It is with great pleasure that I announce on behalf of D20Studios the near completion of Hero Mages, a turn based strategy game nearly three years in the making.

Hero Mages is a free online board game that can be played by 2-4 players via any Flash enabled web browser. Each player commands a team of three heroes fighting to control the fate of Papillion, a once peaceful land now at war after the foretelling of a mysterious prophecy. One of these heroes is a powerful magician who has the ability to play spell cards that confer special effects within the game, such as casting destructive fireballs, enhancing the strength of your troops, summoning magical creatures, and manipulating terrain. The goal of the game is to eliminate all of your opponents’ heroes to emerge victorious as the fated Hero Mage.

Hero Mages was created under the belief that there are many people out there who've always been excited by strategy games, but are turned away by the intricate rules, complex statistics, and enormous learning curves that riddle the genre. This belief is best expressed in something my police officer/fire fighter brother once told me: "I love playing games, but with my schedule, I don't have time to read an 80-page rule book. I just want to get together with friends, kill things, find it funny, and go home."

Hence, the most remarkable trait of Hero Mages is its simplicity. By stripping away complex rules that isolate gamers, Hero Mages delivers the best elements of miniature, collectible card, role-playing, and social board games in a unique experience that can be easily learned and played over a lunch break. At the same time, Hero Mages offers a wide diversity of characters and abilities that provide unique entertainment each time you play. In the hundreds of games play tested thus far, no two games were ever alike. Players always found distinctive ways to combine different card effects, develop new successful and not-so-successful battle tactics, and humorously taunt each other silly (as is the nature of a well balanced strategy game).

Excited? We are anxious to share our game with you! The beta release of Hero Mages is scheduled for late April 2009, with the public release to follow in July of 2009. So, whether you're on a lunch break at work, have access to a computer at study hall, or just sat down at your desk and realized you need a quick gaming fix, an exciting new way to connect and battle with your friends will soon be just a click away.