(or here’s a list of what launched yesterday that might deserve a closer look)

Project: AlderQuest

Designers: Mike Gnade (Brass Empire, Maximum Apocalypse, Set a Watch), Ryan Ward

Artist: Lawrence Hugh Burns

Publisher:  Rock Manor Games (Brass Empire, Maximum Apocalypse, Set a Watch)

Genre/Mechanisms: area majority/influence, card game, pattern building, tile placement

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “Rival guilds of animal heroes and minions will square off in a competition that blends area control, tile placement, hidden information, bluffing, and traditional match-3.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $40

All-In (w/shipping): $301, includes vanity rewards

Campaign Ends: 1/29

Game Ships: Jan. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 56%, with 21 days to go.

Project: APEX: Collected Edition

Designer: Herschel Hoffmeyer

Artist: Herschel Hoffmeyer

Publisher:  Outland Entertainment

Genre/Mechanisms: action/dexterity, adventure, flicking, move through deck, party game, role playing, semi-cooperative game, variable setup

Player Count: 1-8

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: A collected version of all of the Apex Theropod Deck-Building Game products to date, from comics publisher Outland Entertainment, who hopefully won’t have all of the delivery & fulfillment issues of previous publisher Die-Hard Games.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $15, a single expansion deck

All-In (w/shipping): $123

Campaign Ends: 2/6

Game Ships: Jan. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 200%, with 28 days to go.

Project: Black Sonata: The Fair Youth

Designer: John Kean (Black Sonata, Blorg in the Midwest, The Shooting Party)

Artist: John Kean (Black Sonata, Blorg in the Midwest)

Publisher:  Side Room Games (Black Sonata, Maquis, Orchard)

Genre/Mechanisms: action queue, deduction, hidden movement, point-to-point movement, push your luck, solo game

Player Count: 1

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: Five mini-expansions add new tools and challenges to Black Sonata, a solo deduction game where the player chases down Shakespeare’s The Dark Lady.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $15

All-In (w/shipping): $45, includes the base game

Campaign Ends: 1/26

Game Ships: Aug. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1041%, with 18 days to go.

Project: Duffers

Designer: Duane Wheatcroft

Artist: Duane Wheatcroft

Publisher:  Duane Wheatcroft

Genre/Mechanisms: action/dexterity, adventure, flicking, move through deck, party game, role playing, semi-cooperative game, variable setup

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: A golf-themed deck-building game from a first-time designer/artist/publisher.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $36

All-In (w/shipping): $751, includes vanity rewards

Campaign Ends: 1/26

Game Ships: Aug. 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 12%, with 29 days to go.

Project: Herrlof

Designer: Alexander Kneepkens (Chartered: The Golden Age), Inge van Dasselaar

Artist: Tristam Rossin (3 Laws of Robotics, Cosmic Colonies, Kingswood, Rune)

Publisher:   Jolly Dutch Productions (Chartered: The Golden Age)

Genre/Mechanisms: auction/bidding, card game, hand management, trick-taking

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: A two-player, Viking-themed trick-taking card game.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $12

All-In (w/shipping): $156, includes a wooden engraved box & two other games

Campaign Ends: 2/4

Game Ships: July 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 434%, with 26 days to go.

Project: Kingdom’s Candy: Monsters

Designers: Joe Slack (Cunning Linguistics, King of Indecision), Zemilio (Rune)

Artists: Bong Ji, The K

Publisher:  Zemilio Entertainment (Rune)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, hand management, push your luck

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: A light, push-your-luck card game where players use sugar cubes to buy monster cards and abilities.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $29

All-In (w/shipping): $29, same as above

Campaign Ends: 1/23

Game Ships: Nov. 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 38%, with 14 days to go.

Project: Lift Off! Get me off this Planet! – Expanded Deluxe Edition

Designer: Eduardo Baraf (Herbaceous, Herbaceous Sprouts, Skulk Hollow, Sunset Over Water)

Artist: Nichole Kelley

Publisher:  Pencil First Games (Herbaceous, Herbaceous Sprouts, Skulk Hollow, Sunset Over Water)

Genre/Mechanisms: modular board, team-based game, worker placement, solo play

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: A new upgrade kit (or expansion) for Lift Off! Get me off this Planet! that includes a solo variant, a 6th player expansion, and some additional components.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $35, just the upgrade kit

All-In (w/shipping): $75, includes the new expanded deluxe edition (which contains everything in the upgrade kit) AND an additional upgrade kit; you may also want to consider getting just the new expanded deluxe edition for $50, which has everything a new player needs

Campaign Ends: 1/20

Game Ships: Mar. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 160%, with 12 days to go.

Project: Square Meal

Designer: Philip duBarry (Black Orchestra, Revolution!, Spirits of the Rice Paddy)

Artist: Philip duBarry (Tiger Stripes)

Publisher:  Phantasio Games (Extraordinary Adventures: Pirates, Raccoon Tycoon, Railroad Rivals)

Genre/Mechanisms: melding and splaying, pattern building, race, real-time

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: A light, quick, puzzle-solving, food-themed, pattern-matching race card game.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $18

All-In (w/shipping): $18, same as above

Campaign Ends: 2/1

Game Ships: Sep. 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 15%, with 24 days to go.

Project: Warp’s Edge

Designer: Scott Almes (Heroes of Land, Air & Sea; Tiny Epic Galaxies; Tiny Epic Quest; Tiny Epic Zombies)

Artist: Tyler Johnson (Final Girl, Ghostel, Lucidity: Six-Sided Nightmares, Runika and the Six-sided Spellbooks)

Publisher:  Renegade Game Studios (Altiplano, Architects of the West Kingdom, Arboretum, Clank! A Deck-Building Adventure, Clank! In! Space!, Ex Libris, The Fox in the Forest, FUSE, Honshu, Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Raiders of the North Sea, Sentient, Snow Tails, Trajan, Wendake, World’s Fair 1893)

Genre/Mechanisms: bag building, solo game

Player Count: 1

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: The second game in Renegade’s Solo Hero Series (the first was Proving Grounds), Warp’s Edge is a space-themed bag-builder and comes with a storybook.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $51

All-In (w/shipping): $68, also includes a playmat and token upgrade pack

Campaign Ends: 1/24

Game Ships: June 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 221%, with 15 days to go.