How Much Does It Cost to Build a Complete Cthulhu Wars Collection?
Budget $249 for the O4 Edition core game alone, and about $1,050 if you add every faction pack, all four Great Old One packs, Cosmic Terrors, the Eldritch Gate Pack, a map expansion, and a set of Battle Dice. Most collectors land somewhere in the middle, often around $500, by picking a handful of factions and one or two Great Old One packs rather than chasing the full roster.
That range matters because Cthulhu Wars isn't sold as one box with a single price tag. It's an ecosystem, and the store is built around letting you buy into it piece by piece. Here's exactly what each piece costs and where your money does the most work.
What's in the $249 O4 Edition Core Game?
Everything ships in one box. The Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition ($249.00) includes four asymmetric factions (Great Cthulhu, Crawling Chaos, Black Goat, and Yellow Sign), 5 colossal Great Old One sculpts, roughly 24 cultists and 35 monsters for 72 miniatures total, a full-color mounted board, custom dice, and 4 faction spellbooks, one per core faction. Two to four players, no expansions required.
Worth flagging up front: the Yellow Sign faction (Hastur, the King in Yellow) ships in the core box. It doesn't count as an add-on purchase, and neither do the other three starting factions. Every dollar past $249 buys something new, not something the box was already missing.
How Much Do Faction Expansion Packs Add?
Each one runs $59.99, and that's the single biggest lever on your total. Seven expansion factions currently round out the roster: Windwalker, Daemon Sultan, Opener of the Way, The Ancients, Bubastis, the Sleeper (Tsathoggua), and Tcho-Tchos. Each one includes its own units, a full spellbook, and a win condition that doesn't overlap with any faction already at your table.
Add up seven $59.99 packs and you're already past $419, more than the core game's own price, before touching a single Great Old One pack. That's the honest math of a full-faction collection. Most groups don't need all seven at once; picking two or three based on which playstyles your table actually wants is a far more sensible entry point than buying the whole roster in one order.
How Much Do the Four Great Old One Packs Cost?
Between $14.99 and $39.99 apiece, depending on how many entities are inside. Great Old One Pack 1 ($39.99) is the broadest buy: five entities (Abhoth, Chaugnar Faugn, Cthugha, Mother Hydra, and Yig), each with its own spellbook, recruitable by any faction at the table. Pack 2 ($34.99) adds four more (Atlach-Nacha, Bokrug, Father Dagon, Ghatanothoa). Pack 4 ($29.99) adds three (Byatis, Nyogtha, Tulzscha). Pack 3 ($14.99) is a single-entity pack, Gobogeg, an original entity Sandy Petersen designed for the game rather than pulling from the classic mythos.
None of these figures belong to one faction. Every Great Old One across all four packs is cross-faction, which is the reason collectors tend to rate them as high value per dollar once they already own a couple of expansion factions to pair them with.
What Else Factors Into the Total: Terrors, Gates, Maps, and Dice?
A handful of smaller add-ons round out the ecosystem, each solving a different problem. Cosmic Terrors ($29.99) adds three Terror-class units, the Great Race of Yith, the Dhole, and Quachil Uttaus, none of which are Great Old Ones. If you only want Quachil Uttaus on its own, a standalone blister pack ($8.99) covers just that piece. The Eldritch Gate Pack ($49.99) is a component upgrade, replacing generic markers with sculpted gate pieces once you're deep enough into the collection to care about table presence.
Map expansions change the geography rather than the roster. The Shaggai Map ($29.99) shrinks the board for a tighter 6-8 player game, or you can grab the 6-8 Player Map Pack O4 ($99.99) as a bundle covering the full set. A group that big also needs enough faction packs on hand to fill every seat, so this one belongs late in the buying order, not early. Last on the list: Battle Dice (240 Dice O4) ($79.99), a large custom dice set that speeds up combat rolls at a crowded table. It's a component upgrade, not a separate game.
What Does a Full Collection Actually Cost, Tier by Tier?
Three realistic budgets, based on live listed prices as of this writing:
- Starter — about $309. The O4 Edition core game ($249.00) plus one faction pack ($59.99) equals $308.99. Enough to learn the base four factions and see how the fifth changes the table.
- Enthusiast — about $499. Core game plus three faction packs ($179.97), Great Old One Pack 1 ($39.99), and Cosmic Terrors ($29.99) comes to $498.95. This is the range where most regular groups settle: several factions, one deep Great Old One roster, a bit of extra texture.
- Completionist — about $1,049. Core game, all seven faction packs ($419.93), all four Great Old One packs ($119.96), Cosmic Terrors ($29.99), the Eldritch Gate Pack ($49.99), the 6-8 Player Map Pack O4 ($99.99), and Battle Dice ($79.99) totals $1,048.85. Every faction, every Great Old One, a full map set, and the component upgrades.
These are illustrative combinations, not a bundled product. Build your own version of any tier and confirm current pricing on each product page, since listings and stock change over time.
Is the Full Collection Worth the Total Price?
Play frequency decides it. A $1,049 completionist collection that gets played weekly costs pennies per session within a year. The same total sitting in a closet is just an expensive box. Dicebreaker's review of the game points to exactly this dynamic: the scale and production quality of Cthulhu Wars are built to reward groups who actually run it regularly, not collectors chasing shelf presence alone.[1]
The ecosystem got this large for a reason. Cthulhu Wars started as a 2013 Kickstarter campaign and grew through several additional funding waves, a model that let Petersen Games keep expanding the faction and Great Old One roster well past what a single retail box could hold.[2] Every faction and entity draws from a much larger well: the shared Cthulhu Mythos that H.P. Lovecraft originated and other writers have expanded on for a century, giving the design team a deep catalog to keep translating into new mechanics.[3]
What's the Smartest Order to Buy In?
Start with the core game and actually play it. Buying every expansion before you know which factions your group enjoys is how a collection ends up half-used on a shelf. A sensible sequence:
- O4 Edition core game. Play it enough to know the four base factions well.
- One or two faction packs. Pick based on playstyle, not completionism. See the O4 Edition review for a deeper look at whether the core game alone is the right starting point for you.
- Great Old One Pack 1. Best per-entity value in the series and works with any faction you already own. The Great Old One pack comparison breaks down all four in detail if you want the full picture before buying.
- More factions, as your table wants them. Add one at a time rather than all at once.
- Terrors, gates, maps, and dice last. These sharpen an already-built collection; they don't replace the core buying decisions above.
None of the totals above include shipping. In-stock orders process within 48 hours, and US orders ship via USPS Ground Advantage (2-5 business days in transit). Canadian orders ship via DHL Ground (3-7 business days in transit). Rates are calculated at checkout based on destination, weight, and size; there's no standing free-shipping offer, so factor that into whichever tier you're budgeting toward.
Ready to see current pricing on everything at once? The full Cthulhu Wars collection at Petersen Games lists every faction pack, Great Old One pack, and add-on in one place, with live stock and pricing for each.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to buy every expansion to enjoy Cthulhu Wars?
No. The $249 O4 Edition core game is a complete experience on its own: four asymmetric factions, 5 Great Old Ones, and 72 miniatures. Expansions add variety and player-count headroom; they don't fill a gap in the base game.
What's the single best-value expansion to buy first?
Great Old One Pack 1 at $39.99 for five entities, roughly $8 per Great Old One, is the best per-piece value in the whole ecosystem. It's also cross-faction, so it works no matter which faction packs you already own.
Is there a bundle price for the full Cthulhu Wars collection?
Not as a single bundled product. Every faction pack, Great Old One pack, and add-on is sold separately at its own listed price, which is why building a full collection is a running total rather than one checkout. Check the Cthulhu Wars collection page for current pricing on each item.
How many factions does Cthulhu Wars have in total?
Four core factions ship in the O4 Edition box (Great Cthulhu, Crawling Chaos, Black Goat, and Yellow Sign). Seven more are sold as expansion packs at $59.99 each, bringing the confirmed playable roster to eleven.
Does the total cost include shipping?
No, and Petersen Games doesn't offer standing free shipping. In-stock orders process within 48 hours; US orders ship via USPS Ground Advantage (2-5 business days), Canadian orders via DHL Ground (3-7 business days). Rates are calculated at checkout based on destination, weight, and size.
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