Video games news, releases, esports and culture — all the biggest gaming stories in one place.
Exclusive First Look at Stormlight: War for Roshar, the Massive Brandon Sanderson Board Game
Brotherwise Games, the exclusive publisher of tabletop games based on Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere universe, is preparing to launch a Kickstarter campaign for Stormlight: War for Roshar, its most ambitious board game to date. IGN was given an exclusive early hands-on with the title, which is described as blending the abstraction of a Euro-style game with the analytical depth of a traditional war game, and marks a significant expansion of Brotherwise's growing catalogue of Sanderson-licensed titles.
Set in the world of the Stormlight Archive novels, the game pits a Coalition faction against the villainous Odium, with players building teams of two leaders — such as Kaladin, Dalinar, Jasnah or Shallan for the Coalition, or Taravangian, Nale, Leshwi or Raboniel for Odium — each with unique abilities and card-based progression. Victory is achieved by crossing a shifting points threshold or having the most victory points after eight rounds, achieved through territory control, alliances, objectives and combat resolved via card play and troop strength rather than dice. The reviewer, after a few hours of play, found the game strategic and satisfying, though noted some systems still felt overwhelming to fully grasp. The Kickstarter campaign is set to go live this autumn.
In short
- Brotherwise Games reveals War for Roshar, its biggest Cosmere board game yet
- Two-faction war game blends Euro-style strategy with card-driven combat, no dice
- Kickstarter campaign for the game launches this autumn
Explained simply
Brandon Sanderson is a prolific American fantasy author best known for completing the Wheel of Time series and creating the Cosmere, an interconnected universe spanning multiple fantasy worlds across different novels. Millions of fans worldwide have invested in his books, particularly his Stormlight Archive series, which focuses on complex characters and intricate magic systems set in the world of Roshar.
Brotherwise Games holds exclusive rights to adapt Sanderson's Cosmere universe into tabletop board games. The company has released several games in recent years, and the forthcoming Stormlight game represents their largest and most ambitious project to date, signalling the growing commercial success of adapting literary fiction into gaming.
Stormlight: War for Roshar is a strategy game where players command faction leaders from the novels against an opposing team, with victory determined through territory control, objectives and card-based combat rather than dice rolls. The game draws on both traditional European-style strategy games and deeper war game mechanics, allowing players to engage with characters and storylines from Sanderson's novels in an interactive format.