A deeper dive into the three expansions + the only way to get your freebies
6 months ago
– Thu, Sep 25, 2025 at 07:57:29 AM
Hello everyone!
We are very excited to present our new Kickstarter campaign featuring three expansions for three of our most beloved games.
Each expansion introduces innovative mechanics and new strategic possibilities.
During the campaign, you will be able to pledge for each expansion separately, or you can choose to pledge for a combination of the three!
So, without any further ado, let's discover them together!
Barrage - The China Challenge
The China Challenge introduces a new thematic map compatible with The Leeghwater Project expansion. Three main innovations are introduced:
Landscape Tiles
The Landscape Tiles are 18 additional structures already present on the board, but covered by tiles showing the works under construction and the relative cost to pay. When a Landscape Tile is built, the related tile is removed, revealing the new map configuration. Building a Landscape Tile allows you to obtain a bonus of your choice of the appropriate level from the region (mountain, hill, or plain) where the Tile was completed. Landscape Tiles have different effects that can modify the map, add new common action spaces, or provide permanent effects.
New map - The Yellow River
The Yellow River brings to the table Two Natural Lakes present on the board where water droplets stop if space is available;
Final Company - Introducing Yuki Lin
China joins the Barrage universe with the last ever company that can be used with the base game as well as with all the other expansions. The new faction will have some peculiar characteristics, such as Pressure Conduits (Penstock) and very interesting powerhouses.
The Pressure Conduits provides a +1 bonus to the normal value, but they come at a price. Their construction always requires 1 additional concrete mixer. The bonus also applies when used by other players, with increasing costs after the second and fourth conduits are built.
Chinese Powerhouses have different shapes, and they can be built in any order:
1st Powerhouse has no particular bonus or power. The 2nd has a production value increased by +2. 3rd lets you gain 1 VP for every 2 energies produced by the powerhouse. 4th produces energy as if 1 additional water drop was used.
Golem - Seals & Deals
The Golem expansion consists of two modules playable separately or together.
Seals module
Seals introduces 9 Mechanism tokens positioned on the three Masters' tracks and three colored Mission decks. When a Master reaches a space with a Mechanism token, the player gets the token (2 Victory Points at game end) and a Mission card of the corresponding color is placed under the extension board.
A Mission can be performed during Golem activation like a workshop, but with the difference that the Golem must be in a space of equal or higher height compared to the Mission (not exactly in the same space). Each Mission requires payment of resources or gold and, once completed, a cube is placed from your Mission board onto the card.
Seals also introduce Neutral Golems that move together during the movement phase. Players can activate them by paying an additional cost, but only 1 per turn.
Deals module
Deals introduces 3 New Characters, 12 New Book Cards, 18 New Neighborhood Tiles, 45 Commercial Pact cards, divided into 3 levels and 40 Debt tokens.
Each player receives 6 pacts (2 per level) through a draft. Then plays one in front of them, taking debt tokens according to the level (L1=1, L2=2, L3=3). Played pacts provide permanent effects.
During the game, additional debts can be obtained. Each round, during Phase 8, debts can be repaid by paying the indicated cost; otherwise, victory points are lost with increasing penalties.
Rats of Wistar - Clans & Portals
Clans Module
Clans introduces 8 Mutation Tiles and 10 Starting Tiles, bringing an asymmetric feeling to the table.
At the start of the game, Mutation and Starting Tiles equal to the number of players are revealed. Selection occurs in two rounds (normal and reverse) until each player has one Mutation Tile and one Starting Tile.
Starting Tiles provide starting effects (resources, cards, initial bonuses), while Mutation Tiles grant permanent powers.
Portals module
Portals completely replace the map with a Fantasy-themed Map and introduce completely new materials. A new fantasy-themed map replacing the farm, New Thematic Events (both Brown and Grey) specific to the expansion, 12 Encounter Cards and 10 Encounter Tokens, 5 Magic Rings, 4 Ring Defeat Tokens, and New Base and Advanced Invention Cards.
There are no more rooms. Movement occurs space by space on the new map. Events, Guests, and Encounters are considered spaces, and some require immediate stopping.
When stopping on an encounter space, take the token and draw an encounter card. Each card shows two rewards with different costs in exploration tokens. When obtaining exploration points, you can choose whether to move the explorer or place tokens on encounter cards.
Some encounter cards provide Magic Rings (maximum one per player). Each ring can be activated 3 times to obtain powerful effects, but it accumulates increasing victory point penalties. By reaching the Volcano with the explorer, the ring can be destroyed to cancel penalties and obtain a reward tile.
How to get the free rewards for following the pre-page?
With just one week to go until the launch of our Kickstarter campaign for Cranio's Expansion Pack, we have been thinking about the best way to offer all our Kickstarter page followers the free rewards we promised.
How does it work?
When the Pledge Manager (BackerKit) opens, every backer who followed the pre-page and pledged during the campaign, will have the opportunity to add an extra special add-on for free that will allow them to receive all three rewards without any extra charge.
Important: to be eligible for the free rewards, backers must finalise a pledge (excluding the €1 pledge that grants access to add-ons) during the campaign.
We will carry out checks to determine which backers are actually eligible for the free rewards, so that we can effectively reward those who believed in our new campaign and followed the pre-page before the launch.
As always, thanks for your support.
The Cranio Creations team