Knavecon Boardgame Briefing — Tuesday, 22 September 2026

Four days out from Knavecon 27 and it’s a good week to be paying attention. There’s a new Kickstarter launching today, Essen Spiel is exactly a month away, and a couple of crowdfunding campaigns are in their final stretch. Let’s get into it.

The big thing landing today is Bookwyrm, a cozy midweight strategy game about book-hoarding dragons organising their shelves. It’s 1-4 players, designed by Lizzy Ives at Sword & Rose Press, and it goes live on Kickstarter today. The pitch is charming — it’s a spatial puzzle where new books keep arriving from the bookshop and you’re trying to curate a glorious collection without it descending into chaos. They tried the traditional publisher route, got nowhere, and are self-publishing. A Place For All My Books proved there’s an audience for this kind of theme, and this looks like it goes a bit deeper mechanically. Worth a look if that kind of thing appeals.

The Clank! Cube of Holding and The Forgotten Vault Kickstarter is heading into its final week, sitting at about $707k from nearly 5,800 backers. Dire Wolf are celebrating 10 years of Clank! with a new expansion, a deluxe storage cube, and updated Master Thief Edition components across the whole line. If you’re already a Clank! person this is probably a no-brainer, but the Mastery Pack upgrade path for existing copies is a nice touch — you don’t have to rebuy everything. Campaign page here. Ends September 29th.

Meanwhile, Space King: The Board Game from Flashgitz — the Warhammer 40K parody from the YouTube animation lads — has blown past $4 million on Kickstarter with a few days left (ends September 25th). It’s a HeroQuest-style minis-heavy dungeon crawl thing. The numbers are absurd for what’s essentially a comedy IP board game, with pledges averaging over $370 per backer. There’s apparently a trademark dust-up with Games Workshop brewing too, which is entirely on brand. Tech Times covered the phenomenon here. Not for everyone but the crowdfunding numbers tell their own story.

On the BGG Hotness this month, Entropy from Board&Dice (Luciani, Battista, Mangone) is sitting at #10 and continuing to generate buzz since its GenCon debut. It’s the rondel-driven eurogame about building solar systems and evolving life. Reviews have been broadly positive — Meeple Mountain gave it a “Fair” but BGG ratings are sitting at 7.8 from 500+ ratings, which is solid. If you like crunchy euros from the Teotihuacan/Messina 1347 school, this is the one to track heading into Essen.

Essen itself — SPIEL 2026 runs October 22-25 — and the BGG preview list has been live since early September. Deep Print Games have their pre-order system running through the official app, and publishers are now in full preview mode. If you’re going, or even just tracking what’s coming, the BGG preview list is the place to start.

In Ireland, the only thing that matters this week is Knavecon 27 on Saturday. Castletroy Park Hotel, Limerick, 10am, running into the small hours. Tickets are €20 adults, €10 students/unwaged, kids free with an adult. That includes the games library and free coffee all day. The raffle is reportedly a big one this year. If you haven’t sorted your ticket yet, this is the week. After that, Gaelcon 38 is the next big one on the calendar — October 23-26 at the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport in Santry. Four days of RPGs, board games, LARPs and wargames. Their online RPG tickets are already on sale. Beyond those two, I couldn’t find any new Irish game shop openings or local event announcements in the last couple of days — if you know of something happening, drop it in the comments.

For the Knavecon community specifically: if you’re coming Saturday, have a think about what you want to play. The library will be massive as always, but if you’ve a game you’ve been dying to try, bring it along and rope people in. That’s how the best Knavecon sessions happen.

One for social media: “Bookwyrm launches on Kickstarter today — a cozy strategy game about dragons hoarding books. Meanwhile Clank! is about to close out its 10th anniversary campaign at over $700k and Space King has somehow cracked $4 million for a Warhammer parody game. Oh, and Knavecon 27 is Saturday. See you in Limerick.”

Knavecon Boardgame Briefing — Friday, 18 September 2026

A properly stacked week in board games, and honestly one of those weeks where there’s enough going on that you could lose an afternoon just reading about it all. Essen season is cranking up, crowdfunding is relentless, and there’s a major leadership change at one of the hobby’s most iconic publishers. Plus, Knavecon 27 is exactly one week away. Let’s get into it.

Steve Jackson steps down. The biggest industry story this week is Steve Jackson stepping down as CEO of Steve Jackson Games after decades running the company. Sabrina Gonzalez, who’s been with SJG since 2013, takes over as CEO, and Allison Page moves up to COO. Jackson says he’ll stay on to help design games, though it’s not clear whether that’s full-time or more of a winding-down role. Either way, end of an era. The man basically defined a corner of this hobby. Gonzalez’s statement was solid — she talked about weathering the pandemic, navigating tariff changes, and wanting to keep developing new titles alongside supporting the classics. No drama, just a clean handover. (ICv2, Tabletop Battles)

Clank! turns 10, makes a million dollars. The Clank! 10th anniversary Kickstarter — “Cube of Holding and The Forgotten Vault” — launched on September 9th and absolutely flew past its funding goal, hitting over $1 million at 2000%+ funded. It’s a deluxe storage solution plus a new expansion, and Dire Wolf are offering Master Thief Edition upgrades for the entire original Clank! line. If you’re a Clank! person, this is as good as it gets. If you’re not, this probably won’t convert you, but the campaign numbers speak for themselves. (Dire Wolf, r/boardgames)

Everdell Journeys hits 912% on Kickstarter. Tycoon Games launched Everdell Journeys on September 8th and it’s now sitting at over $146,000 against a $35,000 goal. This one’s interesting because it’s not just another Everdell expansion — it’s a card-drafting game set in the Everdell world, a different system to the worker-placement core game. Players lay paths of landmark and city cards. The deluxe edition scales up to 10 players, which is mad but could be brilliant for convention play. Campaign ends September 25th. (GodisaGeek, Kickstarter)

Rheinlander is back, and it’s gorgeous. Knizia’s 1999 area control game Rheinlander has been given the full 25th Century Games treatment with Ian O’Toole art and new expansion modules designed by Knizia himself. Game Boy Geek put out a review earlier this month calling it “Acquire with area control,” which is a hell of a pitch. It plays under an hour, it’s card-driven, and O’Toole’s work on it looks stunning. This is the kind of Knizia reissue that could genuinely find a new audience. Due in September/October. (Bitewing Games preview, Game Boy Geek review)

Dune: Imperium – Conspiracy confirmed for fall. Dire Wolf’s next Dune: Imperium expansion is called Conspiracy and introduces an asymmetric “Overthrow Mode” where one player is the Emperor and the rest team up to take them down, 3v1 style. It’s cross-compatible with both Dune: Imperium and Uprising. Pre-orders are showing an October 31st date. If you’re already deep into Dune: Imperium, this feels like a must-have. If you’re not, well, Dune: Imperium remains one of the best deck-builders of the last five years and this might be the excuse to jump in. (Screen Rant, BGG)

Worth tracking next week: City of the Great Machine hits Kickstarter on September 22nd. The Food Chain Magnate Special Edition on Gamefound is down to its last copies from the print run — if you’ve been on the fence, the fence is about to disappear (Gamefound). And the BGG Hotness is currently being dominated by Entropy (Board&Dice), Horror on the Orient Express, Medico, Dewan, and Avalon: The Riven Veil — all jostling for attention ahead of Essen preview season. SPIEL Essen itself runs October 22–25 and the BGG preview list is already filling up (BGG Previews).

Ireland round-up. This is a big weekend. The Glendalough Gaming Retreat run by Board & Brewed is happening right now — September 18–20 in Wicklow, with board games, wargames, and RPGs in the mountains. Non-residential tickets were €40, residential €150pp, but they were selling fast so might well be gone by now (Board & Brewed). Meanwhile Board Games Ireland on Meetup has a game night coming up in Celbridge on the 17th and Dublin on the 23rd (Meetup). Looking further ahead, DAREcon in Naas is October 17–18 (darecon.ie), Gaelcon 38 — Ireland’s longest-running gaming convention — is October 23–26 at Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport (iga.ie/gaelcon), and Comic Con Northern Ireland is this weekend too if that’s your thing (cons.ie). The Irish tabletop scene is in good health — Rogue Gaming opened in Dublin’s Liberties back in June, Board & Brewed continues to be excellent in Dún Laoghaire, and Imirt in Naas is still going strong.

And of course: Knavecon 27 is next Saturday, September 26th, Castletroy Park Hotel, Limerick. Kicking off at 10am and running into the small hours. The raffle is shaping up to be a big one. If you haven’t sorted your ticket yet, now’s the time.

One for social media: “Steve Jackson stepping down from Steve Jackson Games after all these years. Whatever you think of Munchkin, the man shaped an entire corner of tabletop gaming. Meanwhile Clank! just turned 10 and raised a million quid in a week. This hobby doesn’t slow down.”

Solid mid-September Tuesday. Not an avalanche of news but a few things actually worth paying attention to, and a busy week ahead on the crowdfunding side.

Perennial just went live on Kickstarter. Flatout Games — the team behind Cascadia — launched their new one today. It’s a puzzly tile-laying game about building a prairie garden with wildflowers and wildlife, designed for 1–4 players, 30–45 minutes. Beth Sobel did the art, which is gorgeous as you’d expect. The team have said it’s crunchier than Cascadia, which is interesting — that game worked precisely because it was breezy. Worth watching how this funds. If you liked Cascadia but wished it had a bit more bite, this might be your thing. Kickstarter page here. What’s Eric Playing also posted a preview yesterday if you want more detail before backing.

The Dice Tower’s Week in Review dropped for September 14th and there’s a standout. Tom gave Realm of Reckoning an 8.5 and a Seal of Excellence. It’s from IV Studio, and the pitch is player-controlled scoring with area control elements — the kind of thing that sounds like it could be a Knavecon favourite if it holds up. They also covered Citadels Duel, 17 Dice Bets, and the Scythe-meets-Expeditions mashup Duel of Meloch. Full rundown on the Dice Tower site.

Everdell Journeys is running hot on Kickstarter. The campaign launched September 8th with a $35,000 goal and has already blown past $500K — over 912% funded according to GodisaGeek. This isn’t another expansion for the base game. It’s a standalone card-drafting game set in the Everdell world, where you’re laying paths of cards rather than doing worker placement. Tycoon Games are behind it. The campaign runs until September 25th. I’m curious but slightly cautious — Everdell has had so many expansions and editions that there’s a bit of franchise fatigue floating around. But the numbers don’t lie.

Clank! is celebrating 10 years. Dire Wolf launched the Cube of Holding — a deluxe big box set — plus a new expansion called The Forgotten Vault on Kickstarter on September 9th. There are also “Master Thief Editions” of the original Clank! line with upgraded components. If you’re a Clank! household, this is the anniversary package. Dire Wolf’s announcement is here.

Tomorrow: Gift of Tulips: Ribbons hits BackerKit (September 16th). It’s an expansion from Weird Giraffe Games to the light tulip-trading game. Small campaign, probably a quick back-or-skip decision. And looking further ahead, City of the Great Machine launches on Kickstarter on September 22nd and Gallery Gambit on September 28th.

Worth watching: the r/boardgames weekly “What Did You Play?” thread for September 14th has Nemesis, Regicide Legacy, and 7 Wonders Duel getting mentions. Duel of Meloch from Stonemaier continues to generate chatter on BGG — it made BoardGameQuest’s best of 2026 so far list.

Ireland corner. The big one for us: Knavecon 27 is eleven days away. September 26th, Castletroy Park Hotel, Limerick. €20 adults, €10 students/unwaged, kids free with an adult. Full games library, free coffee all day. If you haven’t got your tickets yet, sort that out at victorgannongames.com. And if there are games you want in the library, tell me now — not on the morning of.

Before that, the Glendalough Gaming Retreat is this Friday through Sunday (September 18–20) in Co. Wicklow. Board & Brewed are running a full weekend of board games, wargames, and RPGs at the Glendalough International Hostel. €150 with accommodation or €40 for a day pass. They’ve said more than half the spots are gone. Gorgeous location. If you can swing it, book through Board & Brewed.

Locally, there’s a Templemore Tabletop game night tonight (September 15th) at Templemore Library in Tipperary, 7:00–10:00 PM — free, no experience needed, just turn up. Spotted it on the Board Games Ireland Facebook group. And Gaelcon 38 is shaping up for October 23–26 at the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport if you’re planning ahead for the autumn convention season. Details at iga.ie.

For the Knavecon community: we’re less than two weeks out. This is your last proper window to request games for the library, volunteer to teach something, or just tell me you’re coming so I can plan tables. Drop a comment on the Knavecon Facebook page or message me directly.

One for social: “Perennial from the Cascadia team just launched on Kickstarter. Crunchier, prettier, and about planting wildflower gardens. Between this, Everdell Journeys, and the Clank! 10th anniversary — September is emptying wallets faster than Essen.”