Arcs: Beyond the Reach

Development and Production Update, Wehrlegig Announcement, and Gen Con!
16 days ago – Mon, Jul 20, 2026 at 12:11:50 PM

Dear Backers,

I hope everyone is having a great summer. Outside of the horrible air quality over the past few days, things have been lovely here in Saint Paul, and we have been cooking on the design! I’m happy to report that the project is fully on schedule. Josh and I are nearly through the game content and the vast majority of things are in development outside about a third of the campaign plotlines. The base game material is largely done outside of some tweaks to the way special systems work.

Updated Lost Vaults & Fated Leaders Print-and-Play

Hey everyone, Josh here! We’ve been cooking along with Arcs and I’d like to show off our progress with a new Print and Play kit for the Lost Vaults & Fated Leaders expansion. You can find the PNP and TTS files here.

Most of the contents will look pretty familiar if you looked through the first kit. Mostly, you’ll find a much tighter, exciting experience—the Court deck, leaders, artifacts and windfalls, and floating edifices (now called Reach features) have gone through a bunch of testing and iteration at this point. We still have months of development left, but they’re getting solid!

The most impactful change you’ll find is the setup system. (You’ll find the rules for the new setup here.) We’ve decided to return to a draft that is closer to the original Leaders & Lore draft than the one we proposed in the first kit. I plan on writing a longer dev diary on this topic later, but the basic reason is this: the first-kit draft did produce a lot of interesting variance, but it also produced too many setups where floating edifices overly warped the early game, and it often produced false choices, where a player in theory had a choice between systems but with a few seconds of thought the obvious choice became clear. Between these issues and the extra rules we were asking players to internalize, let alone the extra time it took to resolve this setup, the cons simply outweighed the pros.

The new setup system isn’t final either; it will likely change some more in the coming months, as it is certainly the most fluid part of the design—in particular, there are still issues with Reach features showing up in places that don’t matter enough. But it’s one step closer!

The artifacts also look somewhat different from the first kit. You’ll notice that they now all follow a similar logic—they all have (usually single-use) powers that get more and more powerful throughout the game, sometimes only if the same player holds them. This emphasizes the tension between holding them for long enough that you can use their power for maximum effect, but not so long that they get stolen.

You’ll also notice that the Ancient Wraith fated leader from the original kit is not included in this kit. It’s just getting tuned up right now and isn’t in a condition to show off, but it’s still planned to be included in the final expansion. As a reminder, everything in this kit is still subject to change, and leaders present here might get reworked or dropped. Don’t get too attached! Right now we’re aiming for at least ten leaders in the final expansion, perhaps more—it all depends on how much time we have.

Finally, if you’re wondering, “Where’s the campaign expansion?” worry not, we’re working on it. It’s in heavy testing and early development right now, but it’s not ready for public consumption yet since it is still changing rapidly. Once it’s ready for you, we’ll put it up!

Production Update (Split Shipping and BackerKit News)

Drew here for a quick production update. 

Backers who selected the expedited, first wave shipment option (because they had items that were in-stock and wanted them this year) have now had their pledge locked and address confirmed. The first Buried Giant Studios printing of Arcs has landed at our US fulfillment center and will soon be landing in Europe. We’ve sent final address lists to QML (US + CA) and Fulfillment Europe (EU and all other regions) for these first wave shipments of in-stock items. If you are in the US+CA, you’ll get a final address confirmation right before QML picks and packs your order in the coming week or so, and I am waiting for confirmation that Fulfillment Europe will be doing the same for final address confirmation.

I am also happy to report that 89% of backers have filled out their BackerKit pledge manager survey. We’re still aiming to confirm pledges by the end of this year and process outstanding BackerKit payments right around when production completes for all Beyond the Reach items in April/May 2027. If you still have not received your pledge survey, submit a request over at buriedgiant.com/support

And lastly, I am happy to report that sampling for metal the resources is well underway and we’ll be spec'ing out  new expansion content components in the coming weeks too as development continues. There are still some tweaking that we’ll be doing but check out this metal resource production sample. We're still tweaking a few things, but they are getting closer!

Okay, that's all I have. Back to Cole!

An Infamous Traffic: Second Edition Announced

As we mentioned awhile back, with the formation of Buried Giant, Drew and I have folded our work at Wehrlegig games into the new company. We’ll still be maintaining that imprint's voice, but the Wehrlegig titles will benefit from additional development, editorial, and graphics resources (as well as a heap of help with logistics).

This fall, we’ll be running our next campaign: the long-awaited second edition of An Infamous Traffic. Originally, we had planned on running this as our first campaign, but it made sense to give Arcs: Beyond the Reach priority so we could keep Arcs in stock. Now it’s nearly time to share the new edition of An Infamous Traffic with you all. 

This game is probably the most accessible historical game I’ve worked on. It’s a tight business game that covers the opium trade in the nineteenth century. If you like deeply interactive designs that treat their players and their subjects seriously, you’ll find a lot to like. It’s also a mean-as-nails game that generally takes only 90 minutes or so.

In the coming months, we’ll be sharing more information about the game. If you’d like to follow along, you can sign up here.

Gen Con 2026

In a couple weeks we’ll be heading out to Gen Con. We’ve got some big things planned for the show. During the day we’re running a ton of sessions for all of the Wehrlegig and Buried Giant titles. We’re also sharing the booth and room with our friends at Eerie Idol Games, so you’ll see a lot of Old King’s Crown in action as well as some of their upcoming stuff. 

We’ve also got amazing evening programming planned. We’ll be hosting a megagame of John Company on Thursday, showcasing a few panels with folks from both companies on Friday, and hosting a big jamboree to celebrate our first year and the upcoming games on Saturday. 

All of our events have been sold out for months, but if there’s something you’re interested in, you should come by the room and see if a slot opens up. During the day we are running games of Old King's Crown, Annulets, Arcs, Oath: New Foundations, and all of the Wehrlegig Games. 

That goes for our evening programming too. We’re going to fit as many people into the room as we are allowed to, so if you want to see what’s going on, please don’t hesitate to come by!

As you might guess, things have been pretty busy here! As always, we remain grateful for your support. We're all excited to see many of you at the big show in a couple weeks and to jump back into Arcs work in weeks that follow. 

Next month, we hope to share a little report back from Gen Con, release some of the campaign materials, and maybe share a whole heap of art. Till then, happy gaming! 

BackerKit Pledge Manager, Split Shipping, and Development Playtesting
2 months ago – Wed, Jun 03, 2026 at 09:52:25 AM

Hey everyone, 

Drew here. I'm helping manage this campaign with our incredible team at Buried Giant, so expect to see some updates from me over the coming months about shipping and fulfillment. Today, I'm happy to share some exciting news about the next stage of this project.

BackerKit Pledge Manager 

We’ve partnered with BackerKit once again and you'll be receiving an email from them with your pledge manager details in the coming days. 

You must use this BackerKit link to finalize your pledge, confirm add-ons, submit shipping and tax payment info, and confirm delivery address. 

If you need to update your pledge, you can always go back to your link and manage your pledge until selections are locked at the end of the year. Payment for outstanding balances won't be charged until the games are manufactured and we won't lock addresses until the games are ready to ship.

The BackerKit survey links will start getting emailed out today and most links will be out before the end of the week. Pledge over time backers (folks that opt-ed into scheduled payments using Kickstarter’s service) will not receive links until June 28th, when the final Kickstarter payments are scheduled to be processed. This won't affect your pledge in any way besides a delay, and you'll see your pledge history in BackerKit when you receive your link to review too after June 28th.

As always, please reach out at buriedgiant.com/support if you haven't received an email with your pledge survey or request it here using your Kickstarter email address.

BackerKit will process payments on any remaining balances when we are closer to production starting in early 2027. Exact date will come in a future update once manufacturing is underway, but if you’d like us to lock and charge your account ahead of time, please let us know.

New Split Shipping Option

As a nice little surprise, we are offering a new split shipping option! Arcs (Buried Giant Studio Printing) and in-stock add-ons will be available for an optional, two wave fulfillment at an additional cost from our US and EU fulfillment center for a limited time.

To opt into split shipping, just complete your BackerKit pledge manager survey! If you selected any currently in-stock items, you will have the choice to opt in for two wave shipping before you confirm your payment information. Advance shipping will be available until July 10th. Afterwards, we will lock all two wave pledges, charge outstanding payments, and confirm addresses for backers that opted in. Fulfillment for the first wave items will occur in late July and through the first couple weeks or so of August. We will send out another round of address confirmations in 2027 for the remaining items for split shipping backers.

Items available for first wave split shipping: Arcs (Buried Giant Printing), Arcs: The Blighted Reach, Arcs: Playmat, Arcs: Miniatures, and Arcs: Leaders and Lore. Not all countries have split shipping available. Most international split shipments will be fulfilled from Fulfillment Europe in Germany.

Important Note about $15 Add-ons Selected on Kickstarter

We learned that many backers accidentally pledged for more $15 add-ons than they wanted, so rather than processing manual updates for all of these affected pledges, we decided to clear all $15 add-on selections (screen-printed player pieces, pink plastic player miniatures, and Arcs: Leaders and Lore) placed during the campaign, provide full credit in BackerKit, and ask backers to re-select their desired $15 add-ons or use the credit for shipping fees. 

You will not see this change reflected on your pledge as it appears on your Kickstarter account. The most up to date pledge information will be on BackerKit. Please carefully review all of the items you want in your pledge on BackerKit and add back any $15 add-ons that you wish to receive. BackerKit will ask for your bonus add-on selection if you backed at the $40 or $90 level before you see the option to select additional add-ons. 

Game Development Update 

Cole and Josh have been plugging away at the design and development. Nearly all of the content for the Lost Vaults and Fated Leaders is currently in testing with the exception of a few fated leaders. While those are in testing, they are hard at working getting the design content for the campaign done so that it can enter testing next month. So far things are moving along well, and we're planning for the next update to be primarily a design update. Stay tuned!

Late Pledges are Open

And lastly, late pledges are now officially open! If you have friends that missed this campaign, now is the time to share this campaign with them so they can join in. We’ll continue to offer the same rates as the Kickstarter campaign during this grace period.

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PHEW. Thanks for making it through that update. We're thrilled to now be at this stage of the project

Again, if you ever have any questions about your pledge, please reach out to us over at buriedgiant.com/support. 

Drew

First Steps
3 months ago – Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 02:20:02 PM

Dear backers,

It’s hard to know where to begin with an update like this. Throughout this campaign, you have amazed us with your passion and kindness. We’ve seen you all sharing stories about Arcs and answering questions with us in the comments. You have all helped make this campaign into a celebration of Arcs and our shared love of games. I cannot begin to explain how thankful we are that you have decided to come along with us.

In our the first update, I wrote a bit about the road that took us to this moment. It hasn’t always been easy, but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. The folks here at Buried Giant are remarkable. I have worked with them for years, and yet they still consistently surprise me with their expertise and passion. I’m excited for you all to get to know them as we continue to share our story.

The astonishing success of this campaign means so much for our fledgling company. In the short term, it means that we can all, for the first time in months, truly breathe easy. Even as I type this, I can hear folks hammering away at our new offices next door, and we’ve been talking earnestly about office layouts and furniture. This money is going to go a long way in helping us get started properly. We’ve got printers to order and desks to build.

At the same time, of course, we’ll be working on Arcs. Despite the speed under which the studio has come together, Josh and I both feel confident about the project’s general timeline and scope. Outside of a couple Wehrlegig projects, I don’t think I’ve ever gone into a game’s post-campaign development with this much material to work with! We’re all looking forward to burying ourselves in the world of Arcs and the many campaigns we’ll need to play to fully realize the vision of this project.

However, in the short term, we are taking a break. Most of us have been working non-stop for weeks, and we need a few days to recoup. Then, next week, we will all be getting together here in Saint Paul to spend a week reflecting on this first steps we’ve taken as Buried Giant Studios, the places where we can improve, and what the future might have in store for us. We’ll be spit-balling new games, playing some in-development titles, and getting started on the next phase of Arcs's new expansions.

In the coming months, we’ll continue to update you on our progress. The next update you can expect from us will probably be about the opening of the pledge manager and late pledges, which will perhaps be ready in a month or so. We’ll also be doing a few print-and-plays over the course of the campaign, just to keep you all up-to-speed on the game’s development. The first will probably include an updated draft system and a round of development polish on everything you’ve already seen. We’ll start sharing the new fates after that. 

If you’d like to follow the development of the game closely, I’d encourage you to check out our Discord here. There’s a wonderful community of Arcs players over there and they play games pretty regularly.

From all of us here at Buried Giant, thank you again for all of your support. We’ll talk more soon.

The Rush to the End
3 months ago – Mon, Apr 27, 2026 at 03:18:28 PM

Dear Backers,

I had planned on writing this update to you all early this morning, but the day got away from me. It's been pretty hectic (and exciting here!) Over the past few days, we’ve been moving into a temporary office space in Saint Paul. In a month or so, we'll be moving next door to our new home. The team has also been hard at work checking print files for Oath NF and is starting to prepare for Gen Con (we've got some big plans and announcements coming on that front soon!). Meanwhile, Josh and I have been jamming on new fates and getting things ready for the next stage of testing. Then, on today of all days, we got a huge pile of samples and PPCs for Oath in the mail from Panda. Ah! There’s so much to talk about!

Despite all of that, I'm going to keep things pretty breezy for today's update and just spotlight some of the things we've been up to as we bring the campaign home. First, last week the team got together for a little Arcs play-through.

Then, last Thursday, Josh wrote up a great diary that covers some of his initial work on the fates. If you’ve been curious about how the new campaign content is shaping up, I think you’ll find a lot to like.

If you want more from me, I sat down with Dan over at Game Design Deep Dive for a pretty wide-ranging interview covering some of Buried Giant as well as a lot of conversation about historical game design (and the upcoming Reconstruction game). And if you you’d like to hear more about Arcs, its genesis, and how it engages with problems of asymmetric design, check out this interview with Ethan at Cardboard Crash Course.

A Plug for Wendybuxxx!

Our dear friend Jo Kelly's new game will be up on Kickstarter tomorrow. We had a wonderful time working with Jo on Molly House, and I'm so delighted to see them bring their next game to life. If you'd like to be notified when they launch, you can find their campaign page here.

Tomorrow's Big Stream

Finally, I hope you’ll join us tomorrow for what is sure to be a zany live stream from the new office—well, the temporary office at least! We’re going to do something we’ve never done before and basically run the last stream as a bit of an office party. We’ll be taking questions, maybe ranking some fates, and generally goofing off as we bring our first campaign home. We hope to see you all there.
 

Final Print-and-Play, Coin Chat, and Tomorrow's AMA
4 months ago – Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 02:47:20 PM

Dear Backers,

Today we’re releasing the last major part of the Fated Leaders and Lost Vaults expansion: the fifth player! As with the other kits, this one is a pretty easy build. If you’ve got a copy of the Blighted Reach expansion, you can proxy the ship pieces using imperial ships along with the free cities and starports. 

The Fifth Player

The rules for the fifth player mode are simple enough that I can fit them easily in this update.

When using the fifth player, use the 5-player setup cards and the new ambition markers. These ambition markers increase the number of points in the game and help compensate for the fact that ties are going to be more common. You play to the same threshold used in the 4 player game.

The biggest mechanical difference can be found with the new action card: the Mandate card. There is one for each player. When drawing cards each chapter, draw 5 cards from the action deck and take your mandate card into your hand. Mandate cards give players the ability to use all actions of the lead card. This introduces some of the action drafting I talked about in last week’s designer diary.

You can also lead with a Mandate card. This gives you a wild action and wild ambition declaration. But, be careful, any other card played will surpass a Mandate. If there’s a tie in surpassing cards, the first played of the tied cards will take the initiative.

If you'd like to check it out, click here.

Metal coins

We wanted to provide you with a closer look at the metal resources we’re producing for Arcs. Over the years, we’ve worked on a bunch of different sets of metal coins. Pamir and Oath both used essentially flat designs. For Pamir, this mostly because, frankly, we didn’t have the budget for a sculptor, and a simple slightly beveled edge would be enough to make the coins pile nicely. For Oath, we had the factory engineer teeth so that the coins could stack easily. This also required a mostly flat design.

With John Company, Drew and I hired Cory DeVore to sculpt the coins based on historical coins. We were also aided by Jan Lipiński, who did a lot of John Company’s icon illustrations and who redrew the historical coins so that they would be easy for Cory to interpret. The result was something really lovely that nicely approximated actual period coins.

We had wanted to do metal resources for Arcs from the get-go. At the time, we didn’t have the development or production bandwidth to do them with the first print run. Thankfully, we had the foresight to make sure their storage tray in the campaign box would allow for a hefty coin, the same size as the punchboard resources, but even thicker.

Because, we didn’t half to stack these coins, we once again brought on Cory to sculpt designs based on concept drawings from Kyle. Here’s what those looked like.

They turned out great, but, these designs also indicated a problem. Usually, metal pieces interface with a really simple color system. You pick a finish for the metal (say, silver or gold) and then maybe apply a wash of some kind. This works great when you only have a few basic denominations and can also use size and thickness to indicate value.

But, with Arcs, we have to rely on color. Kyle had designed the whole color space in Arcs around double-colored resources. Certainly you can use colors when you do coins. You do this by applying hard enamels and you can get very high color fidelity that can match the Pantone color system. However, hard enamels tend to flatten the design, and we didn't want to undo all of the good sculpting work that Cory had done. 

To this end, we explored using clear enamels. You can see some pictured below (along with hard enamels).

Pay special attention at how the clear enamels preserve a sense of depth and texture on the coin compared to the hard enamel that you see on the center hexagon coin. 

However, clear enamels have some drawbacks. Instead of having the full range of Pantone colors, you have to use a very limited range. Here our wonderful production specialist Cardner suggested a novel solution--if we changed the finish on the coin we could combined that color with clear enamel to produce the desired color in aggregate. You can see this effect a little in the example above with the way the clear enamel combines with the different finishes.

With this in mind, Kyle worked up a color guide that used the coin sample book from our factory. And Cory then did some renders approximating the effect. 

It will be a couple months before we get the next batch of samples from the factory, but we're confident we can produce a spectacular set of resource tokens for you all. These are one of the most handled elements in all of Arcs, and we wanted to make sure to do them right! 

Reddit AMA Tomorrow

We’re heading to Reddit tomorrow for a company-wide AMA (Ask Me Anything). Come with all of your questions for the team here at Buried Giant Studios. We’re happy to answer your questions about anything from graphic design process to our favorite way to spend a summer afternoon. We’ll get started at 11am Central US time over on r/boardgames.

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That's all for now, we'll see you all tomorrow over at the AMA!