Knavecon Boardgame Briefing — Friday, 21 August 2026

Good week, this one. The post-Gen Con dust is settling, SU&SD ran their massive Board Games Direct event, the BGG Hotness is full of genuinely interesting games, and there are a couple of Irish things worth flagging. Let’s get into it.

Shut Up & Sit Down went big with Board Games Direct 2026. Their week-long digital convention alternative wrapped up with seven themed episodes — thematic games, crunchy euros, chill games, co-op and solo, card games, a Lorcana session, and two-player picks. If you missed it, the whole lot is up on their site. The standouts from the “Chewy & Chunky” episode are worth a look if you like heavier fare, and the two-player episode covered Spell, Madcala, Logic & Lore, Red Notice, Dice Throne Vanguard, and Tag Team. It’s genuinely useful as a preview of what’s coming into Essen season. Not every game they covered will land, obviously, but this is SU&SD at their most useful — a firehose of new titles with honest first impressions. Bookmark it.

The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth is out. Thomas Sing’s third entry in The Crew series debuted at Gen Con and is now hitting retail — estimated at your FLGS any day now, priced around $15. This time it’s a globe-trotting treasure hunt with 25 stages and new team-based mission mechanics. The first two Crew games were legitimate masterpieces of cooperative trick-taking, and early buzz from Eric Martin’s review and the BGG community is positive. It’s sitting in the top 3 of the BGG Hotness alongside Wildscape and Whisperwood. If your group loved Mission Deep Sea, this is a no-brainer pickup.

Gen Con 2026 numbers are in: 74,000 unique attendees, 200,000 turnstile. That’s up on previous years and confirms Gen Con as the second-largest tabletop event globally behind Essen (220,000 turnstile). The big talking point from the show was Gen Con’s leadership transition — a new director is coming in, with former Director of Events Derek Guder shifting to a consultancy role. The new person, as reported by Tabletop Battles, is apparently taking a “listen first” approach, which is about the best thing you can say about someone stepping into a role that size. Worth watching how that plays out. On the game side, Bitewing Games’ Gold Country (a Reiner Knizia rework with Beth Sobel art) was a Gen Con highlight, and the Matchmakers trick-taking game is getting buzz among the card game crowd — team-based, expert-level, with a Swiss jass trumping system. That one’s headed for Essen.

The BGG Hotness is stacked right now. Whisperwood (2027 release, already generating huge anticipation), Wildscape (Karma Games, top 3 and climbing without any paid push — just word of mouth), The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth, Dino Racer, Wingspan Pocket, Drillers, and Avalon: The Riven Veil are all jostling for position. Wildscape in particular has been a slow burner that’s now a genuine contender for game of the year conversations. Meanwhile, the BGG Top 100 analysis from August 18 notes Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship climbing two spots to #63. Wingspan Pocket — Elizabeth Hargrave’s compact, travel-friendly version of Wingspan — has been out since mid-July from Stonemaier and is doing well. It’s a 30-minute card-driven distillation of the original, no board, no dice, and it works.

Essen Spiel 2026 (October 22–25) is shaping up. The BGG preview list is live, publishers are already showing their hands, and Albi announced they’re nearly tripling their booth size. Inside Up Games teased a new suitless trick-taker for Essen. Devir’s Essen preview is up. The Essen ticket shop is open. If you’re going — or even just planning your wishlist — now’s the time to start tracking what’s coming. The BGG Essen preview page is the place.

In Ireland. A few things to flag. Tonight (Friday 21st August), The Hobby Space in Listowel has their board games club meetup at 7pm, €5 entry — that’s right here in Kerry/North Limerick range, very doable for Knavecon regulars. In Dublin, the Board Games Ireland group continues to be the best free regular gaming in the country — Sundays at the Black Sheep on Capel Street (all day, no charge, just buy a drink), Mondays at Ryan’s of Store Street, and Wednesdays in D8. All details on their Meetup page. There’s also a board game meetup in Rush on Wednesday the 26th at The Strand Family Bar, run by the Rush Boardgame & Pub Group.

Looking ahead for Irish conventions: DARECon 2026 in Naas is coming up on October 17–18 at the Osprey Hotel — early bird tickets are ending imminently, so grab them at darecon.ie if you’re interested. It’s run by Naas Board Game Club and looks like a solid two-day event. Gaelcon 38 is confirmed for October 23–26 at the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport — Ireland’s longest-running gaming convention, always worth attending. And Rogue Gaming, Dublin’s newest tabletop gaming space in the Liberties (opened in June), is now up and running if you’re looking for a new FLGS in the capital.

For the Knavecon community specifically: if anyone’s thinking about Essen this year, now’s a good time to start organising. The preview list is live, flights from Shannon and Dublin to Düsseldorf are still reasonable in October, and a few of us went last year. Worth a conversation on the Facebook group if there’s interest in a loose Knavecon crew heading over.

One for the socials: “Wildscape climbing to top 3 on BGG Hotness purely on word of mouth, no Kickstarter hype, no publisher marketing blitz — just people playing it and telling their friends. That’s how it should work.”

Reasonably busy Tuesday. The Dice Tower crew are on vacation this week so the usual firehose of content has slowed to a trickle, but there’s enough happening elsewhere to keep things interesting. Essen Spiel preview season is properly underway, a chunky Kickstarter just closed, and another one launched today.

Cult of the Lamb: The Board Game closed its Kickstarter on Friday at £2.6 million — that’s 137 times its original goal, from over 14,000 backers. Paper Fort Games out of Nottingham ran the campaign. It’s a worker placement dungeon crawler based on the video game, which checks a lot of boxes for the “IP adaptation that might actually be good” category. Whether you care about the licence or not, that’s a serious amount of money for a relatively unknown studio. Worth keeping an eye on how delivery goes. (Backseat Gamer)

Spirit Train: The Final Journey launched on Kickstarter today. Designed by Casey and Zoey Mattes, published by SweaterBear Games, it’s a 2–4 player game where you’re a conductor guiding spirits through the realm between worlds. 60–90 minutes, art by Maruša Gorjup. The Spiritfarer comparisons are inevitable and probably intentional. If the theme grabs you, the preview page is live now. (Kickstarter)

The BGG Hotness for August is worth a look. Entropy (Battista, Luciani, and Mangone) is sitting at number one for the second month running — it’s clearly the game of the summer for the BGG crowd. Greylune from William Attia (the Caylus designer) via Sorry We Are French is at number three and generating serious buzz. Timespan is at two. Drillers from CGE is climbing at four, and Night at the Zoo (also from the Séti designer Tomáš Holek) is at five. Further down, Duel of Meloch from Stonemaier and Dune: Imperium – Conspiracy are both hanging around. (Best of BGG August 2026)

If you’re into classic euros getting the deluxe treatment, there’s a Kickstarter running until August 25th from Play For Keeps bundling new editions of Mexica, Bridges of Shangri-La, Gheos, and Reel Rivals (formerly El Caballero). It’s at 372% funded. Mexica is a cracker and Bridges of Shangri-La is underrated, so this one might be worth a pledge if you missed these games the first time around. (Meeple Mountain crowdfunding roundup)

BoardGameQuest have been busy post-Gen Con. They published their Symbiosis review last week (3 stars — light card game, nice theme, not essential) and a Qomet review before that. Their Gen Con 2026 recap from August 7th is still worth reading if you missed it. Also on the review front, Stefan Feld’s City Collection got a top 10 ranking piece from BGQ on the 14th, which is handy if you’re wondering where to start with that series. (BoardGameQuest)

Games worth watching right now: Entropy continues to be the one everyone’s talking about and it ships end of August. The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth (the third in the series) is expected Q3 and should be excellent if the first two are anything to go by. And the Essen Spiel 2026 preview list is now live on BGG — October 22–25, start planning your wishlist.

Ireland corner. A few things coming up that Knavecon people should know about. Pax Hibernia is on September 12th at the Teacher’s Club on Parnell Square in Dublin — a full day of board gaming, tickets €15 in advance or €20 on the door. Good event, city centre, easy to get to. Details at paxhibernia.ie. The Glendalough Gaming Retreat is September 18–20, a full weekend of tabletop gaming in Wicklow with accommodation included for €150 or €40 non-residential. More than half the tickets are already gone so don’t sit on it if you’re interested. Book through Board & Brewed. Gaelcon 38 is confirmed for October 23–26 at Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport — Ireland’s longest-running gaming con, now in its 38th year. Rob Brennan is convention director. And if you missed it, the Irish Card Market summer edition was on August 15th in Dún Laoghaire. On BGG’s Ireland forum there’s an active thread about gaming in Carrigaline, Cork, which was updated just a couple of days ago — worth a look if you’re in that part of the world. Board Games Ireland continues their regular meetups at The Black Sheep on Capel Street (Sundays) and Ryan’s Bar (Monday nights) in Dublin.

For the Knavecon community specifically: between Pax Hibernia in September and the Glendalough Retreat the following weekend, there’s a decent stretch of gaming to be had if you’re willing to travel. Both are well-run events. And Essen is only two months away if anyone’s thinking about the trip — the ticket shop is open.

One for the socials: “Cult of the Lamb raised £2.6 million on Kickstarter — 137 times its goal. Meanwhile Entropy has been number one on the BGG Hotness for two months straight and it’s from a studio most people hadn’t heard of eighteen months ago. The hobby continues to reward the weird and the ambitious.”

A decent week in board games, not the busiest of the summer but a few stories with real substance. Gen Con dust is still settling, Shut Up & Sit Down wrapped up their Board Games Direct 2026 series, and one story out of Ukraine hit harder than anything else this month.

The Rozum warehouse attack is the story of the week. On August 1st, a Russian missile strike on a logistics centre in Vyshneve, just outside Kyiv, completely destroyed the warehouse of Ukrainian board game publisher Rozum. Over 200,000 games went up in smoke — their entire inventory, including Ukrainian editions of Catan, Exploding Kittens, and a load of locally developed titles. The damage is estimated at $670,000. No one was killed, thankfully. Rozum, which is part of the Factor Group, has launched a fundraising appeal and says the best way to support them is to buy any Rozum games still on shelves in Ukraine. Board Game Wire had good coverage of the story, and there’s an active thread on BGG with links to donate. They had a Harry Potter line planned for this autumn. Just devastating.

Asmodee’s quarterly numbers are out and they tell an interesting story. Q1 revenue (April–June 2026) came in at €422 million, up nearly 21% year-on-year. Sounds great until you dig in: games published by Asmodee’s own studios grew just 1.8%, while games distributed from partner publishers — overwhelmingly trading card games — grew 27%. TCGs now make up roughly two-thirds of Asmodee’s quarterly revenue. Reuters ran a piece where the CEO was asked directly whether Asmodee is still a board game publisher or increasingly an infrastructure company for TCG distribution. He insisted TCGs are “extremely strong and here to last.” Meanwhile, Board Game Wire reported that Asmodee’s own board game publishing actually fell 5.8% over the full year. Make of that what you will.

Duel of Meloch is hitting FLGS shelves. Stonemaier’s standalone 2-player game that mashes up Scythe and Expeditions is now reaching local retail after shipping direct orders in July and debuting at Gen Con. It plays in about 45 minutes on a tight 10-location map, and the clever bit is full cross-compatibility — if you own Scythe or Expeditions, you can mix factions across all three boxes. Board Game Quest gave it a strong review, calling it “a legitimately great medium-heavy game design that can stand on its own.” Early BGG ratings are sitting around 7.6. If you’re a Scythe household this is probably already ordered, but it’s worth a look even if you aren’t.

Shut Up & Sit Down finished their Board Games Direct 2026 run. Seven episodes covering thematic, crunchy, chill, co-op/solo, card games, puzzles, and two-player games. These are paid previews rather than proper SU&SD reviews, so take them accordingly, but it’s a useful way to get eyes on 60+ upcoming titles without leaving the house. The final episode on two-player games dropped this week. Games that caught attention across the series include Whisperwood (druidic area control, currently #1 on the BGG Hotness), Gunsen: The Battle for Toshi Ranbo, Six Sojourns, and Guards of Atlantis II’s third printing heading to Gamefound in 2027.

On the BGG Hotness, the August Best of BGG video ran through the current top 10. Whisperwood is sitting at #1. Kingdom Come: Deliverance – The Board Game is on the list (pre-orders through Czech Games Edition close August 16, shipping around Essen). Drillers from CGE, Night at the Zoo from Albi, and Greylune from the designer of Caylus are all generating buzz. Wingspan Pocket is there too. And Dominant Species randomly re-entered the hotness, because BGG gonna BGG.

Jamey Stegmaier’s blog had a good post on August 6th sharing a retailer’s perspective on why promos are actually bad for game stores. Worth a read if you’re interested in the business side — the retailer argues promos create customer frustration more than they drive sales.

Worth tracking next week: Kingdom Come: Deliverance pre-orders close on August 16. The Irish Card Market Summer event is tomorrow (Saturday the 15th) at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire if TCGs are your thing. And Gamescom is coming up in Cologne later this month — mostly video games but there’s usually some crossover news for tabletop.

Ireland corner. CraiCON, Northern Ireland’s newest board gaming convention, ran on August 1-2 in Ballymena — I haven’t seen a write-up yet so if anyone went, let us know how it was. Board Games Ireland continues their free Sunday meetups at the Black Sheep on Capel Street in Dublin, run by Gavin Byrne — every week, 1:15pm onwards, Meetup page here. There’s a board game night coming up on August 21st in Limerick at Level Up Arcade Bar on O’Connell Street, organised by JCI Limerick Expats — open to everyone, not just expats. The next proper convention on the island is Gaelcon 38, October 23–26 at Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport. Nothing new bubbling up in Munster or the west at the moment. If you’re running game nights in Cork, Galway, Waterford, anywhere — get in touch so we can flag them here.

One thing for the Knavecon community: that Moytura review from Board Game Quest and Meeple Mountain is worth checking out. It’s a two-player area-majority game set on a map of Ireland, designed by David Thompson and Trevor Benjamin, published by Bitewing Games. You’re placing deity tiles and competing for control against each other and a neutral faction. It’s got a kind of goth Small World look to it. Forty-five minutes, looks like it’d be a great fit for a Knavecon session. BGQ covered it, and Meeple Mountain gave it a 4.5.

For the socials: “Asmodee’s own board game sales fell last year while their TCG distribution revenue jumped 27%. At some point you have to ask: are they a board game company that distributes cards, or a card distribution company that publishes board games?”

Quiet couple of days in board game news, which is typical for mid-August when everyone is still digesting the Gen Con haul and waiting for Essen announcements to start rolling in. A few things worth knowing about though.

The big release this week is Duel of Meloch hitting local retail shelves. Stonemaier shipped direct orders back in July, and it was available at Gen Con, but this is when your FLGS should start getting copies. It’s a standalone 2-player game that pits Scythe mechanics against Expeditions mechanics on a tight 10-location map. Forty-five minutes, no prior knowledge of either game required. If you own Scythe and/or Expeditions you can mix and match factions across all three boxes, which is a clever bit of cross-compatibility. It’s sitting at 7.6 on BGG with early ratings. Worth trying before buying — it’s a very specific itch being scratched here. Stonemaier’s product page has all the details.

Over on the BGG Hotness and the “Best of BGG August 2026” video, Drillers from CGE continues to get a lot of love. It’s a deck-builder where you’re piloting mechs through an abandoned mine, and it’s got a clever card-stand system so you always see what’s coming next. Wargamer gave it a 9/10 back in July, calling it their board game of the year so far, though they flagged some component quality issues. An 8.0 on BGG right now with 175 ratings. CGE rarely misses, and this feels like it could be a sleeper hit for the mid-weight crowd. Wargamer review here.

Greylune from William Attia (yes, the Caylus designer) is also climbing the BGG charts. It’s a worker placement game published by Sorry We Are French that reimplements Spyrium with a two-phase timing system. Early BGG buzz is very positive — 7.9 rating, though from a small sample of 43 ratings. Attia doesn’t put games out often, so when he does it’s worth paying attention. BGG page here.

Stonemaier’s Jamey Stegmaier posted a blog piece yesterday recapping some older Kickstarter lessons, and his recent post about the “proof-of-play” publishing model is still generating discussion. The idea is small print runs to generate real-world feedback before scaling up. Scott Brady from A Game Studio is pioneering it. Interesting concept for small publishers who can’t afford to bet big on untested designs.

On the crowdfunding side, the Gamefound Summer Feast wrapped up recently but several campaigns from it are still live, including Slay the Spire: The Board Game – Downfall and The Witcher: Legacy from Go On Board. Both are funded and ticking along. Food Chain Magnate Special Edition Redux is also on Gamefound if you missed it the first time around. Gamefound’s front page has the full rundown.

Worth watching: Entropy, Altera, and Harmonies: Pulse are all trending on Meeple Mountain’s tracker. Night at the Zoo from Albi and The Lord of the Rings: The King’s Gambit from Restoration Games both featured in BGG’s August best-of video. King’s Gambit isn’t due until 2027 but it’s already generating serious hype — Restoration rebuilding the Star Wars: Queen’s Gambit formula in a Lord of the Rings setting. That could be very special if they land it.

Ireland corner. The Irish Card Market Summer 2026 is this Saturday, August 15, at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire — mostly TCG focused but worth knowing about if that’s your thing. Eventbrite listing here. Board Games Ireland continues their free weekly Sunday meetups at the Black Sheep on Capel Street in Dublin, run by Gavin Byrne and crew. Meetup page here. The next big tabletop convention on the island is Gaelcon 38, October 23–26 at Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport. Details at iga.ie/gaelcon. Nothing new popping up in Munster or the west right now — if anyone’s running game nights in Limerick, Cork, or Galway, let us know in the Knavecon Facebook group and we’ll signal boost it.

For the Knavecon community: Duel of Meloch hitting retail this week is relevant if any of you are Scythe or Expeditions players. It’s a compact two-player box that could work well for game nights between cons. If someone picks up a copy, bring it to the next meetup and let us know if it’s worth the €49.

One for the socials: “William Attia designed Caylus in 2005 and has basically released three games in twenty-one years. Greylune is his latest and it’s already at 7.9 on BGG. Some designers flood the market. Others just show up every seven years with something worth playing.”

Big week. Gen Con just wrapped up last weekend in Indianapolis and the dust is still settling — the recaps, the hype, the “this is the next Arnak” chatter are all rolling in. Meanwhile Shut Up & Sit Down ran their Board Games Direct event showcasing over 50 new and upcoming games across themed days, and the BGG Hotness is buzzing with fresh Gen Con releases. There’s a lot to dig through, so here’s what actually matters.

Drillers is the Gen Con darling. Czech Games Edition’s new deck-builder about sending mechs into an abandoned mine sold out before Saturday at Gen Con, and the early buzz is enormous. Wargamer’s review already called it their board game of the year so far. It’s getting constant comparisons to Lost Ruins of Arnak — same publisher, similar weight — but with a push-your-luck depth mechanic where going deeper means risking not having the fuel to get back up. BoardGameQuest flagged it as one of their most anticipated titles going in, and the Gen Con recap from Meadow Party had it at number one. CGE says retail copies will be available shortly after Gen Con. This is one to keep an eye on — it’s going to be everywhere at Essen. Wargamer review, CGE info.

Shut Up & Sit Down’s Board Games Direct was a firehose. They ran a full week of themed showcase videos — thematic games, crunchy games, chill games, co-op & solo, card games, two-player games, and more. The kickoff revealed Mechs vs. Minions: Bandle City Edition. The full shorts list on their site covers a massive spread including Thunder Road: Ignition from Restoration Games (debuted at Gen Con, coming August), Rattlesnake, Points for Everything, The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era, and The Lord of the Rings: Circle of Conflict. If you missed it, the individual day videos are well worth going back through — the “Chewy & Chunky” and “Chill” episodes in particular seem to have the most Knavecon-relevant picks.

Container is back in the wild. Allplay’s new edition of the classic 2007 economic game is now shipping, and reviews are landing. The Dice Tower has a video up on the deluxe edition. Container has been one of those grail games that was impossible to find for years without paying silly money on the secondary market. The new version comes in standard and deluxe (with metal ships), and the word is that the production quality is excellent. If you’ve ever wanted to try one of the purest economic games in the hobby, this is the cheapest and easiest it’s ever been to get your hands on a copy. Allplay store.

The BGG Hotness is packed with Gen Con heat. As of this week, the top trending games on BoardGameGeek include Kingdom Come: Deliverance – The Board Game (Czech Games again, pre-orders open until August 16, shipping around Essen), Wingspan Pocket (Stonemaier’s compact standalone that launched in mid-July and is already everywhere), Drillers, Duel of Meloch, and Container. Also notable: Crab Rage jumped 9 spots, Tigris & Euphrates climbed 4 — looks like the Knizia wave from the Spiel des Jahres win is still carrying momentum. Rebirth winning the Kennerspiel back in July was a big moment for Knizia and for Mighty Boards, and it’s clearly still driving interest in his catalogue. BGG Hotness.

Restoration Games brought the noise at Gen Con. Fireball Island is back with a reprint (available to order now from their website — surprise drop), and Thunder Road: Ignition debuted as a standalone, more accessible version of the award-winning Thunder Road: Vendetta. SU&SD featured Ignition in their thematic games showcase and seemed genuinely excited about it. Restoration Games recap.

Worth tracking over the coming weeks: DOOM Arena Board Game from Modiphius is due in October from the Kickstarter fulfillment. The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth (the third installment) is expected Q3. And Essen Spiel ticket sales are open — October 22–25 in Essen. The preview list on BGG is already live and publishers will be ramping up announcements from here. If you’re thinking about Essen this year, now’s the time to start planning.

Ireland corner. Dublin Comic Con Summer Edition is literally this weekend — August 8–9 at the Convention Centre Dublin. The IGA/Gaelcon crew will have a fan table there on level 2, so if you’re going along, stop by and roll some dice for merch. Speaking of Gaelcon, their 38th year is confirmed for October 23–26 at Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport — they’ve made a push to improve the RPG offering this year with more rooms and earlier scheduling. Gaelcon info. CraiCON, Northern Ireland’s newest board gaming convention, ran last weekend (August 1–2) up in Ballymena — good to see a new event up there getting going. CraiCON. Board Games Ireland continue their weekly Sunday meetup at The Black Sheep on Capel Street in Dublin — free to attend, runs all day, just buy a drink. Meetup page. There’s also a thread on the BGG Ireland forum from someone looking to start a game group in East Cork / Midleton — if you’re down that way, worth chiming in. And for anyone in or near Limerick this weekend, the European Sport for All Games are running in the city August 7–10, which is mainly traditional sports but worth knowing about if you’re wondering why the city centre is busier than usual.

For the Knavecon community: Knavecon 28 was a great day back in April and the next one hasn’t been announced yet. In the meantime, Dublin Comic Con this weekend has the Gaelcon table, the Board Games Ireland Sunday meetups are a solid option if you’re ever in Dublin, and keep an eye on the site for any Knavecon news. If anyone went to CraiCON last weekend I’d love to hear how it was.

One for the socials: “Drillers sold out at Gen Con before Saturday. Czech Games Edition keeps doing this — quiet announcement, elegant design, then everyone loses their minds at the convention. It’s basically the Arnak playbook all over again and I’m absolutely here for it.”

Knavecon Boardgame Briefing — Tuesday, 4 August 2026

Quiet enough start to the week, which isn’t surprising — everyone’s still digesting the Gen Con firehose. But there are a few things worth your attention as August gets going.

The big news from last Thursday is the Dice Tower Awards. Galactic Cruise took Game of the Year, which is a genuinely interesting pick. The designers — T.K. King, Dennis Northcott, and Koltin Thompson — weren’t on anyone’s radar before this game, and neither was the publisher (Kinson Key Games). It had already won the Golden Geek for best heavy game and a Meeples Choice Award, so this completes a proper clean sweep. Love seeing an unknown outfit come out of nowhere and take the top prize. Opinionated Gamers has a good write-up.

Stonemaier’s Duel of Meloch is about to hit general retail. If you didn’t grab it from their webstore in July or pick it up at Gen Con, expect it in shops and online stores by late August (Game Nerdz has it listed for August 28). It’s a standalone 1-2 player dueling game where one player uses Scythe mechanics and the other uses Expeditions mechanics, and every faction/character from both games is compatible. It’s an unusual product — genuinely cross-compatible with two existing games — and early reception from Board Game Quest has been positive. Whether it’s more than a curiosity for people who don’t already own both Scythe and Expeditions is the real question. Stonemaier’s design diary is worth reading.

If you missed it in the Gen Con noise, Allplay announced a new edition of Dominant Species as the first title in their “Masterworks” line, with Ian O’Toole doing the art. That’s a proper pairing — O’Toole’s graphic design on a game that’s always been fantastic mechanically but looked a bit like a geography textbook. It’s coming to Kickstarter, likely October. They also announced Through the Mountains, a sequel to Through the Desert, and a big adventure game called Crash Landed. Gaming Trend covered the full Allplay lineup.

Whisperwood from Cardboard Alchemy (the Flamecraft people) launches on Kickstarter next Monday, August 11. It’s a bag-building game for 1-4 players, heavier than anything they’ve done before — 120 to 180 minutes, so a proper sit-down game. Co-designed by Brad Brooks, Erin McDonald, and Christian Strain. It’s been doing the rounds at Origins and Gen Con in prototype form and prototypes have been getting into people’s hands. One to watch if you like the studio but wanted something with more meat. BGG page here.

Shut Up & Sit Down have been running their Board Games Direct 2026 series — they’re up to episode 4 now, covering co-op and solo games. The thematic games episode from July 20 highlighted Lord of the Rings: Circle of Conflict (coming this autumn) and Thunder Road: Ignition (this month). If you haven’t been following the series, their BGD tag page has the lot. It’s their equivalent of a convention preview show and it’s been solid this year.

Worth watching: the BGG Hotness right now is dominated by Gen Con aftermath. Entropy from Board&Dice was the people’s choice #1 most wanted game at the show. Drillers, Wingspan Pocket, Lairs, and Timespan are all trending heavily. Hacienda from Pandasaurus — a Patagonian wildlife conservation game — hits retail on August 26 and is generating quiet buzz. Board Game Hangover did their August hotness rundown.

Ireland corner. Board Games Ireland continues running their regular meetups in Dublin — Sundays at Black Sheep Pub on Capel Street and Monday nights at Ryan’s on Store Street. Both are free, casual, and welcoming to new players. Meetup page here. Over on Eventbrite, the Irish Card Market – Summer 2026 is on August 15 at the Royal Marine Hotel if that’s your thing, and an Irish Catan Jamboree is listed for September 5 at Board And Brewed. Dublin Comic Con Summer Edition is August 8-9. The next proper tabletop convention on the island is Gaelcon 38 in Dublin, October 23-26 at Crowne Plaza Airport — Ireland’s longest-running gaming convention. Down in Limerick, The Gathering on O’Connell Street is still the go-to FLGS and gaming spot. Nothing new popping up that I can see, but if anyone knows of events in Munster over the summer, drop it in the Knavecon Facebook group.

For the Knavecon community specifically: Knavecon 28 was a great day back in April and the next one isn’t announced yet, but if you’re looking for gaming between now and then, those Dublin meetups are worth a visit if you’re up that way, and keep an eye on the Gathering’s event calendar in Limerick for local organised play.

One for the socials: “Galactic Cruise just won Dice Tower Game of the Year. Nobody had heard of the designers or the publisher a year ago. That’s the hobby at its best — you don’t need a marketing department, you just need a good game.”

Saturday Briefing — 1 August 2026

It’s Gen Con weekend and the news firehose is on full blast. If you’re not in Indianapolis, here’s what matters from your couch.

Gen Con is live. The show opened Thursday and runs through tomorrow. BGG has published the full list of new releases dropping this week and there’s a lot to sift through. The names I keep seeing pop up are Drillers, Entropy (new Simone Luciani from Board & Dice), Mythologies from Super Meeple (light civ/tableau builder, 2-4 players, out August 12 but available for Gen Con pickup), and The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth — the third instalment of the cooperative trick-taking series that’s been one of the most anticipated releases of the year. Stonemaier are at booth 2909 selling Duel of Meloch (the asymmetric Scythe-meets-Expeditions duelling game that launched July 15) and Wingspan Pocket, their compact Wingspan spinoff. Polygon is doing rolling coverage if you want to follow along. Restoration Games also used the show to recap their Blueprints announcements — Unmatched now has 78 heroes, which is frankly absurd, and they’ve already got a reprint in for their Stars and Stripes set after it sold through fast.

The CGE / Harry Potter boycott continues to rumble on in the background. If you missed it: Czech Games Edition announced Codenames: Back to Hogwarts on Bluesky in late July and got absolutely torched for it given JK Rowling’s anti-trans campaigning. Shut Up & Sit Down, No Pun Included, and 3 Minute Board Games have all announced they’ll no longer cover any CGE products. CGE subsequently pledged to donate 100% of profits from the game to trans charities, but the damage to their relationship with key media outlets looks lasting. SU&SD’s Tom Brewster was scathing in his comments to BoardGameWire. Whatever you think of the politics, losing coverage from the biggest reviewers in the hobby is a real business problem for CGE, and it’ll be interesting to see whether this affects their Gen Con presence.

Whisperwood from Cardboard Alchemy hits Kickstarter on August 11. It’s a bag-building game for 1-4 players where you’re using druidic magic to restore a corrupted forest. It demoed well at Origins and has picked up around 8,000 followers on the pre-launch page. Worth keeping an eye on if you like your euros with a bit of theme — Kickstarter page is live for follows.

For anyone who missed it a couple of weeks back, the 2026 Spiel des Jahres winners are now official. JinxO (a word-association game from Tabletoys Games) took the main prize. Rebirth by Reiner Knizia, published by Mighty Boards, won the Kennerspiel des Jahres — which gives Knizia a historic clean sweep of all three SdJ awards across his career. It’s a tile-laying game and by all accounts a proper Knizia: elegant, thinky, and clean. Mooki Island took the Kinderspiel. Full breakdown at BoardGameWire.

Worth watching: The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth is going to dominate conversation for the next few weeks. If the first two games in that series are anything to go by, this will end up on every recommendation list going. Entropy from Simone Luciani is getting quiet hype from the heavier-game crowd — new Luciani is always an event. And Duel of Meloch hitting wider retail in late August means it’ll start showing up in European shops soon for those of us who didn’t order from the Stonemaier webstore.

In Ireland: Today and tomorrow, CraiCON is running in Ballymena — Northern Ireland’s newest board game convention at St Patrick’s College. Two days of open gaming, welcoming to all experience levels. If you’re anywhere near Antrim it’s worth the trip. Details and tickets at craicon-ni.com. Tomorrow (Sunday), the Board Games Ireland group has their regular free meetup at the Black Sheep Pub on Capel Street in Dublin, running all afternoon — details on their Meetup page. They also run a Monday night session at Ryan’s of Store Street. Looking further ahead, Gaelcon 38 is confirmed for October 23-26 at the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport — Ireland’s longest-running gaming convention. The Irish Catan Jamboree is on September 5 at Board And Brewed. And Dublin got a new FLGS earlier this summer: Rogue Gaming opened on Francis Street in the Liberties back in June, focused on TCGs, board games, and RPGs. Good to see another shop in the city.

For the Knavecon community: Gen Con is obviously the big show this weekend but it’s worth remembering that Essen Spiel is now less than three months away (October 22-25). If anyone’s planning a trip, tickets are on sale at spiel-essen.de. Publishers will be ramping up preview announcements from here on out. Closer to home, if any Knavecon regulars fancy a road trip north, CraiCON is literally happening right now.

One for social: “Reiner Knizia now holds all three Spiel des Jahres awards across his career. The man is 68 years old and still designing games that win the biggest prize in the hobby. Whatever you think of tile-layers, that’s a hell of a legacy.”

Decent week. Not a blockbuster, but Gen Con is six days away and that’s colouring everything — publishers are holding their biggest announcements, reviewers are packing bags, and BGG is filling up with preview lists. In the meantime, we got SUSD’s Board Games Direct, a strong Dice Tower roundup, some crowdfunding worth noting, and the ongoing glow from Knizia’s Spiel des Jahres clean sweep.

The five things that mattered this week

Shut Up & Sit Down dropped their second Board Games Direct video on Monday — their digital alternative to a convention show floor. This one was the “Chewy & Chunky” edition, covering meatier games including Guards of Atlantis II (third printing), Stag, Six Sojourns, Gunsen: The Battle for Toshi Ranbo, Bridges of Shangri-La, and something called DIABLES. Whisperwood also got a spotlight — it’s heading to Kickstarter on August 11th from Cardboard Alchemy, a cooperative game about healing a corrupted forest. SUSD’s Board Games Direct series has quietly become one of the best ways to discover upcoming games without sitting through trade show footage, and this batch looks strong. Worth watching the full video on their site.

Tom Vasel’s Week in Review for July 20th covered two games worth flagging. Dwarves of Elvenland — the follow-up to Nidavellir — got a 9.5 from Tom. He called it “basically Nidavellir with new scoring methods,” which is high praise given how much he loved the original. Caveat: the Dice Tower is distributing it at Gen Con, so take the gushing with a grain of salt, but Nidavellir fans should have this on their radar. He also gave a 9 out of 10 to another title for its mechanisms and theme. The Dice Tower’s Week in Review is on YouTube.

Gen Con 2026 kicks off next Wednesday, July 30th, and the BGG preview list is already massive. Games generating the most pre-show buzz include The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth (the third Crew game from Kosmos), Forest Shuffle: Smoky Mountains, Circadia, Honeypot, Forbidden Legacy, and Bordeaux. The Gen Con Watchlist on BGG is a good resource — have a look here. Plaid Hat have also announced their Gen Con plans, and Lacerda did a cover reveal for The Resort, his next big euro. If any of these sound like Knavecon games, they probably are.

The Dice Tower’s Crowdsurfing episode from July 22nd covered the latest crop on Kickstarter, Gamefound and Backerkit. Meeple Mountain’s crowdfunding roundup highlights En-nichi — a cozy Japanese festival game ending August 11th — and Goalix, a flicking-based tabletop football game. Over on Gamefound, Relive Alexandria launched mid-July, a fully asymmetric game set during the era of the Great Library. The crowdfunding space is quieter than usual pre-Gen Con, which is normal — expect a flood in August. Dice Tower Crowdsurfing here, Meeple Mountain roundup here.

On the BGG Hotness, Siege Perilous — an Arthurian adventure game — is sitting at position 21. Brass: Birmingham is still lurking in the mid-20s as it always does. The BGG Climbers list for the week ending July 22nd is up (here on BGG), with Entropy, Container, and Stonemaier’s Duel of Meloch all climbing. Board Game Quest named Duel of Meloch — the Scythe vs Expeditions duelling game — to their best of 2026 so far list, which is a solid endorsement.

Worth tracking next week

Gen Con, obviously. That’s the main event. Expect a tsunami of announcements, demos, and hot takes from July 30th onwards. The big question: what does Stonemaier bring beyond Duel of Meloch? They’re exhibiting with Meeple Source at booth 2909 and will also be at Essen in October. The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth could be the sleeper hit of the show — the first two Crew games are all-timers. Whisperwood’s Kickstarter launches August 11th. And Dice Throne teased Nexus, a cyberpunk-themed line, for a Kickstarter later this autumn — that’s one to bookmark.

Ireland

Rogue Gaming opened in The Liberties, Dublin on June 6th. It’s now Dublin’s newest dedicated tabletop gaming space — board games, RPGs, trading cards — and it’s already showing up on the Wizards Store Locator running regular Commander nights and events. If you’re in Dublin, it’s worth checking out alongside the established spots like Gamers World, The Warchest in Dún Laoghaire, and Board And Brewed. Rogue Gaming’s site here.

The Irish Gaming Market Summer Edition ran July 11-12 at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire. That’s already happened, but if you missed it, the next thing on the calendar worth knowing is the Irish Card Market on August 15th, same venue. Gaelcon 38 — Ireland’s longest-running gaming convention — is October 23-26 at the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport. Details at iga.ie/gaelcon.

For regular gaming, the Board Games Ireland Meetup group is still running their Sunday sessions at The Black Sheep on Capel Street, Dublin — free, casual, bring-your-own-games setup. Meetup page here. If you know of anything happening in Munster between now and Knavecon, throw it in the Facebook group — I haven’t been able to find anything scheduled down this way for the summer, which is a shame.

For the Knavecon community

Gen Con is next week and the preview lists are enormous. If you’re the kind of person who likes to know what’s coming before it hits your FLGS in September, now’s the time to start following the BGG Gen Con Preview list and the various YouTube channels that’ll be doing floor coverage. The games that do well at Gen Con tend to dominate autumn tables. Worth keeping a shared wishlist going in the Knavecon Facebook group so we can coordinate who’s getting what for the next event.

One for the socials: “Shut Up & Sit Down are now doing a better job of previewing games than most actual conventions. Board Games Direct is free, you can watch it in your pants, and nobody queues for two hours to play a 15-minute demo. The future is now.”

A decent mid-July Tuesday with a few things worth knowing about, most of them pointing towards Gen Con in ten days’ time.

Dice Tower’s Week in Review just dropped and it’s a hefty one. Tom and crew covered Wingspan Pocket, Aqua Garden Trilogy Edition, Fliptown: New Frontier, and a bunch more. The Wingspan Pocket coverage is timely — Stonemaier launched it on their webstore last Tuesday (July 15) and shared sales data the next day. It’s a compact standalone version of Wingspan designed by Elizabeth Hargrave, not just a shrunk-down repack. Ships from EU fulfilment too, so relevant for us. It won’t hit local retail until mid-to-late August, but if you want one before Gen Con hype makes them scarce, the Stonemaier webstore is the move. Dice Tower Week in Review – July 20, 2026.

Kemet: The Gates of Thonis closes today on Gamefound. If you’re a Kemet: Blood and Sand fan, this is Kolossal Games adding new maps and tiles. It’s been comfortably funded — nearly 3,000 backers and over $318k raised at time of writing, which is 1,692% of its goal. That’s a strong showing for an expansion campaign. Last chance if you want in. Gamefound campaign page.

Gen Con preview season is in full swing. Meeple Mountain put out their 22 most anticipated games list and there’s a genuinely interesting one for the Irish gaming crowd: Moytura from Bitewing Games, a 1-2 player area control game set in ancient Ireland, featuring the Tuatha Dé Danann. Designed by Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, with art that’s being described as Samurai Jack meets Spirit Island. That’s a combination that should get your attention. Meeple Mountain’s Gen Con 2026 list. BoardGameCo and How I Roll also put out a joint top 10 anticipated Gen Con games video this week if you want more of that. Watch it here.

Eagle-Gryphon are pushing the Kickstarter pre-launch page for Vital Lacerda’s The Resort, his next big design with Ian O’Toole on art. It won’t campaign until 2027, but the cover reveal happened earlier this month and they’re building their notification list now. If you’re a Lacerda person, you already know about this. If you’re not, it probably won’t convert you. Eagle-Gryphon’s Facebook post.

Dune: Imperium – Conspiracy continues to build buzz ahead of its Fall 2026 release. It’s not a standalone — it’s an expansion compatible with both the original Dune: Imperium and Uprising, adding new leaders, cards, and an Overthrow Mode. Dire Wolf are running a Conspiracy championship tournament at Gen Con, which tells you they’re confident in it. If Dune: Imperium is in your regular rotation, this is the one to track. Dire Wolf’s announcement.

Worth watching: Bomb Busters has apparently overtaken everything to become the most-played game on BGA this month according to BGG’s Best of July video. Dice Throne teased their next product line — Nexus, with a cyberpunk theme — coming to Kickstarter this autumn. And the Reiner Knizia Spiel des Jahres clean sweep from two weeks ago (JinxO for SdJ, Rebirth for Kennerspiel) is still generating conversation. Rebirth in particular, published by Malta-based Mighty Boards, is worth getting to the table if you haven’t already. Board Game Wire’s coverage.

Ireland roundup. A few things on the radar. The big one coming up soon is CraiCON in Ballymena — Northern Ireland’s newest board gaming convention, August 1-2 at St Patrick’s College. Two days of pure board gaming. Tickets are available at craicon-ni.com. That’s less than two weeks away. Then there’s the Belfast Anime & Gaming Con on July 25-26 at the Crowne Plaza Belfast, if that’s your thing. Further out, Board & Brewed in Dún Laoghaire are running a Glendalough Gaming Retreat on September 18-20 — a weekend of board games, wargames, and RPGs in Glendalough, Co. Wicklow. Tickets from €40 non-residential or €150 with accommodation. They say more than half the tickets are already gone. Details at boardandbrewed.ie. And of course Gaelcon 38 is confirmed for October 23-26 at Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport. Closer to home, The Gathering in Limerick continues to be the local hub — worth checking their socials for upcoming club nights. thegathering.ie.

For the Knavecon community: Moytura is the game I’d flag. An area control game themed around Irish mythology, designed by two strong designers, from a publisher (Bitewing) that’s been putting out consistently interesting stuff. It’s debuting at Gen Con at the end of the month. If anyone going to Gen Con can grab a copy and bring it to the next Knavecon, you’ll be very popular.

One for social:

“Reiner Knizia winning both the Spiel des Jahres and the Kennerspiel in the same year at age 68 is genuinely remarkable. The man has been designing games since the early 90s and he’s arguably having his best decade right now. Rebirth is the real deal.”

Monday 20 July 2026 — Daily Briefing

Fairly quiet weekend in terms of breaking news, but there’s a good bit bubbling away under the surface with Gen Con now just ten days out. The pre-Gen Con announcement season is in full swing and a few things are worth your attention this Monday morning.

The big story still reverberating from the last week is the Dice Throne Nexus announcement. The teaser dropped on July 7th and confirms a cyberpunk-themed next chapter for Dice Throne, launching on Kickstarter this autumn. The trailer is short on detail — mostly vibes and the word “Brains” repeated — but the Reddit thread is buzzing with speculation about new characters and whether it’ll be compatible with existing seasons. If you’re a Dice Throne household (and a lot of Knavecon regulars are), this one’s worth keeping an eye on. Teaser on YouTube / Reddit discussion.

Chip Theory Games’ Wreck is now live on Gamefound and sitting at $315k after launching on July 14th. It’s a new standalone game set in the Wroth universe — naval combat this time — and the campaign also includes a fresh printing of Wroth itself. Goal was reached in 26 seconds, which tells you everything about Chip Theory’s audience. If you like neoprene chips and big tactical fights, this is exactly your sort of thing. Campaign runs for another 20 days. Gamefound page.

Eagle-Gryphon dropped the cover art for Vital Lacerda’s The Resort last week, with art by Ian O’Toole. It won’t hit Kickstarter until 2027 so this is purely a “look at this pretty thing” situation, but any new Lacerda gets people talking. The BGG thread has the usual mix of excitement and “my wife loves tropical themes but I know this will be too heavy for her.” Classic. Facebook post from Eagle-Gryphon.

Plaid Hat had a rough start to the month — they pulled The Monolith from Kickstarter after the campaign stagnated on day two despite hitting its (very low) $15k goal. They’ve admitted to already spending $35k on moulds alone, so the economics were off. They’re planning a relaunch after Gen Con with better pricing options. Meanwhile they’re pushing ahead with Gen Con plans including the Summoner Wars tournament, Ashes: Natural Magic shipping mid-July, and teasing a new game called Brumble. Board Game Wire coverage.

Garphill Games have announced two new Ancient Anthology expansions — Skara Brae: Headlands and Raiders of Scythia: Omens — heading to Kickstarter. No launch date yet but the Garphill faithful will want to keep an eye on their news page.

Worth watching: Bomb Busters is the most-played game on BGA this month with over 10,000 plays according to the BGG July roundup, overtaking Flip 7. On the BGG Hotness, Kemet: The Gates of Thonis and Nippon: Zaibatsu continue to trend. Gen Con watchlists on BGG are filling up fast — the usual suspects like Arcs, Slay the Spire, and Root are there, alongside 2026 releases like Kemet and Hot Streak. Best of BGG July.

Ireland round-up. A few things happening on the island worth flagging. The Belfast Anime & Gaming Con is this weekend, July 25-26, at the Crowne Plaza Belfast. Battle Inc Gaming will be there with board games to play and buy, with volunteers teaching games all weekend. It’s primarily an anime/cosplay event but the tabletop presence has been growing. Tickets on Eventbrite. In Dublin, there’s an Adult Board Games Social Night this Wednesday July 22nd at This Must Be The Place in Smithfield, 6:30-8:30pm, €8.48 entry — decent casual option if you’re in town. Details on VisitDublin. Also worth noting: Rogue Gaming opened its doors in the Liberties on Francis Street back in June and seems to be settling in nicely — they’re running regular Flesh and Blood and MTG events and stocking board games too. Good to see another FLGS in Dublin. And if you’re the “plan ahead” type, the Glendalough Gaming Retreat from Board & Brewed is September 18-20 in Co. Wicklow — a full weekend of tabletop gaming, tickets from €40 non-residential or €150 with accommodation. More than half the spots are already gone. Book here. Gaelcon 38 is locked in for October 23-26 at Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport as usual.

For Knavecon folks specifically: Gen Con is July 30 to August 2, and a lot of the games that’ll show up at future Knavecons will get their first outings there. If you see something at Gen Con that you think we should get into the Knavecon library, give us a shout. That’s what the community’s for.

One for social: “Chip Theory raised $315k in 26 seconds for Wreck. Meanwhile I still can’t get four people to commit to a game night. Different worlds.”