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

Project: Catacombs & Castles 2E + Catacombs Black Box expansion

Designer: Aron West (Catacombs, Catacombs Third Edition, Catacombs & Castles)

Artist: Kwanchai Moriya (Catacombs Third Edition, Cryptid, Dinosaur Island, Duelosaur Island, In the Hall of the Mountain King, Prêt-à-Porter, Sidereal Confluence: Remastered Edition, Under Falling Skies)

Publisher: Elzra Games (Catacombs, Catacombs Third Edition, Catacombs & Castles)

Genre/Mechanisms: action/dexterity, adventure, fantasy, fighting, flicking

Player Count: 2-8

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “Catacombs & Castles is the second edition of the fast paced, team based dexterity game from Elzra. This tabletop game features both cooperative and competitive play styles keeping all players engageed. For the first time, it will be possible to play as heroes on the Catacomb team versus a Castle team of heroes. Player elimination is completely optional and there is strong support for two player setups.” Also included in this campaign is the brand new Black Box expansion for Catacombs 3E.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $67

All-In (w/shipping): $375

Campaign Ends: 3/31

Game Ships: Jan. 2022

Funding Status: Funding; currently at 104% with 21 days to go.

Project: CHAINsomnia

Designers: Shou Aoyama, Yukio Shimami, Yuso Taya

Artists: Kazuko Kakutani, Kwong Weiyin

Publisher: Japanime Games

Genre/Mechanisms: cooperative game, dungeon crawler

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Sleeping children become trapped in the castle of the demon Akuma and must work with others to escape. You and each other player take a character card and cover two of the six spaces on its “chain gauge.” The highest uncovered number on this gauge shows how many action points (AP) you have available on your turn, and each character has a unique skill, in addition to values for strength, wisdom, and luck. All characters start on the central tile, with the “wake up” tile being placed at the bottom of the room tile deck. On a turn, you use your AP to take actions. If any player is on the “wake up” tile when all “bad dream” cards are removed, they escape and win the game; if all the characters are immobilized by chains or the event cards are exhausted without anyone waking up, then everyone is defeated.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $50

All-In (w/shipping): $70

Campaign Ends: 3/25

Game Ships: Oct. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 56% with 14 days to go.

Project: Crayne: Fractured Empire

Designer: Christopher Fielder

Artists: Matthew Burger, Luiz Prado

Publisher: Christopher Fielder

Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, card game, deck building, fantasy, market, player elimination, simultaneous action selection

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “An epic, strategic, high-fantasy deck-building card game set in the world of Crayne, with over 100 unique illustrations and 225 cards in the base set. The construction of a strong deck during gameplay is the main focus of the game. The cards provide a type of in-game currency called revenue which allows players to purchase more/better cards to add to their decks which they can eventually use to overpower their opponents with relentless attacks. Featuring eight unique factions that the players (called Lords) can recruit to aid them in conquering the other Lords. Each faction has its own strengths and unique talents. In addition, each game is played with randomized factions, which leads to many different combinations of playstyles. Lords will have to come up with a strategy on how to win on-the-fly, whilst utilizing the factions that are available for purchase and adapting to the moves of their opponents.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $46

All-In (w/shipping): $138, includes vanity reward

Campaign Ends: 4/8

Game Ships: Nov. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 143% with 28 days to go.

Project: Everdell: Newleaf, Mistwood, and The Complete Collection

Designer: Chrissy Peske, Rob R. Bell, James A. Wilson (Everdell, Flourish)

Artists: Andrew Bosley (Bloodbowl: Team Manager – The Card Game, Citadels, Everdell, Love Letter, Mission: Red Planet Second Edition, Tapestry), Dann May (Black Orchestra, Everdell, Nothing Personal)

Publisher: Starling Games (Everdell, King’s Forge, A War of Whispers)

Genre/Mechanisms: animals, card drafting, card game, city building, events, fantasy, hand management, set collection, tableau building, worker placement

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “Dive tailfirst into the world of Everdell with the Complete Collection. Build a city of critters and constructions and explore the Emerald Valley and beyond; celebrate the Bellfaire, wonder at Newleaf’s mechanical marvels, trek into the Spirecrest Mountains, explore the underwater depths of Pearlbrook, and chance the dangers of Mistwood. Play against automated opponents including the dastardly Rugwort and cunning Nightweave, meet heroes of renown in our Legends II and Corrin Evertail expansion packs, and find abundance in new farms in our Through Every Season expansion pack.

New critters and new ideas are arriving every day at the Newleaf train station. Being the first official city of Everdell, Newleaf has grown into a thriving destination with numerous exciting opportunities to discover and explore. Attract eager visitors to your city, make your reservations, travel further with tickets, and build the most prosperous city Everdell has ever seen. Prepare to experience an all-new Everdell that will keep delighting and surprising you for many more seasons to come.

Lurking in the depths of Mistwood, the cunning and villainous Nightweave plots to take over Everdell with the aid of her spiderlings. Pit your wits against Nightweave and her sticky schemes in both solo and two-player games.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $75 + sales tax

All-In (w/shipping): $225 + sales tax

Campaign Ends: 3/25

Game Ships: Mar. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 3032% with 14 days to go.

Project: Gloomier: A Night at Hemlock Hall

Designer: Keith Baker (Cthulhu Gloom, Gloom, Illimat)

Artist: Topper Helmers

Publisher: Atlas Games (Cthulhu Gloom, Gloom, Once Upon a Time: The Storytelling Card Game)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, hand management, horror, humor, layering, storytelling, take that

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Gloomier uses transparent cards, allowing a character’s story—and score—to evolve as cards are stacked upon them. Only the information that’s currently showing counts. Modifier cards tell of terrible happenstances and give characters negative points. Untimely Death cards end a character’s depressing tale. You win if your family is the most miserable when an entire family is killed off. You don’t have to have any prior experience to play Gloomier, but if you are familiar with Gloom, you’ll find six new Stories and fourteen new Guests that can be used with any edition of Gloom! So come to Hemlock Hall, and see what delightful misery awaits.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $30

All-In (w/shipping): $285, includes everything Gloom to-date

Campaign Ends: 4/8

Game Ships: Oct. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 376% with 28 days to go.

Project: Heroes of Normandie – Big Red One Edition

Designers: Yann and Clem (Heroes of Normandie, Shadows Over Normandie: Actung! Cthulhu, Warhammer 40,000: Heroes of Black Reach)

Artist: Nicola Angius (7, the Sins; Goryo)

Publisher: Devil Pig Games (Heroes of Normandie, Shadows Over Normandie: Actung! Cthulhu, Warhammer 40,000: Heroes of Black Reach)

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, dice rolling, grid movement, variable player powers, wargame, world war II

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Big Red One Edition is Heroes of Normandie updated to 2.0 level, 100% compatible with the full original range. The time is summer 1944. The Sun shines on Normandy hedgerows. Gentle wind, fields of bright flowers, and in the background, the romantic staccato of machine gun fire in the morning. In these typical French countryside landscapes, thousands of men are about to fight. And die. Bravely like heroes, or cowardly like wussies. But only heroes really matter. Those you see in Hollywood Golden Age war movies. Here lies the inspiration for Heroes of Normandie; here is what the game has to offer: explosive and fast-paced battles; the pleasure of butchering your enemies through MG42 walls of lead; and the ability to crush Nazi bastards under tons of shells – basically, blood and guts.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $50, upgrade pack only

All-In (w/shipping): $153

Campaign Ends: 3/30

Game Ships: Nov. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 105% with 20 days to go.

Project: Hit the Silk!

Designer: Brendan Mills

Artist: Gareth Griffiths

Publisher: Escape Plan Board Games (Stop the Train!)

Genre/Mechanisms: aviation/flight, bluffing, card drafting, card game, deduction, dice rolling, finale ending, hand management, negotiation, party game, scenario/mission/campaign game, semi-cooperative game, trading, voting

Player Count: 3-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A semi-cooperative game in which the team objective is to find the target cash between the players. The individual goal is to stay alive by securing a parachute. The gameplay is suspenseful and mischievous – each turn, players can search the plane frantically for useful equipment, trade from their inventory and play a variety of speculative actions; anything to secure a parachute or a briefcase of cash. But with each action the altimeter needle drops another 500ft. With the ground approaching fast, you may need to forge an alliance. You’ll get a few chances to jump, but only with a majority vote. If trading nicely doesn’t work, you may need to resort to drastic action with the handcuffs, poison or revolver. What follows are tense standoffs, fragile deals and double crosses. And if all else fails, can you land the plane?”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $51

All-In (w/shipping): $89, also includes Stop the Train!

Campaign Ends: 4/1

Game Ships: Dec. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 68% with 21 days to go.

Project: Monster Invasion (on Gamefound)

Designers: Zoran Dobrijevic (Marry the Monster, Potions and Profts, Trifecta), Tony Mastrangeli (Evacuate!, Startropolis), Jeff Petersen (Evacuate!, Startropolis), Sandy Petersen (Cthulhu Wars, Glorantha: The God Wars, Invasion of the Brood, Planet Apocalypse), Arthur Petersen (Marry the Monster)

Artists: Kent Hamilton (8 Bit Attack, Hyperspace, Potions and Profits, Startropolis), Alyssa McCarthy (Evacuate!, Invasion of the Brood, Potions and Profits), Brian Patterson (Chimera Station, Kaiju Incorporated, Marry the Monster)

Publisher: Petersen Games (Cthulhu Wars, Glorantha: The God Wars, Planet Apocalypse)

Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, deck building, deduction, horror, modular board, science fiction, simultaneous action selection, variable player powers (Evacuate!); 2 players, action points, area movement, dice, dice rolling, horror, science fiction, territory building, wargame (Invasion of the Brood); fantasy, grid movement, hexagon grid, humor, king of the hill, miniatures, resource to move, take that, territory building, zone of control (Marry the Monster); auction/bidding, betting & bluffing, bluffing, fantasy, humor, investment, market, negotiation (Potions and Profits)

Player Count: 2-6 (Evacuate!); 2 (Invasion of the Brood); 3-5 (Marry the Monster); 3-6 (Potions and Profits)

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Evacuate is a competitive community deck-building game where players use social deduction to outwit the other players and reach the Evacuation Transport with the most Survivors. Each round players secretly choose a movement card from their hand. Once each player is ready, all cards are revealed and players move their survivor that many spaces, and any actions are activated. Finally, a Nomia card is drawn, possibly killing survivors on the station. The game ends when the evacuation transport is drawn from the deck, and the player with the most remaining survivors wins.”

“Invasion of the Brood is a two-player strategy game, in which the two sides have greatly different strategies, abilities, and even turn structures. In the year 2025, the telepathic monster Broodmaster Magnalux has established a base on Earth’s moon. As the human player, you must alert humanity to the threat, and rally armies, navies, and air forces against the alien menace. As the Broodmaster player, you must subvert the Earth, using your mind control to gradually take control of Earth’s most vital defenses.”

“Marry the Monster is a game for 3 to 5 players in which each player scores points by building structures and having them remain until your next turn without being destroyed by the monster. Turns are taken by playing cards, and there is no upkeep phase – play simply continues until there is a winner.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $33, for either Invasion of the Brood or Potions & Profits

All-In (w/shipping): $213, includes all 4 games and a vanity reward

Campaign Ends: 3/30

Game Ships: May 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 128% with 19 days to go.

Project: Night Market

Designer: Adam Zwain

Artists: James Churchill (Feed the Kraken, Hogs of War: The Miniatures Game, Legacies), Jason Washburn (Camp Pinetop, Vinyl, Winterborne)

Publisher: Talon Strikes Studios (House of Borgia, Vinyl, Winterborne)

Genre/Mechanisms: action drafting, food/cooking, industry/manufacturing, worker placement

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “You are a business owner who is trying to construct stalls to sell food to customers with distinctive tastes. These customers will move through your night market looking for their cravings to be fulfilled. To capitalize, you must acquire different foods from the city and strategically place them in your night market to accommodate your customers. Furthermore, your customers are also seeking and are willing to pay more for specialty dishes. The challenge is you only have so much time to shop for ingredients and prepare for the market’s opening. Customers that are satiated, will become loyal customers and come back for another visit. Customers that are disappointed, will leave. Night Market is a couples a spatial worker placement mechanism with challenging resource management to maintain customer loyalty resulting in sales. At the end of the game, the player who has earned the most reputation will be regarded as the ‘Best Night Market’.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $63

All-In (w/shipping): $88

Campaign Ends: 4/3

Game Ships: Apr. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; Currently at 132% with 23 days to go.

Project: Pocket Pixel Artist + Swearmints

Designers: Richard Coote (Pocket Pixel Artist), Chris Rio (Swearmints)

Artists: Nicholas Coote (Pocket Pixel Artist), Chris Rio (Swearmints)

Publisher: Rampage Games (11:59)

Genre/Mechanisms: party game, player judge

Player Count: 4-10 (Puzzling Pixel Artist); 3-5 (Swearmints)

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “In Pocket Pixel Artist, teams compete against each other through a series of design challenges to see who can design and assemble the best pixel art graphics they can for a game jam submission! Against the clock, and only using small colored cubes, you must arrange them into 1 of 4 various game assets found on each card. If your team can correctly identify your creation, you will gain points.

Swearmints is a quick party game about making up new slang and defining it for your friends. Earn Mints by coming up with the best definitions.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $19

All-In (w/shipping): $49

Campaign Ends: 4/8

Game Ships: Feb. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 117% with 28 days to go.

Project: Rise of an Emperor: Worlds in Conflict

Designer: Alberto Puertas

Artist: Javier Roa González

Publisher: 4Dados (Crusade and Revolution: The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939; Democracy Under Siege; Secret Weapons of the Third Reich)

Genre/Mechanisms: 4x, card game, civilization, hand management, science fiction, space exploration, variable player powers, variable set-up, worker placement

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Each player chooses one of the seven Regent Houses (each has 10 personalized cards) and two of the different paths that exist in the world of RoaE to gain power. Each of them (Science, Religion, Economy, Politics, Subterfuge, Military, and Exploration) adds 20 more cards to build its initial deck. In addition, each House has three Counselors that can be used on the Council Board. Players use cards for actions like increasing their House skills, raising their military and technological levels, building buildings, and playing the characters of their House. Each House has a personal board to develop their civilization, and to do so many of the cards must be built before they can be used, but both space and resources are limited. Rise of an Emperor is a civilization and 4x game, using mechanics like worker placement, hand and resource management, and hidden information management.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $89

All-In (w/shipping): $113

Campaign Ends: 3/23

Game Ships: Dec. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 20% with 12 days to go.

Project: Super Fantasy Brawl: Round 2!

Designer: Jochen Eisenhuth (Super Fantasy Brawl)

Artists: Stéphane Gantiez (Claustrophobia, Codenames, Libertalia, Lords of Xidit, Mythic Battles: Pantheon, Seasons, Snow Tails, Survive: Escape From Atlantis!), Johannes Helgeson (Super Fantasy Brawl), Bayard Wu (Reichbusters: Projekt Vril, Super Fantasy Brawl, Time of Legends: Joan of Arc), Irek Zielinski (Batman: Gotham City Chronicles, Super Fantasy Brawl, Time of Legends: Joan of Arc)

Publisher: Mythic Games (Mythic Battles: Pantheon, Super Fantasy Brawl, Time of Legends: Joan of Arc)

Genre/Mechanisms: area majority/influence, are movement, fantasy, grid movement, hand management, miniatures, team-based game, variable player powers, wargame

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: The Art of War, Circle of Blood, and Force of Nature are “3 new expansions, each with 3 Champions. These nine new Champions bring a lot more options for players to choose their team; they expand on existing concepts and push the boundaries of the arena with more specialized builds and advanced tools.”

“Super Fantasy Brawl is a fast-paced competitive miniatures board game. Players select a team of three champions and combine their unique action cards to create a synergistic action deck. The game is faction-free, so players have their choice of any combination of champions they wish. Each turn, the players use their hand of action cards to maneuver, attack, displace enemies, and claim objectives to score victory points.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $65

All-In (w/shipping): $203

Campaign Ends: 3/19

Game Ships: Oct. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 587% with 8 days to go.

Project: Three Sisters

Designers: Ben Pinchback (Fleet, Fleet: The Dice Game, Wasteland Express Delivery Service), Matt Riddle (Fleet, Fleet: The Dice Game, Wasteland Express Delivery Service)

Artists: Marlies Barends (Ortus), Beth Sobel (Arboretum, Between Two Cities, Calico, Herbaceous, Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, Snow Tails, Viticulture, Viticulture Essential Edition, Wingspan, World’s Fair 1893)

Publisher: Motor City Gameworks

Genre/Mechanisms: dice, dice rolling, farming, paper-and-pencil, roll-and-write, solo/solitaire game

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Three Sisters is a backyard farming roll and write. Three Sisters is named after the Indigenous agricultural technique that is still widely used today. Three different crops—in this case, pumpkins, corn, and beans—are planted close together. Corn provides a lattice for beans to climb. The beans bring in nitrogen from the air into the soil, and the squash provides a natural mulch ground cover helping to reduce weeds and keep pests away. The player sheet has several areas: your field, divided into six zones, each containing the three crop types; and various other areas related to additional actions you can take: fruits and flowers, beehives, and a shed with tools that have special abilities.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $34

All-In (w/shipping): $34, same as above

Campaign Ends: 4/1

Game Ships: Sep. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 175% with 21 days to go.

Project: Valeria: Card Kingdoms – Darksworn

Designers: Isaias Vallejo (Valeria: Card Kingdoms, Quests of Valeria, Villages of Valeria)

Artists: Mihajlo Dimitrievski (Architects of the West Kingdom, Explorers of the North Sea, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Raiders of the North Sea, Viscounts of the West Kingdom)

Publisher: Daily Magic Games (Valeria: Card Kingdoms, Quests of Valeria, Villages of Valeria)

Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, card game, cooperative game, dice rolling, expansion, fantasy, scenario/mission/campaign game

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “The play area for Darksworn is much the same as an ordinary game of Valeria: Card Kingdoms, but there are some notable changes. Darksworn uses six book-decks to tell a story of wonder, sacrifice, and adventure as you explore the territory west of Valeria and encounter a darkness that cannot go unchecked. Each book presents you with a set of new rules and several tasks that must be completed by your gaming group in order to advance to the next book in the saga. Within each book you’ll find special boons to assist you and powerful monsters to challenge you. Your team will have to strike a balance between building effective tableaus of citizens that will allow you to complete the tasks and defending the decreasing center stacks of citizens that are the health of your kingdom.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $36

All-In (w/shipping): $69

Campaign Ends: 3/31

Game Ships: Oct. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 127% with 20 days to go.