Mage Knight, Root, Raiders of the North Sea and more coming to PC and mobile

Digital board game developer Dire Wolf Digital has unleashed a barrage of announcements for tabletop heavy-hitters headed to PC and mobile.

The studio behind digital versions of Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, Lotus and the online Pokémon Trading Card Game has no fewer than half a dozen tabletop apps currently in the works, ranging from historical miniatures game Wings of Glory to weighty strategy adventure Mage Knight.

Want to hear what’s coming? Alright, here we go.

First on the way is a digital version of Shem Phillips’ Viking-themed worker-placement game Raiders of the North Sea, part of Phillips’ North Sea trilogy – which also includes Explorers and Shipwrights, as well as a spin-off RPG – and a predecessor to the designer’s ongoing West Kingdom trilogy.

Raiders of the North Sea is due to come to phones, tablets and PC in the first quarter of Q1 this year – so expect it by the end of March.

On the other end of the scale is Mage Knight, Codenames creator Vlaada Chvátil’s heavyweight fantasy game particularly acclaimed for its solo mode and crunchy combat systems.

Dire Wolf adds in its announcement that it’s formed a partnership with Mage Knight publisher WizKids, which recently released an Ultimate Edition of the game, to put out more ‘digital translations’ of its games in the future – potentially opening the coffin lid for a Fury of Dracula app.

Also on the way is a digital version of a more recent smash hit: Root, Cole Wehrle’s asymmetrical game of woodland war between animal factions, each of which plays by a completely different set of rules – literally. The app will follow an upcoming roleplaying game set in the universe of the four-player strategy game, which Tom Mendelsohn described as “an absolutely brutal game of conquest and insurgency, wrapped in truly exquisite woodland fantasy art, dripping with strategic depth” in our review.

The hype train doesn’t stop there. Next on the line to come to PC and mobile is Sagrada, the beautiful dice-placement game about creating stained glass windows in the Barcelona landmark. "It’s a game you’ll want to show to everyone you know," we said in our review.

There’s also Yellow & Yangtze, Reiner Knizia’s spiritual successor (at least its equal, we might argue) to the extraordinary civ-expanding strategy masterpiece Tigris & Euphrates. Yellow & Yangtze is confirmed to be coming to PC, phones and tablets.

Phew, almost there.

It’s not just board games that Dire Wolf has lined up in its digital sights. The studio has announced that it will be bringing World War I aerial combat miniatures game Wings of Glory, plus its War of the Worlds-themed standalone spin-off Tripods & Triplanes, to PC and mobile.

It’s worth noting that all of these games are confirmed to be in development, but only Raiders of the North Sea has been given a release window so far – meaning it could be a while before we see the others make their way onto screens.

Dire Wolf says that “there will be more to come on all of these projects – and more – over the next few months”. Unsurprisingly, it’s got quite a bit to work on in the meantime.