Although this probably is more à propos to the Gaming forums, I hope that someone here might better answer this question: how did the Defiant make its way into the board game Space Cadet Dice Duels?
The Defiant and Space Cadet: Dice Duels
- Thread starter Bad Thoughts
- Start date
I really doubt that could get away with it. Big hobby games sell in the 10,000s, so the distribution would not be wide. Nonetheless, boardgaming tends to be a hobby for people with money and people who have an interest in pop culture. This was a sequel to another very popular game, just called Space Cadets, so I doubt the publisher, the reputable Stronghold Games, could expect to slip one past Paramount.
If there is no mention of DS9 and/or Paramount somewhere in the game's documentation, then that would be a red flag to me. I'm sure some there would have to be some legalese somewhere if the use of the Defiant model is on the up and up. Do you happen to own the game?
This briefly crossed my mind, but when I saw the C$52 price tag, I decided to pass.
(The game *does* sound interesting, though...)But when I was looking, I saw that one of their expansions appears to use Colonial Vipers:
I'd assume the use would be licensed for both ships, because why would they take the risk of using unlicensed IP? But who knows?
This briefly crossed my mind, but when I saw the C$52 price tag, I decided to pass.
But when I was looking, I saw that one of their expansions appears to use Colonial Vipers:
I'd assume the use would be licensed for both ships, because why would they take the risk of using unlicensed IP? But who knows?
To get two small, plastic pieces? No, that would not be a good price.
OTOH, you should be able to get a copy for 30% online. Given that the game has about 50 custom-designed, bevelled and engraved dice, US$35-40 is a good price point.
On the third hand, I would not buy any game I did not intend to play.
Prior to the Defiant coming in Space Cadets: Dice Duel, it was part of a promotional expansion package for the original Space Cadets game (http://boardgamegeekstore.com/products/space-cadets-promo-pack). These are great games, by the way. The first is a very unique take on a cooperative game in which each of the players is a different officer on the ship. With positions like engineer, helmsman, and weapons officer, it definitely feels like a somewhat hysterical take on Star Trek. Dice Duel is the more accessible of the two, and is a real time dogfight between opposing teams, controlling their ships with the special dice.
On the one hand, I want to say that Stronghold is a very good, reputable company and I find it hard to believe that they would take the risk of doing something like that without the license (well, the colonial viper I could believe, since it might not be a huge risk - it's a fairly generic looking design anyway, but the Defiant is really unique and pretty much indisputable).
On the other hand, it's strange that a company would ever pay (undoubtedly enormous) licensing fees, just to use a single ship as a miniature and not even name it (as far as I can tell, the ship's name isn't mentioned anywhere in the game materials). And there is a rather tacitly accepted precedent of board game companies using 'generic' characters that are quite clearly not really generic on the grounds of 'similar to, but legally distinct from'. See, for instance, King of Tokyo, a Kaiju board game in which players play giant monsters, including an obvious Godzilla stand-in named Gigazaur and a giant monkey called 'The King', or the card game Star Fluxx, which makes very clear references to Star Trek, Firefly and Dr. Who, just without ever using copyrighted names. This also isn't necessarily always that upsetting to copyright holders, since Looney Labs (who made Star Fluxx) have recently been granted the official license to make a real Firefly Fluxx as well.
On the other hand, it's strange that a company would ever pay (undoubtedly enormous) licensing fees, just to use a single ship as a miniature and not even name it (as far as I can tell, the ship's name isn't mentioned anywhere in the game materials). And there is a rather tacitly accepted precedent of board game companies using 'generic' characters that are quite clearly not really generic on the grounds of 'similar to, but legally distinct from'. See, for instance, King of Tokyo, a Kaiju board game in which players play giant monsters, including an obvious Godzilla stand-in named Gigazaur and a giant monkey called 'The King', or the card game Star Fluxx, which makes very clear references to Star Trek, Firefly and Dr. Who, just without ever using copyrighted names. This also isn't necessarily always that upsetting to copyright holders, since Looney Labs (who made Star Fluxx) have recently been granted the official license to make a real Firefly Fluxx as well.
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