Designer: Luke Laurie (The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire, The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire – Cold War, Stones of Fate)

Artists: Merilliza Chan, Sergio Chavez, Anton Fadeev, Leesha Hannigan (Fateshifters, Sparkle Kitty Nights), Irina Nordsol Kuzmina, Sasha Radivojevic, Sam Turner (The Pirate’s Flag, Sheep Hustler, Wardens), Brian Valeza (Monumental, Seafall, Tail Feathers, Towers of Madness), Frank Wade

Publisher: Breaking Games (Joking Hazard, Letter Tycoon, Rise of Tribes)

Genre/Mechanisms: area control, dice rolling, hand management, miniatures, modular board, variable player powers, worker placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Dwellings of Eldervale is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total almost 5x the initial funding goal, with 4 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About:  Worker placement, engine-building, and area control set in a once-lost magical world with wizards, warriors, dragons, and giant elemental monsters battling for dominance across 8 elemental realms.

How It Works: In Dwellings of Eldervale, each player takes a turn in turn order until a player constructs their 6th building or the last Realm tile is drawn. At that point, every player gets one more turn, including the player who triggered the end game. Turns consist of Placing a Unit or Regrouping, along with any available Free Actions. Units include Workers, Warriors, Wizards, and Dragons. Each player’s first unit may be placed into any unoccupied Realm, meaning a Realm that does not already contain another Unit or Monster. Subsequent units must always be placed in Realms adjacent to those where the player already has a unit; and players may now choose to place Units in Realms already occupied by other players’ Units or Monsters. Players may not place a Unit in a Realm where they already have a Unit. Most of the unit-type also have an additional placement requirement or two. Placing a Unit in an Elemental Realm also entitles the player to an associated Treasure Token. Placing a Unit in a Ruins Realm awards the player with a bonus action, depending on the type of Ruins: Mage Tower, Fortress, Summoning Portal, Mill, or Dungeon. When Discovering a new Realm, players also take a new Adventure Card, and then choose between taking a second new Adventure Card of burning a face-up card, then revealing new Adventure Cards.

If players instead choose to Regroup, they first retrieve Units from Realms to perform Tableau Actions, then return Units from their Tableau and the Underworld to their Ready Area. Free Actions players may also choose to take on their turn include: Discarding a Treasure Token to Gain a Resources, Slotting a Treasure Token into their Tableau, Play a Spell Card, or Perform an Orb Action. Once all players have Regrouped once, Battles are then triggered each time a player places a Unit into a Realm with another player Unit or Monster. Winning Battles through dice combat gains players points on the Glory Track. At the end of the game, players will also gain associated Glory for Dwellings, Tableau Cards, Vault Scoring, and Prophecy Cards.

Comparisons:  Dwellings is such a mishmash of mechanics that it’s tough to find a direct comparison. But you know what else is a mishmash of mechanics, albeit a much lighter game? Breaking Games’ own Rise of Tribes. Other than that, Dwellings is essentially a combination of a dudes-on-a-map game with combat and a worker placement game, but it also features tableau building, resource management, a modular board, and variable player powers. Really any game that combines 4x or dudes-on-a-map gameplay with crunchy Euro mechanics will give you some kind of comparative estimate. Vindication is one, although that game favors exploration and storytelling a bit more.

What Should I Pledge?:
$69 Standard Eldervale: includes the base game, all standard stretch goals, custom wooden meeples, and GameTrayz.
$99 Deluxe Eldervale: the Standard Eldervale pledge, plus all Deluxe stretch goals and the Fearsome Beasts Miniatures Set.
$139 Legendary Eldervale: the Deluxe Eldervale pledge, plus all Legendary stretch goals and the Legendary Echoes Miniatures Set.

Add-Ons:
$10 Minotaur Miniature
$20 DogMight Custom Dwellings of Eldervale Dice Trays, in 9 different colors (listed price includes U.S. shipping)
$84 Custom Game Mat (listed price includes U.S. shipping)

KS Exclusives:
KS Exclusives include an optional box cover with different Dread Croc art, the Minotaur Mini (acquired from either solving the campaign’s riddles or paying $10), the Oracle map tile, and the Legendary Echoes Miniatures Set with 8 additional Monster Miniatures and 8 Mini bases with sound 2 effects each, one for a Legendary Monster mini and one for a corresponding Monster in the base set.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $139 for the Legendary Eldervale, $10 for the Minotaur Miniauture if you haven’t solved the campaign’s riddles, and $15 in shipping, for a total of $164.

Dwellings of Eldervale completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, July 25th and tentatively ships in May 2020.