Sixtieth Anniversary of VE Day Marked by Announcement of New Axis & Al

Sixtieth Anniversary of VE Day Marked by Announcement of New Axis & Allies Miniatures; Avalon Hill to Establish Beachhead in Miniatures Market

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    Business Editors/Entertainment Editors
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    RENTON, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 6, 2005--On Sunday, May 8, iconic strategy game brand AVALON HILL -- published by Seattle-based hobby-game leader Wizards of the Coast (NYSE:HAS) -- will announce the launch of Axis & Allies Miniatures, a revolutionary new World War II themed wargame system set to hit store shelves in late summer of 2005. The announcement will coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of VE Day, the end of the war in Europe.
    Axis & Allies Miniatures gives both novice wargamers and veteran grognards the ability to engage in historically authentic, squad-level tactical combat with detailed, 15mm scale, pre-painted plastic miniatures featuring varying degrees of rarity to enhance collectability. Hard-hitting, fast-paced game play makes every Axis & Allies Miniatures battle a blitzkrieg. Ready to play right out of the box, Axis & Allies Miniatures features easy to master rules that don't sacrifice authenticity. A single skirmish can be played in under an hour, or, players can advance their custom-constructed squad through a meat grinder of combat, battling from the hedgerows of Brittany to the steps of the Reichs Chancellery.
    "Axis & Allies Miniatures represents the crossroads between AVALON HILL's greatest wargame titles of yesteryear -- such as Squad Leader and Up Front -- and Wizards' role as a pacesetter in tactical miniatures combat games," said Linda Cox, brand manager for AVALON HILL at Wizards of the Coast. "There's no politics in Axis & Allies Miniatures -- this is gritty combat in the trenches as only AVALON HILL can portray."
    The Axis & Allies name is best known as the title of a cult-classic strategic board game first published by Nova Games in 1981 and subsequently revised and expanded by MILTON BRADLEY and AVALON HILL with Axis & Allies Europe, Axis & Allies Pacific and Axis & Allies D-Day. Console and PC-game titles bearing the Axis & Allies name have also been produced by Hasbro Interactive and Atari. Axis & Allies Miniatures brings yet another dimension into the A&A game universe.
    "Since 1957 the story of AVALON HILL has been inseparably tangled with the story of serious, strategy gaming. Axis & Allies Miniatures represents a bold rededication of Wizards' commitment to the rich history and tradition at the heart of that brand," said Kyle Murray, Director of Marketing at Wizards of the Coast. "Axis & Allies is the Gold standard in WWII games; Axis & Allies Miniatures will meet and exceed our customers expectations."
    Base Set, featuring forty-eight soldiers and vehicles from WWII plus detailed hex maps of terrain representing the battlefields of Europe, will be first shown to the public at the GENCON game convention in Indianapolis this August and is set to hit store shelves the following week. A 48-figure expansion, bringing additional vehicles and troops into combat, will follow in December. More expansions are planned through 2006.

    For more information, visit avalonhill.com.

    Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS), is a worldwide leader in the trading card game and tabletop roleplaying game categories, and a leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment products. The company holds an exclusive patent on trading card games and their method of play (TCGs) and produces one of the world's best-selling TCGs, Magic: The Gathering (R), as well as the celebrated Dungeons & Dragons (R) roleplaying game. Publisher of adventure games, family card and board games, and electronic media products, Wizards of the Coast is also one of the world's premier book publishers of fantasy series fiction whose novels have made numerous appearance on The New York Times bestseller list and have sold millions of copies worldwide. For more information, visit the Wizards of the Coast website at wizards.com.

    Wizards of the Coast, Magic: The Gathering, and Dungeons & Dragons are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Avalon Hill, Squad Leader, Up Front, Milton Bradley and Axis & Allies are trademarks of Hasbro in the United States and other countries.

    All rights reserved.

    (C) 2005 Wizards.

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CONTACT: Wizards of the Coast Toby Nelson, 425-687-2111 toby.nelson@wizards.com

KEYWORD: WASHINGTON INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ENTERTAINMENT ELECTRONIC GAMES/MULTIMEDIA PRODUCT PHOTO PHOTOWIRE SOURCE: Wizards of the Coast PHOTO: 44846

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