Knavecon Boardgame Briefing — Friday, 26 June 2026

Knavecon Weekly — Friday 26 June 2026

A busy week in board games, this one. A major acquisition, a crowdfunding campaign that refuses to slow down, Origins Game Fair wrapped up, and the Dice Tower has been firing out reviews like they’re getting paid per video (which, fair enough, they are). Plenty to talk about.

Awaken Realms buys Thundergryph Games

The biggest industry story of the week. Awaken Realms announced on Tuesday that they’ve acquired Thundergryph Games — the Portuguese publisher behind Darwin’s Journey and Tang Garden. Thundergryph keeps its name and creative team, but Awaken Realms takes over production, logistics, and distribution. The first joint project is Galileo’s Truth by Virginio Gigli and Flaminia Brasini, hitting Gamefound on July 7th. BoardGameWire broke the story (link). This is Awaken Realms’ first M&A move, and given how aggressively they’ve been growing — Concordia Special Edition, the Castles of Burgundy deluxe, and now their own crowdfunding platform in Gamefound — it feels like the start of something bigger. Thundergryph has made some lovely games but has had a reputation for shaky fulfilment, so this might actually be good news for backers. Worth watching how it plays out.

Concordia Special Edition still climbing on Gamefound

Speaking of Awaken Realms, their Concordia Special Edition campaign on Gamefound is in its final days — four days left as of today — and it’s sitting at over €3.6 million raised. It hit its goal in literally one minute. The campaign wasn’t without controversy earlier in the year when it got review-bombed on BGG over AI art concerns, which Awaken Realms responded to by publicly listing all 24 artists, designers and modellers on the project and pledging “no AI art” (BoardGameWire). If you love Concordia and want the premium treatment, this is your last window. If you’re happy with your existing copy, honestly, it’s the same great game.

Origins Game Fair came and went

Origins 2026 ran June 17–21 in Columbus, Ohio. About 19,000 attendees and 400+ vendors, which is respectable but still a fraction of UK Games Expo’s monster numbers (more on that below). The Opinionated Gamers had a report from the floor (link) and a few YouTube channels covered demos and highlights. No single breakout announcement dominated, but the general vibe was positive. It’s a good convention that knows what it is — more intimate than Gen Con, more open gaming, less hype.

The Dice Tower’s week in review

Tom Vasel and the Dice Tower crew covered a pile of games this past week: Clans of Caledonia: Industria (the new expansion with the train map — getting solid marks), Tales of Arabian Nights 40th Anniversary (updated with 200+ new paragraphs and a solo mode, sitting at 8.1 on BGG), Brushwood, Fearless, and a bunch more. The Tales of Arabian Nights review is probably the most interesting if you have any nostalgia for that game — it’s the same beautiful mess it always was, just more of it. The Clans of Caledonia: Industria expansion is one for the Knavecon crowd — Scottish whisky theme, meaty euro, now with trains. What’s not to like? (Dice Tower Week in Review – June 22)

UK Games Expo’s numbers are staggering

This technically broke a few weeks back but the full picture is now clear: UKGE 2026 hit 87,837 total attendance with 51,196 unique ticket holders, making it the biggest event ever held at the NEC Birmingham. That’s the 20th anniversary show and it’s more than doubled its pre-pandemic record. It’s now firmly the third-largest tabletop convention in the world and closing in on Gen Con. Multiple reports noted the infrastructure struggled with the crowds — queues, congestion, the usual growing pains. But vendors reported record sales. Geek Native had a good write-up on the logistics issues (link). For anyone thinking about going next year, it’s June 4–6 2027.

On the BGG Hotness

The June BGG Hotness video from Board Game Hangover (link) has the usual suspects plus a few worth noting. Cozy Stickerville from Corey Konieczka (the Unexpected Games designer behind The Initiative) has been generating a lot of chat — it’s a co-op legacy game with 800+ stickers where you build a little village. Cute concept, about 10 hours total playtime, and it’s getting “game of the year contender” whispers from some corners. SETI continues to be parked in the hotness like it owns the space. And Fate of the Fellowship (the Lord of the Rings co-op from Fantasy Flight) seems permanently lodged there too.

Ireland

This weekend — literally tomorrow — the Irish Competition Galecon runs in Limerick on June 27–28. It’s a miniatures wargaming event focused on Mortem et Gloriam, so not board games strictly, but it’s on our doorstep so worth knowing about (BGG conventions list).

The bigger date coming up is IGM Summer Edition on July 11–12 at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire. It’s a gaming and pop culture market but Tabletop Ireland will be there running D&D for beginners, Warhammer 40K, Werewolf, and a big board game library. Tickets are on sale at irishgamingmarket.ie.

Dublin’s new game shop Rogue Gaming opened on Francis Street in the Liberties on June 6th. It’s a dedicated tabletop space — Magic, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Flesh and Blood, D&D, board games. They’re already running weekly Flesh and Blood armory events on Wednesday evenings. Good to see another FLGS in Dublin. (Rogue Gaming)

Board Games Ireland’s Monday night meetups at Ryan’s Bar in Dublin continue to tick over — 9,886 members on their Meetup group now, free to attend.

Further out, Gaelcon 38 is confirmed for October 23–26 at Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport with Rob Brennan directing. And for anyone keeping a calendar, Dublin Comic Con Summer Edition is August 8–9.

For the Knavecon community

Clans of Caledonia: Industria might be worth getting on the table at the next Knavecon. The base game is already a crowd favourite and the expansion adds new clans, a train-era map, and a proper solo Automa. Board Game Quest and Meeple Mountain both gave it positive reviews. If you loved the original, the expansion doesn’t reinvent it — it just gives you more reasons to play.

One for the socials

“Awaken Realms buying Thundergryph feels like watching someone who already owns three houses buy a fourth. But if it means Darwin’s Journey backers actually get their stuff on time, maybe that’s fine.”