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

Project: Arcadia Tenebra

Designer: Alen Kapidzic

Artist: Dina Krajacic

Publisher: Rigged Dice Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, adventure, exploration, cooperative game, dice rolling, fantasy, fighting, mythology, role playing, science fiction, variable playing powers

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A heavily story-driven mystery adventure RPG board game in which you assume the role of the investigator on the quest of stopping a serial killer before The Blood Moon rises. Become one of six antihero investigators with their respectively unique special abilities and explore Arcadia Tenebra following the Leads and collecting the Clues, as each of those will bring you one step closer to busting the mad killer. As the story unfolds, soon enough you’ll find out that in Arcadia Tenebra everybody’s hiding something and nobody likes you. Moreover, you’ll have to face wild animals, marauders, imperial agents and even mythical creatures – as your investigation will eventually carry you beyond the veils of the rational world.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $60

All-In (w/shipping): $60, same as above

Campaign Ends: 12/10

Game Ships: Oct. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 7% with 27 days to go.

Project: Arkenshield – The Gates of Thy´an

Designers: Matthias Brinkmann, Wolfgang M. Eck

Artists: Johannes Fuchs, Thomas Mueller, Vanessa Schuhmacher

Publisher: Mad Maki Boardgames

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, area movement, campaign/battle card driven, card game, command cards, cooperative game, deck building, end game bonuses, events, exploration, fantasy, finale ending, hidden victory points, role playing, scenario/mission/campaign game, tile placement, trading

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Gather Companions around you, overcome epic tests and vanquish the mighty walls of the Citadel. Always remember: In the contest to conquer it, you’re competing with other fellowships. It isn’t the first player to get hold of the Crown of the Princes of the Northern Lands who’ll definitely be able to claim the glory of victory, but the one who, using a well-thought-out strategy, captures treasures and valuable objects at the right points in the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $77

All-In (w/shipping): $107

Campaign Ends: 11/30

Game Ships: Aug. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 25% with 17 days to go.

Project: Haneto

Designer: Mitsuo Yamamoto (3 and C, Actop: Ancient Construct Tower of Philospher, King’s Valley)

Artist: Mitsuo Yamamoto (3 and C, Actop: Ancient Construct Tower of Philospher, King’s Valley)

Publisher: Logy Games (3 and C, Actop: Ancient Construct Tower of Philospher, King’s Valley)

Genre/Mechanisms: abstract strategy, area majority/influence

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “A pure abstract strategy game inspired by the Nebuta Matsuri. The Nebuta Matsuri is a summer festival in northern Honshu dating back over 300 years from the Edo period. Its main feature is the nightly parade of the Nebuta along with the stream of dancers doing the bouncing Haneto dance to the shouts of Rasserā. Haneto is a dancer at the Nebuta festival at Aomori prefecture in Japan. They walk with a hopping dance along to Nebuta floats for hours at the festival. When six Haneto dancers are gathered at center spaces of the Nebuta float, the festival starts. The team which has majority is owner of Nebuta float and wins the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $34

All-In (w/shipping): $34, same as above

Campaign Ends: 12/1

Game Ships: Jan. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 217% with 19 days to go.

Project: The Powers That Be Boardgame

Designer: Echo Gamut

Artist: Echo Gamut

Publisher: ENLTN

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, action/event, betting and bluffing, card drafting, connections, dice rolling, economic, moving multiple units, political, roll/spin and move, turn order: role order, wargame, worker placement with dice workers

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Playing as a global elite ruler in 2020, in this hybrid, deck-building / worker placement game, you must first build your cabal by acquiring assets. Then use your best strategy to attack your enemies and successfully stage events on the global scale. Your goal is to stay invisible, while gaining power over the masses using your best strategy and card based, dice battles. The winner is the first player to enter the “eye in the triangle” with 13 power points, where you rule the world and no one knows you exist.”

Base Pledge: $100 + shipping

All-In: $333 + shipping

Campaign Ends: 12/12

Game Ships: July 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 5% with 29 days to go.