What Should Cthulhu Wars Fans Buy Next?
If you already own Cthulhu Wars (O4 Edition), the next buy depends on what you're chasing: more factions for the board you have (a faction expansion pack, $59.99), a fast two-player night (Cthulhu Wars Duel, $29.99), a cooperative game (Planet Apocalypse, $99.99), or a different mythic war with the same asymmetric bones (The Gods War, $129.99).
All four keep the big-box, premium-miniature, faction-versus-faction formula that got you into Cthulhu Wars. Here's which one fits which itch, and why.
Want More of the Same Game? Start With a Faction Expansion Pack
The safest next purchase is a faction expansion for the game you already own. Opener of the Way, Sleeper, and Windwalker each run $59.99 and drop straight into your existing O4 board, no new base rules required.
Cthulhu Wars core (O4 Edition) ships with 4 playable factions: Great Cthulhu, Crawling Chaos, Black Goat, and Yellow Sign, spread across 72 miniatures and 5 colossal Great Old Ones. A faction pack doesn't reset that. It grows it. Opener of the Way was Sandy Petersen's first expansion faction and adds Yog-Sothoth to the roster. Sleeper brings in Tsathoggua along with a deck built to trip up whoever's winning. Windwalker is unusual in that it fields two Great Old Ones rather than one, matching Yellow Sign's setup. Browse the full lineup on the Cthulhu Wars collection page before you pick.
What If I Want New Threats Without a Whole New Faction?
Neutral Great Old Ones and Terror packs are the cheaper, smaller way to keep a Cthulhu Wars game fresh without learning a fifth faction. Great Old One Pack 1 ($39.99) adds five neutral Great Old Ones, Abhoth, Chaugnar Faugn, Cthugha, Mother Hydra, and Yig, each with its own spellbook. Any faction can recruit any of them mid-game, which changes the matchups without changing who you're playing.
Cosmic Terrors ($29.99) works differently. It adds a new unit type called Terrors, not Great Old Ones, including the Great Race of Yith, the Dhole, and Quachil Uttaus. Terrors and neutral Great Old Ones are a smart pickup before you commit $59.99 to a full faction pack. They're cheap ways to test whether you want more chaos on the board before you go all in on Opener of the Way, Sleeper, or Windwalker.
Only Have 30 Minutes and One Opponent? Try Cthulhu Wars Duel
Cthulhu Wars Duel is a two-player, roughly 30-minute rework of the core game, built for a quick fight rather than a full table setup. You play Great Cthulhu or the Black Goat, each with its own units and abilities, so it plays like a condensed rematch, not a stripped-down spinoff.
This one earns its spot for weeknights. Setting up the full O4 board for two people works fine, but Duel is built specifically for that matchup: faster turns, a smaller footprint, and a $29.99 price that makes it an easy add-on rather than a second centerpiece purchase.
Want a Cooperative Night Instead of Head-to-Head Combat? Try Planet Apocalypse
Planet Apocalypse ($99.99) swaps player-versus-player conflict for a 1-5 player cooperative fight against the game itself. Hell has risen, and your band of heroes has to hunt demons and take down a demon lord before humanity runs out of road. It's designed by Sandy Petersen, the same designer behind Cthulhu Wars, with art from Keith Thompson.
It runs about 60 minutes and is rated ages 14 and up. Every game deals out a different scenario, so the cooperative puzzle changes each time you play. Petersen Games stock moves in and out between print runs. Check the product page for current availability before you plan a game night around it.
Want a Different Mythic War With the Same Asymmetric Bones? Try The Gods War
The Gods War ($129.99) takes the same wildly asymmetric, faction-driven structure as Cthulhu Wars and moves it to Glorantha, the mythic setting designer Greg Stafford built over decades. You play an elemental force fighting over territory, miracles, and monsters, in a 3-4 player game that runs about 90 minutes.
Sandy Petersen designed it, and Petersen Games says it spent more than three years in development to get faction balance right. One concrete detail worth knowing: the Battle Dice set (16 custom dice with troll skulls, $14.99) was made for The Gods War but also works with Cthulhu Wars, so owning both games means one dice set does double duty. Like Planet Apocalypse, stock on The Gods War can sell out between runs. Check the product page for current availability.
Why Do All These Games Feel Like Cthulhu Wars?
Same designer, same design philosophy. Sandy Petersen built his reputation writing Call of Cthulhu for Chaosium in 1981, moved into video games at id Software on Doom and Quake, and eventually founded Petersen Games to keep building tabletop titles around asymmetric factions and heavy miniatures (Wikipedia: Sandy Petersen).
Asymmetric game design means each side gets different rules, pieces, or paths to victory rather than a mirrored starting position (Wikipedia: asymmetric gameplay). That's the thread running through Cthulhu Wars, Cthulhu Wars Duel, Planet Apocalypse, and The Gods War: no two factions, or in Planet Apocalypse's case no two scenarios, play the same way twice. Board game reviewers have pointed to that mix of area control and true faction asymmetry as a big part of why Cthulhu Wars built a following well past a typical Lovecraft-themed game (Meeple Mountain: Cthulhu Wars review).
If you're a collector looking for games similar to big-box asymmetric war games but luxe, premium miniatures, striking art, real component weight, Petersen Games is one of the few publishers that builds an entire catalog around that idea rather than one lucky hit. Cthulhu Wars is the flagship. Duel, Planet Apocalypse, and The Gods War are the answer to "what's next."
See the current catalog, sorted by what other collectors are buying, on the Petersen Games best-selling products page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the best first purchase after buying Cthulhu Wars (O4 Edition)?
A faction expansion pack is the lowest-risk next buy. Opener of the Way, Sleeper, and Windwalker each add a new asymmetric faction to your existing O4 board for $59.99, with no new base rules to learn.
Is Cthulhu Wars Duel worth buying if I already own the full game?
Yes, for a different occasion. Cthulhu Wars Duel is a $29.99, two-player, roughly 30-minute version built for a fast head-to-head fight. It's not a replacement for the four-player core game, just a quicker format for two people.
Is Planet Apocalypse cooperative or head-to-head like Cthulhu Wars?
Planet Apocalypse is cooperative. Up to five players work together as demon hunters against the game itself, rather than competing against each other for board control the way Cthulhu Wars factions do.
Do I need to own Cthulhu Wars to play The Gods War?
No. The Gods War is a standalone 3-4 player game set in Glorantha, designed by Sandy Petersen with the same highly asymmetric, faction-driven structure as Cthulhu Wars but a different mythology and cast of gods.
Where can I see everything Petersen Games currently has in stock?
The best-selling products collection on petersengames.com shows the current catalog sorted by popularity, including Cthulhu Wars, faction expansions, Cthulhu Wars Duel, Planet Apocalypse, and The Gods War.
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