What makes each Cthulhu Wars faction different?
Every faction in Cthulhu Wars plays by its own rules. The asymmetric design means Great Cthulhu wins one way, the Crawling Chaos wins a completely different way, and the Opener of the Way does things neither of them can touch. That's the point. Sandy Petersen built each faction around a distinct set of abilities, a unique Great Old One (or none, in one unusual case), and a playstyle that demands its own approach. Pick the wrong faction for your mindset and you'll struggle; pick the right one and the whole game clicks into focus.
Cthulhu Wars draws from H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, the shared universe of cosmic horror fiction that Lovecraft developed in the early twentieth century and that authors and game designers have expanded ever since.[1] Each faction translates a different corner of that mythos into a distinct board-game identity.
What are the core factions in Cthulhu Wars?
Four factions come in the base game: Great Cthulhu, Black Goat, Crawling Chaos, and Yellow Sign. Each is fully asymmetric, with its own miniatures, spellbooks, and win conditions. These four are the foundation everyone learns first, and they cover a wide spread of playstyles from aggressive territory control to subtle manipulation.
Great Cthulhu
Great Cthulhu is the faction on the box. It's the most direct to pilot. Cthulhu himself is a colossal presence on the board. The faction rewards players who want to control map space through raw power, wake their Great Old One efficiently, and pressure opponents in open combat. If you're new to Cthulhu Wars, Great Cthulhu is the clearest entry point: the goals are legible, the units are formidable, and the strategy is about presence and timing rather than elaborate tricks.
Black Goat
Black Goat swarms. Shub-Niggurath's faction floods the map with cheap monsters and generates power through sheer numbers. The playstyle is about spreading wide, controlling many gates, and overwhelming opponents who try to hold concentrated positions. It's a faction that rewards players who enjoy managing a lot of moving parts at once and who understand that quantity can be its own kind of pressure.
Crawling Chaos
Nyarlathotep's faction runs on cunning. Where other factions fight for gates, the Crawling Chaos manipulates, repositions, and finds angles the other players don't see coming. The spellbooks give this faction remarkable flexibility. Players who prefer reading the table, reacting to what others do, and winning through indirection tend to gravitate toward Nyarlathotep.
Yellow Sign
Yellow Sign is the cult faction. Hastur's followers recruit cultists and turn them into power through the Desecrate ability, generating resources in ways the other core factions can't match. The faction also has a notable distinction in the expansion ecosystem: the Yellow Sign product page description notes it has TWO Great Old Ones, making it one of the most unusual core factions on the table.
Which faction expansions add the most to Cthulhu Wars?
The Cthulhu Wars faction expansions each add a fully playable fifth (or sixth, or seventh) player slot, or let one of the existing slots be swapped out entirely. According to Petersen Games, over 50 official expansion products exist for Cthulhu Wars, and every playable faction expansion ever made includes Opener of the Way, Sleeper, Windwalker, Tcho-Tchos, and Ancients. Daemon Sultan and Bubastis round out the roster.
Opener of the Way (Yog-Sothoth)
This was the first expansion faction Sandy Petersen designed for Cthulhu Wars. It's still a fan favorite. The Opener of the Way centers on Yog-Sothoth, the cosmic entity associated with time, space, and forbidden knowledge in Lovecraft's mythos. The faction description on the Petersen Games site is direct: "tricks and abilities still never equalled." For players who want something with a high skill ceiling and a distinctive feel that doesn't play like any core faction, Opener of the Way is the clearest recommendation.
Sleeper (Tsathoggua)
Tsathoggua, the god of indolence. The Sleeper faction is described on the product page as "filled with tricks and traps for your foes," which is accurate. It's a patience-rewarding faction that sets up delayed payoffs and punishes opponents who move carelessly into your territory. Players who enjoy setting traps and watching a long game plan come together tend to love the Sleeper. It's also one of the faction expansions with the deepest mechanical contrast to the core four.
Windwalker
Two Great Old Ones. That's the hook. The Windwalker faction, described as "the gods of the freezing darkness of outer space," is unusual in the faction lineup because it includes not one but two Great Old Ones. That's the same distinction noted for Yellow Sign among core factions, but here as a dedicated expansion. That extra presence on the board changes the calculus of combat and gate control in ways that reward players who can manage split priorities.
Tcho-Tchos
The Tcho-Tchos take a different angle: they're a human cult faction rather than a Great Old One's army. Where most factions build toward waking a god, the Tcho-Tchos operate through mortal agents and a playstyle rooted in cult mechanics and controlling cultists at scale. They're mentioned in the Petersen Games collection description as one of the major faction expansions in the lineup. Players drawn to cult-heavy, unconventional strategies tend to find them compelling.
The Ancients
The Ancients are the most structurally unusual faction in the game. Per the product page: "The only Faction expansion with NO Great Old One!" Every other faction in Cthulhu Wars builds toward waking its Great Old One as a central power spike. The Ancients don't have that. The Petersen Games description says they "add more tricks and traps for your foes than almost any other Faction." That's a completely different rhythm than anything else in the box. This is an expert-level faction in terms of playstyle deviation from expectations.
Daemon Sultan
The most bizarre faction, full stop. That's how Petersen Games describes it: "the most bizarre Faction in all of Cthulhu Wars (as befits the dreaded DAEMON SULTAN!)." Azathoth, the blind idiot god at the center of the mythos, anchors this faction. The Daemon Sultan plays in a way that surprises players who've gotten comfortable with the rest of the roster. The High Priests expansion also specifically calls out that Daemon Sultan gets high priest support, which signals meaningful depth in how the faction integrates with the wider expansion ecosystem.
Bubastis
Bubastis centers on Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess. That alone tells you it plays differently from everything else on this list. The product page asks the question directly: "Can Bastet defeat the Great Old Ones?" It's a faction that puts you in the underdog narrative by design, with a playstyle built around the mechanics Bastet commands rather than the raw escalation of a Great Old One. Also worth noting: the High Priests expansion specifically excludes Bubastis because, by design, the faction can't use high priests. That's a concrete, structural difference that matters when you're thinking about long-term roster building.
Which faction is best for beginners in Cthulhu Wars?
Great Cthulhu. The faction's goals are the most direct of any in the game. You're awakening a Great Old One you can move across the board, claiming gates, and applying pressure through presence. The spellbooks build on each other in a logical sequence. New players can learn the core loop of Cthulhu Wars (spending power, controlling gates, earning doom points) on Great Cthulhu without simultaneously managing the complexity that factions like the Opener of the Way or the Ancients demand.
Sandy Petersen created the Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG in 1981 and has spent decades designing games around the Lovecraft mythos.[2] That background shows in how each faction captures a different pocket of cosmic horror rather than just being a reskinned version of the others. The asymmetry isn't cosmetic. It's the entire design.
How do you choose which faction expansion to buy next?
Match the expansion to how you already play. Sleeper and Opener of the Way reward patience and mechanical depth. Windwalker suits players who want more combat presence than the core factions offer. The Ancients are for experienced players who want to completely change how they approach the game. Daemon Sultan is for players who've mastered the base roster and want something that will genuinely surprise them. Bubastis is for players who enjoy asymmetric underdog play.
Every faction expansion in the Petersen Games lineup slots directly into the existing game. You don't need anything beyond the base Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition to run any of them. Browse the full Cthulhu Wars faction expansions collection to see what's currently in stock. Availability shifts, and some expansions have had limited runs.
Frequently asked questions
How many factions are in Cthulhu Wars?
The base Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition includes four factions: Great Cthulhu, Black Goat, Crawling Chaos, and Yellow Sign. The Petersen Games expansion lineup adds Opener of the Way, Sleeper, Windwalker, Tcho-Tchos, The Ancients, Daemon Sultan, and Bubastis, among others, bringing the total roster to eleven or more playable factions across the full expansion ecosystem.
Which Cthulhu Wars faction is best for beginners?
Great Cthulhu is the most accessible starting faction. It has clear goals, straightforward combat, and a logical spellbook progression. Most players who are new to the game start there before branching into the more mechanically unusual factions like the Opener of the Way or The Ancients.
What is the Opener of the Way faction in Cthulhu Wars?
The Opener of the Way is an expansion faction centered on Yog-Sothoth. It was the first expansion faction Sandy Petersen designed for Cthulhu Wars. The Petersen Games product description calls it a fan favorite with "tricks and abilities still never equalled," making it a popular choice for experienced players who want a high-skill-ceiling faction.
What makes The Ancients unique among Cthulhu Wars factions?
The Ancients are the only faction expansion with no Great Old One. Every other faction in Cthulhu Wars builds toward waking a Great Old One as a central power spike. The Ancients win through tricks, traps, and a fundamentally different strategic rhythm. Per the Petersen Games product page, they add "more tricks and traps for your foes than almost any other Faction."
Do I need expansions to play Cthulhu Wars?
No. Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition is a complete, standalone game with four fully asymmetric factions. Faction expansions add new playable factions and additional players, but the base game doesn't require them. Most groups play the base game extensively before adding expansion factions.
0 comments