CMON News and Rumours - 2024 Annual Results

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**DaveC**

More Bloodborne previews and ASOIAF Stark Heroes 2

Most of the figures in the Stark Heroes II box come in the form of Unit Attachments. Able to join where most-needed, they can take a standard unit and make them much more elite on the battlefield. For example, whenever Jojen Reed’s unit activates, his Greensight ability lets the Stark player roll a die and determine what sort of bonus they receive. It could be that the unit gets a free Maneuver action, or that they can re-roll misses that activation. But beware, rolling a 1 will cause the unit to become Panicked and Vulnerable. Seeing through someone else’s eyes can sometimes be disconcerting.

Several of the Unit Attachments also punish the enemy simply for taking them on in combat. Osha causes Wounds directly to any enemy that dares destroy a rank of her unit. Meera Reed will cause the enemy to worry about every step they take, able to put out traps and cause Wounds to opponents simply for trying to move around the battlefield. Then there’s the master swordsmen Syrio Forel. His special rules are simple, as he causes the enemy to suffer -1 To Hit against his unit when they are attacked in melee, his fencing skills transferring to the troops around him.

Aside from the Unit Attachments, there is also a single Non-Combat Unit in the box in the form of Arya Stark, The Wolf Girl. Having trained well under Master Forel, she has taken his lessons to heart and makes sure that the enemy never quite knows what she is up to. Her once-per-game ability allows the Stark player to give 1 free Maneuver action to a unit at the start of any round. This has many potential uses, from getting a jump on an enemy that thought they were safely out of range, to pouncing on an objective late in the game, or pulling a threatened unit out of harm’s way. As her flavor text says, “Never do what they expect” can be powerful words to live by on the battlefield.

The Stark Heroes II box also contains a single unit. Shaggydog, Rickon Stark’s pet direwolf, is also included. A rather vicious beast (quite literally, as he has the Vicious special rule, which causes enemies to suffer -2 to Panic Tests he causes), and very fast on the battlefield, Shaggydog can tear into the enemy with is Savage Mauling attack, rolling two dice and hitting on 2+. However, to bring Shaggydog, Stark players must be cautious, as Rickon himself will also be out on the battlefield, and enemy commanders would surely love to get their hands on a prince of Winterfell.

The Stark Heroes II box gives Stark commanders a myriad of new options out on the battlefield. Their units can become much more difficult to deal with and a lot less predictable with these various attachments and the NCU. And anytime you have direwolves roaming around, it’s a time to be cautious.

This new box will be available March 29th.

**Alpharius**

CMON's path forward is clear - one off Kickstarters and A Song of Ice and Fire.

I'm sure they'll do...OK with both, even though neither is what is once was about 5 or so years ago.

**DaveC**

and I half suspect they'd drop ASOIAF if they could after the KS didn't go as high as they'd have planned but that's locked into contracts with third parties and they'll have to see out the contract I don't see it getting extended and then ASOIAF will be quietly dropped. ASOIAF is already proving difficult to get (outside the US at least) my free folk order got pushed back several times and I had it preordered along time before release.

**infinite_array**

Man, I really hope the Bloodborne game has good mechanics and high replayability, cause those renders look good.

**Aeneades**

ASOIAF seems to take a long time to distribute around the world via ship so the new heroe boxes and barely announced new units are being sold in China but won’t be in Europe for 3+ months. It’s very different to the world wide release date that companies like GW utilise but it’s just how they do things.

At GAWA they apparently announced the next faction is Baratheon and would be released this Summer (UK at Christmas then!).

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

I don't think it's just sea shipping as stuff would be behind, but would be fairly predictably so,

I think it's CMONs fairly shambolic EU distribution hitting again, they're not doing it themselves they keep on awarding licences to 3rd parties that just can't handle it (and probably don't provide much stock for them either)

**highlord tamburlaine**

Isn't distribution what really helped kill Wrath of Kings as well?

All I've heard about Bloodborne is it involves deck building of some sort. I thought I read somewhere you'd be using a deck of cards to build chalice dungeons or something along those lines...

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

it certainly didn't help it outside the USA as it was pretty terrible

but since they can do a decent job of distributing their games within the US it shouldn't have been an issue there

**Monkeysloth**

Doesn't Asmodee distribute CMoN in Europe? If they do I'm kind of dumbfounded how it's so bad over there.

**DaveC**

Some more sets for ASOIAF that have been announced

Free Folk Cave Dwellers
Nights Watch Heroes 1
Nights Watch Veterans of the Watch
Free Folk Heroes 1
Nights Watch Conscripts
Poor Fellows (Lannister)
Tully Cavalry (Stark)

**Gallahad**

Those ASOIF releases look good. I'm anxious to see the sculpts. I need to get into that game.

**JimmyWolf87**

Gallahad wrote:
Those ASOIF releases look good. I'm anxious to see the sculpts. I need to get into that game.

Most of the sculpts for those sets are floating about somewhere; only ones I can't remember seeing via the Facebook group are the Tully Knights.

The release outside of US is bizarre; some items seem to breifly appear in EU (including UK) extremely early compared to US (NW Catapults spring to mind) then go out of stock for months. Others are about 3 months behind.

Their distribution manager did make a point of mentioning that they'd had quite a few issues with Asmodee regarding the non-US releases (it's Asmodee... nothing new there) and had basically wanted them to tighten up because CMON were increasingly aware that they had a large international community for the game and wanted to make it more consistently available. They've just signed a deal with them for exclusive US distribution though so who knows?

**Gallahad**

JimmyWolf87 wrote:
Gallahad wrote:
Those ASOIF releases look good. I'm anxious to see the sculpts. I need to get into that game.

Most of the sculpts for those sets are floating about somewhere; only ones I can't remember seeing via the Facebook group are the Tully Knights.

Could you share a link or post up a picture or two? I looked yesterday via Google and today on what I think is the Facebook group you are referring to and couldn't find anything. Maybe my Google Fu is just weak. Fragmented publicity in the digital age drives me crazy. They don't have pictures of them on their website, or anywhere I could find them but apparently released pictures on some Facebook group.

**highlord tamburlaine**

Yeah, I haven't seen anything either, and I pretty regularly and hunting up photos of stuff.

All the filthy conscript and savages types look like they'll be fun figures to paint. Now if we only knew what they looked like...

**DaveC**

I think alot of stuff is getting posted on private facebook groups so it's hard to find I javen't found any mini pics but did just find another unit for the Free Folk - Followers of Bone

**highlord tamburlaine**

Well it's looking like I've got plenty of caveman- like options coming up in the near future!

**Gallahad**

highlord tamburlaine wrote:
Well it's looking like I've got plenty of caveman- like options coming up in the near future!

That is always a good thing!

**Midnightdeathblade**

Im looking forward to those Tully Cavaliers in the next two years.

**Moopy**

DaveC wrote:
and I half suspect they'd drop ASOIAF if they could after the KS didn't go as high as they'd have planned but that's locked into contracts with third parties and they'll have to see out the contract I don't see it getting extended and then ASOIAF will be quietly dropped. ASOIAF is already proving difficult to get (outside the US at least) my free folk order got pushed back several times and I had it preordered along time before release.

Which would be a shame because it's really quite fun.

**Gallahad**

Moopy wrote:
DaveC wrote:
and I half suspect they'd drop ASOIAF if they could after the KS didn't go as high as they'd have planned but that's locked into contracts with third parties and they'll have to see out the contract I don't see it getting extended and then ASOIAF will be quietly dropped. ASOIAF is already proving difficult to get (outside the US at least) my free folk order got pushed back several times and I had it preordered along time before release.

Which would be a shame because it's really quite fun.

I don't think they will drop the game before they release their potentially biggest hit army: The White Walkers
Plus, they still have a couple dragons to release....

**Sacredroach**

When they release the Dothraki or forces of Sunspear, then I will start playing. Although I am buying the Heroes sets for the sculpts.

**Gallahad**

Sacredroach wrote:
When they release the Dothraki or forces of Sunspear, then I will start playing. Although I am buying the Heroes sets for the sculpts.

I really think they've done a great job with the sculpting. I'm really excited to be able to purchase well proportioned human miniatures that will scale nicely with other fantasy miniatures. Other available sculpts out there tend to be either tiny (Perry miniatures) or poorly proportioned and tiny (Frostgrave, Oathmark, etc.)

I think the Dothraki and Sunspear could also be huge sellers. I'm curious as to why they announced that Baratheon is next which seems a bit like more of the same.

**Col Hammer**

Baratheon is 3 forces in 1 army? I.e. the three brothers might get separate army lists and maybe a troop type or two? The Heroes will be divided in 3 camps at least? Maybe. Perhaps.

**infinite_array**

Col Hammer wrote:
Baratheon is 3 forces in 1 army? I.e. the three brothers might get separate army lists and maybe a troop type or two? The Heroes will be divided in 3 camps at least? Maybe. Perhaps.

I think the game's "setting" is post Robert's death, so we'll likely see two forces: Renly and his supporters like Brienne and House Tyrell, and Stannis with his Dragonstone forces.

**LunarSol**

infinite_array wrote:
Col Hammer wrote:
Baratheon is 3 forces in 1 army? I.e. the three brothers might get separate army lists and maybe a troop type or two? The Heroes will be divided in 3 camps at least? Maybe. Perhaps.

I think the game's "setting" is post Robert's death, so we'll likely see two forces: Renly and his supporters like Brienne and House Tyrell, and Stannis with his Dragonstone forces.

Easy enough to make a young Robert who just runs stuff from either/both forces.

**infinite_array**

Well yeah. But that'd be totally against the "timeline" we're at in the game. If they want, we could get an eventual Robert's Rebellion expansion that lets us use the current generic models with special leaders.

...which would also mean releasing a dedicated Targaryen faction. And that'd be freaking AWESOME.

**LunarSol**

infinite_array wrote:
Well yeah. But that'd be totally against the "timeline" we're at in the game. If they want, we could get an eventual Robert's Rebellion expansion that lets us use the current generic models with special leaders.

...which would also mean releasing a dedicated Targaryen faction. And that'd be freaking AWESOME.

Isn't Ned in the game already? That's essentially already pushing the timeline.

**JimmyWolf87**

LunarSol wrote:
infinite_array wrote:
Well yeah. But that'd be totally against the "timeline" we're at in the game. If they want, we could get an eventual Robert's Rebellion expansion that lets us use the current generic models with special leaders.

...which would also mean releasing a dedicated Targaryen faction. And that'd be freaking AWESOME.

Isn't Ned in the game already? That's essentially already pushing the timeline.

It's at the point of Robert's death and Ned is still alive at this point. No timeline pushing required.

**LunarSol**

JimmyWolf87 wrote:
LunarSol wrote:
infinite_array wrote:
Well yeah. But that'd be totally against the "timeline" we're at in the game. If they want, we could get an eventual Robert's Rebellion expansion that lets us use the current generic models with special leaders.

...which would also mean releasing a dedicated Targaryen faction. And that'd be freaking AWESOME.

Isn't Ned in the game already? That's essentially already pushing the timeline.

It's at the point of Robert's death and Ned is still alive at this point. No timeline pushing required.

Is Ned in a battlefield role or his only on the sideboard?

**JimmyWolf87**

LunarSol wrote:
JimmyWolf87 wrote:
LunarSol wrote:
infinite_array wrote:
Well yeah. But that'd be totally against the "timeline" we're at in the game. If they want, we could get an eventual Robert's Rebellion expansion that lets us use the current generic models with special leaders.

...which would also mean releasing a dedicated Targaryen faction. And that'd be freaking AWESOME.

Isn't Ned in the game already? That's essentially already pushing the timeline.

It's at the point of Robert's death and Ned is still alive at this point. No timeline pushing required.

Is Ned in a battlefield role or his only on the sideboard?

He's got a version for both, though with the same sculpt.