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Wizards of the Coast Announces Changes to MTG Card Face (WARNING: Contains Spoilers)
Monday, January 6th, 2014
In an article published today on dailymtg.com by Aaron Forsythe called “From the Director’s Chair: 2013”, Mr. Forsythe reflects on 2013 and many of Magic the Gathering products released during fiscal year 2013, as well as some insight as to what consumers can expect in 2014.
But perhaps the biggest announcement is the change to the Magic the Gathering card face, as well as two spoilers for Magic 2015 (M15) – one of which is the card Wizards of the Coast asked the community to help design (pictured below, Waste Not):
Notice the new text, font, and the stamp on the bottom of the card? Mr. Forsythe has this to say about the changes:
“What’s Going on with That Card Frame?
As you can see from the expansion symbol, Waste Not will be appearing in this year’s core set,Magic 2015. As you can also see, a number of tweaks have been made to the card frame.
I spent most of 2013 leading the design of M15, an ambitious set that will introduce a few new things to the game, not the least of which is an update to the existing card frame. We have a lot of smart people here in the building who are constantly thinking of ways to improve Magic. Many such ideas involved tweaks to the front of cards, but since we don’t want to make sweeping changes to card frames often, we let a few such ideas pile up for a while before picking an opportune time to deploy them in a big batch. M15 was that time.
There are five big changes visible above on Waste Not. Four are game-wide changes that will be implemented in M15 and every set going forward, and the last is a little something special just for this set. Let’s go over them.
1) The font
Since its inception, Magic has used off-the-shelf fonts on its cards. As a brand, we feel that we’ll be better served by having our own unique proprietary font—something with a little edge and character that is still very readable.
In general, we liked the heaviness and shape of the “Matrix Bold” font we’d been using previously, so there are a lot of similarities between the old font and the new, named “Beleren,” which should alleviate any jarring feeling when you mix the two together in decks.
2) The holofoil stamp
You’ll notice a little silver oval in the bottom center of Waste Not. That’s a new unique holofoil stamp that we’re applying to all rares and mythic rares going forward. This stamp makes those cards feel more special, as well as guarantees authenticity.
Commons, uncommons, and basic lands will not feature this stamp.
3) The collector info
In the lower left of the card is a series of letters and numbers that indicate the card’s collector number (122/269), rarity (R), set (M15), and language (EN). The little dot between the set and the language will be a star on premium cards, so just about everything you’d ever need to know about a card’s edition is in one easy-to-read place.
Making the bottom of each card black to accommodate this information was not an easy decision, and may be the most disconcerting part of this frame update, but it was done with the best of intentions. This information is machine-readable by recognition software at our production plants. It will help eliminate the rare packaging error, like cards sneaking into the wrong expansion’s boosters.
4) Decreased border size
In order to fit all this cool new stuff on the cards, we’ve reduced the width of the black border by almost a millimeter all the way around. This reclaimed real estate allows us to have slightly bigger art and text boxes as well.
5) The designer credit
You’ll notice that we gave you all credit for making this card in the place normally occupied by flavor text—”Designed by the Magic community.” This is the first time we’ve ever given credit for a specific card design on the card itself, and it’s you! You should be very proud! While every card going forward won’t feature a designer credit (kinda sad, really), there are a handful of others inMagic 2015, specifically, that will. (You’ll have to wait on those details! It’s cool, I promise!)
Those are the main components of the card frame update. Here’s another M15 card for comparison. This one isn’t rare, so it has no stamp; is a creature, so it has a P/T box; and isn’t black, so you can see the frame design more clearly. All in all, it is an impressive modernization of the card frame, one I’ll be excited to get my hands on this summer with M15.
About Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS), is the leader in entertaining the lifestyle gamer. Wizards’ players and fans are members of a global community bound together by their love of both digital gaming and in-person play. The company brings to market a range of gaming experiences under powerful brand names such as MAGIC: THE GATHERING, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and KAIJUDO. Wizards is also a publisher of fantasy series fiction with numerous New York Times best-sellers. For more information about our world renowned brands, visit the Wizards of the Coast Website at www.wizards.com.
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Tags: Magic the Gathering, MTG, Press Release, Wizards of the Coast, WOTC
Posted in Blog, Card Games, Featured Post, Magic: The Gathering | No Comments »
Battleground Games & Hobbies 2013 Year End Review by Derek Lloyd
Friday, January 3rd, 2014
Hi everyone!
2013 was a big year for Battleground for a variety of reasons. The largest event for the store was definitely the transition from our old location at 1501 Bedford Street to our new location at 1423 Bedford Street. We began the year with the doors opening to our new spot and it was all we had hoped it would be (and more). The increased amount of floor space and the cavernous ceilings changed everything for us and allowed us freedoms we never had before.
Another big change was the intense focus we placed on the growth of our online store, and its merging with the Abington location. The community response to the benefits of having such a deep and organized inventory of Magic singles to buy from is overwhelmingly positive. In the coming year, you can expect the online options to grow exponentially; both in terms of our inventory and our stock levels. Furthermore, the addition of Chris Alexander to the Battleground team as our online store manager puts us in a great position to really grow that part of our business. Chris has lots of experience and a strong understanding of the Magic: The Gathering brand. The few months he’s been with us have already resulted in some exciting changes to our online presence.
We are fortunate to be a part of a wonderful period of increased popularity in gaming. There are many reasons why this renaissance seems to be occurring, but clearly, board games are a huge part of it. More and more families and groups of friends are realizing the incredible amounts of fun to be had by getting together to play tabletop games. The quality and depth of these games also continues to improve all the time. The presence of these once eclectic games in some of the big box stores is a clear indicator that their popularity is on the rise.
What’s more, the popularity of Magic has also soared to new heights. Battleground set record attendance numbers at both of our two locations this past year, and the brand is stronger than ever. This is great news not just for Battleground, but for every single person invested in this hobby. It means that in 2014 we’ll be seeing even more great product from the best games designers in the industry.
In 2013 we also celebrated the 10 year anniversary of Battleground. The actual date of our 10 year anniversary was November of 2012, but we wanted to wait until we were moved and settled into our new location before throwing the party. The event was amazing, very well attended, and packed front to back with games, games, and more games. We gave away some big prize packages and were able to say thank you to all of you who have been with us from the beginning, or have just joined our family recently.
We can’t do this without you, and we want you to know how much we appreciate your support and participation in making the Battleground community one of the best in the region. I’m excited to see how many new friends we’ll meet in 2014.
And speaking of 2014, there are rumblings of big things to come, both from the industry as a whole, and from Battleground. I expect that role-playing games will have another big surge this summer with the release of the next edition of Dungeons & Dragons.
Personally, I’ve been following the news and rules tests very closely and it looks like they have a great game on their hands. D&D is the game that brought me to this hobby some thirty years ago and I’m very pleased to see the direction Wizards of the Coast is taking this latest installment. If you’ve always wanted to try getting into RPGs but have never taken the plunge, this is probably going to be your year. Both Battleground Games & Hobbies locations will be hosting some great RPG events in the coming months.
Warmachine and Hordes have also seen a huge rise in interest, while Warhammer 40K continues to be a major player. The Battleground community recently came together and created an excellent supply of quality terrain to be used specifically with Privateer Press’s flagship games. In addition, Paul Gaughran also lent us his terrain-building skills over the summer, churning out an uncanny amount of well-painted, ruined buildings in short time. There are plans to expand our great selection of terrain even further in 2014.
As for Battleground’s plans in the immediate future, I will say that 2014 will lead to some vigorous growth. Our ability to service the gaming needs of New England will continue to expand and our focus on providing our community with the best possible gaming environment, service, and selection will continue to improve in the way you’ve grown accustomed to expect.
On behalf of the entire Battleground Games & Hobbies team, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year.
May you fill the next 365 days with more fun and games than any human life should conceivably allow!
Sincerely,
Derek Lloyd
Owner,
Battleground Games & Hobbies
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Tags: 2013, 2014, D&D Next, Derek Lloyd, Dungeons & Dragons, Games Workshop, Happy New Year, Magic the Gathering, RPG's, Wizards of the Coast, Year End Review
Posted in Blog, Board Games, Card Games, Dungeons & Dragons, Featured Post, Miniature Games, Role-Playing Games, Store Related | No Comments »
Warhammer 40K 500 PTS of Victory – This Saturday!
Thursday, January 2nd, 2014
Format: Singles (1v1) 500 points per person
Date: January 4th, 2014 a Saturday
Time: Please be here no later than 9:30am. Set up at 9:45. Dice roll no later than 10:00am.
Entrance Fee: $20.00
Address:
25 Taunton Street
Plainville MA 02762
508.316.1195
To register for the event please email me at Chase@battlegroundgames.com IF AND ONLY IF you can COMMIT to playing on January 4th.
IMPORTANT – This event will be capped at 32 players.
RULES FOR WARHAMMER 40K TOURNAMENT
Rule Books:
The Warhammer 40,000 SIXTH Edition Rules will be used.
The following is a list of legal army choices:
Codex: Blood Angels
Codex: Chaos Daemons
Codex: Chaos Space Marines
Codex: Grey Knights
Codex: Dark Angels
Codex: Dark Eldar
Codex: Eldar
Codex: Imperial Guard
Codex: Necrons
Codex: Orks
Codex: Space Marines
Codex: Space Wolves
Codex: Tau Empire
Codex: Tyranids (old)
Codex: Adepta Sororitas
All supplements and dataslates, digital and otherwise, released on or before Decemeber 15th, 2013 will be allowed in this event. If you choose to use something from a digital supplement or dataslate you MUST provide the relevant pages to us upon submission of your army list.
MODELS AND POINTS:
1. Each player must bring an army consisting of 500 points (but no fewer than 475), in accordance with these rules…
2. Each list must include 2 Troops choices at a minimum. A player may choose to bring an HQ choice, but **a player is not required to bring an HQ choice**. In every other way, follow the Force Organization Chart. This includes any Allied Detachments being required to take an HQ choice.
4. All models must follow “What You See Is What You Get” (WYSIWYG). All weapons, war gear, and so forth must be represented on the model. All models must be fully assembled.
5. Pictures of conversions or “counts as” models must be emailed to Chase unless they have previously been approved.
6. Warlord Traits – (If you have an HQ) At the start of each game, before deployment, select two tables. Roll a die for each table. Choose ONE of the two results as your Warlord Trait for that game.
7. Psychic Powers – At the start of each game, prior to deployment, players may choose to select the psychic powers listed in their Codex as normal OR swap them for a number of rolls on the psychic disciplines tables per the Warhammer 40,000 rule book. Unless stated otherwise, you MAY NOT mix and match Codex and rule book powers.
8. Forge World Imperial Armor units (and army lists) that are “40k Approved” may be used in this event. Players are expected to have the appropriate model or an approved substitute as well as the physical rulebook for any FW models they’re planning to use.
9. We will require that each participant submits an itemized army list to a Battleground Tournament Organizer on or before Monday, 12/30/2013 (roughly a week before the event). An Army Builder .pdf is preferred but a detailed, itemized text file (.txt) is acceptable. PLEASE include the number of points each upgrade and unit costs on your list.
Please email lists to Chase@battlegroundgames.com as soon as they are finalized.
10. If illegal units or other rules violations are found in a player’s army list, at a minimum, the models in violation will be removed from all subsequent play. In addition, tournament points may be deducted and/or award eligibility may be forfeited. If in doubt, please ask for clarification in advance from a Battleground Tournament Organizer.
11. Restrictions:
• This event will not use “Archotech Artefacts” (p 106).
• This event will not use “Unique Terrain” (p. 107).
• This event will not allow The Fortress of Redemption.
• An HQ is not required for this event.
HOW THE TOURNAMENT WORKS:
• Competitors will participate in five (5) games over the course of the event. In each game, you will play a scenario and record the outcome of the battle on your mission sheet. Each game is of random length per the Warhammer rulebook (5-7 turns). Each round will last 50 minutes.
Each game is designed to produce a win/loss result. If one player’s entire army is wiped out, the game ends immediately and his opponent automatically wins. Likewise, if at the end of any game turn, one player has no models on the battlefield, his opponent automatically wins.
Victory Points will serve as the tie-breaker, in respect to draw results and determining overall ranking.
Victory Points in this tournament will differ from the Sixth Edition rulebook. In this tournament, Victory Points are defined as they were in 5th Edition, as follows:
Units Destroyed
At the end of the game, every unit that has been destroyed is worth an amount of Victory Points equal to its points cost (including the cost of all its extra wargear, vehicle upgrades, etc). Units that end the game falling back or off the battlefield count as destroyed.
Units at Half Strength
At the end of the game, every enemy surviving unit that has lost half of its initial models or more is worth an amount of Victory Points equal to half its points cost (including the cost of all its extra wargear, vehicle upgrades, etc), rounded down. In the case of units that start the game as a single model (independent characters, monstrous creatures, etc), they are worth half their points in composition points if they have lost half or more of the Wounds on their profile. In the case of vehicles, they are worth half their points cost in Victory Points if they are suffering from the effects of any Damaged result at the end of the game; or if they have lost half or more of the Hull Points on their profile.
Rounds 1 and 2 will determine for which bracket a player is eligible.
After Round 2, the overall field will be divided into 4 brackets based on performance.
Bracket 1 – eight 2-0 players
Bracket 2 – eight 1-1 players (top half)
Bracket 3 – eight 1-1 players (bottom half)
Bracket 4 – eight 0-2 players
Once brackets are determined, points will be reset to zero and players will compete only against other players from within their bracket.
• In the first round, opponents will be determined randomly. We will try our best not to pair players that come to the event together in the first round. For the second round, players will be matched up according to current rankings in the tournament (based record and then the number of victory points scored). The player in first place will play the player in second place and so on. From the third round on, matches are determined by the bracket system. If for some reason there are less than 32 players, the 4th bracket will always be the smallest.
• The event is designed for every player to play every round. If a player receives a BYE, they will be awarded a win with average victory points for the round.
• You will not play the same person twice during the first two rounds. Though unlikely, you may face one or both of these opponents again if you are placed in the same bracket!
• We will do our best to prevent a player from playing on the same table twice.
• The pairings for each round will be announced as soon as they are determined. Please be sure to arrive at your table ready to play right away.
• Slow playing will NOT be tolerated. Players are expected to complete at least 4 rounds in each game. If you suspect your opponent is slow playing PLEASE notify a Battleground staff member as soon as possible as we can not do anything about alleged slow play after the fact.
• Each game will be played on a 4′ x 4′ board.
• Players will receive Results Sheets at the beginning of each round. Each results sheet must be filled in properly to ensure that match-ups and point totals are correct. Once Results Sheets are completed they are to be turned in at the counter so the scores can be entered into the computer.
BATTLES:
The SIXTH Edition Rulebook and FAQ will be in use for all games and will be the definitive guide for all rules. The time limit for each game is 50 minutes. At the end of this time limit, the round will be called; players will need to finish the round as quickly as possible.
What You Need to Bring with You:
-Your (hopefully painted) miniatures
-At least TWO copies of your army list and all relevant rules from supplements / dataslates
-Rulebooks are required as are any additional additional rules you need
-Pen and paper
-Dice and templates
-Tape measure
–Something to transport your army from table to table
STORE CREDIT AWARDS WILL BE GIVEN OUT TO:
Store credit is good for any product in the store and all subsequent events. It never expires and will be saved for you.
Winner in each Bracket
Runner Up in each Bracket
Best Appearance – Army
Tags: 000, 500 Points of Victory, Games Workshop, Warhammer, Warhammer 40, Warhammer 40K
Posted in Blog, Events, Featured Post, Games Workshop, Miniature Games, Store Related, Warhammer 40K | No Comments »
Announcing Changes to Battleground Games & Hobbies Store Credit Policy
Wednesday, January 1st, 2014
Abington, MA – Battleground Games & Hobbies is announcing a major change with regards to our Store Credit Policy and how we handle store credit with, specifically regarding enrolling in events.
Effective February 1, 2014, customers registering for events will no longer be allowed to utilize store credit that they have won or acquired otherwise to register for an event. In addition, customers may not use store credit they have won or acquired otherwise to purchase Battleground Games & Hobbies gift cards.
However, customers may use Battleground Games & Hobbies gift cards to register for events.
We do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers. However, while we did not come to this decision lightly, we feel strongly in this course of action in order to make Battleground Games & Hobbies even stronger for 2014 and continue to provide the very best in selection and service.
We appreciate and thank you very much for your loyal support and continuing to make Battleground Games & Hobbies a fantastic, welcoming and fun environment to frequent and enjoy.
Please share your feedback regarding this change by commenting below or sounding off in the community forums.
UPDATE: Battleground Games & Hobbies policy for Held Receipts (tabs) service will continue as normal.
About Battleground Games & Hobbies
Get Behind the Shield!
Battleground Games & Hobbies first opened its doors in 2002 and is now one of New England’s premier game stores with two convenient locations – Abington, MA and Plainville, MA. We are fully stocked in all major product lines for the serious gamer and we specialize in collectible card games, board games, miniature games and role-playing games. Our deep stock, great events and friendly, knowledgeable staff make Battleground the top choice for your one-stop, friendly local game store!
Please don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @battleground_gh!
Tags: 2014, Battleground Games & Hobbies, Change, New Year, Press Release, Store Policy
Posted in Blog, Featured Post, Store Related | 8 Comments »
Happy New Year!
Wednesday, January 1st, 2014
On behalf of the entire staff here at Battleground Games & Hobbies, we would like to wish you all a very happy and safe New Year! Share in the new year with us: Both conveniently located Battleground Games & Hobbies locations will be open regular store hours today, for your convenience.
We have many exciting treats planned for 2014, beginning with an important change to our store credit policy. Stay tuned as we announce even more events and important changes. Plus, look forward to even more extensive changes to our website, coming this year! Get Behind the Shield.
Please don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @battleground_gh!
Join the Battleground Games & Hobbies community!
Tags: 2014, Happy New Year
Posted in Blog, Featured Post, Popular Posts, Store Related | No Comments »
New Years Eve Hours
Tuesday, December 31st, 2013
Tonight, we bring in the new year and celebrate the conclusion of 2013. In observance of New Year’s Eve, all Battleground Games & Hobbies locations will be closing early this evening at 6:00 PM.
From all of us here at Battleground Games & Hobbies, we would like to wish you all a Happy New Year!
Join the Battleground Games & Hobbies community!
Please don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @battleground_gh!
Tags: 2014, Battleground Games & Hobbies, Happy New Years, Holiday Store Hours, New Years Eve
Posted in Blog, Featured Post, Store Related | No Comments »
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