League of Legends developer Riot Games will soon launch Mechs vs. Minions, which is a board game based on the massively popular online game.
The story behind Mechs vs. Minions starts with Rumble inviting Corki, Heimerdinger, Ziggs and Tristana to his mech training school. However, things went horribly wrong for the four League of Legends characters, and are now faced with an oncoming horde of minions and the task of saving Runeterra all by themselves.
Mechs vs. Minions is described as a fully cooperative tabletop game that can be played by two to four players, with a total of 10 different missions available that have playing times of about 60 minutes to 90 minutes each. Players will take on the role of the four characters as they pilot mechs against the enemies.
The box for the board game has a lot of contents, including five game boards, 100 miniature minions, four mech figures and an assortment of cards and other required pieces.
Mechs vs. Minions looks to cater to board game enthusiasts with the in-depth strategy that is found in most modern tabletop pieces, while also being simple enough to be played by novices.
The board game, which has been in development for the past three years as a side project by Riot Games associate producer Chris Cantrell and a small team, was supposed to be released a year and a half ago. However, a meeting with an outside consultant pushed the project into a new direction, doubling the time needed to finish it.
Cantrell, however, claims that Mechs vs. Minions was made much better with the extra effort put into it, tagging the board game as a gift for League of Legends players.
"It started as a passion project," Cantrell said, with Riot Games deciding to develop Mechs vs. Minions itself instead of tapping a board game developer so that it could own the quality for all aspects of the tabletop game.
One of the most interesting things about Mechs vs. Minions is that, there are still some aspects that Riot Games is keeping as a secret. One of these secrets is an element that will be unlocked as players progress through missions, with the item even coming in a sealed compartment to preserve the surprise.
The first printing of Mechs vs. Minions is for 30,000 units of the board game in English, which is a big initial run but represents just a small percentage of the League of Legends player base that has recently broken the 100 million mark. Riot Games will likely release more copies if demand warrants it, and could even translate the game into other languages.
Mechs vs. Minions will be available through the online store of Riot Games on Oct. 13, with a price tag of $75.
