The base game seems pretty cool but there is so much more in the Conan universe.

A character or unit card pack maybe- with a fig or two to chase Conan around or cause havoc in a province but I dont think another board with players would work if central hyboria is the main goal. Vendhya and Khitai are just too far east and played a secondary role in the genre. Im not saying it couldnt be done with a slew of new goal cards but even if you included Hyrkania as a player that would leave players spread very far apart, assuming the board was in scale. Conan would be out of the picture for some players.

Not to mention the extra play time per new character. But even after all of what I said- I hope to see some new idea add to this game! I also hope to win with Hyperborea once too!

Well, I say that FFG should look at "Conan of the isle" novel and introduce more action in the sea

Since Conan was a pirate for quite some time in novels, nothing stop him from wreaking havok on port and coastal sea and it could put more atmosphere and still be in character with Conan as an expansion

Cheer

In general, I'm always in favor of expansions, and can't wait to see the new BSG game. However, I think AOC is perfect as is, and doesn't need an expansion. (Although I wouldn't mind getting another 6 contest dice in a different color than red.)

TK

The problem I see is that if you add players to the game, then Conan will never achieve any quests, unless the rules are radically altered. As it is, he hardly manages to succeed in his quests with 4 players.

Having other characters might be more doable than extra players with additional countries. Ones that interact with provinces or Conan himself.

Well if you want to think about expansions then you need to think about two things:

1) The publisher - and since it's a game by FFG then it WILL have an expansion!

2) The game itself - how it is made so dar and what does it lack.

As I see, the game was designed for 4 players (look at the board - eveyone is positioned in such a way that each nation has some space to extend it's power while having some provinces in a "safe zone". If a new nation would be presented then it would change the whole thing. Someone would have to be "in the center" - so would be likely attacked by everyone).

Another thing is, what does the game lack? I say naval battles, siege engines or some kind of special unit (2-3 minis per side). So perhaps that will be the way FFG will go and expand the game. Although it will require to change the map "a bit" to add some island provinces and devide the seas into zones.

And the last thingie... look at the map. What do you see? 3 borders of it are designed so that they cover the map. One board looks like the whole map was simply cut into 2 (or more) pieces - but i will be hard for for instance Aquilonia to travel to the "other part of the map". But it can also be done in another way - home provinces will be able to "ship", "teleport" or do whatever to send their troops to the other map - a big island? labirynth?

What do you think?

Using the map/game board as a reference, where would new players/Kingdoms be? Vendhya and Khitai are the only "Superpowers" but using Hyperboria as an example of a smaller Kingdom player you have maybe a choice of Kambulja, Meru , Kusan or Pathenia. None of these players would have access to the western game board so a new pack of Campaign Cards would be needed. Conan's adventures would have to be redone as well - he couldn't move from Zamora to Kusan with the current system.

My opinion is maybe new Kingdom cards or character models. As for Invasion Force teleports and D-Day amphibious operations they just aren't in the Conan theme. Just as these Kingdoms were half -Mythical with very little influence in the Hyborian realms I believe they wont be included in the Future.

Of course this is just my opinion as a fan- I have no actual knowledge to base these assumptions on.

I agree Age of Conan is perfect as is. But if they can incorporate new card expansions and new character models for key characters or critters then sure go for it.

I would rather not see one. But if one were to be made, I would prefer it be along the lines of additional cards. I wouldn't mind introducing a mechanic where you would customize your nations strategy deck like a CCG, instead of just adding more cards too it. While not exactly something that would expand the game, I wouldn't mind having figures of some sort to use in place of the "first player" token and those used on the empire track. Like sculpts of the nations symbols would work an would make it easier to see a nations standing at a glance from across the board. When you get to 40+ you can just stack it on the old token or something a bit thicker so it stands taller.

Just no new board or anything like that.

Personally, I don't think games like War of the Ring or Age of Conan should have board expansions. It just does not work well with this types of games. Card or unit expansions might work. These types of games really seem to work better with the core game even when they do add an expansion.

Frog said:

Well but the WOTR expansion was great, two new games using the components from the base game and a mini-expansion for the base game. I could also imagine such a thing for AGE of Conan.

I think there are some ways to expand the game that do not change the map

You could add some elements between the ages

you could add some mini objectives to the adventure deck

I think some more elements around the bid might be nice.

Some more lengthy adventures might be nice

More uses for emmisaries.

Increased combat effects/units

Ways to possibly add,remove or reroll action dice from the pool

Lots of ideas on messing with the familiar mechanics to add subtle changes to how the game gets played.

THULSA DOOM!!!

FFG should introduce a new unique fig, Thulsa Doom! The players that failed to successfully bid for Conan can then bid for control of Thulsa Doom, and Doom can chase Conan across the lands as he tries to do battle with him.

Thoth-Amon!!!

Conan could be pursued by two adversaries, one using might, and one using magic.

Actually, there is an expansion in the works. From Nexus Games:

Adventures in Hyboria, the first expansion for Age of Conan, will expand the game with new rules, characters and adventures as well as with enhancements for Conan, who assumes a more active role in the game with two different profiles: Conan the Thief and Conan the Adventurer. In addition, faithful to the Conan stories, the extremely changeable character of Conan will be introduced in the game with a new game mechanic: the mood wheel.

Via Boardgame News .

Sounds interesting.

Any official news on the expansion? I'm excited about it! That said, it'd be nice to know how long I'm holding my breath for here...

I gather this is Nexus's call and not FFG. Nexus made the game but FFG publishes it in the US. That being said I too am waiting for news of the expansion

Does that mean that FFG has not officially said anything regarding the expansion? Why wouldn't they publish it? I can only think of one reason and that would be AoC did not sell well enough in the US. Anyone know how well it is/did do(ing)?

I don't think this game actually needs an expansion. It's quite balanced, and as someone said this kind of game is not the most suitable for expansions, not like Descent or Runebound. However, if FFG wants to expand it there are some things that could be improved:

1. There could be more interaction btween players. Maybe it's just a matter of player's style, but at the end of the game there are always few Crom Counters on the board.
2. Some developement could be achieved with game actions (i.e. conquering a region could help producing a peculiar unit, or gold, or artifact).
3. Conan could be used more drectly to cause harm to opponents

Just my two cents.

Fingolfin80 said:

I agree. I don't think the game actually needs an expansion, but then again I won't say no either. Some rule tweaks and maybe an expanded role for Conan. I quite like the small but at times pivotal role Conan plays in the game as it stands, but I'd love to see him becoming a bit more... fluffy, for lack of a better word. The adventures could maybe be a bit more involved and not as abstract.

What I'd really like to see though is what you mention in your first point. Namely more incentive for player interaction. As you say, the Crom counters usually get doled out way too rarely! It probably has a lot to do with your gaming group and if your group is used to turtle in games like that it can get very static. In my mind AoC really shines when the players are at each others throats, but it's very easy to just take the easy way out and go for the neutral territories - making it a race more than a wargame.

I think making both objectives and Crom counters worth more points might be a step in the right direction. Hmm...

While I like the idea of an expansion to this game, I don't think I would ever buy it. The base game is great and I can't think of how you would improve on it.