Designer: Jacques-Dominique Landry

Artist: Jacques-Dominique Landry

Publisher: JackBro Playful Creations (40, Vikingar: The Conquest of Worlds)

Genre/Mechanisms: abstract

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Nouvelle-France is 77% funded, with 42 hours left to go on the campaign. They may make funding if they have a big enough final push, and they can definitely use your help!

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

What It’s About:  An abstract strategy game with 3D Tetris-like pieces, some card play, and a historical theme of French-American settlers.

How It Works: Gameplay is based around the construction of the colony Nouvelle-France along the St. Lawrence River in North America during the 17th century. Colonists had to work fast to complete as many buildings as possible before the onset of winter. To represent this struggle, there are 3 Snowfalls over the course of the game; yet the game itself and the components are abstract.

On their turn, the active player will Draw a Construction Block Card, placing the new card on top of the matching illustration on the identification strip; then Choose a Construction Block and Add It To One of the Three Construction Sites, choosing a block that corresponds with one of the three visible Construction Block Cards; and finally, Calculate the Points, receiving 1 point for each cube of their color on the newly-placed block and 1 point for each cube of their color connecting to that block.

Three Snowflake Cards are shuffled into the Construction Block Deck during setu; the first will appear 1/3 of the way through the game, the second 2/3’s of the way through the game, and the final Snowflake Card will appear at the end of the game. During each Snowfall, players score points based on the corresponding cube of the associated Tally Stick. The bottom cube corresponds with the first Snowfall, the middle cube with the second Snowfall, and the top cube with the third Snowfall. Depending on the iconography of the corresponding cube, players will lose, gain, or gain double the number of points as they have cubes in that area. Snowdrifts are then placed around each construction area, creating some limitations for future placement. If a player ever completes a construction, they receive the associated standee for end-game scoring.

After the third Snowfall, points are tallied for the third levels of construction, and players also score the value on the base of any collected standees. The player with the most points is declared the winner.

Comparisons:  Any game with Tetris-like, 3D block-construction. Some recent Kickstarters with similar mechanics include LOTS: A Competitive Tower Building Game and Stacked; older games include BITS, Blokus, Blokus 3D, and FITS. But none of them has the elegant component design or historical theming of Nouvelle-France.

What Should I Pledge?:
$57 Retail Edition: the Retail Edition and all unlocked social stretch goals.
$76 Collector: the Collector’s Edition and all unlocked social stretch goals. The Collector’s Edition includes 2 magnetic storage boxes, a hand-numbered metallic collector’s badge, and 12 wooden snowdrifts, upgraded from the retail version’s EVA Foam snowdrifts.

Add-Ons:
$100 Portrait: a portrait with your image drawn in the style of one of 3 characters (Fur Trader, King’s Daughter, and Soldier) from the game

KS Exclusives:
The Collector’s Edition is KS-exclusive.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $76 for the Collector’s Edition plus $15 in shipping for a total of $91.

Nouvelle-France completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, October 10th and tentatively ships in September 2020.