The elusive “Expansion and Brinkmanship” Race for the Galaxy expansion
Race for the Galaxy is what I consider to be a “modern classic”. A game that’s too old to be considered “recent”, but too good to pretend better things have replaced it. I’ve played the game exclusively solo (see my review here) and I love it.
There are limitations to the base game + the solo (Gathering storm) expansion though, in that in my experience, the strategies become quite limited after enough plays. Correct me if I’m wrong, but for example I’ve never been able to pull a viable military strategy against the bot in Race for the galaxy (fight me in the comments!).
The “soloable” expansions (what’s known as the first Arc) have been out of print for a while, and it’s been hard to find them at reasonable prices (if not downright impossible here in Japan, at least for the English version of the game).
So I was glad to learn that a reprint, combining all three expansions (The gathering storm, Rebel vs Imperium, and The Brink of War) was on the way. Of course, the tiny pandemic that’s been going on for a few years now has impacted every kind of schedule and logistics one could think of, so Expansion and Brinkmanship, which was initially supposed to release early this year, has been delayed, first to May 2022, then to June, and now it’s just unclear.
European localized versions of the game are apparently already in the hands of some gamers, but the English version has been elusive to get. A few stores in Canada and the US have been taking preorders, and some announce it available for End of July. Not sure if they’re being cautious here, or if they know something we don’t. Rio Grande Games, the publisher, say it’s “coming soon”, and Ken Hill (of Rio Grande Games) has stated the copies arrived in their warehouse late May.
It’s in the middle of this confusion that I was thrilled to find that Amazon apparently already have the expansion for sale, at a reasonable price. Unfortunately for me, they won’t ship this specific board game internationally, and when contacted, their customer service said they don’t know why. Is it possible Amazon don’t have the game in stock yet, which is preventing them from accepting international orders?
Anyway, for a game with such a reputation, I’m baffled that there is so little communication on the status of this expansion. It almost feels like a secret release that Rio Grande Games don’t want people to know about, ha.
I guess I’ll have to be patient, and here’s hoping I can get my hands on this expansion this year!
Games mentioned in this article
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