What are the Cthulhu Wars expansion factions?
Cthulhu Wars has seven expansion factions: Opener of the Way, Sleeper, Windwalker, Bubastis, Daemon Sultan, The Ancients, and Tcho-Tchos. Each ships as its own faction pack with a distinct Great Old One (or none, in The Ancients' case), unique miniatures, and its own spellbook. None of the seven are in the base O4 Edition box, and each plugs into a game already running Great Cthulhu, Black Goat, Crawling Chaos, and Yellow Sign.
That's a lot of names to keep straight, and a lot of listings on the internet get them wrong, mixing up factions, Great Old Ones, and other unit types that don't belong in either bucket. This guide sticks to what's confirmed: the seven playable expansion factions, the four neutral Great Old One packs that any faction can recruit, and where the line actually sits between "faction" and "Great Old One."
How many faction packs does Cthulhu Wars have, and what's in each?
Seven faction expansion packs are currently part of the lineup, each priced at $59.99 (verify on the collection page before ordering, since prices and stock can move). A faction pack is a complete playable faction. Not a Great Old One add-on, not a rules module. It gets its own units, its own spellbook, and its own win path.
Opener of the Way
Yog-Sothoth's faction, and the first expansion faction Sandy Petersen designed after the base game. It's built around time, space, and forbidden knowledge, and it still has a reputation among veteran players for tricks other factions can't replicate. If you want the expansion that plays least like anything in the core box, start here.
Sleeper
The Sleeper faction runs on Tsathoggua, described on the product page as the "god of indolence." It's a patience faction. Set traps, wait, and punish opponents who move carelessly rather than racing for board control early. Don't confuse the Sleeper with Great Cthulhu. They're two entirely separate factions with nothing in common beyond both belonging to the wider Cthulhu Wars roster.
Windwalker
Windwalker is described on the store as "the gods of the freezing darkness of outer space," and like the base-game Yellow Sign faction, it fields two Great Old Ones, not one. That double presence changes how combat and gate control play out. You're managing split priorities most factions never have to think about.
Bubastis
Bubastis is built around Bastet, and it's the one faction expansion that pulls from Egyptian mythology rather than the Lovecraft Mythos. That's a real thematic outlier on a roster otherwise soaked in cosmic horror. One mechanical quirk worth knowing before you buy: Bubastis can't use high priests, by design, which the store's own High Priests O4 pack calls out directly.
Daemon Sultan
Azathoth's faction, and Petersen Games calls it "the most bizarre Faction in all of Cthulhu Wars" right on the product page. It wins by destabilizing the board for everyone, then profiting from the chaos faster than opponents can adjust. This is not a faction that plays by the logic the base game teaches you.
The Ancients
The only faction expansion with no Great Old One at all. No colossal figure anchors the board here. The Ancients lean on an unusually deep set of tricks and traps. That structural difference alone makes it the most unconventional faction on this list, expansion or otherwise.
Tcho-Tchos
Tcho-Tchos are their own human cultist faction. Not the cultists of the Yellow Sign, not a variant of Hastur's forces, a completely separate expansion. Rather than commanding a Great Old One of their own, they interfere by worshipping and manipulating other players' Great Old Ones from the sidelines. Petersen Games' own listing calls it "the most controversial expansion in all of Cthulhu Wars," and it's still a strong seller. Pair it with the Tcho-Tcho Tribes mini-expansion to get the full spellbook set if you're running the O4 rules.
What are the Great Old One Packs, and how are they different from faction packs?
Great Old One Packs add neutral entities, not factions. Every Great Old One in these packs comes with its own colossal miniature and its own spellbook, and any faction at the table can recruit it, including the four base-game factions. There are four packs, and none of them give you a new seat at the table on their own; you still need a faction to field them through.
Great Old One Pack 1 ($39.99)
Five entities: Abhoth, Chaugnar Faugn, Cthugha, Mother Hydra, and Yig. This is the biggest pack by entity count, which is why it's usually the first GOO pack collectors buy. Yig included here has no faction of his own. He's purely a recruitable neutral Great Old One.
Great Old One Pack 2 ($34.99)
Four entities: Atlach-Nacha, Bokrug, Father Dagon, and Ghatanothoa. Father Dagon pairs thematically with Mother Hydra from Pack 1, so players leaning into the Deep One corner of the mythos often run both packs together.
Great Old One Pack 3, Gobogeg ($14.99)
One entity, and it's an original. Gobogeg is Sandy Petersen's own creation for Cthulhu Wars, made from scratch rather than pulled from Lovecraft's published fiction. It's the cheapest entry point in the GOO Pack lineup and a genuine design-diary piece.
Great Old One Pack 4 ($29.99)
Three entities: Byatis, Nyogtha, and Tulzscha. This pack leans into some of the less name-recognizable corners of the Cthulhu Mythos, which gives it real collector appeal for players who've already worked through Packs 1 and 2.
Which factions come in the base game, not as expansions?
Four factions ship inside the Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition box: Great Cthulhu, Black Goat (Shub-Niggurath), Crawling Chaos (Nyarlathotep), and Yellow Sign (Hastur, the King in Yellow). All four are playable the moment you open the box, no expansion required. The Yellow Sign in particular gets confused for an expansion faction online more than any other, probably because it's less recognizable than Cthulhu himself. It is core. Full stop, not a faction pack, and not connected to the Tcho-Tchos.
Every faction on this page, core or expansion, plays by its own asymmetric rules. That's the entire design philosophy behind Cthulhu Wars, and it's part of why the game gets cited as one of the more structurally ambitious asymmetric strategy titles on the market. BoardGameGeek's listing for the game reflects that reputation in its community ratings and reviews.
Which expansion faction pack should you buy first?
Match it to the table you already have. If your group wants a faction that plays nothing like the core four, Opener of the Way is the most-recommended starting point; it's the faction Sandy Petersen designed first after the base game, and it still earns that reputation. Sleeper is a good next step if your group liked the indirect pressure of Yellow Sign and wants more of it. Windwalker suits players who want more combat presence and don't mind managing two Great Old Ones at once. Tcho-Tchos rewards a group that enjoys unconventional cult mechanics over straight power escalation.
The Ancients and Daemon Sultan are better second or third purchases. Both genuinely surprise experienced players, which makes them tougher entry points for a first game. Bubastis sits in its own category: the pick for a group that specifically wants a non-Lovecraftian faction identity at the table.
Names and mythos aside, the Cthulhu Mythos itself has been reworked across decades of fiction beyond Lovecraft's own writing, and that lineage is part of why these factions read so differently from one another even when they share a cosmology. Wikipedia's rundown of Cthulhu Mythos deities is a useful reference if you want the literary background behind names like Cthugha, Bokrug, or Nyogtha before you decide which pack to add. For Lovecraft's own original work, the source material for most of this roster, see the H. P. Lovecraft biography on Wikipedia.
Where to buy the expansion factions and Great Old One packs
All seven expansion factions and all four Great Old One packs are sold individually, and stock rotates since some runs are limited. Check the Cthulhu Wars Expansions collection for current availability and pricing before you build a shopping list. In-stock orders process within 48 hours, then ship USPS Ground Advantage to the US (2-5 business days) or DHL Ground to Canada (3-7 business days). Shipping rates are calculated at checkout based on destination, weight, and size.
Frequently asked questions
How many Cthulhu Wars expansion factions are there?
Seven: Opener of the Way, Sleeper, Windwalker, Bubastis, Daemon Sultan, The Ancients, and Tcho-Tchos. Each is a separate faction pack with its own Great Old One (or, for The Ancients, no Great Old One at all), its own units, and its own spellbook. None of the seven come in the Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition box.
Is the Yellow Sign a Cthulhu Wars expansion?
No. The Yellow Sign is one of the four core factions in the Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition base game, alongside Great Cthulhu, Black Goat, and Crawling Chaos. You get it the moment you buy the base game. It is never sold as a separate expansion faction pack.
Are the Tcho-Tchos the cultists of the Yellow Sign?
No. Tcho-Tchos are their own human cultist faction expansion, sold separately from the Yellow Sign. They don't field Hastur or the King in Yellow. Instead of running their own Great Old One, they interfere by worshipping and manipulating other players' Great Old Ones on the board.
What's the difference between a faction pack and a Great Old One pack?
A faction pack adds a whole new playable faction: its own units, its own spellbook, its own seat at the table. A Great Old One pack adds a neutral colossal entity with its own spellbook that any faction can recruit. Great Old One packs are not playable factions on their own.
Where can I buy Cthulhu Wars expansion factions?
The Cthulhu Wars Expansions collection at Petersen Games carries the current faction packs and Great Old One packs. Stock rotates since some runs are limited, so check the collection page for what's available before you plan a purchase.
Ready to build out your table? Browse the full Cthulhu Wars Expansions collection and see which faction packs and Great Old One packs are in stock right now.
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