We had the pleasure of interviewing none other than Michael Raftopoulos, the founder and co-owner of MOB Vanguard. The company is well-known for specializing in board game licensing. And they have been working tirelessly to bring games to a global audience, negotiating localization and publishing deals are their bread and butter. Making sure your favourite titles are available in your own language. I think breaking language barriers is their hobby.
Your company is already well-known worldwide. Nevertheless, could you introduce yourself and your company to our readers? A bit of history would also be great! We love great stories!
A great story, huh? Let me try.
An avid tabletop gamer, from the moment hobby board games and especially role-playing games reached our sunny easternmost and southernmost edge of Europe, leaves a career in tech to found an FLGS in the neighborhood he grew up in. This little shop grows exponentially and finds success by taking on the process of sourcing tabletop gaming crowdfunding projects for its local community and eventually the gaming crowds of the entire country, basically. By doing so and by investing a lot of time and dedication, a network of regular partners soon turned friends is created.
It was through this experience and those conversations that we identified a need in the market when it comes to localizations. Great games could not find their way to other locales and suitable language partners, whether because of a language barrier, having a small team that just could not add licensing to their enormous workload or a number of other hurdles. In what seemed as a most logical next step, licensing and consulting agency Meeple On Board – Vanguard was born.
Our very fulfilling work of bringing otherwise inaccessible projects to our community in Greece rapidly evolved into a passion for bringing great games, from indie productions to million-dollar crowdfunding sensations, to gamers all around the globe through licensing. In addition to our main line of work which is licensing, having worked with hundreds of crowdfunding projects and tens of factories, we have been successfully consulting creators on strategies for the former and proper selection for the latter. This, in a nutshell, is us!
How do you guys operate?
We take great pride in working first and foremost with and for people, building trust and mutually beneficial relationships. To be our client, running your game(s) by our team and finding that we truly believe in them, is a prerequisite. But, our imperative is that through our initial conversations and your history in the industry we arrive at the conclusion that you are a person and/or a team that we can work with.
On one hand, this is a matter of values aligning. Bigotry of any sort, race, religion, gender expression, sexual orientation, socio-economic status will get our cooperation to an immediate end. On the other hand, values such as respect, friendliness, a penchant for cooperation, togetherness and so many more of the sort, are in our opinion necessary to achieve sustainably great results.
How, and why, did you decide to build up your job and company in this direction?
It’s the only way we know to live and work, and apart from providing us with a working environment worth putting maximum effort for, it ensures effectiveness!
What part of this business do you find the most challenging?
Having a great game sometimes is not enough. A game needs to, naturally, excel in game design but it also needs to possess visual appeal of the highest order and a marketing department or partner who will inform as much of the public as possible about the existence of this great game. Whereas, we are responsible for the industry, publishers and manufacturers, knowing all about this great game.
And of course… What part does bring you joy?
Realizing potential. It’s a three-stage process.
First, we help a new publisher reach the point where they have an efficiently produced physical product they’re proud of and then help them begin reaching as far and wide as possible. After establishing themselves, by producing a number of excellent tabletop experiences, we establish a sustained global presence for them.
The final stage is becoming an industry leader, when being in most of the most active boardgaming markets is given, and we perfect their reach by working out solutions for the most remote domains.
What is your company’s very first project, then?
Our first project was Orchard by the fantastic Side Room Games (Black Sonata, Maquis, For Northwood) and we are very proud of calling them friends and partners.
Tell us perhaps the most interesting/successful project you have ever done?
One of the most successful projects we have worked with is Planet Unknown by Adam’s Apple Games. Adam Rehberg, head of the company and co-designer of the game, has been working with us since our very first steps. Adam’s Apple Games was in fact one of our first clients.
The process started off slow. The first Kickstarter campaign came and went without a treasure trove of language deals amassed. But pitch after pitch, play after play, good review by good review, it picked up steam in a heartbeat and now Planet Unknown is published in 13 languages in addition to the original English version globally distributed by Adam’s Apple Games.
This culminated in a 2023 Kennerspiel des Jahres nomination and subsequently in winning the German Games Prize 2023 at SPIEL Essen 2023. Fitting recognition of how far the game had travelled and, certainly, of the amazing work done by the superb publisher of the German version, Strohmann Games.
Is there any other company that operates like yours? And how does your company differ from them?
Fortunately, a lot of peers are like-minded when it comes to those important issues and the percentage of companies sharing these values in our industry only goes up every year, we feel.
In terms of how we work, we don’t believe you can find two companies even in the same field working in the exact same way. They are made up of different people, with different chemistry, thoughts and approaches at the micro level. Especially in our line of work, because our peers are so few, differences in the way of work and the results it brings are highlighted to a much greater extent.
The industry is growing, and changing, in recent years. What do you see from inside your company? I mean, where do you think the board game industry will once again change in the next few years? And how do you position yourself and your company for it?
The general direction of the industry seems quite positive, at the moment. Great games that will stay with gaming crowds for years are produced every year, crowdfunding significantly lowers the barrier to entry in publishing for new creators and our hobby grows without a sign of slowing down.
Two main concerns for us are the use of AI in tabletop gaming and the excesses of crowdfunding. In regards to AI, we stand against any use of it without the express consent and fair compensation of all artists (or other types of creators) that the AI draws from in order to generate artwork or any type of work. This has already been a filter that we apply when taking on new projects and will continue to do so.
Furthermore, we are worried by instances of crowdfunding projects focusing on grand production elements to draw people in and deliver an underdeveloped game as a result. An eye-catching production is an amazing thing but a delicate balance and a realistic timeframe must be set in place in order to allow for the proper amount of development of both aesthetic and game design aspects before the game reaches gamers’ tables.
How should people in this board game industry reach you, in case they need your expertise?
You should not hesitate to send us an email at info@mobvanguard.com or reach us through our social media. We are active on Facebook, X (ex-Twitter), and LinkedIn.
I am a full-time food technologist during weekdays. However, when the calendar hits weekends, I transform into an avid board gamer. I am a hardcore Legend of the Five Rings (L5R) LCG player from Fantasy Flight Games (FFG). Current hobby: buying board games. My shelf of shame’s list is getting longer, thanks to you, Kickstarter.
