(or here’s a list of what launched yesterday that might deserve a closer look)

Project: Devil May Cry: The Bloody Palace

Designer: James M. Hewitt (Blood Bowl (2016 Edition), Hellboy: The Board Game, Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower)

Artists: Tom Hutchings (Dark Souls: The Card Game), Abigail Thornton, Tom Lishman, Jamie Phipps (Theosis), David Whitaker

Publisher: Steamforged Games, Ltd. (Dark Souls: The Board Game, Dark Souls: The Card Game, Guild Ball, Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game, Resident Evil 2: The Board Game)

Genre/Mechanisms: deck building, hand management, miniatures, pattern building, press your luck

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: high

Summary: An adaptation of the Blood Palace single-elimination tournament from the Devil May Cry video games, produced, as it must be noted, by notorious published Steamforged Games, who has been incredibly late delivering every single one of their mediocre-at-best board game adaptations of similar video game IPs.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $124

All-In (w/shipping): $124, same as above

Campaign Ends: 5/22 (7 days only!)

Game Ships: July 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 107%, with 5 days to go.

Project: Dice Upon a Time

Designer: Istvan Sauer

Artist: Tosin Matteo

Publisher: Korona Games (Days of Ire: Budapest 1956, Hexpanse, Invisible)

Genre/Mechanisms: action/movement programing, dice rolling, family game, hand management, miniatures, pick up & deliver, resource management, role playing, take that

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: high

Summary: Play as one of the fairy tale characters from the original Grimm’s Fairy Tales in this family adventure game with dice-rolling and card play.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $49

All-In (w/shipping): $59

Campaign Ends: 6/5

Game Ships: Jan. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 185%, with 19 days to go.

Project: Fortitude of Empires

Designers: Adrian Franks, Martin Griffin, Paul Willis

Artists: Martin Griffin, Paul Willis

Publisher: Solitude Enterprise Ltd.

Genre/Mechanisms: area movement, dice rolling, miniatures, player elimination, roll & move, tile placement, war game

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: high

Summary: A sci-fi dice-battling board game from creator Paul Willis, a huge Star Wars fan who, in addition to finding inspiration in Star Wars for his game’s lore, has also created a soundtrack for Fortitude of Empires with the inclusion of 6 lesser-known actors from the Star Wars films.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $77

All-In (w/shipping): $83

Campaign Ends: 6/14

Game Ships: Jan. 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 9%, with 27 days to go.

Project: Halls of Horror

Designer: Krzysztof Zieba (In the Name of Odin)

Artists: n/a

Publisher: iFun4All

Genre/Mechanisms: dice rolling, miniatures, modular board, player elimination, simultaneously action selection, variable player powers

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: A narrative exploration game with Saw-like theming where the player characters are all looking for redepemtion from some past misdeeds, and must escape the game’s location in the vein of Betrayal at House on the Hill.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $69

All-In (w/shipping): $88

Campaign Ends: 6/14

Game Ships: Dec. 2019

Funding Status: Currently at 25%, with 27 days to go.

Project: Mega Metro City

Designers: Francisco Mora Aliste, Alvaro Gutierrez de la Fuente, Alfonso Gutierrez Palacios

Artists: David Arenas (Don’t Mess With Cthulhu, Kingdom Defenders, Time Bomb), Jose David Lanza Cebrian (Rum & Bones, Rum & Bones: Second Tide, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shadows of the Past), Richard Suwono, Raul Furtado Tavares (The Ancient Evil), Randy Vargas

Publisher: BoomBox Board Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action point allowance system, cooperative play, dice rolling, fighting, grid movement, miniatures, modular board, player elimination, variable player powers

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: high

Summary: A cooperative beat ’em up with dice rolling and plastic miniatures.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $114

All-In (w/shipping): $139

Campaign Ends: 5/25

Game Ships: May 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 202%, with 7 days to go.

Project: Rise of the Elder Gods

Designer: Conor McGoey (Gorus Maximus, Summit: The Board Game, Vault Assault)

Artists: Rhys ap Gwyn (Museum Rush)

Publisher: Inside Up Games (Gorus Maximus, Summit: The Board Game, Vault Assault)

Genre/Mechanisms: action/movement programming, area control, card drafting, hand management, resource management, secret unit deployment, simultaneous action selection

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: A Cthulhu-themed board game where, instead of trying to save the world, players compete to amass the most souls and annihilate humanity using card mechanics and resource management.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $40

All-In (w/shipping): $40, same as above

Campaign Ends: 6/5

Game Ships: March 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 110%, with 19 days to go.

Project: Rock ‘n’ Rumble

Designer: Jeremy Chailfour

Artists: Momo Peary

Publisher: Dark Moon Games

Genre/Mechanisms: hand management, take that

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: high

Summary: Try to match musicians with their favored instruments to score maximum “skilled” points, and chain actions together for bonuses, in this quick-playing battle of the bands.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $35

All-In (w/shipping): $45, same as above (not including vanity pledge levels)

Campaign Ends: 6/14

Game Ships: Dec. 2019

Funding Status: Currently at 21%, with 27 days to go.