Summer Production Update
8 months ago
– Mon, Aug 18, 2025 at 08:34:48 AM
Hello, Guys!
Here's a quick summer update to bring you up to date on the progress of Wave 2 of Nova Aetas Renaissance!
Over the last few months, we've taken you on a journey to discover the new expansions, and we've now run out of previews we can give you without spoiling the gaming experience with too many spoilers on the stories the new expansions will tell you and their new mechanics.
Starting this month, updates will focus on providing information on the progress of the final stages of this project, namely the translation of the expansions still in progress, production, and finally, fulfillment.
These last three stages have fairly "fixed" timelines. With the translations scheduled to be completed in September, we estimate that production will take approximately two months, followed by another two to three months to complete fulfillment in all areas of the world.
With the completion of the design, we have also finished the enormous amount (over 200!) of new art we produced for the latest expansions, which we are showing you in this update with a small gallery.
For Wave 2, new talented artists have joined the team (no AI was "harmed" in the making of this work) and have produced a stunning collection of art, including locations, maps, characters, props, and tokens. We are very pleased with the result and hope you enjoy this small taste of some of the art from Under Siege, and that it whets your appetite!
At the beginning of October 2025, we will close pre-orders for all Wave 2 material, so remember to finalize your orders! We will notify you again in our newsletter and future updates here on Kickstarter! To finalize your order or add something, visit the Wave 2 Pre-order Page!
In addition, Essen Spiel '25 is approaching, and this year, we have a few surprises in store for Nova Aetas Renaissance and its universe. We can tell you that the new issue of Ashes will be full of surprises for NAR!
We are also proud to announce that the Nova Aetas universe is expanding! The comic book "Nova Aetas - Blades for Hire" that recounts the origins of our heroes, is coming to Italy (for now)! Speaking of “blades for hire,” the adventures of the Company of Grifoni don’t stop with the comic book... Our campaign dedicated to the Grifoni - Blades for Hire game will soon be launching on Kickstarter. Click here to follow the campaign!
Before wrapping up, we invite you to stay up to date on the world of Ludus Magnus Studio! Follow us through our newsletter to get exclusive discounts and materials dedicated to our community, and join our Discord Community, where we chat with many of our players from all over the world! We look forward to seeing you there!
That's all for now, see you in September with a new update. In the meantime, have a great summer, everyone!
Pope & Doge - The Final Confrontation!
9 months ago
– Mon, Jun 30, 2025 at 08:43:49 AM
Hello, guys!
Welcome back to the world of Nova Aetas!
After the information overload on Catacombs, let's move on to explore the latest Wave 2 expansion, Pope & Doge, an expansion that we recently introduced to give you two alternative endings to the League of Cambrais campaign, and the fantastic miniatures of the two Antagonists of the campaign!
But let's not waste any time and discover the secrets of...
Pope & Doge
The hour of the Final Showdown has come. You have challenged power, changed destiny, and now your nemeses are ready to collect their blood debt.
This expansion introduces two new alternative missions, each lasting over 150 minutes, designed to test you until the very last action.
Two intense, strategic, and revealing stories that will conclude your journey through the campaign... or perhaps change it forever.
MISSION: The Way of Death
Pope Julius II is no longer the same. Having allied himself with an ancient Germanic cult, the Pontiff has embraced dark doctrines and forgotten rituals.
The Pope intends to use the Blood of Gaea to awaken something insane and unnatural to dominate the Peninsula and beyond. And time is running out. To complete his plan, he needs the knowledge of the Fauns.
A special prisoner is locked up in the dark Prison of Tor di Nona, and his information could change everything.
In this mission, you must infiltrate the prison, face traitors, foil secret plans, and rescue the prisoner before everything falls apart.
The watchword is coordination—without perfect teamwork, the plan will fail.
Every mistake can cost you dearly. Every choice can change the ending.
MISSION: Flesh and Steel
Venice is on the brink of chaos, but the real danger isn't war... It's the memory of the past.
The Doge owns the Blood of Gaea, the ritual has begun, and you must stop him before the entire world is in danger!
A completely different and unexpected danger: the Blood of Gaea isn't meant to dominate, but to transform what once became steel back into flesh. A mission that will literally reveal the true face of the Doge.
It will be a race against time—infiltrations, targeted strikes, unsuspected allies... and revelations that will change your view of old enemies.
In this mission, action mixes with stealth in a plot where the final blow—or the decision not to deliver it—can lead to different endings, each with implications for the whole saga.
Both of these missions are linked to rewards, characters, and everything you've come to know and love about Nova Aetas!
Tell us which of the Pope and the Doge is your favorite “supervillain” and get ready for the toughest battle you'll face in Nova Aetas!
Before wrapping up this update, as always, we'll show you the work progress chart. As you can see, the translations of the last two missions are still in progress.
As we've mentioned before, this phase always takes a long time, but we should be nearing the finish line and will definitely start talking about final production in the next summer updates.
That's all for today. See you at the end of July with a new update!
Catacombs - A New Hero!
10 months ago
– Fri, May 30, 2025 at 07:45:52 AM
Hello, guys!
Welcome back to the Renaissance! The journey through the dark recesses of the Catacombs expansion continues, and it's time to meet the Hero included in the expansion—Luca the Tomb Raider!
Perfectly in keeping with the expansion, the Tomb Raider Base Class will provide you with an eclectic character with a set of skills and equipment suitable for any situation.
Luca can be an excellent front-line Hero, able to support himself and his companions thanks to the use of a new type of token called “Trinket”.
These tokens represent the myriad of items Luca collects during his explorations, which can prove useful in a wide variety of situations. Discarding a Trinket token during any test will allow you to change the side of one of your dice, either for better or for worse. For example, a “5” can become a “6,” or a "4" can become a “3.”
This manipulation of your dice can create really useful effects, not only to get a “success” but also to get that Star symbol that triggers the effect you need... Pretty useful, don't you think?
Almost all of the Tomb Raider's abilities revolve around Trinket Tokens, allowing you, for example, to distribute them to your companions or perform additional actions by discarding them. And what's even more interesting is that Luca will continue to exploit them even with his Advanced classes.
The Relic Hunter Advanced Class will transform Luca into an excellent Tank, resilient and resourceful, thanks in part to the use of Relic cards and the Reliquary.
At the beginning of each Mission, Luca must place 2 of his Relic cards in his Reliquary. Each of these cards has a positive and a negative effect that are activated in certain situations. The skill in using this class will lie in understanding when the right moment is to activate the Relics, making the most of their beneficial powers!
The other Advanced Class is that of the Archaeologist, and in this case, Luca will become an adventurous scholar, further increasing his versatility with a series of skills useful to him and all his companions.
The Archaeologist will be able to count on the special Discovery Die, which, once rolled, will provide one or more Artifact tokens representing various types of finds, such as amphorae and maps. The tokens obtained can be used to upgrade many of his skills. For example, the “Violent Blow” skill, which is an upgrade that inflicts 1 unblockable wound on the target of the attack, and by discarding 2 “Amphora” Artifact tokens, it will inflict 2 unblockable wounds.
Finally, Luca will offer an extremely asymmetrical Hero to try out, suitable for exploring the catacombs (thanks to some dedicated skills) but which will also add new gameplay ideas for even the most veteran Nova Aetas players!
Before we wrap up, we'd like to share our usual progress track with you. The long translation phases for the Artbook and Under Siege are now complete, and we are currently working on the translations for Catacombs.
That's all for today! See you at the end of June with a new update!
Catacombs - Enemies in the Dark
11 months ago
– Wed, Apr 30, 2025 at 08:23:43 AM
Hello, everyone!
Our journey through the dark halls of the Catacombs continues! Today, we'll introduce you to the enemies you'll face on your expeditions in search of treasures and mysteries in the dark depths of these ancient underground tombs.
As you know, Catacombs adds a new faction of Enemies to the existing ones—the Legio, a faction entirely composed of undead ancient Romans, placed there to protect their property! But they won't be the only undead inhabitants of these forgotten places!
In this expansion, you will find Enemy cards that allow you to play all the enemies from the core box in their undead version. These enemies represent adventurers from their respective factions who lost their lives in the Catacombs and became undead.
This design choice (which also fits well with the lore of the expansion) has allowed us to increase the variety of enemies you'll encounter during an Expedition and given us an excuse to create fantastic new art for enemies you already know!
But that's not the only new feature concerning enemies, because if you look at their cards, you'll see that, unlike normal enemy cards, these new enemies are double-sided, with a different profile of the same enemy on each side.
To explain this feature better, we need to illustrate another mechanic introduced by Catacombs—the Torch.
This new piece of equipment can be crafted before an Expedition and, once lit, will allow you to benefit (for a certain time) from an aura of light around the bearer.
Being in a lit square will prevent heroes from encountering nasty surprises, but above all, it will help them face the enemies lurking in the darkness.
The two profiles on the enemy cards show their characteristics when they are in a “Dark” square on one side, while the other side (marked with a torch in the upper right corner) shows their characteristics when they are in a square "Lit" by the torch.
As you can easily guess, the “Lit” profile of an enemy is much weaker than the “Dark” one, so trying to use the torch to light up as many enemies as possible will be fundamental to the success of your explorations.
The introduction of these features will make Expeditions truly different from regular NAR Missions, presenting you with new situations, forcing you to adopt new strategies, and choose completely new combinations of skills and equipment to achieve victory!
What do you think of these new features? Catacombs is truly shaping up to be the definitive expansion, and if you enjoy dungeon crawlers, then you'll love our reinterpretation of this genre!
Catacombs was also featured at one of our demo tables at PLAY, Italy's largest board game convention, held in Bologna from April 4 to 6!
During the convention, we gave dozens of players a chance to try out the new features of Catacombs with a prototype of the expansion, which showed the almost final version of the game!
The feedback we received was very positive, and many new adventurers entered the world of NAR by getting their hands on the Core Game copies we had on sale! If you are among the lucky ones who tried Catacombs during the convention, we invite you to share your experience here with the whole community!
Before we see you again at the end of May with the next update, as usual, we would like to share the project's Progress Tracker, with the latest updates.
The long phases that more or less all expansions undergo are coming to an end, and we expect to have them all translated soon so that we can start mass production in early summer.
That's all for today, see you in a month with a new update!
Catacombs - Crafting in the Darkness
about 1 year ago
– Mon, Mar 31, 2025 at 09:52:25 AM
Hello, Guys!
Here we are back with the second update dedicated to Catacombs, the revolutionary expansion that will transform the way you play Nova Aetas Renaissance!
After the first overview of the last update, we continue exploring the new features you will find in this very rich expansion! Today we'll talk about the new features of the Crafting system!
The Crafting System is one of the most appreciated and enjoyable aspects of NAR, its rules offer strategic and rewarding management of your mercenary company's resources, but what will Catacomb add to an already well-established system? Let's go find out, but we can anticipate that it won't just be about having a bunch of new Formulae!
💀 A New Crafting System from the Depths
Catacombs introduces an innovative and thematic crafting system that enhances the gameplay experience and adds new layers of strategy—especially during your descent into the dark tunnels beneath various locations.
Let’s start with the Reagents — mysterious, sometimes grotesque materials scattered throughout forgotten corridors. While they may resemble ordinary components, the unique conditions of the catacombs twist them, giving rise to eerie and unsettling properties. Each Reagent bears a name that reflects its dark and arcane essence.
🧪 Where do you find them?
Unlike traditional resources, Reagents are not obtained by defeating enemies. Instead, they are discovered through exploration, via Treasure Cards—a new type of reward that includes not only crafting materials but also equipment blueprints and ready-to-use items. These cards represent some of the most valuable discoveries in the depths of the catacombs.
🔧 What can you craft?
With the help of Reagents, players can forge a wide range of equipment, some of which are particularly effective in Catacombs mode, offering unique advantages designed to tackle its treacherous but rewarding gameplay. Others are fully compatible with the main campaign missions, unlocking new tactical options and affecting how you’ll approach upcoming challenges.
🗝 Why Treasure Cards matter
Collecting as many Treasure Cards as possible becomes a key objective during exploration. Each card may contain different combinations and quantities of Reagents—and having the right mix is essential to unlock powerful tools. Some items require just a few components, while others follow more complex recipes. Choosing strategically what to craft and when to use it will often mean the difference between triumph and defeat.
What do you think of these new features? If you can't wait to try them out, from April 3 to April 6 you will find us in Bologna for the new edition of PLAY, Italy's largest convention dedicated to board games.
If you stop by and visit us at our spectacular booth #A30, you will be able to experience the new mechanics of Catacombs firsthand! That's right, during the convention, a NAR Demo table totally dedicated to Catacombs will be at your disposal!
We'll be waiting for you!
Before we wrap up this update we would like to show you again the Progress Tracker of the project.
The status of the work has not changed since the last update but this is quite normal since the stages in which the various expansions are in are very long and take some time to complete. However, these are all processes that are already well underway and we expect that as early as the next update many of them will be finished.
That's all for today, see you at the end of April with a new update!
