Road to SPIEL 2026: Greylune by Sorry We Are French

Every adventurer wants to become a legend. Unfortunately, slaying the monster is only half the job. Afterwards, you still have to get back to the tavern and make sure everybody hears about it.

Greylune, from French publisher Sorry We Are French, is the latest design from William Attia, creator of Caylus and Spyrium. Combining worker placement with fantasy adventure, it sends 2-4 players out from the town of Greylune to gather equipment, recruit companions, complete quests and, most importantly, turn those exploits into prestige.

What is it?

Greylune sits on the edge of the wild lands, acting as both departure point and homecoming for adventurers seeking fame.

Over five years, players develop their Strength and Magic, obtain useful items, recruit Companions and face increasingly difficult Encounters. Successful adventures become stories which can later be told in Greylune’s taverns, transforming heroics into the prestige needed to win.

Not every expedition needs to involve dragons and necromaners either. While defeating something enormous may produce a magnificent story more mundane encounters - such as herding sheep - can provide a dependable income, and even fantasy heroes occasionally have bills to pay.

How does it play?

At the core iof Greylune is an unusual place-and-retrieve worker system.

Nine cards forn the streets of the town, representing Buildings, Items, and Companions. During Spring, players place their Villagers in the spaces between those cards, effectively showing which opportunities interest them. Then comes Summer, when Villagers can be withdrawn.

Removing one lets you interact with an adjacent card - perhaps purchasing an item, recruiting a Companion, or using a Building. But the more Villagers that surround a card, the more expensive that card becomes to use. Of course instead of taking the action, and paying its cost, you can remove your Villager which generates coins based on how crowded the area has become.

The timeline can also be fluid for different players. One player might remain in Spring longer, placing more workers, while another has already advanced into Summer and starts retrieving theirs. Time only flows in one direction though, so once you have moved on to the following Season you can’t then decide to go back. If you linger in a Season too long an opponent might claim the card you wanted, but moving forward too soon could surrender other opportunities you could have developed.

Across five rounds - or years - the available Encounters become increasingly more difficult and rewarding. Players gathering the equipment, Companions, Strength and Magic needed to tackle them, and then convert successful exploits into prestige through Greylune’s taverns. There are also three Epic Quests available to the first players who become capable of completing them.

The player who finished the game with the greatest prestige is the adventurer whose memory will become the most impressive legend. Bards will sing about your exploits for years to come! Although they might miss the part about you herding sheep…

Why we’re watching it

A big reason for a number of people will be William Attia. His Caylus helped define modern worker-placement games, while Spyrium experimented with workers placed between cards rather than directly on them. Greylune develops that idea further by making the timing of worker withdrawal just as important as the initial placement.

The asynchronous seasonal system is also interesting. Worker placement normally revolves around whether someone takes a space before you. Greylune adds the question of when do you stop placing workers and start cashing them in? That should create plenty of opportunities to watch what your opponents are doing, push your luck to make another placement only to discover that the Companion you’ve spent turns preparing to recruit has wandered off with somebody else.

The game made a strong impression at Gen Con this summer too, spending more than a week in the top two of BoardGameGeeks Hotness after the show.

The Game at SPIEL Essen 2026

Greylune is one of Sorry We Are French’s major SPIEL releases, and will be shown on the Blackrock Games side of its presence in Hall 6. Sorry We Are French lists its neighbouring Hatchette Boardgames locations as 6K400 and 6K300.

Learn & Play sessions for Greylune must be booked in advance, and designer William Attia will be signing games Thursday to Saturday between 3-4.30pm.

English copies can be preordered for collection at the show, with SPIEL being advertised at the games special English release, with Hachette Boardgames UK giving it a wider launch on 4th November 2026.

SPIEL Essen runs from 22nd-25th October 2026.

Greylune at a glance

Publisher: Sorry We Are French

Designers: William Attia

Artists: David Sitbon & Ulric Maes

Players: 2-4

Ages: 14+

Playing Time: 45-90 minutes

Type: Worker placement / worker retrieval / adventure / tableeau development / timing

English Edition: Yes

Expected release: 4th November 2026

SPIEL: Sorry We Are French / Blackrock Games, Hall 6, K400 and F300

More information: Sorry We Are French - Greylune

Tomorrow on Road to SPIEL 2026: Carl von Linne - exploration, specimens and scientific clarification in a heavyweight Euro inspired by the development of modern taxonomy.