Quiet enough Tuesday overall, but we’re in the middle of the Essen hangover and there’s still plenty to chew on. Spiel Essen 2026 wrapped up on Sunday after drawing 230,000 visitors — a new record — across eight halls. The dust is still settling and first impressions are flooding in from every corner of the hobby media. Here’s what’s worth your attention today.

The Essen afterglow is real. No Pun Included dropped their Hottest Games from Spiel Essen roundup, and it’s two hours of Efka and Elaine working through everything they played on the show floor. Queen Alice from Combo Games was the darling of the show — a mid-heavy euro with chess pieces, engine-building, and gorgeous artwork by Amelia Sales. It sat at #2 on the BGG Hotness going into the show and it’s still sitting there now. If you like your euros a bit weird and beautiful, this is the one to track. Avalon: The Riven Veil from Shadowborne and the Cold War area-control game -60° were the other two massive buzz generators. Wargamer also ran a nice best-of-show roundup covering some gems that aren’t getting as much attention — Mole Racing, Kinsokuchi, and a horror TCG called Hellbreak that apparently turned heads. Also from Graven Games, worth a look if you want quick hits rather than two-hour videos.

The Osprey Games situation got worse. We covered the Bloomsbury sale announcement back in May, but BoardGameWire reported on October 16th that Osprey has now let go of its entire board and card game development team and cancelled its Essen booth. The sale fell through — Bloomsbury couldn’t find a buyer willing to take on the staff alongside the catalogue. The final two titles, Undaunted 2200: Revolution and Upland & Prairie, will still ship as planned, but after that it sounds like the board game line is done. That’s the publisher behind the Undaunted series, the Imperium games, and a load of other well-regarded mid-weight stuff. Really grim outcome. Bloomsbury’s profits have nearly doubled in the last five years — this wasn’t about money, it was about strategic focus on books. The designers and staff deserve better.

Shut Up & Sit Down posted a review of Yotei. Their latest review is up on shutupandsitdown.com, covering the card game that was featured in their Board Games Direct 2026 previews back in July. Haven’t had time to watch the full thing yet, but SUSD reviewing a card game that was also featured in NPI’s Essen coverage suggests it’s one that’s going to get a lot of table time this autumn.

The Lord of the Rings: The King’s Gambit finished its Kickstarter run. Restoration Games’ reimplementation of the beloved Star Wars: The Queen’s Gambit closed on October 20th, pulling in $1.7 million. Two pledge levels — the Limited Edition at $199 and a frankly absurd Mithril Edition at $499 with over 150 miniatures, 3D Minas Tirith structures, the works. A retail edition through Space Cowboys/Asmodee is planned for 2027 with smaller boards and no 3D structures. If you missed it there should be a late pledge manager coming. Big Boss Battle had it as their easiest recommendation of October.

Chip Theory is learning from Neon Knight. A recent BoardGameWire piece covered how Chip Theory hired former Keymaster Games director Jennifer Graham-Macht to grow their lighter game imprint, Neon Knight. The honest bit: they admitted they were “maybe naive” about expecting their Too Many Bones audience to follow them into lighter games. They’re considering moving Neon Knight campaigns back to Kickstarter to reach a different audience. It’s refreshing when a publisher talks this openly about what isn’t working.

Games worth watching right now: Queen Alice is the obvious one — it’s going to be everywhere for the next few months. Gaudí from Devir (a tile-laying game by Dani Garcia) was getting strong Essen buzz. And keep an eye on Braided Skies, which topped the Board Game Hangover October hotness list and is climbing the BGG charts.

Ireland corner. Gaelcon 38 just finished its run this past weekend (October 23–26) at the Crowne Plaza in Santry — if you went, I hope you had a great time. Ireland’s longest-running gaming convention, 38 years and still going. For anyone who missed it, photos are already going up on their Instagram.

The next big thing on the Irish calendar is the CATAN Irish National Championship on Saturday November 14th at the Teachers Club in Dublin. €20 a ticket on Eventbrite, and it’s reportedly nearly sold out. The winner represents Ireland at the CATAN Worlds in 2027 and the Europeans in 2028. Three guaranteed games, then a top-16 knockout. If that’s your thing, don’t wait.

For the Knavecon community specifically: if anyone went to Gaelcon or Essen and picked up something interesting, bring it along to the next Knavecon. The Essen new releases will start filtering into Irish shops and online stores over the next few weeks. Queen Alice and Gaudí look like the kind of games our crowd would enjoy.

One for sharing: “Osprey Games gone. The Undaunted and Imperium publisher had their entire board game team let go because Bloomsbury couldn’t find a buyer. Profits nearly doubled in five years — they just didn’t want to make games anymore. Support the publishers who actually want to be here.”

It’s Essen week. That’s really all you need to know. The biggest board game fair in the world opened yesterday in Essen, Germany, and it’ll run through Sunday. But there’s been plenty else going on too — a major award, crowdfunding that’s still cooking, and a stack of reviews from the usual crew. Busy week.

Spiel Essen 2026 is happening right now

The big show kicked off on Wednesday the 22nd and runs through Sunday the 25th. Saturday is already sold out, and Thursday tickets hit 90% before the doors even opened. The organisers are targeting up to 230,000 visitors this year, which would smash the previous record of 220,000 set in 2019. That’s seven halls, 921 exhibitors from 53 countries, and over 1,500 new titles on show. If you’re not there — and most of us aren’t — the flood of “what I played at Essen” content will start hitting YouTube by Monday. No Pun Included have already posted their “Hottest Games from Spiel Essen” video, and various channels are doing live recommendations from the floor. Worth keeping an eye on the BGG Spiel Essen 2026 GeekPreview page (boardgamegeek.com) for the full list of what’s being shown.

Artengarten wins the Deutscher Spielepreis 2026

The big award of the week. Artengarten, designed by Mathias Wigge and published by Feuerland Spiele, took the Deutscher Spielepreis — Germany’s community-voted game prize, announced on Tuesday at Essen’s press conference. It’s a spinoff of Arche Nova (Ark Nova), which won the same award back in 2022. Second place went to Boss Fighters QR (Pegasus Spiele), and third to Galactic Cruise (PD-Verlag). Matt Leacock’s Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship — the Pandemic reskin — came in fourth, and Rebirth by Knizia placed sixth. Best Children’s Game went to Toriki: Eine Insel voller Abenteuer. The Arche Nova connection is interesting — Wigge and Feuerland clearly know their audience, and the DSP voters rewarded it. (brettspiel-news.de, spiel-essen.de)

Forest Shuffle: Smoky Mountains hits retail this week

The third standalone game in Kosch’s Forest Shuffle series launched at Essen and hit stores simultaneously. This one’s set in the Great Smoky Mountains and adds water-based terrain and new species — herons, bass, otters, black bears. The Dice Tower reviewed it back in August and it’s been on a lot of anticipation lists. If you liked Forest Shuffle (and a lot of people did), this is a day-one pickup. Lookout Spiele timed the release perfectly for the Essen crowd. (Polygon, Lookout Spiele)

Tidal Blades 2: Wardian Sky is crushing it on Kickstarter

Druid City Games launched the Tidal Blades 2 expansion campaign on October 13th and it’s sitting at 1,336% funded with a week left to go. It’s a narrative campaign dungeon-crawl with worker placement and dice upgrading, and the original game has a devoted following. If you’re into campaign games, this is worth a look before it closes on October 30th. Separately, Panopticon on Gamefound has hit 251% — it’s a cooperative adventure game from Pick ‘N’ Roll Games Lab. Firesiege, a co-op tower defense game, closes on October 28th on Kickstarter. (Kickstarter, Meeple Mountain crowdfunding roundup)

Dice Tower had a big review week

Tom Vasel and crew covered a pile of games in their October 19th Week in Review. The standouts: Avalon: The Riven Veil got a 7.5 — an Arthurian area-control game with solid multi-use cards but reportedly clunky rules. Prague Unseen scored a 7 — worker placement, four factions restoring Prague, nice visuals but thin theme. They also covered Greenwood, Pirates of Maracaibo, Drawing Dead, and an Army of Darkness game. Worth scanning their channel if you’re looking for something new to bring to the table. (Dice Tower)

What’s worth tracking next week

The Essen aftershock is the big thing. By Monday, every content creator who attended will be posting their top picks, hidden gems, and disappointments. That’s when the real signal comes through — not the preview hype, but the “I actually played this and here’s what I think” takes. Watch the BGG Hotness list next week too. It always reshuffles after Essen as people log new plays and the buzz games climb. Right now the Hotness includes Kingdom Crossing, Arctica, Not Alone Remastered, Braided Skies, Greenwood, Excursions, and An Infamous Traffic 2nd Edition. Expect Essen darlings to start appearing there by midweek. (Board Game Hangover)

Ireland

Gaelcon 38 starts today. October 23rd through the 26th at the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport — Ireland’s longest-running gaming convention, in its 38th year. RPGs, board games, card games, LARPs, wargames, trade hall, pub quiz, charity auction. If you’re reading this and you’re anywhere near Dublin this weekend, go. (iga.ie/gaelcon)

DARECon 2026 happened last weekend (October 17–18) in Naas — hope people got along to that. The more Irish conventions that exist and thrive, the better for the whole scene.

Coming up: the CATAN Irish National Championship 2026 is on Saturday, November 14th. Winners represent Ireland at the Worlds in 2027 and the Europeans in 2028. Tickets are on Eventbrite. (Eventbrite)

On the retail side, Rogue Gaming in Dublin is still relatively new and worth supporting — they’re running regular TCG events and have board games and RPGs. Meeps Gaming continues to be a solid independent Irish online retailer for board games. And the usual Dublin shops — Gamers World, The Warchest in Dún Laoghaire — are still your best bets for browsing in person.

Knavecon 27 ran last month and was great. We’re already thinking about the next one. More on that when there’s something to announce.

One for social media

Artengarten — a spinoff of Ark Nova — just won the Deutscher Spielepreis. Essen Saturday sold out before the doors opened. Forest Shuffle has a third standalone game. Whatever you think about the state of the hobby, it doesn’t look like a hobby that’s slowing down.

It’s Essen week, basically. Everything in board gaming right now is pointing toward Thursday when Spiel Essen 2026 opens its doors in Germany. That’s dominating the conversation, but there’s still a few things happening closer to home and in the wider hobby that are worth your time today.

Osprey Games is done with board games. This one landed last week but it’s still reverberating. Osprey Games — the publisher behind the Undaunted series, Imperium, and a bunch of other well-regarded designs — has let go of its entire board and card game development team and cancelled its Essen booth. Parent company Bloomsbury announced back in May that it wanted to sell the board game line, and now it looks like the axe has properly fallen. They say the last two titles, Undaunted 2200: Revolution and Upland & Prairie, will still ship as planned. Osprey will continue doing wargaming rulebooks and RPGs, but the board game chapter is closed. It’s a real loss — they punched well above their weight for years. Full story at BoardGameWire.

Essen Spiel 2026 kicks off Thursday. October 22–25 in Messe Essen. The preview list on BGG is live and the content creators are all in full preview mode. The games getting the most buzz: Jamey Stegmaier’s Braided Skies (set in the Smoking Bones universe — Stonemaier’s big release), Gaudí from Devir (a tile-laying game by Dani Garcia that looks gorgeous), Avalon: The Riven Veil (area control from the Oathsworn team — already generating mixed-but-mostly-positive reviews), Greenwood, For the Gods! from Mighty Boards, and the inevitable Kingdom Come Deliverance: The Board Game. If you can’t be there, the BGG preview page is the best way to track what’s dropping.

The Dice Tower’s Week in Review covered a good spread. Tom and Chris reviewed Avalon: The Riven Veil — Tom seemed to enjoy it, Chris gave it a 7.5 but flagged clunky rules and iconography issues. They also covered Greenwood, Restore, Prague Unseen, Drawing Dead, and others. Worth a watch if you want a quick temperature check on what’s landing right now. Dice Tower Week in Review – October 19.

Lord of the Rings: The King’s Gambit is still running on Kickstarter. Restoration Games’ reimplementation of Star Wars: The Queen’s Gambit (the beloved 2000 grail game) launched on September 29 and appears to be doing well. It plays out the final battles of the Lord of the Rings across four theatres simultaneously — Minas Tirith, Pelennor Fields, the Black Gate, and the journey to Mount Doom. It’s ambitious, lavish, and probably expensive. If you ever wanted Queen’s Gambit but couldn’t stomach the aftermarket prices, this is your shot. Campaign page on Kickstarter.

BGG Hotness right now is full of Essen anticipation. Board Game Hangover posted their October rundown — Braided Skies, Kingdom Crossing, An Infamous Traffic second edition, Rebirth II, and Arctica are all trending. Drillers from CGE is sitting at position 10 on the current BGG Hotness. Magical Athlete and Gaudí also appeared in the latest Best of BGG video. Expect the whole list to get shaken up by Friday once Essen demos start.

On the Irish front. DARECon 2026 just wrapped up over the weekend — October 17–18 at the Osprey Hotel in Naas, Co. Kildare, run by Naas Board Game Club. Two days of open play, RPGs, wargaming, and family gaming. Hope anyone who went had a great time — the more of these events we have on the island, the better.

Next up for Ireland: Gaelcon 38 runs this coming weekend, October 23–26, at the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport. Ireland’s oldest independent gaming convention, going since 1989. RPGs, board games, card games, LARPs, wargames, plus a trade hall and charity auction. Hotel rooms at the convention rate are €185/night single or €195 double. Details at iga.ie/gaelcon.

Also spotted: Cork Explore & Connect posted about a board games meetup that ran last week, sounding positive. And the Cork Action League continues its Monday night sessions at Bodega on Cornmarket Street at 6:30pm — always a good shout if you’re down that way. On BGG’s Ireland forum, there’s also a thread about a gaming group forming in East Cork/Midleton, which is good to see.

For the Knavecon community specifically — with Essen running this week, expect a flood of new hotness and impulse buys over the coming days. If you’re watching for games to bring to the next Knavecon, keep an eye on Braided Skies, Greenwood, and Gaudí as likely candidates for the tables. And if anyone’s heading to Gaelcon this weekend, report back.

One for the socials: “Osprey Games shutting down their board game line is a proper shame. Undaunted, Imperium, Crab Rage — they had genuine taste. Hope whoever’s behind those designs lands somewhere good.”

Knavecon Weekly — Friday 16 October 2026

Absolute chaos of a week. Three major crowdfunding campaigns running simultaneously, Essen less than a week away, two Irish conventions either happening right now or next weekend, and Hasbro quietly locking in its future with Renegade. If your wallet survived this week, you weren’t paying attention.

The five things that mattered this week

The biggest story is probably Satisfactory: The Board Game smashing through its Gamefound campaign. It launched on Monday the 13th with a €25,000 goal and blew past €900,000 within 24 hours — that’s 3,600% funded on day one. MOOD Publishing is developing it with Coffee Stain, and from what people who’ve played preview copies are saying, it genuinely captures the factory-building loop of the video game rather than just slapping a licence on a generic Euro. The campaign runs until November 11, base pledge is €70, deluxe is €135. English delivery estimated Q4 2027. (Gamemeca coverage, press release via MyNewsDesk)

Meanwhile, The Lord of the Rings: The King’s Gambit from Restoration Games is sitting at over $1.17 million on Kickstarter with four days to go. This is the reimplementation of Star Wars: The Queen’s Gambit — the white whale that’s been going for mad money on the secondhand market for years. Restoration co-founder Justin Jacobson has said it’s a “beefier, better-balanced” version of the original. The Minas Tirith board looks absolutely gorgeous. Campaign closes October 20. (Kickstarter page, GodisaGeek writeup)

Nemesis: Legacy launched on Gamefound on October 6 and funded in under a minute, because of course it did. Awaken Realms is promising 35+ hours of campaign content with branching storylines and evolving characters. It’s the number one game on basically every “best of October” list going around. Whether you think Nemesis needs a legacy version or not, the market has clearly spoken. (Zatu coverage)

On the industry side, Hasbro and Renegade Game Studios renewed their licensing partnership, covering Axis & Allies, Diplomacy, Heroscape, Robo Rally, Acquire, and Ikusa, with new games and expansions planned for 2027 and beyond. Renegade has also been mixing Hasbro’s entertainment IPs into these systems — there’s already a G.I. JOE game “Powered by Axis & Allies” and G.I. JOE content for Heroscape. Separately, Renegade confirmed they’re done publishing World of Darkness RPGs at the end of 2026, with White Wolf taking that back in-house. Lords of Waterdeep is also returning in a new edition next year. Lot of moving pieces at Renegade right now. (BoardGameWire, ICv2, Renegade blog)

And then there’s Essen. SPIEL runs October 22–25, and the BGG GeekPreview list has hit 1,287 new games. That number is absurd but that’s Essen for you. Games I’m seeing mentioned most in preview lists: Braided Skies (Jamey Stegmaier’s new one, set in the Smoking Bones universe), Recall (spiritual successor to Revive, getting very positive early buzz), Bunny Kingdom Town (Richard Garfield, two-player), Gaudí, and the Avalon: The Riven Veil hype train continues. Board Game Review UK did a nice top 10 Essen preview worth reading if you’re trying to narrow down what to look at.

What’s worth tracking next week

Next week IS Essen week, so expect an avalanche of first impressions, surprise announcements, and people spending far too much money. The King’s Gambit Kickstarter closes on Tuesday the 20th, so last chance on that. Chip Theory’s Neon Knight imprint officially launches on October 27 — their attempt to do lighter, more retail-friendly games, which is an interesting pivot from the company that makes Too Many Bones. They’ve hired Jennifer Graham-Macht from Keymaster to run it, which suggests they’re serious about it not just being a side project. (BoardGameWire)

On the review front, the Dice Tower put out their October 15 news show and have been reviewing steadily — Tom covered Very Big Monster this week. SU&SD’s latest review was Yotei, which is now on their front page. The Dice Tower’s Crowdsurfing episode from October 14 covered what’s live on Kickstarter and Gamefound if you want a video walkthrough of the current campaigns. (Dice Tower, SU&SD)

Ireland

Big weekend. DARECon is literally happening right now — today and tomorrow at the Osprey Hotel in Naas, Co. Kildare. Two days of board games, RPGs, wargaming, family gaming, workshops, and late-night gaming on Saturday. It’s run by Naas Board Game Club and tickets are available through Fienta or Eventbrite. If you’re reading this Friday morning and can get to Kildare, go. (darecon.ie)

Then next weekend it’s Gaelcon, October 23–26 at the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport. Ireland’s longest-running gaming convention — 38 years now. RPGs, board games, card games, LARPs, wargames, trade hall, panels, pub quiz, charity auction. The annual Gaelcon Math Trade is live on BGG right now and open to anyone with an Irish postal address (including the North). If you’ve got games to shift, get your listings in. (BGG math trade, Gaelcon via IGA)

The Board Games Ireland Meetup group in Dublin continues to run regular sessions — there’s a Wednesday meetup, a Sunday session at the Black Sheep on Capel Street, and Monday nights too. (Meetup)

Worth noting that Meeps Gaming, the independent Irish retailer, lists Knavecon on their convention schedule for 2026 alongside WarpCon, AthVentureCon, and others, which is nice to see. Rogue Gaming in Dublin also looks like it’s becoming a proper hub for the Dublin tabletop scene. (Meeps Gaming, Rogue Gaming)

Knavecon 27 ran last month at the Castletroy Park Hotel — if you were there, you know how it went. For anyone who’s got the itch already, DARECon this weekend is about two hours up the M7 from Limerick, and Gaelcon next weekend is worth the trip to Dublin.

One for the socials: “Three massive board game crowdfunding campaigns running at once, Essen in six days, and two Irish conventions in the next two weekends. October is absolutely relentless. Your wallet doesn’t stand a chance.”

Knavecon Daily Briefing — Tuesday 13 October 2026

Busy day in board games. It’s mid-October, Essen is nine days away, and the crowdfunding platforms are absolutely heaving. Here’s what’s going on.

The big launch today is Stormlight: War for Roshar hitting Kickstarter from Brotherwise Games. This is John D Clair’s epic strategy game set in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive — think War of the Ring-style asymmetric warfare across the full map of Roshar, Coalition vs Odium, three-hour playtime. Sanderson himself has been all over this. If you’re into big thematic war games with proper heft, this is worth a look. It was demoed at Gen Con over the summer and the Wargamer preview was pretty positive. The Kickstarter page is live now.

Meanwhile the two biggest crowdfunding campaigns already running are still hoovering up money. Nemesis: Legacy from Awaken Realms launched on Gamefound on October 6th and has been absolutely flying — it’s their first full legacy campaign in the Nemesis universe. Fully co-op this time, which is a departure. Tabletop Analytics had it as the top-grossing campaign on Gamefound. And The Lord of the Rings: The King’s Gambit from Restoration Games is still going on Kickstarter (closes October 20th), having already cleared $1.7 million. That’s Restoration doing what they do best — modernising a classic — this time giving the LotR treatment to the final battles of the War of the Ring. Campaign here. October is a wallet-destroyer.

On the new releases front, Braided Skies from Stonemaier Games lands tomorrow (October 14th) and is already sitting at #1 on the BGG Hotness. It’s a worker placement / exploration game designed by Dan Germain, set in the Smoking Bones universe. Board Gaming Ramblings reviewed it and gave it a 7/10 — “good, not amazing” was the verdict. Resource conversion on tracks with some upgrading. It’ll be at Essen too. Stonemaier continue to be prolific — between this and Duel of Meloch earlier in the year, they’re having a strong 2026.

Fantasy Flight are getting into crowdfunding for the first time with Arkham Horror: Remastered, the first title in their new Vault Series. It goes live on Gamefound on October 21st. This is a full remaster of Arkham Horror 2nd Edition with deluxe components, updated art, and new gameplay elements. FFG doing crowdfunding is a significant shift — details on their site. Worth watching even if you’re not an Arkham player, because what they do next in the Vault Series (Runebound? Twilight Imperium?) could be very interesting.

The rest of the BGG Hotness for October is dominated by Essen hype. Queen Alice, -60°, Timespan, and Gaudí are all generating buzz. The BGG Essen 2026 Preview list is live and SPIEL is using all eight halls at Messe Essen for the first time this year (October 22–25). It’s going to be enormous.

In Ireland, there’s a good bit happening. DARECon 2026 is this weekend — Saturday and Sunday, October 17–18, at the Osprey Hotel in Naas, Co. Kildare. Run by Naas Board Game Club, it covers board games, RPGs, wargaming, family gaming, workshops, and late-night gaming on the Saturday. Tickets available on Eventbrite and Fienta. Free for under-10s with an adult. If you’re within striking distance of Kildare, that’s well worth the trip.

Gaelcon 38 is the following weekend, October 23–26, at the Crowne Plaza in Santry, Dublin 9. Ireland’s longest-running gaming convention, 38 years and counting. RPGs, board games, card games, LARPs, wargaming — the full spread. Details on the IGA site. Hotel rooms are available at a convention rate if you contact the Crowne Plaza directly.

And looking a bit further out, the CATAN Irish National Championship 2026 is on Saturday November 14th. The winner represents Ireland at the Worlds in 2027 and the Europeans in 2028. Tickets are on Eventbrite. If you fancy yourself a settler, get entered.

For the Knavecon community specifically: DARECon this weekend is probably the nearest Irish convention to Limerick right now (about 2 hours up the M7). If anyone’s looking to scratch the convention itch before the next Knavecon, it’s a good shout. And if anyone’s heading to Essen in ten days, compare wishlists now — the preview list is enormous and it helps to have a plan.

One for the socials: “Three massive board game Kickstarters running at once, Essen in nine days, FFG getting into crowdfunding, and two Irish conventions in the next two weekends. October is absolutely relentless. Your wallet has my sympathies.”

Knavecon Boardgame Briefing — Tuesday, 06 October 2026

Big day on the crowdfunding front. If your wallet survived Knavecon 27 ten days ago, brace yourself because October is coming for it hard.

The main event today is Nemesis: Legacy, which goes live on Gamefound at 6pm CEST (5pm Irish time). Awaken Realms are calling it the first full campaign experience in the Nemesis universe, and they’ve brought in Rob Daviau — the man who basically invented the legacy format — alongside Jaime Barriga to design it. The core pledge starts at €269 and there’s a massive bundle option at €419 if you want the whole Nemesis back catalogue included. This will fund in minutes, obviously, but the real question is whether the legacy structure works with a game that’s fundamentally about paranoia and hidden agendas. Daviau’s involvement makes me cautiously optimistic rather than just suspicious. The campaign runs until October 27th. (Gamefound page)

Also launching today on Kickstarter are two smaller games: Excursions: A Galactic Cruise Game from Kinson Key Games (managing space vacations, which is a fun pitch) and The Seekers from Off The Page Games, a hidden movement game. Neither of these are generating the same hype, but The Seekers might be worth a look if you’re into Fury of Dracula-style cat-and-mouse games.

The Dice Tower dropped their Week In Review for October 5th, covering a big stack of recent reviews including Dune Imperium Play System, Marvel Crisis Protocol Alliances, Thunder Road: Ignition, and Lorcana: Attack of the Vine. Dune Imperium Play System is interesting — it’s the revised modular version of the base game that Dire Wolf have been teasing. Tom’s also got a Crowdsurfing episode going up tomorrow covering this week’s launches, which should be useful if you want a quick video overview of what’s hitting crowdfunding.

Looking ahead this month, Stormlight: War for Roshar from Brotherwise Games hits Kickstarter on October 13th. It’s designed by John D. Clair, set in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive, and the pitch is essentially a War of the Ring / Star Wars: Rebellion-scale asymmetric war game. Coalition vs Odium across the full map of Roshar. If you’re a Sanderson reader this is probably already on your radar, but even if you’re not, the mechanical pedigree is promising. Dice Throne Nexus also launches on the 13th from Roxley. And then on the 21st, Arkham Horror Remastered shows up. October is going to be expensive. (GodisaGeek preview)

The Lord of the Rings: The King’s Gambit from Restoration Games is already live on Kickstarter — Restoration’s reimagining of the legendary Queen’s Gambit (the Star Wars one, not the chess show). It’s set across the final battles of Middle-earth, including a reportedly gorgeous Minas Tirith board. Big Boss Battle called it the easiest recommendation of the month, and from what I’ve seen of the campaign page, the production values look serious. Worth checking if you’re into epic-scale games. (Kickstarter)

Worth watching: Forest Shuffle: Smoky Mountains lands on October 22nd — third standalone in the series, this time with a water/riverside theme that changes up the synergies. Flamecraft Duals and God of War: The Board Game are also estimated for this month. The BGG Hotness is hard to pin down today but the Player Guild’s Collective Acquisition Disorder thread for October is already active, which tells you people are spending money.

Ireland corner

Knavecon 27 is done and dusted — hope everyone who came had a great day. The next thing on the Irish calendar is DARECon 2026 in Naas, Co. Kildare on October 17–18 at the Osprey Hotel. It’s organised by Naas Board Game Club and covers board games, RPGs, wargaming, workshops, and family gaming. Kids under 10 go free with an adult. They’ve put out a nice hand-drawn convention map and tickets are available at darecon.ie. If you’re in Leinster and fancy a weekend con, this is handy.

After that, Gaelcon 38 runs October 23–26 at the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport in Santry. Ireland’s longest-running gaming convention — 38 years now. RPGs, board games, card games, LARPs, wargames, trade hall, pub quiz, the lot. Details and tickets at iga.ie/gaelcon.

For regular meetups, Board Games Ireland run sessions every Tuesday evening and Sunday afternoon in Dublin (currently at Ryan’s of Store Street on Mondays too). Cork Action League is active on Meetup. And the Corbiala directory at corbiala.world lists clubs across Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and beyond if you’re looking for something local.

For the Knavecon community: If anyone went to Knavecon 27 and played something that blew them away, post about it on the Facebook page. Those post-con recommendations are always the best ones — you’ve actually sat down and played the thing rather than just watched a review. And if you’re thinking about DARECon or Gaelcon later this month, shout in the group and see who else is going.

One for social:

Nemesis: Legacy launches today with Rob Daviau designing it. The man who invented the legacy format is now putting permanent stickers on your alien-infested spaceship. Either this is genius or we’ll all need therapy. Either way, take my money.

Knavecon Weekly — Friday 2 October 2026

Busy week. October is always when board gaming kicks into another gear and this year is no different. SPIEL Essen is now just three weeks away, the crowdfunding platforms are buzzing, and there’s a stack of new stuff either landing on shelves or launching campaigns in the next fortnight. Plus two Irish conventions coming up this month. Let’s get into it.

The five things worth knowing from this week

The biggest news is probably the Nemesis Legacy campaign going live on Gamefound next Tuesday, October 6th. Awaken Realms have brought in Rob Daviau — the man who literally invented the legacy format — to co-design alongside Jaime Barriga, and this is the first full campaign experience set in the Nemesis universe. They’ve also announced “Recharge Packs” so you can reset and replay the whole thing, which addresses the single biggest complaint people have about legacy games. If you’re a Nemesis fan this is going to be hard to resist. Pre-campaign page is already up on Gamefound.

A week later on October 13th, Brotherwise Games launch the Kickstarter for Stormlight: War for Roshar, an asymmetric strategy war game set in Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere universe. John D. Clair designed it. It’s being compared to War of the Ring and Star Wars: Rebellion, which is a bold comp but Brotherwise have earned some trust with their Cosmere work. They showed it at Gen Con and it picked up a Gaming Trend award. If you’re into big two-player war games with strong theme, keep an eye on this one.

Fantasy Flight have confirmed October 21st as the launch date for their Arkham Horror: Remastered Gamefound campaign — their first ever crowdfunding project. This is the 2nd Edition getting a full remaster with deluxe components, updated art, and the entire run of expansions. For those of us who loved 2nd Edition and watched it go out of print, this is a big deal. It’s part of FFG’s new “Vault Series” where they’re revisiting older titles. Details on the FFG site.

SPIEL Essen 2026 runs October 22-25 and they’re claiming multiple records this year — more exhibitors, more nations represented. If you’re going, tickets are online-only as usual. Notable Essen launches include Forest Shuffle: Smoky Mountains (the third standalone game in Kosch’s series, this time set in the Great Smoky Mountains with a water/river focus), Drillers from CGE which is sitting at #10 on the BGG Hotness right now, and what looks like a massive slate of new releases. SPIEL info here. For those of us not going, expect the usual flood of Essen preview content over the next couple of weeks.

And finally, Dune: Imperium – Conspiracy is confirmed for Q4 retail, with some retailers listing an October 31st date. This is the next expansion from Paul Dennen and Dire Wolf, adding an overthrow mode where one player takes on the Emperor role. It’s timed to land around Dune: Part Three in cinemas, which is smart. Polygon have it on their most anticipated fall list.

What’s trending on BGG

The Hotness list right now is dominated by Essen-adjacent buzz. Braided Skies is sitting at #1, Electrify and Gaudí are right behind it. Timespan, The Lord of the Rings: The King’s Gambit, -60°, and Dorfromantik: South Seas are all in the top positions too. Drillers from CGE has climbed into the top 10 — that’s a deck-building mining game that’s been getting quiet praise. Avalon: The Riven Veil is also generating a lot of chatter, with Tabletop Gaming magazine featuring it in their latest issue. These are all worth watching over the Essen period to see what has real staying power versus hype.

Ireland

Two Irish conventions on the radar this month. DARECon 2026 is October 17-18 at the Osprey Hotel in Naas, Co. Kildare — run by Naas Board Game Club, two days of open play and community tables. Worth the trip if you’re in the Leinster area. darecon.ie for tickets. Then Gaelcon returns for its 38th year, October 23-26 at the Crowne Plaza in Santry, Dublin. Four days covering board games, RPGs, LARPs and wargames. It’s Ireland’s oldest independent gaming con and always a good weekend. iga.ie/gaelcon for info and tickets — bedroom rate at the hotel is available if you email reservations.

Our own Knavecon 27 last Saturday was a great day — thanks to everyone who came out. If you missed it, the next one will be announced in due course.

For the Knavecon community

October is stacked with crowdfunding launches. If you’re the type who backs things, the next three weeks are going to test your wallet — Nemesis Legacy (Oct 6), War for Roshar (Oct 13), and Arkham Horror Remastered (Oct 21) are all launching within a fortnight of each other. Worth having a conversation at the next game night about which ones people are actually interested in playing versus which ones just look good in a campaign video. There’s a difference.

One for the socials

Three massive crowdfunding campaigns launching in October — Nemesis Legacy, Stormlight: War for Roshar, and Arkham Horror Remastered. Plus SPIEL Essen. Plus Dune Imperium Conspiracy hitting shelves. October might be the most expensive month in board gaming this year. Pace yourselves.

Knavecon 27 was three days ago and hopefully you’ve all recovered. Good timing to get back to the news because there’s a decent amount happening this week, mostly driven by Essen Spiel being less than a month out and the crowdfunding cycle turning over.

Essen preview season is properly underway. Asmodee dropped their full SPIEL Essen 2026 lineup last week — the headline is the show launch of Forest Shuffle: Smoky Mountains from Lookout Games and an advance preview of The Lord of the Rings: Circle of Conflict from Office Dog. Shut Up & Sit Down had already flagged Circle of Conflict back in their Board Games Direct coverage over the summer and it looked interesting then. Asmodee are also bringing a LEGO Ninjago game from Dotted Games, which is presumably aimed at the family market. The BGG Essen preview list is now live and self-service, so publishers are adding their games daily. If you’re heading to Essen on October 22–25, now’s the time to start building your hit list. Asmodee announcement via Nasdaq, BGG preview list, BoxedMeeples Essen preview video.

The Dice Tower’s Week in Review dropped yesterday and they covered a pretty solid batch: Heroscape Secrets of the Citadel, Greylune, Minikin City, Glimmerdeep, Kingdomino The Lost Treasures, DECKO, Kronologic Babylon 2500, Carcassonne Labyrinth, and — yes — Monopoly Over Three Generations, which apparently exists now. Of that lot, Glimmerdeep and Greylune are the ones getting the most chatter on BGG. Worth a scan if you’re looking for something new. Dice Tower Week in Review.

Several crowdfunding campaigns are wrapping up today and this week. Barbaric: Crown of the Frost on Gamefound ends today — it blew past its $20k goal and is sitting somewhere north of $140k. It’s an expansion for the post-apocalyptic duelling game Barbaric: After the Apocalypse from Hexa House. Tangled Yarns, a co-op cosmic horror game with adorable sheep (yes, really), ends October 1 on Kickstarter. Over on Meeple Mountain’s crowdfunding roundup, Capitalize (Kickstarter, ends Oct 2), Dinomada (Gamefound, ends Oct 4), and Lionwake are all live and funded. Board Game Quest crowdfunding roundup, Meeple Mountain roundup.

Entropy continues to dominate BGG. Board&Dice’s big 2026 release designed by Luciani, Battista, and Mangone — the lads behind Grand Austria Hotel, Tiletum, and Barrage between them — is still sitting in the BGG Hotness at position 16 after selling out in two hours at Gen Con. It’s a cosmic engine-builder with a double orbital rondel, which is exactly the kind of sentence that makes euro gamers weak at the knees. If you haven’t looked into it yet, it’s probably the most-talked-about heavy game of the year. BGG page, Meeple Mountain review.

Games worth watching: Everdell Journeys is on Kickstarter and seems to be doing well. The Great Sea from Garphill Games (distributed by Renegade) is up for pre-order and promises a heavier, more interactive take on the Ancient Anthology series — that’s SJ Macdonald and Zach Smith rather than Shem Phillips at the design helm. Expected later this year. And the Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs – Pub Crawlers expansion is fulfilling internationally through late September, so some of you may have that landing soon.

For the Knavecon community: If you were at Knavecon 27 on Saturday, post your highlights and what you played in the Facebook group. Those posts are genuinely useful — they help people discover games they might not have tried, and they keep the community ticking over between events. DARECon in three weeks is an easy trip if you fancy another convention fix before Gaelcon.

One for social media: “Essen Spiel is less than a month away and the preview list is already massive. Meanwhile Entropy sold out at Gen Con in two hours and is still burning up the BGG Hotness. Good time to be into board games.”