Blizzard Entertainment’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is likely to be on many people’s iPad game of the year list.

One of the few free-to-play titles that offers a genuinely fun gaming experience without an offensive pricing model, Hearthstone combines card collecting, fantasy and strategy all mixed together with a good dose of whimsy and humour.

The end result is an entertaining and engaging card-duelling game which manages to offer simplicity and depth at the same time.

It’s up there with my favourite games of the year, and is among a select group of titles I’ve put a lot of time into.

I was therefore very pleased to get news from Blizzard over the weekend of the game’s first expansion, Goblins vs Gnomes.

Coming in December, it will introduce more than 120 new cards for players to add to their collections.

Described by Blizzard as “turning Hearthstone on its head”, Goblins vs Gnomes “immerses Hearthstone players in an epic rivalry between goblin engineers and their gnomish counterparts.

“Though wildly brilliant, these pint-size tinkerers don’t always have the upper hand on the mechanical contraptions they create, and the results can be wonderfully unpredictable. The new cards coming in the expansion are filled with wild and wacky inventions as well as some faces that will be familiar to World of Warcraft and Hearthstone players.“

Goblins vs Gnomes card packs will be available in the iPad and PC versions of the game, and will be winnable in the game’s Arena mode and purchasable with in-game gold or real-money at the same price as standard card packs.

Here's a taster of a few of the new cards:

Surrey Comet:

This is the new game board:

Surrey Comet:

And here's a preview video of Goblins vs Gnomes:

For more info see www.playhearthstone.com