{"id":7845,"date":"2026-11-06T10:10:40","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T10:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/?p=7845"},"modified":"2026-11-06T10:10:41","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T10:10:41","slug":"restoration-games-to-revive-chaos-in-the-old-world-as-games-workshop-eyes-shared-universe-for-reimagined-classics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/06\/restoration-games-to-revive-chaos-in-the-old-world-as-games-workshop-eyes-shared-universe-for-reimagined-classics\/","title":{"rendered":"Restoration Games to revive Chaos in the Old World as Games Workshop eyes shared universe for reimagined classics"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Restoration Games<\/a> has struck a multi-year licensing deal with Games Workshop<\/a> to revive the long out-of-print Chaos in the Old World and two other discontinued titles – with all three being “reimagined” in a universe Games Workshop is building around its classic Talisman board game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement will see Restoration revive Eric Lang’s highly sought-after 2009 design alongside Space Hulk: Death Angel<\/a> and Warrior Knights<\/a>, almost a decade after the games disappeared from Fantasy Flight Games’ catalogue due to the end of its long-running licensing partnership with Games Workshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three games will be reimagined within Gravemarch, a new fantasy world Restoration is developing for Games Workshop’s Talisman Realm<\/a> brand – replacing the original Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 settings of the first two titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal forms part of Games Workshop’s wider plans for Talisman Realm, launched last year to expand the fantasy world of its 1983 Talisman board game to encompass reimagined versions of other titles from its back catalogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Games Workshop’s 1987 release Chainsaw Warrior<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fury of Dracula<\/a>, Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb<\/a> and Chainsaw Warrior<\/a> have all been named by Games Workshop as being part of the initiative, which the company hopes will serve as an interconnected universe for its classic titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first game to return under the new agreement will be Chaos in the Old World<\/a>, with original designer Eric Lang returning to work on the new edition alongside Restoration’s design team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game has maintained a strong following despite being out of print since 2017, and currently sits among BoardGameGeek’s 250 highest-ranked games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondhand copies continue to command substantial prices, with BoardGameGeek’s GeekMarket recording several selling for between $200 and $350 this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lang said, “I think Chaos in the Old World is my most requested reprint from the most dedicated fans. Restoration is the perfect match to bring this game into 2026. I started this project excited, now I\u2019m beyond thrilled.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new version, titled Devastation in the Dread World, will retain the original’s asymmetric factions and area-control gameplay while introducing changes including scenario-based play in place of random events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restoration plans to launch the game through crowdfunding in the first quarter of 2027, with a retail release to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Two further titles are provisionally scheduled for 2028: Dungeons of Gravemarch: The Card Game, based on Corey Konieczka’s 2010 co-operative game Space Hulk: Death Angel, and Warrior Knights, which was originally published by Games Workshop in 1985 before receiving a revised Fantasy Flight edition in 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement revives part of a catalogue left dormant following the end of Fantasy Flight Games’ eight-year licensing partnership with Games Workshop, which saw FFG cease selling those titles in early 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That split affected a substantial range of board games, card games and roleplaying products, including Forbidden Stars<\/a>, Warhammer 40,000: Conquest<\/a> and Blood Bowl: Team Manager<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several of those titles have since returned through other publishers, including Fury of Dracula, which received a new edition from WizKids in 2018. Talisman itself was relaunched by Games Workshop shortly after the Fantasy Flight split, before Pegasus Spiele published the revised fourth edition in 2019 and Hasbro’s Avalon Hill released a fifth edition in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samuel Bailey’s highly regarded Forbidden Stars has also been recently reworked under a different IP, with Chaosium raising almost $770,000 from nearly 3,000 backers through a crowdfund for Call of Cthulhu: Old Ones Origins last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restoration Games has built its business around securing rights to discontinued games and bringing updated versions back to market, with previous high-profile successes including Return to Dark Tower<\/a> and Thunder Road: Vendetta<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its recent The Lord of the Rings: The King’s Gambit<\/a> crowdfunding campaign raised $2.58m from 8,325 backers for a reworking of the long out-of-print Star Wars: The Queen’s Gambit<\/a>, replacing the original Star Wars IP with another major entertainment licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The multi-year deal with Games Workshop also allows for the possibility of Restoration developing further titles within Gravemarch or other Talisman Realm settings, although no additional projects have been confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more stories like this direct to your email inbox, click here to sign up for BoardGameWire’s free email newsletter. \n\nAnd if you’ve found our reporting interesting or useful, please consider a paid subscription to help support our journalism!<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The agreement will see Restoration revive Eric Lang’s highly sought-after 2009 design alongside Space Hulk: Death Angel and Warrior Knights, almost a decade after the games disappeared from Fantasy Flight Games’ catalogue due to the end of its long-running licensing partnership with Games Workshop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,135,2908,2902,2907,2903,1963,696,2906,219,267,1739,2904,2900,2905],"class_list":["post-7845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-board-game","tag-board-games","tag-chainsaw-warrior","tag-chaos-in-the-old-world","tag-curse-of-the-mummys-tomb","tag-devastation-in-the-dread-world","tag-eric-lang","tag-fantasy-flight-games","tag-fury-of-dracula","tag-games-workshop","tag-publisher","tag-restoration-games","tag-space-hulk-death-angel","tag-talisman","tag-warrior-knights"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t