Lost Ruins of Arnak: Expedition Leaders

We all love a great treasure hunt story. There are the thrills of navigating strange places and dangers, the mysteries lurking in every shadow, and the allure of hidden treasure. But what makes those stories shine? The people. We all know the fedora and whip of Indiana Jones.

In Expedition Leaders, the first major expansion to Lost Ruins Of Arnak, designers Min and Elwen introduce a group of playable Expedition Leaders to the world of Arnak. Players take on various roles with asymmetric player powers to further delve into the mysteries of the lost island of Arnak.

Like the original Lost Ruins of Arnak, Expedition Leaders is for one to four players from age 12 and up and lasts 30 minutes per player. It is published by Czech Games Edition.

What Does Expedition Leaders Add?

The main headliner is the six Expedition Leaders. This adds asymmetric player powers. Each leader has a brand-new player board, designed specifically to highlight each role’s unique powers and features. Additionally, the player boards get unique blue Idol slots to go along with the standard slots from the base game. Each leader comes with four unique starting cards to lean into the powers.

In the original Lost Ruins of Arnak, the player boards corresponded to the color of the archaeologist meeples. With these new player boards, that no longer is true. So there are four tent tiles, each matching the original meeple colors, to help keep track of who is which color.

So, who are the new leaders?

• The Captain, who has a third archaeologist (the gray Archaeologist meeple included in the expansion).
• The Falconer, who uses a unique tracker on her player board to gain bonuses.
• The Baroness, who has the ability to gain an item to her hand.
• The Professor, whose knowledge gives him access to more Artifacts.
• The Explorer, who only has one Archaeologist meeple but can move it multiple times in a round.
• The Mystic, who actively embraces Fear and uses it to his advantage.

Some of these leaders have unique components:

• The Captain has a third Archaeologist meeple
• The Falconer has an Eagle token
• The Professor has a suitcase for storing his artifacts
• The Explorer has three unique resources she uses to help her move around the island.

Each leader introduced in Expedition Leaders has a unique play style thanks to their powers and starting hand. These leaders make for more replayability and makes you stretch your brain figuring out the new ways to interact with the island of Arnak. Thankfully, the expansion includes leader-specific player aids to go along with the base game’s player aids.

What Else?

But the leaders aren’t the only new addition in this expansion. Expedition Leaders comes with 18 new items, 12 new artifacts, five new Level I and three new Level II sites, five new Guardian tiles, four new Idols, and three new Assistants. And the Stone Key artifact and Miner assistant from the base game get updated rules.

Then there is the new double-sided Research board which adds two new Research tracks. Finally, there is a new red Moon staff for a variation where players remove two cards to either side of the staff at round’s end, rather than just one to each side.

Perhaps one of the most unique parts of Expedition Leaders is that certain leaders get added benefits at specified times throughout the game. During setup, roles like the Professor, the Explorer, and the Baroness add resources to the round tracker on the main player board. When those specific rounds begin, those players gain those resources. It’s a nice little boost to help those roles focus on their style of gameplay.

Expectations And Impressions

When I cracked into Expedition Leaders I was excited. I enjoy asymmetric player powers because they can help you figure out how to play a game and introduce even more ways to play. I was also curious to see what sort of roles the game would introduce. How many different versions of a treasure hunter/archaeologist could they have?

And it didn’t take long to see Min and Elwen delivered on both a variety of roles and making them fun. Each leader is trying to discover sites and advance as far up the Research tracker, just like in the base game. However, they all go about things differently.

If you’re the Professor you want to focus on acquiring artifacts. The Baroness targets items. And the Mystic targets Fear. It feels completely opposite of playing the base game, but it works incredibly well.

Making a Great Game Better

Honestly, after playing Lost Ruins of Arnak with the Expedition Leaders expansion, I love what it adds to the game. I think I will only remove the expansion when I’m teaching someone new. We’ve already integrated all of the expansion content into our base game’s box – and there’s enough room to keep the combined components in one box.

If I need to separate out the components for any reason, each tile and card is marked with a very small eagle’s head in the bottom left corner.

But I can also teach Lost Ruins of Arnak with the expansion to experienced gamers. So, I may never need to separate the two again.

And the best part? Once you’re familiar with the leaders, this game doesn’t take any longer to play. You’re still drawing five cards at the beginning of the round, gaining resources, discovering new Sites, defeating Guardians, and researching. You are just doing that in different ways than your fellow players.

Final Thoughts

If you are a big fan of Lost Ruins of Arnak like I am, Expedition Leaders is a must-buy. It takes a game that I already thoroughly enjoyed and adds more content and wonderful asymmetrical player powers. To me, it’s the definitive way to play Lost Ruins of Arnak.

And hey, the Explorer even wears an Indiana Jones style fedora. What more can you ask for?

Get Lost Ruins of Arnak: Expedition Leaders directly from CGE, find it on Amazon, or ask for it at your local game store.

---

The Family Gamers received a copy of Lost Ruins of Arnak and the Expedition Leaders expansion from CGE for this review.

This post contains affiliate links, which do not change your price, but help support The Family Gamers.