Shem Phillips and S J Macdonald, the design duo behind the North Sea and West Kingdom trilogies, are heading to the ancient world with two new strategy games that will not be available at retail. The Great Sea & Towers of Sifnos launched on Kickstarter on March 31 and has already hit over NZ$157,000, roughly seven times its NZ$23,000 goal, with 735 backers on board. The campaign runs until April 15, and a limited web store release in Q2 2026 is the only other way to get them.
Both games are part of Garphill's new Ancient Anthology series, set in ancient Greece. Towers of Sifnos, designed by Phillips and Macdonald, puts players in the boots of Greek warlords preparing their island communities for pirate raids. You build defensive watchtowers, train soldiers, and compete for control of the island's famous gold, silver, and lead mines. The game draws on the real history of Sifnos, where islanders constructed over seventy watchtowers to guard against invasion. It marks a shift from Garphill's signature worker placement into area control and defensive strategy, with escalating tension as pirate threats grow.
The Great Sea, designed by S J Macdonald and Zach Smith, takes players across the Mediterranean as merchants acquiring goods and trading for points. Details on this one are still emerging from the campaign, but the core promise is a different flavour of euro from the same studio.
Phillips has built a strong track record in the euro space. Raiders of the North Sea earned a Kennerspiel des Jahres nomination in 2017, and the West Kingdom and South Tigris series have made Garphill one of the most reliable publishers in modern euros. If you are a fan of their earlier work, this is a campaign worth watching.
Sources: Kickstarter Campaign | Meeple University | Mr Board Games
