The Missing Expedition is the latest expansion for Lost Ruins of Arnak. This expansion introduces more variety with new item and artifact cards, guardians, sites, leaders, temples, and assistants. But more importantly, it introduces a campaign that can be played either solo or cooperatively with two players.
Overview of The Campaign
The campaign consists of 6 chapters, following the story of a missing professor and your journey to Arnak to find him. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the game and guides you in a particular direction, leading to a fresh gameplay experience unlike any you’ve had with Arnak previously. Some chapters require you to defeat guardians, while others challenge you to reach the top of the temple track quickly. Certain chapters have multiple ways to lose, adding to the challenge.
Aside from the main goal, each chapter presents three optional objectives. Achieving these rewards you with a thematic card that is added to the top of your deck, along with one campaign icon. We’ll discuss the icons later, but the cards are tied to the narrative. For example, in Chapter 1, visiting the crashed plane site multiple times earns you the “Repaired Plane” card. Some of these cards provide significant benefits, and timing their addition to your deck correctly can be very valuable.
Encounter cards are another new element introduced in the campaign. Each chapter uses a deck of these cards in various ways, with a few typically acquired during gameplay. Each encounter card offers two predetermined benefits: one for immediate use and one for future use. These benefits vary, ranging from resources to actions, and each choice grants one campaign icon.
If you fail a chapter, you have the option to restart it or accept the loss, take a penalty, and progress to the next chapter. Upon completing a chapter, you mark all acquired icons on the campaign sheet. Accumulating enough of a specific icon unlocks cards to be added to the bottom of your deck for the subsequent chapter. Each of these cards also features a backstory in the campaign book.
Campaign Review
Lost Ruins of Arnak is one of my favorite games, but I wasn’t keen on its solo mode. While it was okay, I always preferred playing the game with others. However, this campaign has changed that. It adds new excitement to the solo mode, offering a series of engaging sessions with plenty of new content.
I completed the entire campaign solo once and also played half of it with another player. The cooperative mode closely resembles the solo experience, with objectives being twice as challenging. While players mostly play their own game, they also work towards shared objectives. Moreover, players can share a single resource each round, something we used heavily. This sharing mechanic is cleverly designed, requiring careful planning. Each player has two pigeon tokens for resource exchange. However, after sending a resource, they must wait for the other player’s token before they can send another in the following round. Although the cooperative mode is enjoyable and runs smoothly, when there’s another player at the table, I personally prefer competitive play.
As mentioned earlier, the story adds a thematic element to the game. While each chapter’s introduction and ending contribute to the narrative, most of it unfolds through numbered snippets, known as hidden texts, in the campaign book. The story isn’t particularly strong, but it doesn’t need to be for a game like Arnak. If you’re hoping for a campaign with a deep narrative, this isn’t the one. But if you already enjoy Arnak, this campaign only elevates the experience.
When it comes to the campaign book, although generally well-structured, it does have some drawbacks, such as unclear setup instructions or rules for certain chapters. For instance, in Chapter 6, the setup instructions fail to specify whether the temple receives research bonus tiles, and it remains unclear whether the game continues after achieving the main objective. Fortunately, answers to these questions can be found on BoardGameGeek (here and here). These issues will likely be addressed in future printings, but as it is today, the rulebook could benefit from some improvements.
In some chapters, the rulebook instructs you to read hidden text when certain events occur, adding additional narrative elements to the game. However, since these instructions are not included on the chapter overview cards, you might overlook them, leading to oversights and missing pieces of the story during gameplay. Addressing this issue would also improve your overall experience.
The campaign can be replayed in its entirety, or each chapter can be played independently. No changes are made to any game components during the campaign, and there’s no need to separate the campaign content from the base game to restart it. Instead, you can simply locate the specified cards, guardians, assistants, or site tiles for each individual chapter during its setup, making replaying the campaign easier.
It’s important to note that the main goal and some of the optional objectives in all six chapters may seem impossible at first. However, similar to the base game, as you build your decks, you gradually gain the ability to accomplish more each round. Additionally, encounter cards provide powerful benefits and help you make progress toward achieving the objectives. In general, being able to achieve so much with only two workers and a hand of five cards is one of the brilliant aspects of Arnak, and the campaign is no exception.
Overall, the campaign is remarkable, particularly for solo play. It effectively ties subsequent games together and introduces refreshing elements. This expansion is essential if you enjoy playing Lost Ruins of Arnak solo.
New Content for the Base Game
While the campaign is the highlight of this expansion, all of its components are compatible with the base game. This means that even if you choose not to play the campaign, you can still enjoy a lot of new content. More cards are always welcomed in a card-driven game. The Missing Expedition introduces 21 new items and 13 new artifacts. Many of these cards offer new and interesting benefits. Also, the expansion includes 4 new assistants, 3 new guardians, and 8 new idols.
Moreover, the expansion introduces four new level one and one level two sites. Each of these sites incorporates encounter cards from various decks into the base game. Players who dig at these sites draw an encounter card and resolve its effects. Although the cards are drawn randomly, they are fairly balanced. That said, implementing a house rule to add a display of a few encounter cards could be interesting, allowing everyone to plan their actions based on the available options.
There are also two new temple boards in the box. The Waterfall Temple has facedown level 1 sites, shortcuts for faster research and dynamic requirements for research on two levels. The Tree Temple rewards idols on two levels when researching with the notebook. Additionally, it features spots on the same two levels where players can place idols to gain powerful benefits when researching with the magnifying glass. These two temples are another great addition to the base game to mix things up. The only downside I can think of is due to the light colors of the Waterfall Temple, paths and costs are not as clear as other temple tiles available for this game.
The expansion also introduces two new leaders: the Mechanic and the Journalist. The Mechanic has quickly become one of my favorite leaders. Her board features a wheel that can be upgraded and offers various actions and benefits when turned. This introduces a mini-game element and adds an extra layer of depth and strategic planning to the gameplay. Also, this leader can have up to three assistants, one of which is gained for free at the beginning of round 3 and assists with turning the wheel.
The Journalist specializes in collecting article tokens scattered across the board on level 1 and level 2 sites. When playing as the Journalist, visiting one of these sites allows you to spend a travel icon to collect the token. These tokens can then be placed on newspaper tiles on your player board to gain various benefits. In each game, only two of the eight available newspaper tiles are present. The benefits these tiles offer vary so playing the Journalist feels slightly different each time.
Final Thoughts
The Missing Expedition is another fantastic addition to the world of Arnak. Packed with abundant new content and an engaging campaign for 1 or 2 players, it breathes new life into the game and increases its replay value. Whether you enjoy solo play or prefer a cooperative two-player experience, this expansion is a must-have. For those who have only the base game and are considering purchasing one expansion, Expedition Leaders might be a better choice since it offers a wider selection of leaders (read our review of that expansion here). Nonetheless, both expansions are excellent additions, and if you’re a frequent Arnak player, you won’t regret adding both to your collection.
Disclaimer: We received a review copy of this expansion. Also, there may be an affiliate link in the links included at the end of this article.
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