Just announced, Terraforming Mars is getting another expansion, this time an expansion for an expansion! Prelude 2 is a card pack for the very popular Prelude expansion, which adds various early game "booster" cards to hone in your start.

Prelude is by far the best expansion for one of my favorite board game of all times; Terraforming Mars.
New corporations, cross-expansion effects, and preludes with ongoing effects and actions...

EDIT: Now with more information from Jacob Fryxelius!

Prelude 2 is a card only expansion that will have the same box format as Prelude, and contain 54 cards. It officially requires Prelude to play, but you can technically use it separately in lower player counts or in combination with expansions.
We had a few design goals for Prelude 2: 1) more preludes, 2) preludes with abilities, 3) expansion preludes, 4) cross expansion projects, 5) support the expansions with interesting projects.

Here is a breakdown on what you get in different...

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Lost Ruins of Arnak publisher Czech Games Edition (CGE) recently announced a new game called Kutná Hora: The City of Silver, which is expected to release in time for Essen Spiel 2023 (October 5 - October 8).

The game is for 2-4 players, and boasts to be a heavyweight, asymmetrical city building euro game that combines Czech history with a dynamic supply and demand economic system.

The game name (Kutná Hora) stems from an actual city in Czech Republic that you can visit today. Beautiful classic European scenery. The premise of the game is that it follows the discovery of silver in the mines in the region (hence the name "The City of Silver"), which gave the region a huge economical boom.

One of the primary areas that the publisher claims makes this particular historical city building game special, is their dynamic supply and demand system. The choices that each player makes will affect the other players through various mechanics, making this a highly interactive...

There looks to be many awesome games being released in 2023, so it is hard to navigate through the jungle of games being released. Here I have picked out our top 5 picks that I am the most excited about trying out! You'll definitely want to keep these upcoming board games on your radar! Also, I have omitted re-prints/expansions and focused on new/standalone games.
If you are missing a game coming out in 2023, that you are really excited about, let us know in the comments!

1. The Queen’s Dilemma​

The Queen's Dilemma is a stand alone successor to The King's Dilemma (2019), and is a competitive narrative legacy game for 3-6 players. The events are set 100 years after the first game, and the games will have similarities, but you are not required to have played the first game before jumping into The Queen's Dilemma.

The Dilemma games are very unique legacy RPG games where you follow the life of the regent where you noble aristocrats are always looking to...

The successor to the popular Endeavor: Age of Sail is now nearing Gamefound release. The prototype rulebook was released today in a Gamefound update, alongside news that the prototype of the game is complete. The prototype is on its way to previewers now. There will be an update with more gameplay news soon.

Endeavor: Deep Sea is launching on Gamefound on April 25.

They did drop a few new images from the prototype:





Description from the developers:

In Endeavor: Deep Sea, you lead a Research Institute traveling to the far reaches of the ocean, working on projects that will maintain the fragile balance of the aquatic...

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Merchants & Marauders is a superb pirate sandbox game. You are free to do whatever you like to gain glory points, be a pirate or good guy trading with merchants, maybe something in between.. Hunt other players, fight off threats on dangerous rumors or run missions for the colonial powers.. The game recently had its 10 year anniversary, but sadly no news in the franchise was announced. A few years back Christian Marcussen (game designer) said "I'm looking at an updated version, but I don't know if it will happen". So he may have some plans on his desk, but nothing materialized yet.

I still hope that we may see something new announced one day. It's just such a classic and a very solid game, but I see some things that I personally would have altered if we ever get to see a new or updated version of the game. So the coming list are just my ideas for what I personally would have done!

Major additions:

• Upgradeable dices. I'm just not a huge fan...

In a online streaming presentation, Awaken Realms announced that they are developing a STALKER board game adaptation. There is currently no release date announced, but the game will launch on Gamefound by late Q2 2023, which sets the campaign date to around June. Awaken Realms will co-produce the game alongside video game developers GSC Game World, which were responsible for the STALKER video game series.

Awaken Realms is a highly popular Polish board game company, which have made a vast number of deep and involving board games such as Nemesis, ISS Vanguard, Tainted Grail and more. Having Awaken Realms at the wheel for this game is something that should bring high hopes for an excellent game experience and well-made adaptation.

The stalker video game series is a survival horror game set as an alternative version of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine. The zone is a very dangerous place where you will face radiation (obviously), anomalies, creatures and even other stalkers...

Maracaibo
My go-to strategy game. It became an instant favorite for me after the first game. I just knew that this was going to see a lot of play!
Run around the Caribbean while visiting cities, villages, build cards from your hand, explore the jungle for rewards, combat alongside any of the 3 colonizing nations for mutual rewards, and much more. Every game can be very different, and I never feel like I don't have solid options to go for. Sometimes in TM I can feel "card dead" and not getting the right cards. I don't feel card draw is as punishing in Maracaibo. It also helps that you have an active display that you can draw cards from, expand your hand size, use cards you don't need for quests/trading goods or selling them to assistants. Even if we reach 200+ points, we usually find it is extremely close at the end!
I also like that you can dictate the round length! If someone is trying to build up a huge engine, you can advance more quickly through the map, which forces...

Axis & Allies is making a grand (or better yet "historic") return!

New entry in Axis & Allies series - You decide which one!
The most exciting news was that Renegade Game Studios has revealed that the next installment in the series will be decided by you, the community!
You can vote today on which option you want HERE, among four choices:

• Operation Market Garden
• North Africa
• Eastern Front
• Battle of Stalingrad

Click the link for more information from Wikipedia, on the various war theatres, in case you want more details before you...

Board Game Dungeon can now be installed as a app on your mobile and desktop devices!

This will allow you to install BGD as a PWA app on your phone or desktop devices, so you can place the app on your home screen or desktop. It features a cool splash screen and looks and feels like what you would expect from an app. As well as other features such as responsive design and interface for the device you installed it on, instant push notifications (you can adjust these settings in your profile), and it is fast and lightweight. You don't need to visit the app store to update, so it is really hazzle free.

On desktop, look for this icon to install the app on the device.
On mobile, you click the ... menu to bring up the sidebar, and there you can select to install app.

Stonemaier games officially announced a Scythe sequel titled Expeditions, set to arrive mid-late 2023. One to five players will compete in this card-driven competitive game of exploration.

The sequel sends players into the Siberian tundra to explore around the events of a massive meteorite crash near Tunguska River, which has awoken an ancient corruption. Players set out to learn more about the meteorite and to find artifacts and glory, while having to deal with the corruption spreading in the land. Expeditions is set in the same mech focused 1920 alternate universe of eastern Europe/Russia.

The sequel is exploration focused, where you send your mech to various locations to gain benefits and play cards. The game promises a "familiar feel" for Scythe gamers (for example with how the scoring works). Other mechanics in play are variable map hexes, engine building, card/hand management, deck/bag building, worker placement, automa solo mode and more. Use items, artifacts, workers and...

I wrote a very lengthy balance proposition to Jason Walden, the lead designer behind MoD (and contributor to the base game/other expansions). I'm not gonna post the entire document here (it's long), but I would like to take out bits, to spark discussion and hear other opinions on the matter.
Motivation behind this, was primarily the imbalance of Targaryen in Mother of Dragons, which became apparent after playing the expansion just a few times. Though I have played it many, many times afterwards to solidify that it is in fact a issue, like with Greyjoy-Lannister in base game.

My primary goals for AGOT in terms of balance are split into 3:
1) Sea balance in the first two rounds is critical. There is absolutely no reason why the game should allow another house to easily demolish another one in two rounds. (ref. GJ/Lannister)
2) Very aggressive sea expansion early on should still be an option, (never the go-to move), but it needs...

Acram Digital is releasing a digital edition of the popular board game Stone Age (2008) in Q2 2023. The game is being released on Steam, Nintendo Switch and Android/Apple mobile devices in Q2 2023. Acram Digital has previously made other digital board game adaptions, such as Concordia, Unmatched, Charterstone, Istanbul and more.

In the game you take on the role as a pre-historic human with basic tools. In the first phase of the game you place workers in areas you think will benefit your tribe the most. In the second phase, you activate the workers and perform the said actions in the order of your choosing. Gather various resources, manage your workers, gain civilization cards and build buildings to advance your culture. In the third phase, you must feed your people. If you don't have enough food, you will lose resources or even victory points. There is a limited amount of space available, so there is always a management of finding the right action to take each round.

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Read on to check out what games are my crowdfunding-list for 2023!
I have a wide variety of games I am currently waiting for, although I've tried to keep within a "reasonable" amount for, uhm, unspecified constraints! (don't tell my wife about this!)
Did you look at any of these games? Feel free to share what games you are most excited about getting your hands on in 2023!

Did you miss part 1, check it out first!

Darkest Doom
Original delivery: Aug 2023.
New delivery: Current timeline suggests delivery around September 2023.
Pledge: Guardian pledge + the two expansions Mayura and The Order's Specialists and First Guardian. (189 EUR).

Darkest doom is a competitive (semi-coop available through extra material) RPG...

7 Wonders is getting another expansion, called "Edifice". The expansion brings a new type of card, "edifices", that aims to add a new type of player interaction without increasing play time or complexity. During setup, 3 edifice cards (1 per age) are added to the game. Help to construct one of the projects to receive a token that makes you eligible for the rewards, or penalties, if it is completed at the end of the age. There is one less token than players, so not everyone will be able to participate!

This adds a new layer to the game. Will you focus on yourself and ignore these projects (but potentially missing out on a lot of good rewards that the other players may gain), or will you cooperate even with the penalty risk if you fail? If you do decide to cooperate, it is also the decision on which one, which player you'd ideally want to help along (or not), and so on. This seems like a good addition to the 7 Wonders game, as the game definitely could use more player interaction...

BGD: Would you like to tell a little bit about yourself to the readers?

James: I have been a passionate board gamer my whole life! Ever since my brother and I picked up some old used Warhammer models from a garage sale, we've been into tinkering with board games and playing them all the time.

James said:

It is definitely challenging and a lot of work to write a campaign. But you also get a very unique opportunity to tell a cool story, which I enjoyed immensely. I worked with writers and friends: Ryan Biddulph and Kevin Houle to write the main storyline and the character stories and archs for Lludwik's Labyrinth. I wrote a ton of the in-game events and many people at Skybound Tabletop helped all over as well. The result of all our collaboration is a really neat story that you can even get involved in. It is so very silly at first, but it lands in some really fun and creative and hilarious, and sad and even creepy places at times. The main setting of being in the...

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