Designers: Martino Chiacchiera (Deckscape: Heist in Venice, Deckscape: Test Time, Mysthea), Marta Ciaccasassi (Barbarians: The Invasion, Icaion, Mysthea), Pierluca Zizzi (Asgard, Hyperborea, Signorie)

Artists: Fernando Armentano (Barbarians: The Invasion, Black Rose Wars, Village Attacks), Ivan Cavini (Barbarians: The Invasion)

Publisher: Tabula Games (Barbarians: The Invasion, Mysthea, Volfyirion)

Genre/Mechanisms: area majority/influence, civilization, economic, exploration, miniatures, network/route building, set collection, variable phase order, variable player powers, worker placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Barbarians: The Invasion 2nd Edition is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total more than 3x the initial funding goal with 3 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: heavy

Risk: medium-high

What It’s About:  A worker placement and area control game with a 3D dynamic board, and your choice of the screen-printed, wooden meeples version or the more expensive miniatures version.

How It Works: Gameplay in Barbarians: The Invasion is divided into 6 possible eras (different end-game triggers can end the game earlier), with three phases in each era: Maintenance, Action, and End of Era. During the Maintenance Era (which is not a part of the first Era), players restore their activated God and Warchief cards and gain resources indicated on their buildings.

The Action Phase is typical for any worker placement game, with players taking actions based on the game board locations they move to occupy. In this case, however, the game board is a series of circular rings making up a 3D volcano. Each player’s first Champion must take actions on the raised center of the volcano, and each subsequent Champion is placed on a space on a subsequent ring: the Second Champion is placed on a space on the second ring, the Third Champion on a space on the third ring, and so on. One final caveat– each space a Champion is placed must connect to spaces previous Champions were already placed. Actions spaces include: Erecting a Building, Invoking a God or Warchief (allowing God or Warchief cards to be acquired by the player), Declaring War, Advancing on the Barbarian or Knowledge Tracks, preparing a doubly-powerful action for the next move, and taking Trade Actions.

During the End of Era, players retrieve their Champions from the 3D volcano; resolve the effect of the leftmost face-up card on the Timeline; discard all Building, God, and Warchief cards from the display area to the bottom of their respective decks; reveal 4 new Building cards, 2 new God cards, and 2 new Warchief cards, and resolve the Final Event. The game ends after 6 eras, although it can end sooner if a player reaches 100 Domination Points and/or once all Faction Tokens from the map have been collected. In either condition is met, the game will end at the conclusion of that Era, although the handling of the Final Event varies from condition too condition. In final scoring, players earn 2 Domination Points for each Faction Token and Building erected, 2 points for each completed Barbarian & Tactical Track, 2 points for each God Card, and 2 points for each leftover resource. Players also score Domination Points for each conquered region, and these scale upwards. Players receive 0 points for 1 conquered region, 1 point for 2 conquered regions, 4 points for 3 conquered regions, 9 points for 4 conquered regions, and so on (points scored here are the square of the number one lower than the number of conquered regions). The player with the most Domination Points wins the game.

Comparisons:  The 3D board should draw immediate comparisons to the recently cancelled Kickstarter campaign for Titan (which will no doubt return in the future). At its core though, Barbarians: The Invasion is a worker placement game with engine-building and Euro-mechanics, using miniatures for workers on the dynamic 3D board, as well as dudes-on-a-map-style gameplay, civilization-building, and area control on the central map. Comparisons could probably be made with a bevy of games, from Edge of Darkness to Lords of Hellas to Scythe. Most importantly though, the first version of the game has already been out for a couple of years, and has a fairly strong rating of 7.5 on Boardgamegeek.

What Should I Pledge?:
$31 2nd Edition Upgrade Kit: for those who already have the previous version, this pledge will upgrade it to the new Second Edition with the Upgrade Kit, KS Exclusive Components, and all unlocked stretch goals.
$54 Meeples Invasion: Barbarians: The Invasion Meeples Version with KS Exclusive Components and all unlocked stretch goals.
$87 Minis Invasion: Barbarians: The Invasion Minis Version with KS Exclusive Components and all unlocked stretch goals.

Add-Ons:
$16 Mystics Set with Minis
$5 Mystics Set with Meeples

KS Exclusives:
The box with gold foil, the additional War Map, and 36 Player Discs.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $87 for the Minis Invasion pledge of Barbarians: The Invasion 2nd Edition, $16 for the Mystics Set with Minis, and $17 in shipping, for a total of $120.

Barbarians: The Invasion 2nd Edition completes its Kickstarter on Friday, October 4th and tentatively ships in June 2020.