Earthborne games have announced something very exciting, as a new standalone game is coming to their incredibly thematic world with Earthborne Trailblazer.
As a recent convert to Earthborne Rangers, and someone who perused all the expansions immediately after my first playthrough of the game last month, I was super pleased to see this announcement, especially as something that is its own thing entirely rather than another add on.
With it set to come to Kickstarter on May 26th, myself and all other Earthborne fans don’t have long to wait to get backing and pledging at the first opportunity.
Exploring the Valley
If you haven’t heard of Earthborne Rangers before, I can’t recommend it enough, and as soon as you have played it will know why I am excited for Trailblazer.
Earthborne Rangers was released in 2023 to much critical acclaim and fanfare, a customizable, cooperative card game set in the wilderness of the far future. Playing as a Ranger, you go on a far reaching adventure through a branching narrative campaign, visiting new locations, aiding the local residents of the valley, and going on a variety of quests through this picturesque landscape beautifully rendered through some of the best card art in board games.
Featuring elements of deckbuilding, co-operative play and roleplaying, Earthborne Rangers is a game I am still fairly new to having only played a few sessions, but one that within the first hour I knew would be one of my favourites of all time. And with its environmentally friendly approach to board game production, one that truly spoke to me and clearly to many other tabletop hobbyists.
If you’re a fan of games like Vantage or even card games like Arkham Horror (different vibes entirely), then Earthborne Rangers might be for you. And if you need any more selling, I would advise going to watch Shut Up and Sit Down discuss their love for the game on YouTube!
So with all that said, Earthborne Trailblazer might be my most anticipated Kickstarter campaign of 2026.
Blazing a new trail
Details are still very scarce on Earthborne Trailblazer, so I suspect I will be doing a lot of Googling over the next month to find more and more information about this new campaign.
So far all Earthborne Games have confirmed is that it will be based on the mechanics and themes of the critically acclaimed Earthborne Rangers, but with Trailblazer offering a standalone board game that invites you to explore the wilderness of the far future in an entirely new way.
What this new way is really intrigues me!
And with a launch date of May 26th 2026, there isn’t much longer to wait.
While there isn’t much detail yet on the campaign, I am still very excited for Earthborne Trailblazer. As I said earlier I have loved my time with Rangers, and immediately had to have a quick check on the different expansions already available for it.
But a bit like with games such as Root or Spirit Island, I found that with already a fair few expansions to add to the base game available, I was a little bit unsure where to start and how they would add or potentially detract from my time with the original game. I wasn’t clear if I needed to finish the original campaign first before getting these, or if they could be added alongside my ongoing story.
As such a completely standalone experience like Earthborne Trailblazer, set in the same incredible world but totally its own thing, is really appealing. I have fallen in love with the world and the type of storytelling on display by Earthborne Games, so Trailblazer offering me more of this without taking away from my current Rangers campaign would be perfect.
And if unlike Rangers it isn’t an ongoing campaign game, it might offer more versatility so you can just bring it to a board game session and show people who aren’t currently playing you’re ongoing game of Rangers what wonders can be found in the wilderness.
So a very exciting Kickstarter announcement, one which all fans of Earthborne Rangers need to put into their diaries come what May.
