Designers:  Josh J. Carlson (Cloudspire, Too Many Bones, Too Many Bones: Undertow), Adam Carlson (Cloudspire, Too Many Bones, Too Many Bones: Undertow), Josh Wielgus (Cloudspire)

Artists:  Jared Blando (1830: Railways & Robber Barons, Cloudspire, Legacy of Dragonholt, Steam), Melonie Lavely (Cloudspire, End of the Line, Too Many Bones: Undertow), Anthony LeTourneau (Cloudspire, Too Many Bones, Too Many Bones: Undertow)

Publisher:  Chip Theory Games (Cloudspire, Too Many Bones, Too Many Bones: Undertow)

Genre/Mechanisms:  action queue, cooperative game, dice rolling, exploration, hexagon grid, MOBA, modular board, secret unit deployment, solo/solitaire game, tech trees/tech tracks, tile placement, tower defense, variable player powers

Funding Status:  At the time of this posting, Cloudspire: Ankhar’s Plunder + Series Reprint is already fully-funded. Pledges currently total more than 11x the initial funding goal with less than 3 days to go on the campaign.

Player Count:  1-4

Solo Mode:  yes

Complexity:  heavy

Risk:  low

What It’s About:  “Two new unique factions, additional solo and co-op scenarios, and a reprint of the base game of the award-winning Cloudspire.”

How It Works:  “A 1-4 player strategy game heavily influenced by both tower defense and MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games. Solo and Cooperative play are driven by a scenario book that chronicles the story of the game from the perspective of each individual faction. Players control one of four unique factions in a battle to destroy and steal source energy from their opponents. Send and defend against armies and minions, build towers to protect your base, and explore with your heroes in search of resources and powerful Relics to turn the tide of battle.

Taking place in the floating realm of Ankar, Cloudspire tells the story of a war to acquire a powerful and rare energy known only as ‘the source.’ Every race has their own unique units and heroes as well as the ability to bid and draft mercenaries for hire.

Armies are placed either individually or in stacks to conceal powerful units until the last possible moments. Heroes, in the meantime are controlled individually and may join the tide of battle or choose to explore points of interest in search of numerous resources. Meanwhile, the event deck regularly changes the terms of the fight, making every wave exciting and unpredictable.

As armies and minions approach opposing bases, they’ll need to contend with Spires – powerful defense towers that can be built around the board. Fight for control of build sites and acquire new spire schematics to build an impenetrable defense and hold off the enemy. Upgrade your home base to unlock new strategies and abilities. Level up your heroes and lead your armies into battle with advanced and upgraded skills.”

Comparisons:  The best compairson is probably Chip Theory Games’ other big product, Too Many Bones. Both games feature similar production value, including chunky, custom dice, nice edge-stitched neoprene mats, and gameplay centered around Chip Theory’s stackable character and health chips, which look not unlike poker chips. But where Too Many Bones is a dungeon-crawler/RPG hybrid with customizable and upgradeable characters, Cloudspire is a MOBA/tower defense hybrid. Rum and Bones and Skytear are a couple of other MOBA-inspired board games, and a few tower defense games include Castle Panic, Dawn of the Zeds, Ghost Stories, Stronghold, and Xenoshyft: Onslaught.

What Should I Pledge?:
$55 New Faction Bundle: includes The Uprising faction, Horizon’s Wrath faction, the Hero’s Bounty Pack with all unlocked Hero’s Bounty stretch goals, and all unlocked Uprising stretch goals.
$110 All New Things: includes everything in the New Faction Bundle, plus the Cloudspire Vol. 2 Hardcover Art, Lore, Scenario and Skirmish Book and the Miniature Expansion: The Uprising and Horizon’s Wrath.
$130 Cloudspire Base Game: includes the latest printing of the Cloudspire Base Game, the Cloudspire Dice Tray, and the Hero’s Bounty Pack with all unlocked Hero’s Bounty stretch goals.
$240 All Cloudspire Gameplay Content: includes the latest printing of the Cloudspire base game, the Portal Seekers expansion, the Greige faction, the Uprising faction, the Horizon’s Wrath faction, Ankar’s Plunder Softcover Booklet: Scenarios and Skirmishes, the Hero’s Bounty Pack with all unlocked Hero’s Bounty stretch goals, and all unlocked Uprising stretch goals.
$445 Everything Cloudspire: includes everything in the All Cloudspire Gameplay Content pledge (except for Ankar’s Plunder Softcover Booklet: Scenarios and Skirmishes), plus Cloudspire Vol. 1: The Joining War Hardcover Book, Cloudspire Vol. 2: Hardcover Art, Lore, Scenario and Skirmish Book, the Miniatures Spires Expansion for the 4 base game factions and Griege, Miniature Expansion: The Uprising and Horizon’s Wrath, Premium Health Chips, Skymat, and the Cloudspire Dice Tray.

Add-Ons:
$130 Cloudspire: the latest printing of the Cloudspire base game.
$30 The Griege: faction expansion.
$30 Portal Keepers:
$30 Horizon’s Wrath: new faction expansion.
$30 The Uprising: new faction expansion.
$25 Premium Health: 69 Custom-stickered, Heavy Premium Health Chips.
$50 Skymat: Neoprene mat, 40″ x 35.5″, 3mm thick, with edge-stitching.
$65 Miniature Expansion: contains 6 miniatures for each of the base game’s 4 factions, plus 6 miniatures for the Griege.
$30 Miniature Expansion: contains 6 miniatures for Uprising and 6 miniatures for Horizon’s Wrath.
$15 Control ‘Ur Roll Dice Tray
$25 Cloudspire Vol. 1: The Joining War Hardcover Book
$25 Cloudspire Vol. 2: Hardcover Art, Lore, Scenario and Skirmish Book
$10 Ankar’s Plunder Softcover Booklet: Scenarios and Skirmishes
$10 Cloudspire 2nd Prnting Update Pack

KS Exclusives
None, but take note that shipping at all levels has a cap rate, and it’s $10 for the U.S.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $445 for the Everything Cloudspire pledge plus $10 in shipping for a total of $455.

Cloudspire: Ankhar’s Plunder + Series Reprint completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, April 23rd and tentatively ships in November 2020.