Knavecon Weekly Board Game Roundup — Friday 12 June 2026
Good week this one. A bit of proper industry news, the BGG Hotness doing interesting things, Origins kicking off next week, and — genuinely exciting — a new board game shop opened in Dublin. Let’s get into it.
The five things that mattered this week
The biggest industry story is Steamforged Games gutting its board game department to go all-in on Warmachine. As reported by Goonhammer and Wargamer, the layoffs hit about a third of SFG’s workforce, cutting across design, 3D modelling, and brand management. Their Kickstarter board game business — Dark Souls, Monster Hunter, Elden Ring, all those big-IP crowdfunding campaigns — was how they built the company. Now Warmachine is the priority and the crowdfunding side is getting stripped back. They say they’ll still deliver on existing campaigns. We’ll see. If you’re waiting on a Steamforged Kickstarter fulfilment, keep an eye on this.
Asmodee’s first crowdfunding campaign under their own banner closed out with $4.1 million for Zombicide: Dead Men Tales. They acquired Zombicide from CMON last year, ran the campaign through Gamefound, and hit their funding goal in about 33 minutes. Pirate-themed zombie bashing for 1-6 players. The Zombicide machine keeps rolling regardless of who’s driving it. Interesting to see how Asmodee handles the fulfilment side — that’s always been the tricky bit with crowdfunding at scale.
On the awards front, the Spiel des Jahres 2026 nominees are properly interesting this year. Cozy Stickerville (Corey Konieczka / Unexpected Games) is up for the main prize — 800+ stickers, cooperative village building, very chill. The Kennerspiel nominees are where it gets fun: Moon Colony Bloodbath from Donald X. Vaccarino (Alea/Rio Grande) where your moon colony is doomed and you’re just scoring points before everything goes wrong, Boss Fighters QR which is cooperative monster-bashing with app support from Pegasus, and Rebirth from Reiner Knizia via Mighty Boards. Knizia getting a Kennerspiel nomination is always a good sign. Winners announced in July. (Full list via W. Eric Martin)
Shut Up & Sit Down have been busy. Their recent reviews of Regicide Legacy and Dirt & Dust are both worth watching. Regicide Legacy got a very warm reception — they called it “absolutely delicious,” which from SU&SD is a proper recommendation. If you played the original Regicide (and you should have, it’s brilliant), the Legacy version adds a full campaign. Their latest podcast (#296 – Potato Profiteer) covers a clutch of smaller games too. Good month for their content.
Origins Game Fair kicks off next Tuesday (June 17-21) in Columbus, Ohio. It’s always a good convention for seeing what’s actually landing on tables versus what’s just been announced. Expect a pile of new release previews and publisher announcements over the next week. If you follow any board game media at all, your feeds are about to get noisy. (Origins site)
Worth tracking
The BGG Hotness for June is showing some interesting movement. Rolling Deep from Bitewing Games is sitting at number one — it’s a solo dice adventure roguelike currently on Kickstarter, not releasing until 2027 but generating serious buzz. Lands of Evershade, Terraria: The Board Game, and Compania are all up there too. SETI continues to hover — CGE’s masterpiece passed 100,000 sales earlier this year and sits at #16 on BGG overall. CGE also have Drillers and a Critical Role Codenames coming in Q3.
On the crowdfunding side, the Cyberpunk Trading Card Game on Kickstarter is at a ludicrous 17,000%+ funded. Betrayal Bids (medieval auction game) and The Book of Unnumbered Worlds are both live and closing by end of June if either catches your eye.
For the hyped-up games crowd: Medico (Stefan Feld, pick-up-and-deliver), Meadowvale, and Eternal Sevens are all getting preview attention this month.
Ireland
Right, the big local news: Rogue Gaming opened its doors in The Liberties in Dublin on June 6th. It’s at 58 Francis Street, D08 YE39, and it’s a dedicated tabletop gaming space — trading cards, board games, RPGs. They’re already running Flesh and Blood tournaments and have weekly events lined up. Another FLGS opening in Dublin is always good news. Worth a visit if you’re up that way. (Instagram announcement)
Q-Con in Belfast is next weekend — June 20-21 at Queen’s University. It’s volunteer-run, non-profit, and always a good time. Board games, RPGs, card game tournaments, cosplay, the works. If you’ve never been, it’s worth the trip from anywhere on the island. Tickets via q-con.org.uk. Only about a week out so sort yourselves.
Further ahead, Irish Competition Galecon is in Limerick on June 27-28 — that one’s miniatures-focused (Mortem et Gloriam) so more for the wargaming crowd, but it’s local. Gaelcon 38 is confirmed for October 23-26 in Dublin at the Crowne Plaza Airport hotel. (iga.ie/gaelcon)
Board & Brewed in Dublin continues to do well as a board game café if you want somewhere to drop in and play. And BGIcon ran earlier this year via Board Games Ireland on Eventbrite — worth following them for future events. (Eventbrite)
For the Knavecon community
Q-Con is only eight days away and it’s a handy trip from Limerick. If you’ve never been, Belfast is always worth the visit and the gaming is solid. Worth organising a crew from the Knavecon regulars. Post in the Facebook group if you’re thinking of heading up.
One for the socials
“Moon Colony Bloodbath is nominated for the Kennerspiel des Jahres. A game where your moon colony is guaranteed to be destroyed and you’re just trying to squeeze out some points before the end. The jury praised its ‘surprising social criticism.’ Vaccarino is having a moment.”
Victor Gannon Games 
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