Knavecon Boardgame Briefing — Friday, 28 August 2026

Knavecon Boardgame Briefing — Friday, 28 August 2026

Decent week. Not the noisiest of the summer — we’re in that late-August lull where Gen Con has fully settled and the Essen machine is just starting to warm up — but there’s enough going on to keep you busy. A major retail release finally landing, FFG continuing to tease the Vault Series, a couple of things climbing the BGG Hotness that deserve your attention, and a surprisingly active autumn shaping up for Irish conventions.

The five things that mattered this week

Wingspan Pocket is shipping today, August 28th, to retailers (Taps Games listing). This is Stonemaier’s compact version of Wingspan — smaller box, 30-minute playtime, designed for portability without gutting what makes the original work. It’s been sitting at #8 on the BGG Hotness and early buzz is positive. Elizabeth Hargrave designed it, which matters — this isn’t a cash-in shrink-down by a different team. If you’ve ever wanted Wingspan but found the setup or table footprint a barrier, this is probably for you. If you already own Wingspan and both expansions, it’s harder to justify, but at the price point it’s an easy gift buy. Stonemaier’s own page has all the details.

ICv2 reported this week that Dune: Imperium – Conspiracy is officially heading to retail, with preorders now live and an October release window (ICv2). This is the new expansion from Dire Wolf that works with both the original Dune: Imperium and Uprising — cross-compatibility is a smart move given how split the playerbase is between the two versions. New cards, new leaders, planetary raids. GameNerdz has it listed at $40 (link). This’ll be one to watch for the Essen/autumn review cycle. Dune: Imperium – Conspiracy was already sitting in the BGG Hotness top 10 this month, so there’s real appetite for it.

Shut Up & Sit Down wrapped their Board Games Direct 2026 series over the past few weeks and it’s worth going back through if you missed any of it. They ran themed days — thematic games, crunchy games, chill games, co-op and solo, card games, two-player — and covered a huge amount of upcoming stuff. Highlights included Thunder Road: Ignition (coming this month), a Mechs vs. Minions: Bandle City Edition reveal to kick the whole thing off, and a pile of shorter previews through Dani Standring’s excellent BGD Shorts series. It’s a lot of content but genuinely useful if you want to know what’s coming before Essen. All of it is on shutupandsitdown.com and their YouTube channel.

The Arkham Horror Remastered Gamefound campaign continues to build anticipation. This is the first title in FFG’s new Vault Series — bringing back the beloved 2nd Edition of Arkham Horror with revamped rules, upgraded components, new illustrations, and the entire run of 2nd Edition expansions rolled in. The campaign launches in October on Gamefound. For anyone who loved 2nd Edition (and there are a lot of us), this is a big deal. The 3rd Edition never quite captured the same magic for a chunk of the fanbase, so a properly remastered 2nd Edition with modern production values is exactly the right call. No pricing yet, but expect it won’t be cheap — it’s the full collection.

Restoration Games posted more behind-the-scenes content this week for The Lord of the Rings: The King’s Gambit — their restoration of the old Star Wars: The Queen’s Gambit, re-themed to Middle-earth with a crowdfunding campaign coming in September (Restoration Games). The deluxe edition will feature 3D representations of Minas Tirith and Mordor. It’s a joint effort with Space Cowboys and it’s #7 on the BGG Hotness already. The standard retail edition is due in 2027, but the limited deluxe is crowdfund-only. This one has serious hype behind it.

What’s worth tracking next week

The BGG Hotness has been interesting this month. Dune: Imperium – Conspiracy, Wingspan Pocket, and Night at the Zoo (from Czech designer Tomáš Holek) are all jostling for position. Dominant Species has been climbing again — a 16-year-old game still finding new fans. Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship moved up a couple of spots too. Worth keeping an eye on Rebirth by Reiner Knizia, which got a Spiel des Jahres nomination and is still generating discussion.

Essen is less than two months out (22–25 October). The Essen Spiel Preview on BGG is now live, and publishers are starting to reveal their lineups. If you’re planning a trip, hotel rooms go fast — book now if you haven’t already.

Ireland

The Irish convention calendar for autumn is genuinely stacked this year. DARECon 2026 is confirmed for 17–18 October at the Osprey Hotel in Naas, Co. Kildare — run by Naas Board Game Club, two days of open play, organised games, and family-friendly tables. Tickets are live on Fienta and on darecon.ie. Then just a few days later, Gaelcon 38 runs from 23–26 October at Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport in Santry. Ireland’s oldest independent gaming convention, now in its 38th year — RPGs, board games, LARPs, wargames, trade hall, charity auction, the works. They updated their schedule on August 26th and RPG tickets are on sale now at iga.ie/gaelcon. Hotel rooms at the convention rate are €185/€195 per night Fri–Sat. That’s two solid weekends of gaming in October for anyone willing to travel.

CraiCON in Ballymena ran successfully at the start of the month — Northern Ireland’s newest board game convention — so fair play to them for getting that off the ground (craicon-ni.com). And for Cork folk, The Collector’s Cave opened earlier this summer at 14B French Church Street — a new hobby and gaming store with a dedicated sensory space for neurodivergent players, which is a genuinely thoughtful touch (Yay Cork). Competition for Sandbox in the city, and healthy competition at that. Board & Brewed also continues ticking along as Ireland’s board game café option. Dublin has Gamers World, Rogue Gaming (relatively new), and Underworld Gaming all doing their thing.

For the Knavecon community

Essen is eight weeks away and October is shaping up to be a brilliant month for Irish tabletop. If you’re thinking about going to DARECon, Gaelcon, or both, now’s the time to sort tickets. And if Arkham Horror 2nd Edition was your thing back in the day, the Vault Series remaster launching in October could be the crowdfunding campaign of the autumn. Worth discussing in the group — how many of us would back a full remastered 2nd Edition collection?

One for socials

“Wingspan Pocket ships today. Arkham Horror 2nd Edition is getting a full remaster. Lord of the Rings: The King’s Gambit crowdfunds next month. And Ireland has two board game conventions in October plus a brand new game shop in Cork. Not bad for a quiet August.”