Discover More for Carcassonne, Paleo, Dune, Robo Rally, and KeyForge

by W. Eric Martin

Sometimes all you need to know about an expansion is that it will exist. If that statement fits your outlook, then this post is for you.

• At SPIEL ’23, Hans im Glück will release Carcassonne: The Wonders of Humanity / Die Wunder der Menschheit, which adds historic wonders to Klaus-Jürgen Wrede‘s tile-laying game Carcassonne, with each of these marvels having a unique effect on play.

• Similarly, Die Bankreise is a small expansion for Mists over Carcassonne (and original Carcassonne) that adds cats to your ghost-hunting team, although don’t always pull their weight when you’re trying to complete a task.

• At that show Hans im Glück will also have a mini-expansion for Peter Rustemeyer‘s Kennerspiel des Jahres-winning Paleo: Der weiße Wal, with players being able to take on a hunt for a whale through storms, rough lakes, and other calamities that will have them questioning whether this obsessive behavior might be distracting them from more meaningful events in their life.

• On September 9, 2023, Gale Force Nine will release the third expansion for its 2019 Dune board game, the Jack Reda designed Dune: Ecaz & Moritani, which adds two new houses to the game, along with other elements such as homeworlds and discovery tokens to spice up sections of the game board that otherwise might be bypassed.

• 3000 Scoundrels: Double or Nothing features new transparent job and trait cards that expand Corey Konieczka‘s 2022 3000 Scoundrels from Unexpected Games to take the number of scoundrels up to six thousand. This expansion also features technology modifications and a solo mode.

• In August 2023, AEG crowdfunded two new expansions for Thunderstone Quest: Raging Seas and Ancient Adversaries, both from designers Mike Elliott and Brett Satkowiak, both containing nearly four hundred new cards, and both due out in July 2024.

• Renegade Game Studios has announced a 2024 release for Robo Rally: Master Builder, a new expansion for Richard Garfield‘s Robo Rally that features 6×6 game boards compatible with all previous Robo Rally releases and tokens that allow you to customize game boards by adding conveyor belts, gears, pits, and lasers.

• With KeyForge: Winds of Exchange now available on the U.S. market — although still awaiting fulfillment for some backers of non-English editions — publisher Ghost Galaxy has started previewing the seventh set of this Richard Garfield design: KeyForge: Grim Reminders.

This standalone expansion introduces the game’s eleventh house, Geistoid, and each Geistoid minion is a fusion of discarded refuse that’s animated by psychic energy of Æmber and driven to wreak vengeance on a neglectful universe. Every scrap of detritus cast aside by the living is a potential new minion to swell their ranks.

In game terms, cards will be returning from the discard pile — and more cards than normal will likely end up there thanks to “scrap” effects and “discard” costs.

The previously mentioned problems with international fulfillment were partly caused by Ghost Galaxy’s attempt to ship KeyForge: Winds of Exchange in eight languages simultaneously, so the crowdfunding campaign for KeyForge: Grim Reminders will be solely for English-language sets, with the subsequent retail release to include multiple languages.