GenCon 2026 is here!
Time sure does fly. Three conventions ago, we founded Zombie Possum Games. Since then, we've released the game as well as our first DLC and now, Empire Builder: Europe Digital is an official event at the convention. We're hosting 2 hour sessions at 9am and 11am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. There are still a few tickets available. Even though the event says we will have laptops to play on, we've procured a better setup this year with large screen monitors. Tickets for the event can be found in the GenCon 2026 catalog. Search "Empire Builder: Europe Digital". This is a great way to try out the game before you buy on Steam. We'll be on hand to answer questions and provide tips on game features.
We're located in the Westin hotel on the second floor in the Train Gamers Association area. Looking forward to seeing some of you there.
Dev Update:
We're excited to announce that the Empire Builder: Europe physical board game that some of you received as part of the Kickstarter campaign from Darwin's Toys will be implemented fully in the digital version and released free of charge to those that have bought the base game on Steam. The base game will now include two versions of Empire Builder: Europe. There are a number of changes that are coming with this DLC release.
4 Card Start
You'll start with 4 demand cards and you will be forced to discard one of them at the start of your first full turn. This will be available in the base game and all DLC releases.
Starter Cards
The new version of Empire Builder: Europe and all future releases in the series will contain 18 starter cards that are designed to help new players by ensuring there are reasonable build options in the first three cards you are dealt. We have implemented this feature and it will be available for all DLC that has these cards as part of the physical game.
Configurable Game Rules
Fast and slow trains.
Starter card options.
Numerous win condition and tie breaking rules.
Starting with the free Empire Builder: Europe 2026 DLC, you will be able to tweak more of the settings for each game. As we add additional DLCs with concepts such as contract demands, we'll add those to the configurable rules and enable many of them for use with any DLC allowing you greater flexibility to play the game in a way that best suits your preferences.
Most Importantly, the 2026 edition.
Some new artwork for resources, demand cards and event cards.
Updated events for Iberian Strike, Irish Economy Booming and Derailments.
Key Cities.
Chunnel building cost changes.
All of this leads to Empire Builder: Ireland which is scheduled to be our next paid DLC. In coordination with Darwin's Toys, we will be releasing the Ireland game along side the physical release of the boardgame. This is a brand new entry into the Empire Builder series of games and we're excited to bring it to life in digital form.