NewsFantasyBoardgames12th Oct 2026

Ascendia: Seasons of Thargos Hits UK & EU Retail This Week!

SBG Editions fantasy adventure board game challenges players to survive winter and earn the trust and respect of the people to become their future leader.

AngusA12th Oct 2026

Board game setup with hexagonal green terrain tiles featuring pink and purple structures. Miniature figures and small tokens scattered across. Two player boards with character portraits, resource dials, and action icons. Dice and small bags of colored tokens on the table.

Winter is closing in on the hidden valley of Ascendia. In Ascendia: Seasons of Thargos, players set out as ill-equipped adventurers, gathering materials, making equipment, and building he Renown they need to persuade the valleys inhabitants to elect them as the new leader.

Designed by Philipp Kehl and published by SBG Editions, Ascendia is a semi-cooperative game for 1-4 players, ages 10+, and takes roughly 45-60 minutes to play. The setting of Thargos will be familiar to players of some of SBG’s other games, having featured in their earlier Heroes of Thargos and Battle Mages titles, though this game takes a different approach, focusing on exploration and survival. Some tabletop roleplayers may also remember the setting from the Cursed Empire TTRPG (originally published as Crimson Empire in 2003), written and designed by SBG’s owner Chris Loizou.

In Ascendia: Seasons of Thargos, the valley is represented by a hex-based board that changes as the game goes on. Each season brings new challenges, while the encroaching winter gradually covers the landscape. Players explore, gather raw materials and craft items that improve their abilities. Encounters with animals and other dangers call for dice rolls, with equipment and character skills helping improve the characters odds.

While the playersd are trying to earn Renown, and claim the the title of Lord of Ascendia, there is also a shared threat that could ruin everyone’s ambitions. So players have to balance a certain amount of semi-cooperation with one another against wanting to beat them to the throne itself.

The game was originally funded on Gamefound in May 2025, and has been making appearences at a number of shows including UK Games Expo this year. It has now hit some distributors and will be popping up in stores over the next week.

So, if you’re a player who enjoys a fantasy adventure with resource gathering, dice-driven encounters and a looming deadline, Ascendia: Seasons of Thargos is a game well worth checking out.