(or here’s a list of what launched yesterday that might deserve a closer look… and Project Titles now feature links to their campaigns!)

Project: Badland Wolves

Designer: Daniel Gorash

Artist: Daniel Gorash

Publisher: Daniel Gorash

Genre/Mechanisms: action/event, adventure, alliances, animals, card game, card play conflict resolution, events, fantasy, fighting, negotiation,

Player Count: 3-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “In this card-driven strategy game, you and your friends make up the Badland Wolf Pack. The old Alpha has died; guided by the law of Tooth and Claw, it’s every wolf for themselves as you compete to be crowned the new Alpha of the Badlands. To gain the allegiance of the pack, players will lead and join dangerous hunts for scrap cards that will be used in battles for each other’s loyalty tokens. The first wolf to capture enough loyalties for the allegiance of the pack will win the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $39

All-In (w/shipping): $79, includes vanity rewards

Campaign Ends: 2/26

Game Ships: Sep. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 94% with 23 days to go.

Project: Core Worlds: Empires + Nemesis

Designers: Christopher Guild (The Hunger Games: Jabberjay Card Game, Star Trek: Attack Wing, Wartime: The Battle of Valyance Vale), Andrew Parks (Core Worlds, Star Trek: Attack Wing, Star Trek: Frontiers)

Artists: Edwin Basa, William Bricker (Baseball Highlights: 2045, Diamonds: Second Edition), Kanban: Driver’s Edition, Tiny Epic Galaxies), EJ Dela Cruz (Guildhall Fantasy: Alliance, Guildhall Fantasy: Coalition, Seafall), Biagio D’Alessandro (Chronomancer, Doomtown: Reloaded, Dungeon Alliance), Alex Figini (Core Worlds), Christopher Guild (Dungeon Alliance, Hogwarts: House Cup Challenge, The Hunger Games: District 12 Strategy Game), Jeremiah Humphries, Chechu Nieto (Andean Abyss, Core Worlds, Cuba Libre, A Distant Plain, Dominant Species, Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt Against Caesar, Fire in the Lake, Twilight Struggle), Jim Parks (Core Worlds, Dungeon Alliance, Idealogy: The War of Ideas), Radial Studios (Edge of Darkness: Cliffs of Coldharbor), Maciej Rebisz (Core Worlds, Star Wars: Outer Rim, Star Wars: Rebellion), Jessada Suthi (Canterbury, Dungeon Alliance, Lost Legacy: Third Chronicle – Sacred Grail and Staff of Dragons)

Publisher: Quixotic Games (Canterbury, Dungeon Alliance)

Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, end game bonuses, events, solo/solitaire game, worker placement, worker placement different worker types (Core Worlds: Empires); card drafting, card game, civilization, deck building, end game bonuses, expansion, hand management, science fiction, space exploration, solo/solitaire game (Core Worlds: Nemesis)

Player Count: 1-5 (Core Worlds: Empires); 1 (Core Worlds: Nemesis

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: heavy (Core Worlds: Empires); medium-heavy (Core Worlds: Nemesis)

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Core Worlds: Empires is a worker placement game that includes rules for Solo Play. Each player represents one of the empires that overthrew the ancient Galactic Realm during the original Core Worlds card game. Core Worlds: Empires is a thematic sequel to the original game and its expansions, but players don’t need to own the original game to enjoy this one.”

“Core Worlds: Nemesis is the official solo version of the Core Worlds deck-building game. Play against the AI-driven Nemesis Empire during your bid to conquer the Core Worlds. The Nemesis is represented by a special deck of cards that simulates play against a human player, including anticipating which worlds the Nemesis is targeting in each sector and which Core Worlds the Nemesis is planning to conquer as it drafts cards throughout the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $30, Core Worlds: Nemesis only

All-In (w/shipping): $90, includes both games

Campaign Ends: 2/25

Game Ships: Dec. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 64% with 21 days to go.

Project: Cult of the Deep

Designer: Sam Stockton

Artists: David Li, Liam Peters, Maura Elko, Janette Ramos, Charles Walton (Robotech RPG Tactics)

Publisher: B.A. Games

Genre/Mechanisms: bluffing, bribery, deduction, dice, dice rolling, fantasy, hidden roles, horror, push your luck, re-rolling and locking, team-based game, variable player powers

Player Count: 4-8

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “You are a cultist, trying to establish your faction’s rise to power. Fight over rituals and mythical monsters as you seek victory and control of the cult.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $49

All-In (w/shipping): $111

Campaign Ends: 3/3

Game Ships: Dec. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 104% with 27 days to go.

Project: Doom Machine

Designer: Nathan Meunier (The Blessed Dark, Mindburners)

Artist: Nathan Meunier (The Blessed Dark, Mindburners)

Publisher: Nathan Meunier (The Blessed Dark, Mindburners)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, dice, dice rolling, re-rolling and locking, science fiction, solo/solitaire game, track movement, worker placement with dice workers

Player Count: 1

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “An intense pressure-cooker card and dice mint tin solo game experience that fits in your pocket. Face off against an ever-evolving, ever-growing machine of death and destruction! Each turn consists of two phases. In Phase I, you’ll roll your unlocked dice, using the limited available utility slots to modify or re-roll, then allocate dice to either shields (to block incoming damage) or to machine part cards in play (if the roll criteria is met) to deal damage to a part. Destroying parts earns you additional dice for future rolls. In Phase II, the machine AI takes action, cycling the tracking die on each of its available machine part cards and triggering abilities when the die reaches an icon on its AI track — potentially dealing damage, repairing, locking die, and impacting gameplay in other nefarious ways. Find and defeat the doom core before humanity is annihilated.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $26

All-In (w/shipping): $26, same as above

Campaign Ends: 3/2

Game Ships: Sep. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 595% with 26 days to go.

Project: Embryo Machine

Designers: Toshimitsu Shigaki, Giguru Akiguchi

Artists: not credited

Publisher: LionWing Publishing

Genre/Mechanisms: fighting, grid movement, line of sight, modular board, movement points, science fiction, simultaneous action selection, square grid, team-based game, variable player powers, wargame

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A compact and accessible wargame from Japan featuring fast-paced, mecha-themed combat across a modular, grid-based battlefield. Players engage in competitive free-for-all or team-based showdowns, making use of the battlefield and the cards they draft. Players start each game by first choosing which mecha, called Embryo Machines or “EMs,” they’d like to pilot according to their playstyle, utilizing a deck of cards unique to their EM that comprises all of their unit’s movement, equipment, and attacks.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $50

All-In (w/shipping): $84

Campaign Ends: 2/18

Game Ships: Dec. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 172% with 14 days to go.

Project: Food Time Battle in Space

Designer: Niall Crabtree

Artist: Fodsley

Publisher: Crab Studios

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, card drafting

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “You are a restauranteur in the 1950s trying to take advantage of the recent colonization of the moon in this alternate version of Earth. This game is a lite engine-building card game with a healthy amount of randomness but heaps of strategy, with four different decks and four different playstyles to choose from.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $36

All-In (w/shipping): $56, also includes Blockers: The Stacking Game

Campaign Ends: 3/2

Game Ships: Sep. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 23% with 26 days to go.

Project: King of Potato

Designers: Jose Eduardo Morales Espinoza, José Javier Virula Figueroa

Artist: Yeye Weller

Publisher: Marco Tulio Argueta Cobar

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, draw and discard, king of the hill, matching, medieval, party game, turn order: claim action

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A card game where the king is missing and players take turns finding him. At the end of their turn, the player receives a victory coin for having the King. Other players may steal the King by interfering with your play and playing fast cards on your turn. Three victory coins wins.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $27

All-In (w/shipping): $27, same as above

Campaign Ends: 3/1

Game Ships: July 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 109% with 25 days to go.

Project: Kingsfall: Guilds of Cendrenil

Designer: Jon Eckerson

Artist: Justin Donaldson

Publisher: Matterson Games

Genre/Mechanisms: 4x, area majority/influence, civilization, dice rolling, modular board, territory-building

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A true 4X campaign style board game with a heavy focus on expansion, resource management, and strategic gameplay. The game was designed for players of all skill and play types as it aims to be streamlined and straight forward. There are no excess mechanics and rules that other 4X style games seem to have, and this allows players to focus on having fun rather than reading rulebooks.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $53

All-In (w/shipping): $53, same as above

Campaign Ends: 2/23

Game Ships: Dec. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 11% with 19 days to go.

Project: Moon Adventure, In a Grove and Dokojong

Designers: Jun Sasaki (Deep Sea Adventure, A Fake Artist Goes to New York, Startups), Hayashi Shiina (Dokojong)

Artists: Ian Parovel (Colt Express, Deus, Machi Koro), Jun Sasaki (A Fake Artist Goes to New York, Insider, Startups)

Publisher: Oink Games (Deep Sea Adventure, A Fake Artist Goes to New York, Modern Art)

Genre/Mechanisms: abstract, bluffing, deduction, memory, murder/mystery, party game (In a Grove); exploration, cooperative game (Moon Adventure)

Player Count: 2-5 (Dokojong, Moon Adventure); 3-4 (In a Grove)

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: Dokojong is “a short game where players try to guess where each other’s dog is hidden among five tiles. You want to avoid revealing your dog’s whereabouts, but if you overact to avoid guesses, your dog may be exposed. This game is a collaboration between Shunya Shiina, known for Caru Uta, and Jun Sasaki.”

“In a town with too many detectives… so many murders occur. The detectives blame each other for their wrong deductions… One of Oink Games’ masterpieces, In a Grove is reborn with new components and rules/. Gorgeous, tactile plastic chips are included, and the maximum number of players has been expanded from four players to five. The rules have also been adjusted to make the game more interesting.”

Moon Adventure is “a challenging cooperative game based on Oink Games’ worldwide hit ‘Deep Sea Adventure,’ selling over 200,000 units. Players work together as a team on a desperate mission to recover supplies on the moon. Will the crew be able to survive the magnetic storms and limited oxygen supply?”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $86

All-In (w/shipping): $86, same as above

Campaign Ends: 2/26

Game Ships: Aug. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 735% with 22 days to go.

Project: Posthuman Saga & The Journey Home Expansion

Designer: Gordon Calleja (Posthuman, Posthuman Saga, Vengeance)

Artists: Mark Casha (Posthuman, Posthuman Saga), Arjuna Susini (Posthuman, Posthuman Saga)

Publisher: Mighty Boards (Days of Ire: Budapest 1956, Petrichor, Posthuman)

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, auction/bidding, deck building, expansion, exploration, fighting, miniatures, modular board, pattern building, post-apocalyptic, push your luck, role playing, science fiction, storytelling, tile placement, variable player powers

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “Posthuman Saga is a standalone survival game in the Posthuman universe. You play a seasoned member of the Fortress’ militia, sent out beyond the defensive perimeter to explore and hopefully reconnect with outposts the Fortress has lost touch with, while searching for scavengable sites along the way. You have to forge across a crumbled land where resources are spare and mutants roam the ruined mansions and forests alike.

Posthuman Saga: The Journey Home adds several new mechanics and more alternate ways of scoring to the base game. Enjoy Posthuman as it was always intended, with more player interaction, evolving narrative missions and a heavier tactical experience.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $41, just the new expansion

All-In (w/shipping): $149

Campaign Ends: 2/23

Game Ships: Nov. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 182% with 19 days to go.

Project: Time Editors

Designer: Jonathan Peters

Artist: Chip Cole (Tiny Epic Pirates, Winner Winner Chicken Dinner), Justin Oefelein, Jason Mitchell, Simon Passmore, Ameilee Sullivan

Publisher: Aspen Leaf Games LLC

Genre/Mechanisms: pick-up and deliver, point to point movement, race, science fiction, storytelling, take that, variable set-up, worker placement different worker types

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “The amount of anomalies created through time travel in the 25th century has become a major world concern. The FTCN (Federation of Time-Traveling Capable Nations) has voted that all nations must give up their time travel capabilities. A single task force of “Time Editors” (agents that specialize in changing the timeline) will be kept on standby in the event that they are needed to save humanity from any possible future disasters. Only the nation with the most skilled Time Editors will retain their use of time travel. The task force of Time Editors will be chosen through a “time editing” trial. The first nation to prevent four disastrous past events will retain the use of time travel and will have command of the official global task force of Time Editors. To win the game you must prevent 4 disastrous events in the past from happening.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $72

All-In (w/shipping): $72, same as above

Campaign Ends: 3/4

Game Ships: Dec. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 21% with 28 days to go.