The world of tabletop gaming has grown exponentially over the last few years, with publishers from around the world releasing hundred of games each year. Much like comics and movies, board games have their own dedicated Cons (though attendees don’t tend to dress in cosplay). There are smaller Cons like The Dice Tower Con held in Orlando, FL, but the two biggest (which often sell out months before they begin) are Gen Con in Indianapolis, IN and the Internationale Spieltage Spiel (most commonly referred to as Spiel Essen), held in Essen, Germany.
Spiel Essen doubles as both a trade show and a tabletop gaming Con, with publishers showing off games they already have in production and games they have coming down the pipeline. It operates exactly like San Diego Comic-Con, except with board games, instead of movies or television shows. The one common denominator that ties all of these Cons together: comic books. While studios are using them as inspiration for their blockbuster movie or TV show, board game publishers are using them as fodder for the next greatest tabletop game.
Since comic book and Hollywood studios rarely get into the board game market, they allow publishers to adapt these properties through licensing. Industry giant Cryptozoic has licensed many Hollywood properties, turning them into very successful tabletop games: Ghostbusters, and DC Comics-based deckbuilding games, Forever Evil and Teen Titans. Recently, Abba Games announced, ahead of Spiel Essen, they’ve received approval from Warner Bros and DC Comics to push forward with their latest endeavor, Justice League: Dawn of Heroes. You can read their official announcement below.
From Abba Games:
Play your favorite stories from DC Comics universe in this adventure game combat between 2-6 players. The game is divided into missions, each with several chapters. Players will be divided into 2 teams and will face to meet its objectives in each chapter. The winning team will have benefits for the final combat, face to face between the two teams to decide the fate of the world!
With many beloved characters from the DC Universe, Every mission is strongly inspired by familiar stories from our team of superheroes! Manage Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the Justice League to fight Darkseid, Lex Luthor and many other villains with the team of Heroes. Or use your many resources to complete your evil plan with the team Thistledown, with the help of Joker, Black Manta, Cheetah and many others.
Justice League: Dawn of Heroes is said to have both co-op and versus play, incorporating many different styles of game mechanics including: action point allowance, dice rolling, grid movement, customizable game boards and variable character power management. There will also be a unique “save system” built into the game (much like was done with Time Stories), which will allow players caught up in a long gaming session to pack up where they are in a mission or campaign without having to start over when they continue.
Abba Games will announce a Kickstarter to help fund the game in the next couple of months, with a release date set before Justice League debuts in theaters next year. With shows like Stranger Things and The Goldbergs seemingly making Dungeons & Dragons cool again, a new crop of gamers are testing the tabletop waters – and with many recognizable properties hitting shelves soon, there will be plenty of new games that should pique their interest.
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Wonder Woman opens in theaters on June 2, 2017, followed by Justice League on November 17, 2017; Aquaman on July 27, 2018; an untitled DC Film on October 5, 2018; Shazam on April 5, 2019; Justice League 2 on June 14, 2019; an untitled DC film on November 1, 2019; Cyborg on April 3, 2020; and Green Lantern Corps on July 24, 2020. The Flash, The Batman solo movie, Dark Universe and Man of Steel 2 are currently without a release dates.
