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Raid and steal in next month’s Barbarian Hordes expansion for Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North

From co-creator of civ-building game.

Prepare to defend against pillaging or rally the party for raiding in the latest expansion for Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North, Barbarian Hordes, releasing next month.

Empires of the North is a spin-off game from the original Imperial Settlers, in which three different factions - the Vikings, the Scots and the Inuits - clash in a competition to see who can form the greatest civilisation. As leaders of each faction, players will need to establish their dominance by developing their economy, crushing enemy invasions and winning territories in various bouts.

As well as choosing a faction, players will have to select from two decks uniquely constructed for each of the different empires - with every one offering its own gameplay style for players to choose from.

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The upcoming board game expansion for Empires of the North, entitled Barbarian Hordes, provides an entirely new faction for players to choose.

As with the other factions, players can choose between two different leaders - or decks - from the Barbarian faction, with options to set up ambushes to catch opponents off-guard and rafts with which to invade enemy territories. The expansion will also come with additional island cards for players to use.

The Barbarian Hordes expansion was designed by Joanna Kijanka, who co-created the original Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North alongside Ignacy Trzewiczek - the designer behind co-op board game Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island - and designed upcoming Imperial Settlers expansion Rise of the Empire.

Empires of the North: Barbarian Hordes board game layout

Imperial Settlers publisher Portal Games announced Barbarian Hordes as part of its digital event PortalCon, alongside opening pre-orders for its standalone entry to the Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game series. Detective: Season One is due to release this September.

The Barbarian Hordes expansion for Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North will be released in August.

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Alex Meehan avatar
Alex Meehan: After writing for Kotaku UK, Waypoint and Official Xbox Magazine, Alex became a member of the Dicebreaker editorial family. Having been producing news, features, previews and opinion pieces for Dicebreaker for the past three years, Alex has had plenty of opportunity to indulge in her love of meaty strategy board games and gothic RPGS. Besides writing, Alex appears in Dicebreaker’s D&D actual play series Storybreakers and haunts the occasional stream on the Dicebreaker YouTube channel.

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