A new edition of Ryan Loukat’s 4-X style board game Empires of the Void is in production at Red Raven Games.  The new Empires of the Void II will release at the end of the year.

Based on Loukat’s 2012 original, Empires of the Void II is a science fiction boardgame of expansion, conquest, and diplomacy.  After the destruction of the Earth by the Znu, five interstellar empires sent enormous “worldships” to the outer fringe of the galaxy to establish new power bases.  Colonizing the worlds of the galactic rim and making contact with the numerous sentient races there, the empires compete to dominate this unknown region of the void.

In the game, players earn points by exploring, building cities and bases, having influence over the systems on the board, and by controlling planetary regions.  Each turn, they spend their limited “command” to execute actions with their units, moving around the board, fighting battles, and negotiating with the other races.  Players can choose when during the game to score points, through the use of special scoring cards.

Empires of the Void II includes 5 player boards, 10 main board tiles, 5 sculpted worldship miniatures, 135 transparent plastic markers, 345 other tokens, 109 cards, 5 player aids, and 14 dice.  The game is intended for 2 to 5 players, and takes about 2 hours to play.  MSRP is $59.99.

Red Raven is financing the production of Empires of the Void II through a Kickstarter game which has broken $130,000 from nearly 2000 backers within the first 48 hours.  Backer fulfillment is planned for December, with release into the trade to follow.

This spring, Red Raven plans to release the storytelling game Near and Far, another of Loukat’s designs (see “Red Raven Goes ‘Near and Far’”).