Locke & Key - Coming Soon To A Theater Near You

Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez' acclaimed supernatural comic book series Locke & Key has been optioned by Universal to be developed as a feature film. The film will be produced by Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci - writers on the Star Trek and Transformers movies - through their Universal-based K/O Paper Products outfit. It will be co-produced with Ted Adams, the CEO and publisher of IDW Publishing. IDW Publishing is the company that publishes the Locke & Key comic series. For Univeral, the project will be overseen by Executive VP Jon Mone and Creative Executive Jay Polidoro.

This is not Hollywood's first bid at making a Locke & Key feature film. Initially, Dimension had the screen rights but they lapsed in 2010. That's when the superstar writers of Star Trek, Transformers and Fringe jumped in. K/O Paper Products and DeamWorks TV produced a pilot for Fox TV in an attempt to make the property a TV series but Fox turned it down. Although K/O Paper Products tried to shop the series around, no one picked it up - apparently due to budgetary constraints.

Locke & Key tells the story of three siblings who move to their ancestral home in Massachusetts after the gruesome murder of their father. The siblings discover that the house has magical keys that give their possessor a wide and varying array of powers and abilities, depending on the key. However, the family is forced to make a stand against evil when they realize that a deviously evil creature is also after the keys. As their popularity grew, Locke & Key expanded to tell a coming of age tale encompassing two generations and filled with heroism, tragedy, thrills and chills.

The Locke & Key graphic novel collections have been featured multiple times in the New York Times bestseller list, including the #1 spot on the list. The Locke & Key comics have garnered Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez multiple Eisner Awards nominations. The series has twice won the British Fantasy Award for best comic/graphic novel.

Joe Hill's claim to fame is not limited to the Locke & Key series. Hill is also the son of bestselling author Stephen King and the author of horror novels such as Heart-Shaped Box and NOS4A2. The latter won Hill an Eisner Award for best writer.

Dominion War - Organized Play Program

Several months ago, we brought you news about Star Trek: Attack Wing organized play (Star Trek: Attack Wing To Begin Organized Play In September). WizKids recently updated the information on the upcoming Dominion War Storyline Organized Play Event. The competition will begin in September and will last through February 2014. The Grand Prize to be awarded is...  hold on to that seat...

A model of the Deep Space 9 space station!  It will measure 12" in diameter and will be fully compatible with the Star Trek: Attack Wing game. This means that the Deep Space 9 station will come with its own crew, tech and weapon cards for the game.

The competition will consist of a series of linked monthly events meant to simulate a war between the Federation Alliance and the Cardassians and their Dominion Allies for control of the Bajoran Wormhole and the Deep Space 9 station.

Every month, special promo cards will be given to players who participated in the month's event. Those players will also have a chance to compete for pre-painted model ships that can be used in the Star Trek: Attack Wing game.

The Borg Comes... Star Trek Tactics HeroClix: Series III

September will see the release of the third set of miniatures for WizKids' Star Trek Tactics HeroClix game.  Initially available as a four vessel starter set or as individual boosters, Series III will introduce new ships and factions to the game.

Series III will introduce 28 different pre-painted models, with 11 common, 10 uncommon and 17 rare models.  It will also introduce four new factions: the Bajorans, the Kazon, Species 8472, and the fan-demanded Borg.  The latter faction resulted in the addition of a new ship type, the "Assimilated Vessel".  This ship will have two set of stats based on whether it is used as a Borg ship or for its original faction.

The four vessels included in the Star Trek Tactics HeroClix Series III Starter Set will be: the Federation USS Enterprise-D, the Kazon Olga Razik, the Borg Assimilator 84, and the Borg Scout 255.  Also included in the Series III Starter Set will be a HeroClix core rulebook, powers and abilities cards, object tokens and two maps.  Suggested retail price will be $24.99.  Models will also be available in boosters, at a suggested retail price of $4.99 per booster.

Star Trek: Attack Wing Mini-Tournament at GenCon

As part of their release of their new miniatures game Star Trek: Attack Wing during GenCon, Wizkids announced yesterday that it will be hosting sealed/constructed format mini-tournaments in the tournament hall.  As explained in the release on their website:

"In these sealed/constructed battles, players will be grouped into pods of 4 players.  Each player will receive one of the initial 8 expansion packs by random draw.  Players must use the expansion ship they receive to fill out a 100 point build (players will need to bring their own collection of ships from the Starter Set and/or expansion sets which will be available for purchase at the WizKids Games booth).  Players in the group will be paired up randomly for the first round of head-to-head play.  The winners from the first round will play against each other in a second round to determine a final winner of the mini-tournament.  The mini-tournament winner will receive an additional expansion pack (by random draw) and a special Promo Card."

The entry fee for the mini-tournaments is $18 per person (entry fee includes the random expansion pack).  The Star Trek: Attack Wing Mini-Tournaments will run on Thursday from 1:00pm to 9:00pm; Friday & Saturday from 10:00am to 8:00pm; Sunday from 10:00am to 2:00pm.  The 4-player mini-tournaments will start once a group has four players.

Star Trek: Attack Wing Organized Play To Begin In September

In September, WizKids will launch a 6-month long storyline organized play event for Star Trek: Attack Wing, its new Star Trek miniatures tactical space combat game.  Participating stores will host tournaments where players challenge each other for dominance of the Alpha Quadrant, as part of the Dominion War.  Players will collect a participation prize each month and will compete for a new playable ship that will be offered only through the organized play events.  At the end of the six months, the player with the best record will be awarded the title of Fleet Admiral as well as a special grand prize.

The Dominion War story line was mostly developed throughout the Deep Space Nine series and features the struggle and chaos faced by the Federation and their allies when the Jem'Hadar and the Breen Confederacy established a presence in the Alpha Quadrant and attempted to conquer everything in their path with the help of their allies, the Cardassian Union.

The Star Trek: Attack Wing Starter Set will be released in August and includes the U.S.S. Enterprise-D/Galaxy-class, the I.K.S. Maht-H'a/Vor'Cha-class, and the I.R.W. Khazara/D'deridex-class ships as well as a rulebook and all the components necessary for play.  August will also see the release of the first 8 expansion packs for Star Trek: Attack Wing, two each of Federation, Klingon, Romulan and Dominion faction ships.

Expansion Packs for Star Trek: Attack Wing

In March, WizKids announced plans for Star Trek: Attack Wing, a new board game in its Star Trek Heroclix line.  Expected to be released in August during Gen Con Indy, the game uses miniatures and the same FlightPath maneuver system as the Star Wars X-Wing game from Fantasy Flight Games.

Games will be played on Star Trek space maps distributed via an organized play program and will be sold in non-blind configurations with three-ship starter box sets. However, despite sharing the same mechanics system, the Star Trek: Attack Wing game is not compatible with Star Wars X-Wing.

Just this past Monday, WizKids announced eight single-ship expansion packs for Star Trek: Attack Wing.  The first expansion packs for the game are:

1. Federation U.S.S. Reliant Expansion Pack.
2. Federation U.S.S. Enterprise Expansion Pack.
3. Romulan I.R.W. Valdore Expansion Pack.
4. Romulan I.R.S. Apnex Expansion Pack.
5. Klingon I.K.S. Gr'oth Expansion Pack.
6. Klingon I.K.S. Negh'var Expansion Pack.
7. Dominion Kraxon Expansion Pack.
8. Dominion Gor Portas Expansion Pack.