Riot’s new game isn’t what you’d think. Speculation about the developer's next project has ranged all over the gaming genre spectrum but few anticipated what they were actually working on; a board game. Called Mechs Vs. Minions the tabletop game is scheduled to release in October of this year.
Set in the same universe as Riot’s popular MOBA League of Legends, Mechs Vs. Minions is a cooperative board game that pits the inventive and tiny race of Yordles against attacking waves of minions. The premise for the tabletop game is that the character Rumble from LoL is starting a prestigious school for mech pilots. He invites fellow Yordles, Heimerdinger, Tristana, Corki and Ziggs (all playable characters in the board game) to his new school and that’s when minions start attacking.
Using Rumble’s inventions players will have to work together to fend off the minions and save the school. Designed for 2-4 players the game will include 10 different story-driven missions to be played through. Each mission is estimated to take 60-90 minutes to complete.
The game uses programmatic movement and players will grow in power as they progress. The mechs are “programmable lab suits” which players will need to program to execute various actions. “Command cards” are used to simulate programming mechs to move and attack in a specific order. Cards use different types of energy and cards of the same energy type can be combined to activate different and more powerful abilities.
An overview of the game and a downloadable rulebook can be found at the website here. Mechs Vs. Minions will be available on October 13, 2016. It can be purchased from the Riot Games Merch Store for $75 dollars plus shipping and handling when released. It will initially be available in English and Simplified Chinese but more translations may come later after launch.