Lost Ruins of Arnak: Surprise Shipment Review – One Last Adventure?

Welcome to this week’s review! This week I’m taking a look at a “surprise” expansion to arguably my favorite board game of all time at the moment. So, without further ado, let’s jump into it.

Disclosure: A review copy of this game was provided to The Meeple Digest in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.

Lost Ruins of Arnak: Surprise Shipment is the latest expansion to the worker-placement and deckbuilding game Lost Ruins of Arnak. I’ve written a number of posts on this blog detailing my love for Lost Ruins of Arnak, and while I will never say no to more content for the game, I was surprised and a little hesitant (more on this in a bit) when I heard about this expansion.

Diving into this expansion, this is by far the smallest physically of the expansions for the game. The expansion comes in a small box, which contains 30 new artifact cards, 20 new item cards, two new level two sites, and one replacement level one site. In addition, this expansion is fully compatible with all previously released content for Lost Ruins of Arnak.

Starting off with the new cards, the majority of them add some interesting new effects. For example, there are a few artifact cards that can be purchased with a combination of coins and compasses. Later in the game, when there are fewer item cards for purchase, these types of artifacts offer another option to use your coins.

There are also a few new artifacts that provide negative victory points if they are still in your deck at the end of the game. Typically, these cards provide some very powerful effects, so you’ll need to determine whether grabbing them is worth the victory point cost. In addition, when you trash those cards, typically you’ll have to gain fear cards, so it can be challenging to completely negate the penalties with these cards.  

For the new item cards, there are some that vary in usefulness throughout the game. For example, there is one card (Calendar), whose effects change depending on which round it is; typically, the effects strengthen in the later rounds. There is also a new card (Kitten), which allows you to activate an occupied tent site. In the early rounds, this card is very strong, but as players discover more sites, this card becomes less useful. While these new 50 cards might seem less exciting than a new temple track or a new leader, I was surprised by how much these cards had an effect on the game.

This expansion also adds two new level two site tiles that introduce a new effect. Whenever you visit one of these sites, you get to take back one of your previously slotted idols from your board. When combined with the leaders, which each have a couple idol slots that have unique effects, these sites become quite powerful, while also allowing flexibility in how you use their effect.

Finally, the expansion also has one replacement level one site that slightly buffs the original tile. While small, I’m always a fan when games release updated versions of previous content to provide better game balance.

I mentioned I had a slight hesitation when I first heard about this expansion. I own the Adventure Chest, which provides a single storage solution for all content for the game, and the insert makes it easier to setup and teardown the game. I’ve also sleeved all of the cards in the game with Dragon Shield sleeves, which are 120 microns thick. Without this expansion, all of the cards fit in their intended slots; however, I had to get a little creative to include the 50 extra cards from this expansion. Shoutout to this BGG thread, where someone suggested using the extra space in the character and campaign card box to get everything to fit. If you don’t sleeve your cards or are using a smaller sleeve thickness, everything should fit perfectly fine within the Adventure Chest in their normal slots.

Even after having to get a little creative to get all of the new cards to fit within the Adventure Chest, I’m happy to have added this expansion to my game. There is a substantial number of new artifact and item cards that introduce some new and exciting effects. In addition, the new idol effect on the two new level two sites adds some more options to consider. While I’ll never say no to more Lost Ruins of Arnak content, if this truly is the final expansion for the game, there’s more than enough content in the game to keep me coming back for quite some time.  

I also managed to pick up the Lost Ruins of Arnak: Upgraded Components. I’m not one to usually bling out my games, but I have to admit these upgraded coin and compass tokens are quite nice. They have a nice, satisfying weight to them and have a surprising amount of detail, from the compass directions to the slight indents that make these look a bit worn like how you’d expect to find them on an adventure. I’m also happy to report that these components fit within the resource container in the Adventure Box after you remove the ones from the base game. And for those that don’t own the Adventure Box, these upgraded components do come with two clear plastic containers for storage. Once again, I’m not one to usually obsess over upgraded components, but I have to admit these do elevate the experience for me and help sell the Indiana Jones-esque theme of the game.

With that, I’ll wrap up this week’s review! If you’ve played the new Surprise Shipment expansion, I’d love to know your thoughts on it in the comments below. And what are your thoughts on Lost Ruins of Arnak as a whole? Happy gaming!

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