AEG has announced some of my favourite fun board game titles in the past. Two titles that seem to have a recurring spot on my table, both Calico and Cascadia have found a happy home amongst my board games on the shelves!

Now, AEG has announced their next upcoming title for the summer, The Guild of Merchant Explorers. As players connect cities through discovery, establishing trade routes and exploring the harder to reach areas of Tigome.

The Guild of Merchant Explorers // Alderac Entertainment Group - AEG

All players will start the game with one city on their map and will be encouraged to explore both sides filled with sea, mountain, desert and green lands to outsource for new business.

The Queen of Tigomé is feeling ambitious. The Kindom is in a wonderful state and flourishing for those who live within, however, outside of the kingdom remains unknown. Maps have not been updated and there is a wealth of intrigue to discover so it's up to the brave adventurers to pull their socks up to earn points by establishing new trade routes between cities across a multitude of terrain.

Whether that be hiking against mountainous terrain, or establishing a safe route across the roughest sea, the blank canvas map players will be making use of their hexagonal grid to place cubes down depending on the cards that have been flipped from the terrain pile. Players are encouraged to loot areas of the map such as capsized ships for treasure and bonus points. There will be a series of common objectives which can be met by all places raking in points to whoever gets there first. But the player with the most points at the end of the game is crowned the winner.

Board and Component Preview // The Guild of Merchant Explorers

Down the end of the road, players will not only get a chance to establish the route but establish a city in the process of exploration! Racking in more points, or being at risk of staying in the same place.

The game is set to be released this Summer, on June 10th 2022, bringing a box of 8 double-sided maps, an exploration board, cards, tokens, cubes towers, treasure opportunities and your set of rules. However, if you did want to get a sneak at the rules before burying your head in the game, AEG has the game's rules available to download on their site as a PDF for quick reference.

The game can be played solo or with up to four players, so I am certainly intrigued at getting a solo game of exploration with The Guild of Merchant Explorers!