Root and Arcs designer Cole Wehrle, style-defining artist Kyle Ferrin lead staff exodus from Leder Games to form new board game studio

The creator of Leder Games’ breakout success Root and the artist whose style has become synonymous with the company’s games have left to launch their own board game studio, alongside a string of other staff from the Minnesota-based publisher.

Cole Wehrle, who also designed hits including Arcs and Oath while at Leder, and lead artist Kyle Ferrin have launched Buried Giant Studios with Wehrle’s brother Drew and former Leder director of operations Ted Caya, who left the company last month along with his design for the company’s now axed Kickstarter Take.

Leder Games has agreed to sell Arcs and Oath to Buried Giant as part of the shake-up, while keeping hold of its huge-selling star title Root, a game which despite its complexity has broken out of the hobby game bubble and onto the shelves of major retailers such as Walmart and Target.

Other Leder staff making the moving across to Buried Giant include Josh Yearsley, who designed the most recent Root expansion Homeland, senior graphic designer Pati Hyun, event coordinator and community manager Matt Martens and graphic designer Megan Ganey.

The exodus will leave Leder with a design and development team comprising company founder Patrick Leder – the co-creator of its debut release Vast: The Crystal Caverns and co-designer of multiple Root expansions – Nick Brachmann, who has worked on expansions for Root, Ahoy and Fort, and solo game design specialist Liz Davidson.

Root’s huge success following its 2018 release allowed Leder Games to triple its staff, as well provide its design team the breathing space to explore new creations without the heavy pressure of churning out new money-making releases.

Wehrle said in a blog post announcing his exit from Leder, “Facing a similar success, any other company would have mandated a steady supply of tchotchkes and derivative expansions. However, Patrick had the confidence to let us set our sights on farther horizons.

“He offered every team member room to explore their ideas and supported each and every one of my own projects. The success of those games was a testament to the strength of the studio as a whole.

“At the same time, these games offered a challenge for the creative direction of the company and for Patrick’s original vision for Leder Games.

“Over the past few months we’ve pursued several possible paths forward and have arrived at something deeply fair-minded and almost singular in the history of the tabletop industry.

“I suppose it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Patrick and his team would find a way to innovate even at a moment like this.”

Leder has yet to comment on how the seismic changes will affect its 2026 release slate, which was due to kick off with a crowdfunding campaign for Take before the project’s surprise cancellation last month amid Caya’s exit.

BoardGameWire has contacted Leder Games with a request for more information, and will update this article if it receives a response.

Buried Giant, meanwhile, has revealed it plans to launch a crowdfunding campaign for Arcs expansion Beyond the Reach later in the Spring, which Kyle Ferrin added on BlueSky would form part of a series of planned extensions for the multiple award-winning title.

The company will also be handling the fulfillment of Oath expansion New Foundations, which raised more than $900,000 through a Kickstarter campaign in mid-2024.

Ferrin added on the Buried Giant Discord that Take would also be among the new publisher’s releases once the artwork is completed, adding that the company “wanted to start BGS with a Cole/Kyle project for clarity’s sake”.

Responding to a question on the Discord about his decision to leave a publisher which has become synonymous with his artwork over the last decade, Ferrin said, “Not going to comment on anything specific, we were just ready for something new.”

A mission statement on the Buried Giant website states the company wants to: “continue making beautiful, interactive games with expressive systems, emergent gameplay, and player-centered storytelling. We believe that the best games are built slowly and with the care and attention of a full-time staff.”

Speaking to BoardGameWire about his decision to leave the company that has been home to his biggest design successes – and leaving Root behind – Wehrle said, “It’s always tough to say goodbye to a project you’ve worked on for years. I loved working on Root and it was a real pleasure helping Patrick, Nick, and Josh work on the design for some of the more recent expansions.

“I’ll say in particular that Josh’s work on the Homeland expansion was remarkable and I think it’s the best of the lot! I would love to work on a Root expansion someday, but there’s no shortage of talented designers working in that space now and I have plenty to keep myself busy.

“Root really makes sense at Leder. Though our new company has a great staff, it’s not as big as the team at Leder Games and they are better suited to support it operationally than our new venture.

“I’m so happy they will be able to keep doing that and use it as a foundation to explore whatever sorts of games they want to make going forward. I’m really excited to see what they come up with.

“It was a real pleasure working there. Leaving is always hard, but it made the most sense for everyone and I’m glad we got to a solution that lets us all keep making the sorts of things we love.”

Wehrle confirmed to BoardGameWire that Wehrlegig Games, the publisher he launched with brother Drew to specialise in historical tabletop games such as John Company, Pax Pamir and Molly House, would be folded into Buried Giant and “exist as a semi-independent imprint going forward”.

He said, “Drew is one of the senior partners at BGS and we are both looking forward to having additional staff to help with those projects. We hope to launch An Infamous Traffic sometime this Fall.”

Posting on BlueSky, Leder Games’ founder Patrick Leder said of the move, “I am really excited for Cole and Kyle to be branching out this way. I have nothing but admiration for the skill and craft they bring to the field.

“I believe this change will best serve the audience of Oath and Arcs. I am excited to see what both organizations can accomplish. Good luck Cole and Kyle.”

He added that he had started “earnestly designing” a second edition of Leder Games’ debut title Vast, but said that it was likely another year off, with unnamed projects already ahead of it at the company.