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?”
Victor Gannon Games 
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