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

Project: Foundations of Rome

Designer: Emerson Matsuuchi (Century: Eastern Wonders, Century: Golem Edition, Century: Spice Road, Reef, Specter Ops)

Artist: Stephen Gibson (Air, Land & Sea; Folklore: The Affliction; GoodCritters)

Publisher:  Arcane Wonders (Mage Wars Arena, Onitama, Royals, Sheriff of Nottingham)

Genre/Mechanisms: card selection, city-building, miniatures, tile placement

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Over three rounds of play, you will compete to be the greatest builder in Rome by purchasing empty Lots in strategic patterns and using them to construct your buildings. More complex buildings are hard to construct, but they bring their builder even greater glory.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $119

All-In (w/shipping): $184

Campaign Ends: 2/6

Game Ships: Feb. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 459%, with 22 days to go.

Project: The Great Alcatraz Escape

Designer: Oscar Dingley Gallo

Artist: Oscar Dingley Gallo

Publisher:  Online Media Ltd.

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure; card drafting; deck, bag, and pool building; dice rolling; enclosure; hand management; network and route building; push your luck; role playing; roll/spin and move; simulation; take that; team-based game; tile placement; trading; worker placement

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Welcome to Alcatraz Prison, where you will play as The Warden or as one of five playable Gang Leaders, in this highly ruthless and strategic board game. Gang Leaders will plot, scheme, and stab their rivals in the back to be the first to break to freedom. Whilst simultaneously evading the wrath of a perverse Warden.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $65

All-In (w/shipping): $135, includes vanity rewards

Campaign Ends: 2/12

Game Ships: Aug. 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 15%, with 27 days to go.

Project: Grendha: Search for Lost Triumphs

Designers: Prince Mathew, Antony Sunny

Artist: elangkarosingo

Publisher:  Doptale Inc.

Genre/Mechanisms: campaign/battle card driven, dice rolling, exploration, miniatures, negotiation, territory-building, variable player powers, wargame

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Grendha is a 2-4 player strategic war game equipped with 244+ detailed miniatures, cards, tokens, and dice. This is the quest of four heroes and their warriors to find the lost pages of Grendha.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $88

All-In (w/shipping): $284

Campaign Ends: 2/6

Game Ships: June 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 151%, with 21 days to go.

Project: Master of Wills – Bloodcrown

Designer: Randy Van Gelder (Master of Wills)

Artist: Joshua Calloway (Fallen, The King’s Armory, Master of Wills)

Publisher:  Stormcrest Games (Master of Wills)

Genre/Mechanisms: 1 vs. 1, 2 vs. 2, area majority/influence; area movement; card game; collectible components; deck, bag, and pool building; variable phase order; variable player powers

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: Masters of Wills is a 1 vs. 1 or 2 vs. 2 card game set in a distant future where various Factions “manipulate and influence the citizens of the Community in an effort to join their side and vanquish the opposition.” The new Bloodcrown expansion adds the aristocratic Bloodcrown faction along with new “Bloodchess” cards.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $35

All-In (w/shipping): $2,000; includes vanity rewards

Campaign Ends: 2/4

Game Ships: Apr. 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 31%, with 19 days to go.

Project: Masters of the Night

Designer: Nikolay Aslamov

Artists: Universal Head

Publisher:  Ares Games (The Battle of Five Armies, Quartermaster General, Sword & Sorcery, This War of Mine: The Board Game, War of the Ring, War of the Rind 2nd Edition)

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, cooperative game, horror, miniatures, modular board, variable player powers

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: Masters of the Night is a 1-5 player cooperative game where “you play as members of a vampire clan slowly regaining their former power. With the help of your minions, you will fight against the agents of the Inquisition, cast fear into the hearts of the people with your hunts, and shape dread sigils in different city districts, all in preparation for the grand Blood Moon ritual that will confirm your grasp on the city and its fate.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $57

All-In (w/shipping): $153

Campaign Ends: 2/5

Game Ships: Dec. 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 89%, with 20 days to go.

Project: Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile

Designer: Cole Wehrle (Pax Pamir, Pax Pamir 2nd Edition, Root)

Artist: Kyle Ferrin (Dungeon Mayhem, Root, Vast: The Crystal Caverns)

Publisher:  Leder Games (Root, Vast: The Crystal Caverns, Vast: The Mysterious Manor)

Genre/Mechanisms: area majority/influence, area movement, card drafting, political

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “In Oath, one to six players guide the course of history in an ancient land. Players might take the role of agents bolstering the old order or scheme to bring the kingdom to ruin. The consequences of one game will ripple through those that follow, changing what resources and actions future players may have at their disposal and even altering the game’s core victory condition.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $106

All-In (w/shipping): $106, same as above

Campaign Ends: 2/4

Game Ships: Jan. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1167%, with 19 days to go.

Project: Orion’s Spur

Designers: Lea Schlanger, Angelo Pederzani, Ryoga Mizuno

Artists: Peter Pop, Catherine Moore, Leilani Bustamante

Publisher:  Fiero Initiative

Genre/Mechanisms: campaign/battle card driven, card game

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Orion’s Spur is a starship battle game where you take command of a species’ fleet and show off your tactical superiority on the battlefield by defeating your opponents in combat.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $50

All-In (w/shipping): $134

Campaign Ends: 2/13

Game Ships: Oct. 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 8%, with 28 days to go.

Project: Pavlov’s Dogs

Designer: Heather O’Neill (Schrodinger’s Cats, Meeple Party)

Artist: James Stowe (Schrodinger’s Cats, Meeple Party)

Publisher:  9th Level Games (Schrodinger’s Cats, Meeple Party)

Genre/Mechanisms: action/dexterity, memory

Player Count: 3-10

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Pavlov’s Dogs is a pseudo-psychological card game of memory and conditioning. Players are dogs working together during a series of tests (rounds) given to them by Dogtors such as Sigmund Fetch, Collie Jung, Bark F. Skinner and more.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $29

All-In (w/shipping): $63, also includes Schrodinger’s Cats and a dog bandana

Campaign Ends: 2/6

Game Ships: Aug. 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 33%, with 21 days to go.

Project: Potato Pirates: Enter the Spudnet

Designers: Aditya Batura (Potato Pirates), Johan Ng Zi Qi, Fendy Lienata (Potato Pirates), Lim Jia Xuan (Potato Pirates), Seah Tat Leong (Potato Pirates), Wayne Neo Wei Zhe

Artists: M. Gajandran Prabu, Tan Qing Feng (Potato Pirates)

Publisher:  Codomo (Potato Pirates)

Genre/Mechanisms: action/event, card drafting, card play conflict resolution, children’s game, different dice movement, educational, multiple maps, party game, player elimination

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Potato Pirates: Enter the Spudnet is inspired by how the Internet works, the possible dangers online and how one can stay safe in the cyber space.  In the game, the spudnet is a web which connects shipping routes throughout the Carbobbean Seas, much like the world wide web which connects our world. You play as a Potato Pirate, competing with other factions to be the most reliable delivery service over on the spudnet.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $81

All-In (w/shipping): $101

Campaign Ends: 2/16

Game Ships: Aug. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 515%, with 31 days to go.

Project: Return to Dark Tower

Designers: Isaac Childres (Forge War, Founder of Gloomhaven, Gloomhaven), Noah Cohen (Betrayal Legacy, Dilemma), Rob Daviau (Betrayal at the House on the Hill, Betrayal Legacy, Cthulhu: Death May Die, Downforce, Heroscape Master Set: Rise of the Valkyrie, Heroscape Master Set: Swarm of the Marro, Pandemic Legacy: Season 1, Pandemic Legacy: Season 2, Risk Legacy, Star Wars: The Queen’s Gambit), Justin D. Jacobson (Downforce, Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-kar, Stop Thief!), Brian Neff (Betrayal Legacy, Fidget Factory, Hey Brother)

Artists: Tim Burrell-Saward (Beasts of Balance), Garret Kaida (Football Highlights 2052), Qistana Khalidah

Publisher:  Restoration Games (Downforce, Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-kar, Stop Thief!)

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, area movement, cooperative game, electronic, events, fighting, push your luck, random production, scenario/mission/campaign game, sudden death ending, trading, variable player powers, variable setup

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Return to Dark Tower is a cooperative game for 1 to 4 heroes who undertake epic quests, fight fearsome foes, and test their mettle against the looming darkness of the titular tower. Each player controls a unique hero with their own starting inventory and special abilities. Along the way you gain helpful items, powerful virtues, and trusty companions to help you achieve your goal: Find a way into the Tower and defeat a powerful adversary.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $143

All-In (w/shipping): $247

Campaign Ends: 2/4

Game Ships: Feb. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 216%, with 19 days to go.

Project: Shiver Me Timbers

Designer: Michael Vitkovsky

Artists: Andy Monks (Slaughterball), Unique Litani Soparie (Doomtown: Reloaded, Dungeon Alliance, Nations: Dynasties)

Publisher:  Weltflucht Verlag

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, hand management, miniatures, modular board, simultaneous action selection, take that, variable player powers, voting

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Shiver Me Timbers is a strategic sandbox game with modular miniatures for 2 to 4 players.  Fight enemy ships, raid fortresses, complete missions for the king, hunt for lost treasures, rescue kidnapped relatives, and face off against legendary monsters.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $86

All-In (w/shipping): $111

Campaign Ends: 2/6

Game Ships: Mar. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 108%, with 21 days to go.