Consumers, distributors, retailers, and manufacturers went to Dallas for the 44th Annual Craft, Model & Collectibles Convention & Trade Show sponsored by Hobby industries of America January 18- 23,1985. A day devoted to consumers drew nearly 10,000 children and adults. For two more days, hundreds of buyers walked the aisles and placed orders in the exhibit hall. Over 600 exhibitors in more than 1,200 booths displayed new product lines for 1985. WHO HAD WHAT Less than five percent of the companies exhibiting were part of the adventure gaming industry, but the small community didn't discourage new product introductions. FASA Corp. introduced three new items-Doctor Who and Masters of the Universe, licensed role-playing games (RPG), and Battledroids. The company is still supporting its Star Trek role-playing game with several new modules for 1985. Doctor Who ties in with the science- fiction fandom and strong cult following among adults in the U.S. for this British television series. Battledroids, a science-fiction war game, uses imported plastic robots for the playing pieces. GHQ has expanded its line of Micro Armour 1/285-scale metal war game models of World War II and modern tanks. A release is scheduled for each month this year. Game Designers' Workshop has three important new games--Twilight: 2000, a post-holocaust RPG released around Christmas; Reinforcements, a stand-alone game and module that plugs into the Third World War series; and The Battle of Chickamauga, GDW's first computer war game based on a Civil War battle. Games Workshop (U.S.) exhibited its new superhero role-playing game, Golden Heroes. A division of the company, Citadel Miniatures, has recently been licensed to manufacture the Dungeons & Dragons April 1985 25mm fantasy gaming miniatures. Gamescience Inc. announced plans to release a hundred-sided polyhedra die in May. Grenadier Models Inc. is continuing last year's hot fantasy miniatures series, Dragon of the Month. in addition, three new lines of miniatures are being introduced in '85-two licenced series: Lord of the Rings (Iron Crown Enterprises) and Chill (Pacesetter Ltd); and Warbots. Grenadier has licensed Mayfair Games to make a Warbots game to go with its science-fiction robot miniatures. Hero Games has a new hero-oriented game, Danger International, with the same rules system as its Champions and Justice Inc. RPGs. Hero is working on Fantasy Hero, a fantasy RPG that also uses the same rules. Iron Crown Enterprises is continuing to generate board games and supplements and modules for its licensed Tolkien Lord of the Rings fantasy RPG entitled Middle Earth Role Playing or MERP. Herbert Law Incorporated, a new company, made a colorful splash with its North to Alaska board game about travelling up the Alcan Highway. Mayfair Games Inc. introduced six new games at the show Two role-playing products include DC Heroes, a superhero game using licensed DC characters such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and others, and The Blackmoor Chronicles, a new series of fantasy modules written bv the co-creator of D&D, David L. Arneson'. In war games, Mayfair plans two new, releases-Warbots, based on Grenadier's miniatures of the same name; and Effquest, licensed from the comic book series of the same name. New adult games in the works are Barbara Cartland based on the author's romance novels, and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Game based on the well-known magazine by that name. Nova Game Designs Inc. has added to its picture book games: Balloon Buster is the next in its Ace of Aces World War I air combat series. Manv more modules are in the making for Novas Lost Worlds fantasy combat book series. Dragonriders of Pern is its new licensed picture book series to be released in earIv 1985. Pacesetter Ltd. exhibited an "instant" adventure, The Bard's Legacy, an RPG you can start playing without reading any rules. A new board game, Wabbit Wampage, features rabbits using chain saws and guns. Pacesetters popular RPG game, Chill, will be made into a board game. Ral Partha Enterprises plans special releases to celebrate its tenth anniversary in 1985. It's producing a licensed line of science-fiction robots, Battledroids, to go with the board game by FASA Corp. The company is also introducing a new line of paints called Partha Paints. Its first paint release is Dragonscale. Rafm Co. Inc. continues to push its series of metal RPG miniatures, Reptiliads. In addition, it has introduced Flint and Feather, a historical line of miniatures based on the French and Indian Wars in America. TSR Inc. has new Dungeons & Dragons additions-Masters Rules Set 4, to be released in July, and Book of Marvelous Magic, a handbook supplement already released. D&D related products shown at the show and since released are The Battlesystem Fantasy Combat Supplement miniatures rules, and The Dragonlance Chronicles Trilogy, a three-volume fantasy epic based on the Dragonlance RPG. TSR is also planning to release a new board game, Amazing Stories, timed with the premier of Steven Spielberg's new weekly Amazing Stories network television series schedule this Fall on NBC. A new picture book game series by TSR scheduled for release in June is One On One Gamebooks, in two-volume sets for two players. Task Force Games is planning more modules for Star Fleet Battles and History of the Second World War series, the latter war games based on B. H. Liddell Hart's books. It's also introducing a new sciencefiction spoof, 4th Reich. The Avalon Hill Game Co. will release two new war games: Advanced Squad Leader, which is both another module in the Squad Leader series and a completely new design of the original game; and Firepower, a man-to-man modern war game. The company is also releasing new modules for Dune, a board game based on the book and movie of the same name, and continues to support its RuneQuest RPG. Victory Games Inc. will continue supporting its James Bond 007 RPG with modules and supplements as well as introduce new war games-Pax Britannica and Sixth Fleet, and new modules for the Ambush! solitaire war game series. West End Games Inc. is releasing a licensed board game, Star Trek, and a new fantasy board game, Tales of the Arabian Nights. In addition, the company is re-releasing Junta and plans to support its role-playing game Paranoia. THE TRENDS TOLL Several industry trends for 1985 were apparent at the HIA Show. First, science-fiction robot games and miniatures will be pushed aggressively by several companies. This follows on the popularity of the Japanese imports of robot toys and plastic model kits. A japanese animated cartoon series, Star Blazers, is soon to be syndicated on American television, and this should help prolong interest in this category among younger gamers. Second, most companies are approaching new product development with series games, both RPG and war games. The series approach prolongs the life of all the products in the series and enables a game to develop a following. it also makes it easier for retailers to stock and keep track of the merchandise. The third trend emerging from the show is the degree of cooperation between companies within the industry. Non-competitive products are deliberately linked together having the same impact on the market as a series does. For example, FASA Corp. produces Battledroids, the game, and Ral Partha makes miniatures to go with it. Mayfair and Grenadier models are collaborating in a similar fashion with Warbots. Whether you're interested in trends or just the new module in your hottest-selling series, you're bound to share a common goal with the entire gaming industrykeeping those gamers coming back for more. HIA presented more than enough new releases for 1985 designed to do just that. Back to Table of Contents -- Game News #2 To Game News List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Dana Lombardy. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com