Things that I play (well collect) Hell Dorado

Website ( Cipher Studios )

The second of the two Cipher Studio games that I'm collecting, it's probably fair to say has had somewhat of a turbulent life in its brief existence. Initially released by Asomodee in 2008 (I think, although I'm sure if I'm wrong an angry Frenchman will correct me), it never quite made it to the English speaking world, as no official English rulebook was released, although Asmodee and others did publish some OK translations. It was a real shame an English version didn't make it out of the doors as it had a wonderfully dark (read at times perverted) and rich background and an even better set of miniatures. The game system started to hit trouble probably due in no small part to the fact that without an English rulebook it was missing a fairly large chunk of potential sales from the huge gaming markets of the States and the UK, not to mention the Aussies and Kiwi's. Sadly I think it became quite clear that under Asmodee the game was doomed.

So it was that Cipher Studios picked the game up after Asmodee decided to cut their ties with Hell Dorado. I think its fair to say that Cipher would probably have wanted things to have gone a little smoother, as they initially planned to have the English rulebook shipped by the end of 2010... we still haven't seen it (26/05/2011) although it is apparently at the printers now ( Cipher press release ) so perhaps there is light at the end of the very dank, dark demon infested tunnel. They've started to release some new miniatures for the game as well ( Husaym al Din preview ) which I think is pretty cool!!! Its fair to say though that I've hardly played the game and its been difficult to keep people interested in whats going on with it. Since the rulebook just isn't out yet and rulebooks are the first thing would be gamers want to see. Its a shame because it really is a clever and fun little game system and given the professional job Cipher have done with Anima Tactics I have plenty of faith in them to do a good job with Hell Dorado.

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