Renegade Game Studios has expanded its licensing partnership with Hasbro, with a new deal that’s seen it become the primary publisher of a bunch of classic strategy board games previously under the remit of Avalon Hill, part of Hasbro Gaming. The four titles it’s licensed are Axis & Allies, Diplomacy, Squad Leader, and RoboRally.
In a press release, Renegade says it plans to begin new printings of these board games in 2023. Many of them have been out of print for years, becoming pretty pricey on secondary markets. In particular, the wargame Squad Leader is a real blast from the past, with no new versions since the 1980s.
It’s currently unclear which of the myriad versions of Axis & Allies Renegade will be releasing, but the company says in a press release it has plans to bring “certain” out of print versions back “on a rotating basis”, as well as introduce new games to the line.
Renegade is not taking over the Risk brand, but will be creating versions of Risk set in the worlds of Power Rangers, Transformers, and G.I. Joe. The publisher has previously created several tie-in board and card games for these IPs, including Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid and the Transformers and G.I. Joe deckbuilding games.
Strategy board game publisher Avalon Hill was created in 1952, and set many of the fundamental foundations of classic wargaming, from hexgrids to zones of control. It became a subsidiary of Hasbro in 1998, and is currently producing an expansion to Heroscape (a miniatures game not seen since 2010).