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.”
Victor Gannon Games 
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