Avalon Hill Announces 2005 Games

Avalon Hill's 2005 schedule includes four new or revamped games, along with three reprints. The lineup includes the pirate-themed Sword and Skull (due out in March), the B-movie inspired Monsters Menace America (April; a reworked version of Monsters Ravage America), the sci-fi war game Nexus Ops (June), and the casino building challenge Vegas Showdown (fall). Highlighting the reprints is Robo Rally (July). Also due for reprints are Guillotine (late spring) and The Great Dalmuti (early summer).

Following is more information from the press release announcing the 2005 production schedule, as well as from Rick Thornquist's Gamewire:

In its 46th year of existence, Avalon Hill -- now published by Seattle-based game manufacturer Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro -- will release seven games.

Avalon Hill's first game of 2005 will be a swashbuckling pirate adventure: Sword and Skull. This track-style game, designed by Mike Elliot, melds strategic play with family entertainment in an easy-to-learn, but challenging, package sure to be enjoyed by young and old alike. Releasing in March, Sword and Skull is designed for three to four players ages ten and older.

Longtime Avalon Hill fans remember 1998's Monsters Ravage America title, which has been revamped and repackaged as Monsters Menace America. Playing off a campy, B-movie theme, Monsters Menace America finds individual players controlling both the diabolical creatures preying on North American cities and the military units that have been tasked to stop them. Monsters Menace America is scheduled for an April release.

Classic war game mechanics meet an intriguing sci-fi storyline in Nexus Ops. An aggressively competitive game in which strategic play is integral, Nexus Ops features stunning art, beautiful game pieces and a fantastical "other world" scenario in which the armies of battling corporations vie for a foothold on a distant, resource-rich planet. Nexus Ops is scheduled for release in June.

Veteran game designer Dr. Richard Garfield (creator of the popular Magic: The Gathering trading card game) will help launch a reprint of an old favorite he designed: 1994's RoboRally. This fast and fun game of battling robots will hit store shelves in July.

A new take on an increasingly popular theme will close 2005 for AH: the world of high-stakes casino gaming. Coming on the heels of popular film and television properties such as Ocean's 11 and World Poker Tour, Vegas Showdown lets players compete against each other to determine whom can best manage limited resources to build the most luxurious casino in Las Vegas. Vegas Showdown is scheduled to be publised in the fall of 2005.

Avalon Hill will also reprint 1998's Guillotine, designed by Paul Peterson, and 1995's The Great Dalmuti, designed by Garfield. These card games have been tapped by Avalon Hill for release in the late spring and early summer of 2005.

"Since 1958 the story of Avalon Hill has been inseparably tangled with the history of strategy gaming and, from a larger perspective, the evolution of serious adult gaming in general," said Linda Cox, manager for the Avalon Hill brand at Wizards of the Coast, in the press release. "The games in our 2005 lineup come from the same great tradition that has made the Avalon Hill brand synonymous with strategy board games for nearly half a century."