The Wheel of Time’s road to adaptation has been marred by a handful of major and minor pitfalls, but that hasn’t stopped fans from wanting more. While the show failed to resonate quite as much as Amazon had hoped for, it had its moments of sheer brilliance, and did a commendable job, at times, of adapting the legendary novels. However, it is over now, and fans must look to the upcoming Wheel of Time projects for their next foray into this immersive universe.
With The Wheel of Time entering a new era, fans may not know quite what to expect. New creatives are throwing their hat into the ring to attempt to adapt the monolithic series, while offering their own unique spins on the source material and even switching up the format it is adapted to. The latest project in the Wheel of Time universe should delight fans when it releases, especially as it has taken inspiration from both Lord of the Rings and Star Wars to reach its end product.
The Wheel of Time: War of the Dragon is an upcoming grand strategy board game that attempts to distill the truly enormous world of the books into a single boxed experience. The aim of the latest Wheel of Time game is to get players truly immersed in the series’ world, embarking on epic quests and taking part in the legendary Last Battle in one of two modes, the first, Hero Mode, designed to usher in newcomers, and the other, Epic Mode, throwing everything together to create one truly monumental adventure.
The game managed to earn $1,166,993 in Kickstarter pledges from 6,156 backers, which goes to show just how much fans are eager for The Wheel of Time to live on. However, what may interest fans more than anything (perhaps beyond all the incredible miniatures and detailed board) is how the creation of War of the Dragon was actually inspired by both The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.
In an interview with Direwolf, The Wheel of Time: War of the Dragon co-creators, Mike Mihealsick and Ryan Schoon, spoke about the game’s creation, their intentions for it, and ultimately how it came about. When asked about what other board games inspired its development, Schoon explained that they were drawn to both War of the Ring and Star Wars: Rebellion, two similarly-sized big box games based around huge IP. He told Direwolf:
Our first touch points for this game were War of the Ring and Star Wars: Rebellion. We loved the way that both of these games approached their IP and gave you a sandbox where moments from the stories may or may not unfold the same way. Even though it’s very mechanically different, I think fans of those games will find a lot to enjoy in War of the Dragon.
Of course, it makes sense that Mihealsick and Schoon would look to both Lord of the Rings and Star Wars’ attempts at delivering huge sandbox board games for inspiration, especially as both of the aforementioned titles proved to be huge successes. If anything, The Wheel of Time fans should see this as great news, as it indicates that War of the Dragon is hyperfixated on delivering that sandbox experience within an affordable and approachable way, something that, frankly, more series like it need.
- Video Game(s)
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The Wheel of Time
- Latest TV Show
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The Wheel of Time
- First Episode Air Date
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November 19, 2021
