Check out the newest card from Jack Watson!

We gave Jack the difficult task of drawing the Irrigation card from the Building deck, and he came up with something great! Crops in the flood plain with the river beyond and a smaller stream estuary running between the fields turning the mill's waterwheel and an aqueduct to carry water to more distant fields.

Check out the newest one from Tomas O. Muir!

Here's the back for the Invader deck! This now completes the art for all 4 of the deck backs by Tomas O. Muir! There was a lot of painstaking work to ensure that each side looks EXACTLY the same no matter what, so you can't tell which way is up. Otherwise, people might figure out which wall to defend before they're supposed to have that information. Normally, you have to take the Scout action for that kind of insight!

New stuff!

I'm very excited to have received our first ever boxed version of After the Empire! This is the first major step in making a few updated playtest copies, spurred on not only by wanting it ourselves, but our very first customers! They played our game at PAX and have been waiting to get it ever since. We agreed to send them a couple mid-production copies for Christmas, and we're very honored these folks would want to get a version of our game at this point, as we still have a ways to go with art, graphic design, and a few other fine tunings. This box only came with the cards and chits, so we're still waiting for wood pieces from Denmark and game boards from Print and Play games in Vancouver, WA (they're not slow...I JUST emailed them the files today) in time to send off the games!

The down side of all the great progress we've made and continue to make is I know what is already out of date in this box! Our more recent art updates, like the awesome title logo by Patrik Hell, the Refugee deck card backs by Tomas O. Muir, the Fortified Keep by Baconstrap, and everything else between now and then, will have to wait for the next pre-production edition! But, what it does have is LOTS of great new art and pieces, tiny rules updates on the cards, and last but not least...the very intimidating roll out of our transition from text-heavy cards, boards, and other game pieces to an iconography dominant style (although I couldn't help adding some reminder text all over the place). We expect a few bruises, but I'm sure our playtesters and fans will get us whipped into shape quickly!

We need your opinion for our title art!

Please tell us which one of these artist sketches you like better for the cover of the game box. Thanks! We appreciate your input! Write it in the comments below or in the survey here!

This one is more fun and artsy, but definitely a bit tougher to read.

This one is more straight-forward and easy to read, but not quite as fun.

Check out the newest piece from Tomas O. Muir!

So, he's been working on a project for us to make the back side for each of the 4 decks. Here's what he's made for us for the Siege deck. I love how the light spills through the window onto the stone! He even managed to get the city wall in there behind the catapult! Very excited to see the other three decks!

Here's the newest piece from Baconstrap!

So, he's taking a break from working on our game board to make the Granary basic building card. He made it just as gray and dreary as I had hoped...the peasants carting sacks of grain through the mud on a dull and thankless day. And, of course, we've got some sweet mud puddle reflections, which I'm a sucker for!

Here's the next awesome piece from Tomas O. Muir

This is the Refugee Camp from the Building deck. He did a great job making this one dreary and stark, but with awesome detail like the mud puddles. If you look closely, you can see familiar characters in line for porridge. There's the Plowman, there's General Starke before she came to lead your troops! Who's that behind her? A character who has yet to be revealed!