Cole Wehrle, the esteemed board game designer behind Root, Arcs, and Oath, has announced his departure from publisher Leder Games. According to a Leder blog post from January 13, Wehrle is leaving to co-found a new design studio, Buried Giant Studios. Leder has sold ownership of Arcs and Oath to Buried Giant, and a new Arcs expansion has already been revealed.
Wehrle first joined Leder Games to design 2018's Root, a game that Wehrle says "helped us move offices twice and allowed Leder Games to triple its staff, creating one of the most remarkable teams in the tabletop industry". Ownership of Root remains with Leder Games, and Wehrle will apparently have minimal involvement in the development of new factions.
Also departing from Leder Games to co-found Buried Giant is Kyle Ferrin, the artist that gave Root and Arcs their signature visual style. Tuesday's blog post confirms, however, that Ferrin will still support Root with illustrations. Buried Giant Studios' other founding members include Drew Wehrle and Ted Caya. Caya announced that he was leaving Leder in December, and his upcoming Kickstarter board game, Take, would be moving on with him.
Cole Wehrle told Wargamer that Take is now a Buried Giant project. "Our schedule is pretty full at the moment, so it will probably be a 2027 project, but it's alive and well."
The first products on Buried Giant's lineup are a new expansion for the award-winning Arcs, plus fulfillment of the already-funded Oath: New Foundations. Arcs: Beyond the Reach promises "new strategic options and devious characters" according to a Kickstarter landing page, but little else is known about it at this time. A Bluesky post from Kyle Ferrin also confirms that this is part of a "set" of Arcs expansions.
Cole and Drew Wehrle already own a different board game publisher, Wehrlegig Games. Cole Wehrle has confirmed in a Bluesky post that Werhlegig Games "will come to operate as a semi-independent imprint of Buried Giant Studios". "WGG will maintain its own identity (and schedule - we've got a lot of work to do!), but the operations will be greatly enhanced."
The creators that so recently left Leder seem to have departed on good terms. Cole Wehrle's blog post is filled with well-wishes for founder Patrick Leder and his company.
"It has been a great pleasure to serve as the Creative Director at Leder Games and to help this team make some remarkable games", he says. "Over the years, I have been consistently amazed by their attention to detail, their professionalism, and their abiding kindness. It has been an honor to work with everyone here and to play my part in helping these games come to life."
"Both Kyle and I wish the remaining team at Leder Games the best of luck. It has been an incredible privilege to be part of its story over the past eight years and we cannot wait to see what they do next."
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This article was updated on January 14 to include direct comments from Cole Wehrle.