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

Project:  Ausonia

Designer:  Zoltan Simon (Runes of Mayhem)

Artists:  Balasz Bodnar (Runes of Mayhem, Shardhunters), Gergely Nagy (Runes of Mayhem, Shardhunters)

Publisher: Lycan Studio (Shardhunters)

Genre/Mechanisms:  card game, deck building, hand management

Player Count:  1-4

Solo Mode:  yes

Complexity:  medium-light

Risk:  HIGH

Summary:  A deck builder set in “a magically altered 17th century in the Italian lands that survived the Witch Plague, now called Ausonia.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping):  $35

All-In (w/shipping):  $60

Campaign Ends:  5/7

Game Ships:  Aug. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 224%, with 28 days to go.

Project:  Caves of Rwenzori

Designer:  James Trower

Artist:  Aaron Howdle

Publisher: Vivid Games

Genre/Mechanisms:  card drafting, exploration, hand management, hexagon grids, maze, movement points, network and route building, once-per-game abilities, pieces as map, take that, tile placement, variable player abilities

Player Count:  2-5

Solo Mode:  no

Complexity:  medium-light

Risk:  HIGH

Summary:  “A tile-laying adventure for explorers competing to be first out of the caves, involving blocking your opponents, making cunning decisions, and carefully avoiding having your escape hindered.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping):  $43

All-In (w/shipping):  $82

Campaign Ends:  5/7

Game Ships:  May 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 86%, with 28 days to go.

Project:  Fallen Angels

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

Artist:  John Kean (Black Sonata, Blorg in the Midwest, Bomb Squad #9)

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

Genre/Mechanisms:  card game, cooperative game, deduction, hand management, puzzle

Player Count:  2-6

Solo Mode:  no

Complexity:  light

Risk:  medium-high

Summary:  “A co-operative card game based on a unique deduction mechanism, featuring startlingly candid mugshots of the real criminals of Sydney at the height of the Roaring Twenties.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping):  $15

All-In (w/shipping):  $23

Campaign Ends:  4/26

Game Ships:  Nov. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 177%, with 18 days to go.

Project:  For Science!

Designer:  R. Eric Reuss (Fealty, Spirit Island)

Artists:  n/a (credit your artists!)

Publisher: Grey Fox Games (Champions of Midgard, Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, Mythos Tales)

Genre/Mechanisms:  action/dexterity, cooperative game, hand management, real-time, variable player powers

Player Count:  1-6

Solo Mode:  yes

Complexity:  medium-light

Risk:  medium-low

Summary:  “A real-time, dexterity and spatial co-op where you first design Cures using cards, then build those Cures using wooden blocks.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping):  $59

All-In (w/shipping):  $71

Campaign Ends:  5/1

Game Ships:  Dec. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 169%, with 23 days to go.

Project:  Kodama Forest

Designers:  Jenny Iglesias, Kevin Riley (Aeon’s End, Aeon’s End: Legacy, Aeon’s End: The New Age, Aeon’s End: War Eternal)

Artist:  Kwanchai Moriya (Catacombs Third Edition, Cryptid, Dinosaur Island, Duelosaur Island, The Game, Pret-a-Porter, Sidereal Confluence: Trading & Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant)

Publisher:  Indie Boards & Cards (Aeon’s End, Aeon’s End: Legacy, Aeon’s End: The New Age, Aeon’s End: War Eternal, Coup, Flash Point: Fire Rescue, Haggis, The Resistance, The Resistance: Avalon, Snowdonia)

Genre/Mechanisms:  abstract strategy, tile placement

Player Count:  1-6

Solo Mode:  yes

Complexity:  light

Risk:  low

Summary:  A tile placement game where players coordinate with each of their 2 neighbors to fill shared player boards, much like the gameplay of Between Two Cities.

Base Pledge (w/shipping):  $41

All-In (w/shipping):  $113, includes 4 additional Kodama games

Campaign Ends:  4/24

Game Ships:  Oct. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 175%, with 15 days to go.

Project:  New Osaka

Designer:  D.J. Peters (Weak Defeat Strong)

Artists:  n/a (credit your artists!)

Publisher: D.J. Peters (Weak Defeat Strong)

Genre/Mechanisms:  area majority/influence, auction bidding, city building, dice rolling, miniatures, worker placement

Player Count:  1-4

Solo Mode:  yes

Complexity:  medium-heavy

Risk:  HIGH

Summary:  “An area control game about organizations vying for power in a city still ravaged by monsters.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping):  $68

All-In (w/shipping):  $108

Campaign Ends:  5/13

Game Ships:  Apr. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 18%, with 34 days to go.

Project:  Pax Viking, Pax Renaissance, and High Frontier 4 All: Module 3

Designers:  Matt Eklund (Pax Porfiriana, Pax Renaissance, Pax Transhumanity), Phil Eklund (High Frontier, Pax Porfiriana, Pax Renaissance, Pax Viking), Justin Grey (High Frontier 4 All), Jon Manker (Bios: Megafauna, Bios: Origins, Crusader Kings, Pax Viking)

Artists:  Madeleine Fjall (Pax Viking), Josefin Strand (High Frontier 4 All, Pax Renaissance)

Publisher: Sierra Madre Games (High Frontier, Pax Porfiriana, Pax Renaissance)

Genre/Mechanisms:  area majority/influence, auction: once around, card drafting, card game, cooperative game, economic, negotiation, political, tile placement, trading, variable player powers (Pax Viking); action points, card drafting, increase value of unchosen resources, market, simulation (Pax Renaissance); auction/bidding, civilization, deck building, economic, exploration, hand management, network and route building, pick-up and deliver, point to point movement, simulation, variable player powers (High Frontier 4 All)

Player Count:  1-6 (Pax Viking); 2-4 (Pax Renaissance); 1-5 (High Frontier 4 All)

Solo Mode:  yes (High Frontier 4 All, Pax Viking); no (Pax Renaissance)

Complexity:  medium-light (Pax Viking); heavy (High Frontier 4 All, Pax Renaissance)

Risk:  medium-low

Summary:  “Pax Viking is a lighter entry into the Pax series, easy to learn for families and those new to the Pax series. Pax Renaissance is a new, updated 2nd Edition with some updates and rules tweaks. And High Frontier 4 All: Module 3 is the latest smaller expansion for High Frontier 4 All that adds a War of Independence to the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping):  $34

All-In (w/shipping):  $149, includes all 3 games

Campaign Ends:  4/28

Game Ships:  Oct. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 479%, with 19 days to go.

Project:  Planet Unknown

Designers:  Ryan Lambert (Swordcrafters, Truck Off: The Food Truck Frenzy, Truck Off: The Food Truck Frenzy Roll and Write), Adam Rehberg (Brewin’ USA, Swordcrafters, Truck Off: The Food Truck Frenzy Roll and Write)

Artist:  Yoma (Complexcity, Gearworks, Rurik: Dawn of Kiev)

Publisher:  Adam’s Apple Games, LLC (Brewin’ USA, Swordcrafters, Truck Off: The Food Truck Frenzy)

Genre/Mechanisms:  card drafting, city building, network and route building, pattern building, simultaneous action selection, space exploration, territory building, tile placement, variable player powers

Player Count:  1-6

Solo Mode:  yes

Complexity:  medium-light

Risk:  HIGH

Summary:  A polyomino tile placement game where players “build and develop planets, testing their environments in the hope of colonization.”

Base Pledge (w/free shipping):  $49

All-In (w/free shipping):  $69

Campaign Ends:  5/1

Game Ships:  Oct. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 211%, with 23 days to go.

Project:  Storm the Gate: Woodland Warfare

Designers:  Mark McLachlan (Fidget Factory, Le Passe Trappe, Storm the Gate), Matthew MacLachlan(Fidget Factory, Le Passe Trappe, Storm the Gate), Brian Neff (Betrayal Legacy, Betrayal at Mystery Mansion, Return to Dark Tower)

Artists:  Jacqui Davis (Colosseum, Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia, Stockpile, Ex Libris, Viticulture, Viticulture: Essential Edition), Katy Grierson (Animal Kingdoms, Colossal Cave: The Board Game, Incubation)

Publisher:  Antsy Labs (Fidget Factory, Storm the Gate)

Genre/Mechanisms:  action/dexterity, party game, real-time

Player Count:  2

Solo Mode:  no

Complexity:  light

Risk:  medium-high

Summary:  “A handcrafted tabletop dexterity game. Lead your faction of woodland creatures into battle and restore order to The Veiled Forest.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping):  $93

All-In (w/shipping):  $93, same as above

Campaign Ends:  4/24

Game Ships:  Dec. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 238%, with 16 days to go.

Project:  Tales From the Loop: The Board Game

Designer:  Martin Takaichi (Crusader Kings)

Artists:  Reine Rosenberg (Guld & Bly), Simon Stalenhag

Publisher: Fria Ligan (Crusader Kings)

Genre/Mechanisms:  action points, cooperative game, dice rolling, narrative choice/paragraph, scenario/mission/campaign game

Player Count:  1-5

Solo Mode:  yes

Complexity:  medium-light

Risk:  HIGH

Summary:  “Players take the roles of teenagers who investigate the mysteries originating from the Loop, a huge underground science facility with strange effects on the suburban landscapes around it – just make sure you’re home in time for dinner!”

Base Pledge (w/shipping):  $70

All-In (w/shipping):  $110

Campaign Ends:  5/7

Game Ships:  May 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 242%, with 28 days to go.

Project:  Veilwraith

Designer:  Tristan Hall (1066, Tears to Many Mothers; Gloom of Kilforth; Shadows of Kilforth)

Artists:  Mikhail Greuli, Jose del Nido

Publisher:  Hall or Nothing Produciotns (1066, Tears to Many Mothers; Gloom of Kilforth; Lifeform)

Genre/Mechanisms:  card game, deck building, horror, solo/solitaire game

Player Count:  1

Solo Mode:  yes

Complexity:  medium-heavy

Risk:  medium-low

Summary:  “A fantasy card game with deck building elements for 1 player which is set after the end of the world.”

Base Pledge:  $37 + shipping

All-In:  $99 + shipping

Campaign Ends:  4/30

Game Ships:  Dec. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 331%, with 22 days to go.