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

Project: Longboat

Designer: Michael Lawrence Kay

Artist: Michael Lawrence Kay

Publisher: Wight Hart Games

Genre/Mechanisms: card selection, tableau building, take that

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: Players take turn drafting vikings from the river, placing them in their longboat and constructing an ever-widening tableau while activating their various card abilities. Once the river and the draw deck have been exhausted, the player with the most points (Vikings + Shields of their color + 3x Loot – Sheep) wins!

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $24

All-In (w/shipping): $24, same as above

Campaign Ends: 6/5

Game Ships: Sep. 2019

Funding Status: Currently at 16%, with 28 days to go.

Project: The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire – Cold War expansion

Designers: Tom Jolly (Battle for Rokugan, The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire, Wiz-War 8th Edition), Luke Laurie (Dwellings of Eldervale, The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire, Stones of Fate)

Artists: Josh Cappel (1960: The Making of the President, Belfort, Endeavor, Endeavor: Age of Sail, Fire & Axe: A Viking Saga, The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire, Pandemic, Scoville, Wasteland Express Delivery Service), Jeffrey Edwards (Fire & Axe: A Viking Saga, The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire), Scott Hartman (Aeon’s End, Aeon’s End: War Eternal, At the Gates of Loyang, Kodama: The Tree Spirits, Wasteland Express Delivery Service)

Publisher: Minion Games (Dead Men Tell No Tales, The Manhattan Project, The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire)

Genre/Mechanisms: civilization, dice rolling, economic, resource management, tableau-building, take that, worker placement

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

Summary: A worker placement game where players are nations struggling for power in the late 20th century, building up industry, commerce, resources, structures, and energy sources. The new Cold War expansions includes: new Nations cards, new Megastructures, new Espionage cards, new Global Impact cards, new Structures, The Doomsday Clock & Cold War cards module, and the new Clash of Nations solo decks with 48 cards.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $25, Cold War expansion only

All-In (w/shipping): $99

Campaign Ends: 5/30

Game Ships: Nov. 2019

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 488%, with 23 days to go.

Project: Space Race

Designers: Marek Loskot (Space Race: The Card Game), Michal Mikes, Jan Soukal (Space Race: The Card Game)

Artist: Dalibor Krch (Space Race: The Card Game)

Publisher: Boardcubator (Space Race: The Card Game)

Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, hand management, miniatures, simultaneous action selection, variable player powers, worker placement

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-high

Summary: Hire astronauts and scientists, develop technologies, initiate space programs, and celebrate breakthroughs in this engine-builder taking place over the first seven decades of space exploration, from the Cold War on.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $62

All-In (w/shipping): $83

Campaign Ends: 5/23

Game Ships: June 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 320%, with 16 days to go.