Archon Studio Announce Masters Of The Universe Board Game
August 20, 2020 by brennon
Archon Studio has today announced their new board game which is coming to Kickstarter at the end of 2020. Masters Of The Universe: Fields Of Eternia The Board Game is going to hand you the power!
Masters Of The Universe: Fields Of Eternia The Board Game // Archon Studio
You will be able to take control of both heroes and villains from Eternia in this board game, all crafted in 32mm and produced as miniatures with scenic bases and in dynamic poses. You will be able to take on the role of "He-Man, Skeletor, She-Ra, Evil-Lyn, Man-At-Arms, Beast Man, Teela and many more".
In the game, you'll choose from a variety of factions with their own abilities and fight to hold back the forces of evil or perhaps even claim Castle Grayskill as your own and control the power of the universe. This game is going to be released exclusively in Europe and although it will be on Kickstarter you'll also find that retail pledges are going to be available. The Kickstarter will also allow you to get your hands on custom dice and also a Castle Grayskull Dice Tower.
Grab He-Man & Battle Cat Miniature Now
As well as the board game which is coming to Kickstarter later this year, you can also pick up this limited edition He-Man On Battle Cat right now.
He-Man On Battle Cat // Archon Studio
This miniature will be usable in the game and you might want to keep an eye out for more miniatures like Skeleton On Panthor in the future. For now though, you can pick up this character and have fun painting it up ahead of the Kickstarter and board game.
He-Man On Battle Cat // Archon Studio
According to their webstore information, the miniature will be a one-piece resin model and also feature rules for use in-game. It will be limited to 2000 units ONLY and also available exclusively to Europe.
He-Man On Battle Cat // Archon Studio
If this seems cool to you then make sure to check out the Archon webstore right now and work out how you're going to paint the miniature up. It certainly looks cool in render form at least and seems to have married together the old look of the cartoon with newer artwork.
Are you going to be checking this out?
"...you can also pick up this limited edition He-Man On Battle Cat right now"
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It will be just in time for the Kevin Smith ran Masters of the Universe cartoon coming to Netflix!
I was thinking the same thing, the Fatman on Batman will be happy^^
“exclusively to Europe” – wait… what? oO
Because CMON are designing a Masters Of The Universe board game too which is for the rest of the world – and this is Archon’s board game for Europe only. The joys of licencing.
But shouldn’t that then be “rest of the world but Europe”?
my head hurts…
not everyone in europe is in the EU son
Quitters!
two boardgames ?
and probably neither of them available world-wide because of reasons ?
I know licensing can be stupid but this is taking the cake …
This doesn’t seem worse than other licensing issues. I’m irked that I cannot order Doctor Who miniatures in the US.
The cake was taken a long time ago by Gamezone with their HeroQuest trademark in Spain.
As for CMON vs. Archon- while both companies are routinely reviled, I tend to prefer CMON.
The fact that it isn’t any worse than other licensing issues does not make it any less silly.
You’d think that the owners of a license would want as many people as possible to buy the products with that license … ‘cuz you know ‘more people = more moneyz’
licenses aren’t always owned by the same people
licenses are owned by the same type of people :
greedy *beeps*
At least it isn’t Marvel Spiderman levels of idiocy where a single character is ‘owned’ by a different company which makes it impossible for him to appear in a shared universe because of pure greed.
Thanks. The first thing I thought when I saw this was “Isn’t CMON doing Masters of the Universe?” So there are going to be two Masters of the Universe board game Kickstarters coming out. CMON hasn’t said when theirs will be, so I wonder if it will be sooner or later. I also wonder if it will not be shipping to the EU (at least directly). I have forum friends that I think I could have back the game and mail it to me if I feel strongly enough about it, though I honestly doubt that I will want to… Read more »
The CMON Masters of the Universe kickstarter is planned for 2021.
“CMON is proud to announce a licensing agreement with Mattel to create and publish Masters of the Universe: The Board Game in North America, South America and throughout Asia.”
So that leaves Africa and Australia for a third party to make another version of the Masters of the Universe board game.
Source: https://www.cmon.com/news/cmon-announces-masters-of-the-universe-the-board-game
If you want get a European friend to order what you want then they can send you the figures.?
I think you misread my statement. Most of the time things are US exclusive… with really annoys me. Because I’m German 😉 I was baffled that there is such an iconic American brand that should be EU exclusive…
The nostalgia hit is real but I am done with KS, I can bet this will get stretch goals up the wazoo and there will be lots of great minis but I will also make a bet on a lacklustre game with little support after the fact.
Still, that nostalgia hit is hard to ignore.
IF they deliver of course. No guarantee and KS sure as heck don’t care as long as they get their cut.
To be fair, CMON’s reputation is good as far as “we actually made and delivered this game.” People just hate it if they have to deal with their customer service.
Archon’s CS also has a bad reputation, but they still have some Kickstarter taint on them from Prodos’ AvP where they blamed the licencing for all of the issues- I’m sure nothing can go wrong here, right?
I wouldn’t back Archon in a month of sundays.
And CMON still have a big ? over their financial position (failed audit, have now got a new auditor in to look at the books).
Caveat Emptor folks, because KS don’t care and the whole gig is outside the usual consumer protection laws.
Ah yes I was trying to remember from where I heard Archon’s name… the ashes of Prodos. After the AvP debacle won’t go anywhere near them.
Wow, way to be stuck in the past. Archon is an awesome company, I have backed three of their terrain Kickstarters and have received everything I ordered from two of them. In decent time with some pretty decent to good communication. The third kickstarter is set to ship before years end. If you dont want to back Archon, then thats your lose. They are doing some truly awesome work and at a very fair price. Mostly because they wised up and do everything in house now. Prodos is ancient history, and they have made some serious changes since then. Everyone… Read more »
Honestly, I have mixed feelings toward Archon, but I cannot say that I trust things they say.
I mean, they claimed to have all the Starfinder resin minis on hand and ready to ship- all the way up to the point when it became their responsibility to ship them, and suddenly it was going to take them years to produce them all (and in plastic).
Sometimes I look at the way Archon does business and I think they’re willing to get it done by hook or by crook. Unfortunately, they often choose the less ethical means.
I refuse to allow anyone to be held responsible for that debacle accept Ninja Division/Soda Pop.
Archon wasn’t getting paid for the miniatures they produced, and that’s really all there was too it. That had nothing to do with them, that was all SPM/Ninja.
Any online PR shenanigans that came after that fact are irrelevant in my opinion. But I can understand how others wouldnt see things how I do.
But it turns out that they did not produce the miniatures that they claimed they should be paid for. Also, many of the Starfinder minis that they did produce were ones they shouldn’t have been paid for (mis-mixed resin that will never cure).
I don’t see why we need to be taking sides with Archon or ND when clearly neither were in the right.
My point is that Archon has always been more than willing to outright lie when it benefits them, and I fail to see how they have reformed.
Archon couldn’t run a bath. I’ll never back another one of their endeavours.
Of course the game will be bad. But there will be He-Man Minis in it.
But what if the game is good?
This is Archon / Prodos we’re talking about. Reviews and comments of their games on BGG aren’t particularly positive or negative.
Frex, Chronicle X comments: “It really feels like I was given a game to play-test rather than a finished product.” https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/239189/chronicle-x/ratings?comment=1&pageid=1&sort=rating
Archon has a new internal team working on the rules for MOTU: Fields of Eternia, so let’s hope they succeed where others have previously failed.
My first thought was that Archon’s games probably get downvoted on BGG due to their reputation, but those comments seem to indicate that they got the game from the Kickstarter.
They look really good.
It’s a shame the sculpt is a bit small for it or I’d have used that He-Man on Battle Cat as an alt for a Lord Arcanum on Dracoline for my AoS stormcast army.
This looks neat….but I am sick of limited edition, only available for X or Z but not Y, things. >.<
Rather irritated by this.
They are just feeding the FOMO.
Sometimes.
But most game items now are produced in very limited amounts that are meant to sell out at retail within a few weeks (because distributors won’t stock anything for very long). Sometimes limited runs is the only viable way to bring some items to market.
And it also may be tied into the license agreement.
The ‘problem’ now is that too many games are being released. Quantity over quality, and all fighting for shelf space.
I’d disagree about “quantity over quality”. Compared to the old guard of board games, the new ones tend to be better designed, more balanced and certainly of higher production quality.
Poks is right, the quality has risen along with the quantity. Current board game releases tend to be more innovative, balanced and have better production values than in decades past when fewer games were being released. But Tankcommander is right about too many games being released for the retail shelf space (or more accurately, for the distributor shelf space). So game developers and game designers do what makes financial sense. They use Kickstarter and they mark some expansions, or even the whole game as exclusive so that they can produce for the demand and avoid the likely loss of going… Read more »
We do not know the terms of their license agreement at all. So it very well be that they have to do limited releases on certain things, or have very strict time windows which means they are forced to keep production runs shorter.
Who can say, but this a Hasbro license after all… and Hasbro is purely about the money, the bottom line, and nothing else. So you can guess what kind of license partners they would make.
You are correct about the parts that matter, but Masters of the Universe is Mattel rather than Hasbro.
Seems good and that He-Man in Battle Cat does look really good. Only if they weren’t feeding the FOMO.
The reason for the limited amount is largely down to the material used for this product. The He-Man on Battle Cat mini is being produced in Resin. In one of Archons updates on KS they stated that there is a limited supply of the chemicals needed to produce the resin in light of the recent Covid-19 situation.
First time I saw the abbreviation FOMO I had to Google it, but despite being old, I now know the meaning.
However, FOMO does not work on me anymore… because there is always another limited edition something and you can only own/use so much stuff.
Now I buy because I want something, not because I’ll be missing out.
As for he-man…. always thought it was a stupid name for a hero… lazy from creators… and because I’m old I never watched the cartoon… so no nostalgia, although I have seen the awful Dolph movie.
…you have to be middle aged to have watched the cartoon.
The cartoon is as bad as it sounds like it would be, the awful Dolph movie isn’t really lower quality, just less true to the lore. The cartoon was 100% designed to sell toys.
How does this licence thing work. If this is the European game can cmon not post the kickstarter to Europe? Very excited about getting some heman minis but don’t want the hassle of shipping complications
CMON haven’t announced whether they’ll be shipping to Europe or not. It is entirely possible that CMON got a better deal (just non-exclusive in Europe) or that CMON could make a deal with Archon or some such.
But it is also possible that CMON won’t be able to send games to Europe, which would be sad.
CMON only have a deal for North & South America and China. Where as Archon have Europe. Two different games. It’s just the way the licensing took place at the end of the day.
Will see what Cmon produce.
I thought C’mon we’re on the brink of bankruptcy, having just failed an audit and a second auditor looking at if they were allowed to continue trading or not? I’d be wary of going all in on backing one of their Kickstarter’s until that’s resolved.
The audit’s raised a “going concern”, but I haven’t found anything that suggested CMON was nearly bankrupt. Of course, that doesn’t mean we should’t be, well, concerned. I’d wager that many a private KS backed has worse problems than CMON. I’m still pledging $1, particularly after the Bloodborne shipping charges were announced. CMON trading has been suspended, but, AFAIK, nothing public beyond the original auditor’s statement. If anyone has a link to the latest, please post.
“Mentioning a going concern issue is by definition a statement about their ability to remain in business (i.e. a “going concern.”)”
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2405083/cmon-trading-suspended
I literally started making Masters of the Universe miniatures out of kit-bashing and green stuff this week…. If only I had waited!
…and I cracked a few minutes later and ordered one. I can sort of justify that, as I was thinking of ordering some little battlecat toys from America to modify anyway. This seems better value for money.
I’ll try to remember to post here what the sculpt is like and how it fits for scale once it arrives.
…and about 5 minutes after they safely had my money, I got an email saying it wasn’t going to be released until 16th September. 🙁
So much for get this awesome model now and get painting BEFORE the game comes out. Is this the sort of thing they used to do when they were called Prodos?
The models will ship in September, so you will get your minis well before the game is released as it will be going onto Kickstarter later on in the year. This is copy pasted from the product description on the Archon store: “He-Man on Battle Cat is compatible with the up and coming Masters of the Universe: Fields of Eternia Board Game. This 32mm scale miniature is a one-piece resin model (no Glue required) and comes with an in-game rule card. Product is limited to 2000 units only. This is pre-order – shipping will commence in late September 2020. Item… Read more »
Nice idea but $19 with an extra €13 for shipping. No thanks.
The website didn’t offer combined shopping either, so in the cart it was 13 shipping per item not per order.
You should be able to select the amount of He-Man on Battle Cat minis you want and add them all to our cart at once, I have just tested it and I was only shown 1 shipping charge. If you have any further problems with it, please contact their customer service line here:
https://archon-studio.com/contact/general-feedback
I only wanted one battlecat, but might have added some different minis if that hadn’t increased the postage, but it did so I didn’t.
What other minis were you looking to purchase?
I like the He-Man and Battle Cat model and I will look at the Kickstarter but Archon doesn’t fill me with confidence.
Archon are involving key members from the MOTU community in order to ensure the game is true to the lore and look of the characters. We understand that MOTU is a much-loved license, and we want it to be reflected in the game.
Kind of wish it was the new She-Ra license, but I guess that’d be too expensive and not get all the 30-years nostalgia wave :c
The license is for Masters of the Universe Classics, this does not entail the new She-Ra series. But the original She-Ra will be available in this game.
Hey guys and gals. Dave here from Archon, if you have any questions about MOTU: Fields of Eternia, please feel free to ask me and I will do my best to answer 😀
I promised to say what my Battle Cat miniature was like when it arrived.
The sculpts is well done with little flashing, but seems very small for 32mm scale. (If an average guy is 32mm, he-man should be much bigger. Technically he is just 32mm tall, but has long thin legs and a torso that looks more like 25mm scale).
It also arrived with The sword broken off, which added to my disappointment.
I have posted some (admittedly low quality) pics here….
https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/1573379/
Is the skeletor figure also buyable now?