output – where to begin? What’s a good game to start with?” Many suggestions were offered including Dawn of the Zeds, Circus Train, and Trieste. You can read the rest of the conversation by searching Reddit!
Simmering on the Development Burners
We had intended to list all the games currently in development here at VPG, but the list just got too long! Instead, we’ve broken it up into three parts. Read More here about the first ten upcoming games (in alphabetical order), fromThe African Campaign to Dixon to Carrier! We promise to have the next two parts go live on Tuesday (9/23) and Friday (9/26), so watch for them!
Letters! We Get Letters!
I have to say that it is been an absolute joy re-discovering wargaming after all these many years away from it. Part of the reason it has been such a positive experience has been the wonderful people that I’m coming in contact with that are part of this niche hobby. When I was buying these games back in the 70s and 80s, before the internet, I was pretty isolated and didn’t really have any contact with other gamers or game companies other than mail order.
You, Alan, and everyone else at VPG have really stood out with your outstanding customer service and you all seem very dedicated to advancing the hobby and designing great playable games at all levels. I just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU!!!
An extremely satisfied customer,
D.B.
