Designer: W. David Mackenzie (Jin Li, Ogre Castle, Sailing Toward Osiris)

Artist: Denis Martynets (10 Minute Heist: The Wizard’s Tower, Divinity Derby, Pirates of the 7 Seas)

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

Genre/Mechanisms: area control, negotiation, pattern building, resource management, worker placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Sailing Toward Osiris: Pharaoh’s Pyramid is at 82% funding with 7 hours to go. We’ve made the decision to profile Sailing Towards Osiris on the basis of the game’s merits, and in spite of the fact that it’s unlikely the current campaign will fund. We assume the campaign will be re-launched in the future, and you should look for it then in the likely event Osiris does not pass the finish line this time out.

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About: In Sailing Toward Osiris, player compete to build the greatest tribute to the late Pharaoh as his funeral barge sails down the Nile. The new Pharoah’s Pyramid expansions adds four new elements/mechanics to the game: Debens (debt markers), Pyramid Blocks, Temple Donations, and Palace Guards.

How It Works: Over the course of 4 rounds, players place take turns taking up to 10 various actions that include various ways to harvest and collect resources, planning to build a structure, building a structure, playing various cards, and withdrawing at round’s end. Bonuses are scored for building structures in adjacent groups, building all of a group of structures, building structures in the same area of the river, and building a structure in the current river section of the Pharoah’s Barge.

Comparisons: Sailing Toward Osiris looks like a medium-light worker placement, but plays slightly heavier as a result of some of the adjacency and scoring rules and some of the tactical choices offered throughout. There have been a bunch of similarly-themed Kickstarters of late. Cleopatra and the Society of Architects is probably the most similar, also set in Egypt and featuring construction as a central mechanic. In Cleopatra, players are all working to construct parts of the same temple, whereas in Osiris, players are constructing separate, wooden token structures on the river banks facing the Nile. There’s much more area control and elements of take that in Osiris. Osiris is also the more complex game, requiring tighter planning and more awareness of other players’ plans and actions. Osiris ventures into the realm of a medium-heavy game, whereas Cleopatra stands firmly planted in the realm of medium-light.

What Should I Pledge?:
$24 Pharoah’s Pyramid: the just new expansion.
$69 Everything Osiris: the Sailing Toward Osiris base game, the previous Governors and Envoys expansion, and the new expansion. The base game and the Governors and Envoys expansion will ship separately by June 30th, 2019.

Add-Ons:
None.

KS Exclusives:
The wooden Debens are punchboard tokens in the retail versions.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $69 for the Everything Osiris pledge level plus $25 in shipping for a total of $94.

Sailing Toward Osiris: Pharaoh’s Pyramid completes its Kickstarter on Monday, June 10th and tentatively ships in January 2020.