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

Project: Mining Mars

Designer: David McCord

Artist: David McCord

Publisher: NewVenture Games

Genre/Mechanisms: economic, investment

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Players assume the role of entrepreneurs in the far future investing in mineral mines on the planet Mars. On each turn, a player may draw a card (if they wish), and will select an ore cube to add to their refinery. When ore completes the refining process, the player is rewarded by special tasks or choices they can make, including playing their cards. The end game is triggered when one player has refined five “rarium” cubes (the most valuable of the Martian minerals). Then the winner is determined by the greatest number of refined minerals in the player’s warehouse.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $24

All-In (w/shipping): $90, includes 6 additional games

Campaign Ends: 2/14

Game Ships: Apr. 2021

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

Project: Operation Market Garden Pocket Card Game

Designer: Tom Lee (Eastern Front Battle Card Game)

Artist: Adrian Stone

Publisher: Little Bighorn Games (Eastern Front Battle Card Game)

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, children’s game, campaign/battle card driven, education, memory, simultaneous action selection, world war II

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Recreating the largest airborne invasion in history, Operation Market Garden in World War 2. Use your battle and tactic cards to out smart your opponent, use your equipment wisely, reveal events and monitor your divisions. Can you win enough battles to secure the vital bridges, will you be able to capture and hold all of them in time?”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $20

All-In (w/shipping): $57, includes 3 additional games

Campaign Ends: 3/1

Game Ships: Oct. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 314% with 41 days to go.

Project: Rommel in the Desert – Enhanced

Designer: Craig Besinque (EastFront: The War in Russia 1941-1945 – Second Edition, Rommel in the Desert, Triumph & Tragedy: European Balance of Power 1936-1945)

Artists: Ron Gibson, Jody Harr, Eric Hotz (EastFront; Napoléon: The Waterloo Campaign, 1815; Rommel in the Desert)

Publisher: Columbia Games (Hammer of the Scots; Julius Caesar: Caesar, Pompey, and the Roman Civil War; Napoléon: The Waterloo Campaign, 1815)

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, dice rolling, hexagon grid, secret unit deployment, war game, world war II

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: heavy

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Rommel in the Desert is a pre-“Front” game touching on the conflict between the British and Germans in North Africa during WWII. A game of maneuver, each side has to move with precision and know when to strike, since a cut in supply spells disaster for either side. The supply system is card driven. This title uses Columbia Games’ Block system.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $94

All-In (w/shipping): $178, with neoprene mat

Campaign Ends: 2/5

Game Ships: May 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 528% with 18 days to go.