Who Is Bastet, and What Is the Bubastis Faction?
Bubastis is a Cthulhu Wars faction expansion built around Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess. The product page asks the question directly: "Can Bastet defeat the Great Old Ones?" That premise alone sets this faction apart from every cosmic-horror entity already at the table. An ancient Egyptian deity stepping into a Lovecraftian apocalypse rather than emerging from it. That's a different kind of fight.
Bastet was the major deity of the ancient city of Bubastis, worshipped across Egypt as a goddess of cats, protection, and war. The Wikipedia overview of Bastet traces her role in Egyptian mythology from lioness war goddess to cat-headed protector, a figure with deep cult significance, not a minor deity. That source material gives the Bubastis faction an identity unlike any other Cthulhu Wars faction. It's not Cthulhu. It's not Hastur. It's something older in a different way, and Sandy Petersen put that tension directly on the table.
If you haven't played Cthulhu Wars yet, Bubastis is a faction expansion that requires the base game (the Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition) to play. Once you have that foundation, Bubastis slots in as a full competitive option that brings a thematic angle the base four factions don't cover.
What Does the Bubastis Faction Expansion Include?
The Bubastis Faction Expansion Packs are priced at $59.99 and include high-quality components plus new strategic options, per the product listing on Petersen Games. Premium miniatures and faction materials built to the same production standard as every other faction in the Cthulhu Wars ecosystem. That's the confirmed description straight from the page.
Cthulhu Wars factions each ship with their own spellbooks, unique units, and a faction sheet covering their special abilities. Those materials define how the faction plays and what paths to victory it can pursue. With Bubastis, the theme and the components both reflect that Egyptian-mythology angle. This isn't a generic horror set with a new coat of paint. It's a faction with a distinct visual identity at the table.
For context on what the base game includes: the Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition comes with 72 detailed 28mm miniatures, a full-color mounted game board, six faction spellbooks, custom dice, and player aid cards. Everything for two to four players, expandable to eight with expansions. Bubastis adds to that ecosystem as a full additional faction. You're building something bigger every time you add a pack.
How Does the Bubastis Faction Play on the Board?
Cthulhu Wars is an asymmetric area-control game where each faction pursues a different path to victory through unique spellbooks and units. No two factions play alike. That's the core design promise Sandy Petersen built into the game, and it holds across the expansion lineup. The base four factions cover oceanic dominance (Great Cthulhu), manipulation (Crawling Chaos), fertility-cult flooding (Black Goat), and madness spreading (Yellow Sign). Bubastis operates outside all of that, bringing an Egyptian mythological framework that no other faction in the core box touches.
In Egyptian mythology, Bastet was revered as a goddess of war and protection before her role softened over centuries into a domestic protector. The Wikipedia entry on Bastet describes that dual nature in detail. Whatever strategic options the expansion delivers, the thematic premise is clear from the product page itself: Bastet is here to fight the Great Old Ones, not join them. Players who've logged time with the base four factions understand how Cthulhu Wars rewards reading the board and timing spellbook development correctly. Bubastis adds a new angle to those same instincts: an entity confronting the Great Old Ones from outside the Mythos, rather than one of them.
Is the Bubastis Faction a Good Pick for Experienced Players?
Yes. Bubastis is an expansion built for players who already know Cthulhu Wars well enough to appreciate a new angle rather than a familiar one. The base game teaches you the core loops: how gates work, how power converts to board presence, when to push, when to consolidate. Those lessons carry over to every expansion faction, and you'll get more out of a faction with a unique identity once you've internalized them.
Experienced players looking to expand their faction roster will find Bubastis offers something the Windwalker, Tcho-Tchos, and other expansions don't: an explicitly non-Lovecraftian source mythology. The Cthulhu Mythos pantheon is well-documented. The Wikipedia overview of Cthulhu Mythos deities shows how deep that cosmology runs. Bubastis sits adjacent to it, drawing from Egyptian mythology in a way that creates genuine novelty at a table that's already seen several Mythos factions.
That novelty matters for serious collectors too. A Cthulhu Wars collection built entirely around Lovecraftian entities has a certain coherence, and adding Bubastis shifts the texture of what's possible at the table. It's a faction other players won't have seen a hundred times. At $59.99, it's an addition that fits squarely within the normal cost of expanding a Cthulhu Wars collection.
How Does Bubastis Fit Into the Cthulhu Wars Faction Ecosystem?
Every Cthulhu Wars faction expansion has its own identity on the table. No two play alike. Sandy Petersen built that asymmetric depth into the game from the start, and it holds across the expansion lineup. Bubastis delivers an Egyptian-mythology faction that stands apart from the cosmic horror entities dominating the base game and most other expansions.
Sandy Petersen's design track record runs from the original Call of Cthulhu RPG to Doom to Cthulhu Wars. His Wikipedia page covers that career in detail. His approach to faction design in Cthulhu Wars is to make every faction mechanically distinct rather than only thematically different. The mechanics and the lore should feel like they come from the same source. With Bubastis, that source is a war goddess confronting cosmic horror on a game board, and the design builds from that tension.
For collectors, the question is usually less "which faction is best" and more "which factions make the collection feel complete." Bubastis fills a slot no other expansion covers: a non-Mythos deity, an Egyptian aesthetic, and a premise (can Bastet actually win this fight?) that's immediately interesting to anyone who sees it on the table. That's a meaningful addition to a serious Cthulhu Wars collection.
Where Can You Get the Bubastis Faction Expansion?
Direct from Petersen Games. In-stock orders process within 48 hours. U.S. orders ship via USPS Ground Advantage, typically 2 to 5 business days in transit after processing. Shipping rates are calculated at checkout.
The Bubastis Faction Expansion Packs are listed at $59.99 on the Petersen Games store. If you're starting from zero, you'll need the Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition first. It's the current base game and the foundation the entire expansion ecosystem builds on. Once you have it, Bubastis is a straight addition: open the box, slot in the faction, play.
Serious Cthulhu Wars collections don't happen all at once. They build expansion by expansion. Bubastis is worth adding early in that build if an Egyptian-mythology angle appeals. It's a faction that gets more interesting the more experienced the table is with the game.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Cthulhu Wars Bubastis Faction
Does the Bubastis expansion require the Cthulhu Wars base game?
Yes. Bubastis is a faction expansion, not a standalone game. You need the Cthulhu Wars base game (the O4 Edition, available from Petersen Games) to play. The expansion adds the full Bubastis faction, including miniatures, spellbook, and faction materials, to an existing Cthulhu Wars setup.
Who is Bastet, and why is this faction called Bubastis?
Bastet is an ancient Egyptian cat goddess associated with war, protection, and cats. Bubastis was the Egyptian city where her major cult was centered. In Cthulhu Wars, this faction puts Bastet in direct competition with the Great Old Ones. The product page poses the question "Can Bastet defeat the Great Old Ones?" as the faction's central premise.
How much does the Bubastis Faction Expansion cost?
The Bubastis Faction Expansion Packs are priced at $59.99 on the Petersen Games store. That's the confirmed on-site price. Shipping is calculated at checkout; in-stock orders process within 48 hours, and U.S. orders ship via USPS Ground Advantage (2-5 business days in transit).
What makes Bubastis different from other Cthulhu Wars faction expansions?
Bubastis draws from Egyptian mythology rather than the Cthulhu Mythos. Every other Cthulhu Wars base faction and most expansions are Lovecraftian in origin. Bubastis brings an ancient Egyptian war goddess identity that gives it a distinct look and feel on the table, different from the cosmic horror entities that define most of the lineup.
Is the Bubastis faction good for beginners?
Bubastis is worth adding once you've played the base four factions enough to understand how Cthulhu Wars works. The base game's factions teach the core loops cleanly. Expansion factions like Bubastis reward players who already know how to read the board and time spellbook development. Start with the O4 Edition, learn the base factions, then add Bubastis when you're ready for something with a different angle and source mythology.
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