The Tabletop Licence for the hugely popular HBO TV Shows Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon have been picked up by Knight Models, the company responsible for the decade-long running Batman Miniatures Game and Harry Potter Miniature Game. But what does this mean for fans of the shows, books, CMON’s ASOIAF Miniatures Game?
The News
The Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon licences have been collected like infinity stones to Knight Models arsenal, and they plan to make a new tabletop miniatures game in 2023.
Knight Models have announced that they are collaborating with HBO, and no details were released about the game development. CMON has been publishing A Song of Ice and Fire Miniatures Game for several years now under the licence to the book series A Song of Ice and Fire and have expanded the game into 10 factions covering the world of ice and fire.
There is no information about how the Licence will restrict Knight Models in comparison to the ASOIAF Licence. Will they be restricted to only characters shown in the show? Or allowed to expand into the books? There is also no news on how the game will work.
Knight Models
Knight Models have been around for over 15 years and have just celebrated Batman Miniatures Game’s 10th anniversary. The game is on its 3rd edition and the models rival most other miniature games. They also have the DC Miniatures Game which opens the door for more powerful characters that could not be balanced in BMG like Superman. Alongside this is the Harry Potter Miniatures Game which sees your favourite characters from the films duel against one another. Seeing how these three Licences come from Warner Bros, it is not a surprise the HBOs IPs would become available for the company. Knight Models have also had the licence to make a Marvel Miniatures Game which they had to end around 6-7 years ago.
KM cannot be discussed without mentioning their biggest issues. They have a taste for creating the weirder, more obscure characters for BMG rather than focusing on building out each faction so that everyone is on the same playing field. They also have gathered a reputation for missing parts, models, or entire kits altogether, but their customer service has improved, and this tends to be rectified swiftly. Due to these reasons the games have not gathered as large of a community as it should have.
What could this mean?
The game cannot be a rank-and-file game like ASOIAF unless the company is incredibly bold and wishes to compete in the market. KM is renowned for their skirmish rules, and this could be the case with GoT and HotD, however the latter will be incredibly boring without dragons. There are rumours that this could be a board game, whilst as an idea it is interesting, it would be a very poor waste of the IP.
ASOIAF players should rejoice at this announcement as the community is made up of a large portion of show watchers who were introduced into the game. If the scale matches, then prepare yourself for Sean Bean’s Eddard Stark and Kit Harrington’s Jon Snow popping up everywhere. I can see others like Daenerys Targaryen, Robb Stark, Jamie Lannister, Tywin Lannister, Tyrion Lannister, Joffrey Baratheon, Stannis Bratheon, and Oberyn Martell amongst the most desired character models.
House of the Dragon is new and won’t conflict with CMON’s game as it stands. However, if KM does not include the dragons in the game, then it will feel half empty at best missing the crucial part of the era. A good way to work around this is following in CMON’s footsteps and create a fused game where the battle is fought on two fronts. ASOIAF has the table and the tactics board, allowing for characters that would never be in a fight to be a part of your forces. KM could have a board where the dragons clash like the Pacific Rim game and a board for the human characters used like the tactics board.
Whatever KM chooses to do with the IP we know the models will look gorgeous and the game will be extremely fun and flavourful. However, their reputation for products arriving with missing parts and models, alongside the potential clash with CMON could ruin the game before it even hatches. Hopefully KM has seen the visions in the flames and will make the necessary steps to ensure the Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon Miniature Games will take flight.
In the meantime why not start your Westeros journey by picking up one fo the Starter Sets for CMON’s ASOIAF Miniatures Game?
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
