Apiary: Expanding the Hive Board Game Expansion

About this product

New hives. New possibilities. A thriving colony ready to reach even further.

Expand your Apiary board game with seven additional hive mats, 15 unique variable frames, new seed cards and a fresh faction to lead your spacefaring civilisation.

Discover new building bonuses, powerful combinations and strategic opportunities as you grow your hive and prepare your workers for hibernation.

Expansion Only – Apiary base game required.

Product Description

Apiary: Expanding the Hive Board Game Expansion brings fresh strategic possibilities to the world of Apiary, introducing new hive configurations, variable frames, seed cards, faction abilities and additional components for the acclaimed worker-placement strategy game.

In Apiary, highly evolved honeybees known as the Mellifera have built a technologically advanced civilisation capable of exploring space. As you guide your faction, every decision matters: where to place your workers, which planets to explore, how to manage resources and when to expand your growing hive.

Expanding the Hive builds on that experience with new options that reward careful planning, creative combinations and efficient use of your colony's abilities.

Build Your Hive in New Ways

Seven additional hive mats introduce different arrangements of building bonuses and strategic opportunities. Choose how to develop your colony as you construct farms, recruit specialists, unlock developments and place carvings within your hive.

The expansion also introduces 15 unique variable frames that replace the original frames from the base game. Each frame has its own combination of building bonuses, creating new possibilities as you expand beyond your starting hive.

During setup, these frames are divided into two face-up stacks. When acquiring a frame, you can choose between the available options, adding another meaningful decision to your building strategy.

Discover New Cards, Tiles and Abilities

Fifteen additional seed cards provide fresh opportunities for one-time benefits and end-game scoring. Carefully consider when to use a card's immediate effect and when to pursue its scoring potential.

New farms, recruits, developments and carvings offer further ways to strengthen your strategy. Discover abilities that support resource production, worker management, exploration, construction and valuable scoring combinations.

Meet the Cedoni Faction

The expansion introduces Cedoni, a new playable faction with abilities centred around frames and their building bonuses.

Cedoni rewards thoughtful hive expansion by allowing you to activate build bonuses on acquired frames. Upgrading the faction opens up additional frame-building opportunities, creating a different approach to developing your colony.

More Ways to Explore and Convert Resources

New explore tokens expand the possibilities of planetary exploration, while additional dance tiles and tokens introduce more resource-conversion options.

Some new dances reward their creators with Victory Points when other players use them, adding another layer of tactical consideration to an already interactive game.

Updated Components and Complete Rules Reference

Expanding the Hive also includes revised components for selected original factions and recruits, along with a comprehensive appendix that incorporates the expansion's rules and updated references for the core game.

All expansion components are compatible with Apiary's existing Automa solo mode. The components are also designed to fit inside the original Apiary game insert, helping you keep your growing collection organised.

Whether you enjoy creating efficient worker-placement combinations, exploring alternative scoring strategies or discovering new ways to develop your hive, Apiary: Expanding the Hive adds meaningful variety to your journey among the stars.

Apiary Base Game Required

This expansion cannot be played on its own. A copy of Apiary Strategy Board Game is required.

View the Apiary: Expanding the Hive Rulebook and Complete Appendix (PDF)

Why You’ll Love It

• Seven Additional Hive Mats: Explore new building layouts, bonuses and strategic approaches to developing your colony.
• 15 Unique Variable Frames: Replace the original frames with new options that introduce different building bonuses and meaningful choices.
• New Playable Faction: Discover Cedoni and its distinctive frame-focused abilities.
• 15 Additional Seed Cards: Experiment with new one-time benefits, scoring conditions and tactical opportunities.
• More Ways to Develop Your Hive: Add new farms, recruits, developments and carvings to create fresh combinations.
• Expanded Exploration: Discover additional explore tokens and opportunities to strengthen your planetary strategy.
• New Dance Possibilities: Introduce additional resource-conversion options and ways to earn rewards.
• Updated Components: Includes revised faction, recruit and other replacement components for the core game.
• Compatible with Solo Play: All expansion components work with Apiary's existing Automa system.
• Convenient Storage: Designed to fit into the original Apiary box insert.

Quick Details

• Publisher: Stonemaier Games
• Designer: Connie Vogelmann
• Artist: Kwanchai Moriya
• Product Type: Strategy board game expansion
• Players: 1–5 with the Apiary base game
• Recommended Age: 14+ years
• Playing Time: Approximately 60–90 minutes
• Game Complexity: Heavy
• New Playable Faction: Cedoni
• Gameplay: Worker placement, hive building, tile placement, exploration and resource management
• Theme: Science fiction, space exploration and advanced bee civilisation
• Solo Compatibility: Apiary Automa
• Base Game Required: Apiary

What's Included

• 1 Complete Appendix and Expanding the Hive Rulebook
• 7 New Hive Mats
• 15 Unique Replacement Frames
• 15 New Seed Cards
• 1 New Faction Tile – Cedoni
• 4 New Recruit Tiles
• 3 New Carving Tiles
• 5 New Development Tiles
• 4 New Farm Tiles
• 3 New Dance Tiles
• 6 New Dance Tokens
• 4 New Explore Tokens
• Updated Arti and Cecro Faction Tiles
• Updated Engineer and Pharmacist Recruit Tiles
• 1 Updated Explore Token for First-Printing Copies of Apiary

Good to Know

• Expansion Only: A copy of the Apiary base game is required. This is not a standalone game.
• Replace Original Frames: The 15 variable frames replace the original 15 frames rather than being shuffled together with them.
• Updated Tiles: The included revised Arti, Cecro, Engineer and Pharmacist tiles replace their original versions.
• First-Printing Update: The additional replacement explore token is intended for first-printing copies of Apiary. Later printings do not require this replacement.
• Solo Play: Compatible with the base game's Automa opponent, with an additional rule adjustment for the Grow action.
• Complete Appendix: The included reference covers both original Apiary content and the expansion's additions and updates.
• Optional Seed Card Variant: The rulebook includes an optional variant limiting players to two seed-card ability plays per turn.
• Original Box Compatibility: The components are designed to fit inside Apiary's existing game insert.