Tyrants of the Underdark – 2nd Edition from Gale Force 9 Games!

Edit: You can catch the replay of the stream here. They confirm that tokens will be replacing minis. It will also contain the Undead & Aberrations expansion in the box. I hope that expansions will just be just cards so that even those who own the first edition will be able to get the expansions. I hope that there are expansions in general!

Also the game will be produced in 7 languages, which is pretty cool and a sign (hopefully) that Gale Force 9 will be backing this game in the future. Which may mean more expansions?

Finally, it sounds like it will be coming out this Summer, which is great news!

Original post below.

There hasn’t been a formal announcement of this, but one of my favourite games (Top 5!), Tyrants of the Underdark, is going to be getting a 2nd edition issued by Gale Force 9 games later this year. (Gale Force 9 has mentioned it in passing and they’re already talking about the 2nd edition, but they haven’t actually issued a press release announcing this)

Designed by Peter Lee, Rodney Thompson and Andrew Veen, this 2016 combination deck-builder/area control game has long had issues with things like the colour palette (who thought dark purple and black would be a good two colours for player pieces?) and general retail cost for what you get in the game.

Turns out, we're terrible with timezones, third times the charm! pic.twitter.com/eHfQusFDdf

— AwSHUX | THIS WEEKEND!!! (@SHUXshow) April 21, 2021

I’m posting this today because the AwSHUX online convention starts today, and tomorrow morning Gale Force 9 will be showcasing the new 2nd edition of this wonderful game!

I’ve heard various things based on pictures from various retailers where you can pre-order the game. Apparently it will include the Abberations & Undead expansion. It will have tokens instead of plastic miniatures.

Gale Force 9 has confirmed none of this, but I’m assuming Saturday morning’s stream will be telling us a lot more about it.

I’ve heard that it will be coming out in December, but again, no confirmation has been given about that. It’s up for pre-order at some web sites, though, so it definitely seems like it’s a thing!

Since I already own the game and its expansion, I’m not sure if I would be actually buying the game. I love what I have.

It will depend on how much has actually changed.

What I’m hoping for is that this release will become popular enough so that even more expansions will be coming out. It really needs more variety in the decks (though I haven’t played it enough to actually go through all of the combinations).

Will they be changing the card backs? I hope not. That would mean that any new expansions would have to be bought alongside the 2nd edition because they won’t match the first edition.

However, if making things tokens rather than miniatures brings the price point down, I’m all in favour of that. Hopefully that will mean that more people are attracted to the game.

I bought it on a deep discount, so I had no problem with the price.

However, one of the big knocks against the game when it first came out was the price compared to what you actually get in the game.

The fact that the 2nd edition will also include the expansion just adds more value to it.

Even if I don’t end up buying it (do I really need another version of it?), I will be shouting about this game from the roof tops because I think it’s a wonderful game that everybody should try out.

It also sounds like it will be a straight reprint (other than component changes, obviously) rather than incorporating rules changes or anything like that. I don’t recall there being any real rules issues that would require changing, so I’m 100% behind that as well.

Whatever it takes to get this game back into the mainstream.

Hell, it’s my #2 game of all time! (though it may have fallen slightly, it’s still in the top 4).

I encourage you to check out the AwSHUX stream tomorrow and see what you think.

If this game starts to become more popular, that would be awesome.

Are you a fan of the game? Or have you been on the sidelines due to the graphic design or price or something else?

Let me know in the comments.