(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: Ares Expedition – The Terraforming Mars Card Game

Designers: Sydney Engelstein (Aeon’s End: Outcasts, Space Cadets, Space Cadets: Dice Duel), Jacob Fryxelius (After the Virus, Space Station, Terraforming Mars), Nick Little (Aeon’s End: Legacy, Legendary: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Path of Light and Shadow)

Artists: William Bricker (Baseball Highlights 2045, Diamonds: Second Edition, Kanban: Driver’s Edition, Tiny Epic Galaxies), Isaac Fryxelius (Brawling Barons, Terraforming Mars), Garrett Kaida (The Dragon & Flagon: The Brew that is True, Football Highlights 2052, Return to Dark Tower), Jason D. Kingsley (Dead Men Tell No Tales, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, Machi Koro, Wasteland Express Delivery Service, World’s Fair 1893), Justine Nortjé (Ripple Rush, Second Chance), Naomi Robinson (Fields of Green, Hands in the Sea, Kanban: Driver’s Edition)

Publisher: Stronghold Games (Among the Stars, AuZtralia, CO2, CO2: Second Chance, Coffee Roaster, Core Worlds, Cottage Garden, Diamonds: Second Edition, Fabled Fruit, Fields of Green, Flamme Rouge, Forum Tranjanum, La Granja, Great Western Trail, The Golden Ages, Kanban: Driver’s Edition, Kitchen Rush, Kraftwagen, Die Macher, Nations: The Dice Game, Not Alone, Nova Luna, Panamax, Paper Tales, Pictomania, The Pursuit of Happiness, Terraforming Mars, That’s Pretty Clever!, Twice as Clever!, Village)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, follow, hand management, income, science fiction, simultaneous action selection, variable player powers

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-high

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “An engine-building game in which players control interplanetary corporations with the goal of making Mars habitable and profitable, Ares Expedition is a stand-alone re-implemention of Terraforming Mars, scaling the production back to focus mainly on card-play.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $50

All-In (w/shipping): $300, includes all of Terraforming Mars to-date

Campaign Ends: 3/5

Game Ships: Sep. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 2188% with 16 days to go.

Project: Beasts of Balance: Rebirth

Designers: George Buckenham (Beasts of Balance), Alex Fleetwood (Beasts of Balance)

Artists: Tim Burrell-Saward (Beasts of Balance, Return to Dark Tower), Lyall McCarthy (Beasts of Balance), Chris Shaw (Beasts of Balance)

Publisher: Modern Games (Beasts of Balance)

Genre/Mechanisms: action/dexterity, animals, collectible components, cooperative game, electronic, party game, stacking and balancing, sudden death ending, tower stacking

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “A new expansion for Beasts of Balance, a game of strategy and balance in which you build a tower of animals on your tabletop, then help them evolve in a connected digital world.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $78, just the new stuff

All-In (w/shipping): $374, includes all Beasts of Balance products to-date

Campaign Ends: 3/16

Game Ships: Mar. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 129% with 26 days to go.

Project: Bloodstone

Designer: James Hudson (Barnyard Roundup, The Grimm Masquerade, Guardian’s Call)

Artists: David Kegg (Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-kar, Star Wars: Imperial Assault, Star Wars: Outer Rim), Matt Paquette (Call to Adventure, Mystic Vale, Thunderstone Quest, Tiny Towns)

Publisher: Druid City Games (The Grimm Forest, Sorcerer City, Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef)

Genre/Mechanisms: dice, dice rolling, fantasy, miniatures, player elimination

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “An arena combat game set in a original, dark fantasy world. Play against your friends in deadly, fast competitive matches, or join forces and fight your way through a brutal gauntlet of cooperative challenges.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $154

All-In (w/shipping): $243

Campaign Ends: 3/12

Game Ships: June 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 159% with 23 days to go.

Project: Ettana – The Looms of Kanchi

Designer: Madhumita Mani

Artist: Darshini Sundar

Publisher: Mad4Fun Games

Genre/Mechanisms: dice, dice rolling, pattern building, point to point movement

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Part strategy, part deduction, and a bit of luck, Ettana challenges players to create colorful hand-loom patterns.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $58

All-In (w/shipping): $58, same as above

Campaign Ends: 3/18

Game Ships: June 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 4% with 29 days to go.

Project: Factory Floor

Designer: Tommithy Hughes

Artist: Patrick O’Callaghan

Publisher: Tommithy Hughes

Genre/Mechanisms: abstract strategy, grid coverage, industry/manufacturing, tile placement, worker placement

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A light, strategic polyomino game. As a fresh faced factory builder, you’re tasked with building the most productive facility using the limited space provided in the most effective way possible. Using production facilities and quality control to increase the overall output of the factory, further increases to your output are made by the hiring and allocation of workers.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $49

All-In (w/shipping): $49, same as above

Campaign Ends: 3/16

Game Ships: Nov. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 84% with 27 days to go.

Project: Lawklivya: Vengeance

Designer: Brandon Gentle

Artists: Mitch Mueller, Radu Paul Mazanec

Publisher: Filtered Reality Entertainment

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, cooperative game, dice, fantasy, finale ending, tower defense, worker placement

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Lawklivya: Vengeance is a cooperartive game where players must gather the necessary resources from a common board and spend those resources in their castles to create weapons, upgrade their walls, and train their workers into warriors, a scout, and a hero. They must defend their castle with the help of other players’ warriors against an onslaught of enemies. Only together will they stand a chance against an evil that seeks vengeance.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $51

All-In (w/shipping): $51, same as above

Campaign Ends: 3/16

Game Ships: Sep. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 105% with 27 days to go.

Project: Mouse Cheese Cat Cucumber

Designer: Seppy Yoon (End of the Line, Processing: A Game of Serving Humanity, Squirrel or Die)

Artist: Mark Eberhardt

Publisher: Fight in a Box (End of the Line, Processing: A Game of Serving Humanity, Squirrel or Die)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, comic book/strip, deduction, hidden roles, maze, tile placement

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Each character wins differently. The Mouse is trying to get the Cheese; the Cat is trying to get the Mouse; the Cheese wants everyone to get along (they’re neutral– they’re Swiss); and the Cucumber is evil and wants to trap all the characters together. Though all players have equal control of the Clockwork Maze, their secret agenda dictates who they are in the conflict and how they win. On your turn, pick a room from the Conveyor Belt to add to the Maze. Your placement may cause other rooms to rotate and force characters to move. Outwit your opponents and create your win.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $23

All-In (w/shipping): $162, includes vanity rewards

Campaign Ends: 3/5

Game Ships: Oct. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 301% with 15 days to go.

Project: Paladins of the West Kingdom: City of Crowns

Designers: Shem Phillips (Architects of the West Kingdom, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Raiders of the North Sea, Viscounts of the West Kingdom), SJ Macdonald (Architects of the West Kingdom, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Viscounts of the West Kingdom)

Artist: Mihajlo Dimitrievski (Architects of the West Kingdom, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Raiders of the North Sea, Valeria: Card Kingdoms, Viscounts of the West Kingdom)

Publisher: Garphill Games (Architects of the West Kingdom, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Raiders of the North Sea, Viscounts of the West Kingdom)

Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, expansion, market, medieval, worker placement, worker placement with different worker types

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: heavy

Risk: low

Summary: “In Paladins of the West Kingdom: City of Crowns, noble allies have responded to the recent attacks against our borders. Only through careful negotiation and diplomacy will these dukes, barons, counts and margraves offer the aid we so desperately need. Will you be able to muster enough support to once again defend this great city, or will you crumble beneath the weight of indecision and apathy? This expansion adds new extensions for both the main board and player boards. Players have a new attribute to manage and new actions available on each turn.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $33, just the new expansion

All-In (w/shipping): $245, includes everything West Kingdom to date

Campaign Ends: 3/4

Game Ships: Nov. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1347% with 15 days to go.

Project: Regency Game

Designer: James I. Fazio

Artists: Peter Zalba, Rieno Monterona, Susanna Saar

Publisher: Pique Games

Genre/Mechanisms: ancient, card drafting, card game, civilization, hand management, interrupts, medieval, set collection, tableau building, take that

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Players step into the roles of the world’s most (in)famous rulers, and compete to amass the greatest fiefdom in history. The first player to assemble a complete fiefdom, consisting of six distinct castes of citizens, emerges as the supreme regent. However, building the perfect citizenry is not as simple as it sounds. As players strive to exercise control over a fluctuating populace, rival regents will attract your citizens by allure, by force, or by treachery. With the addition of each new caste of citizen (including nobles, religious, military, merchants, commoners, and even brigands), new actions become available, thrusting players into an increasingly dynamic and competitive environment.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $32

All-In (w/shipping): $32, same as above

Campaign Ends: 3/12

Game Ships: Oct. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 106% with 22 days to go.

Project: Shadow Tactics: The Board Game

Designer: Gergely Kruppa (Critters Below, Saltlands)

Artists: Gergely Kruppa, Bazsó Lossonczy (Critters Below, Saltlands)

Publisher: Antler Games (Critters Below, Saltlands)

Genre/Mechanisms: action queue, medieval, miniatures, modular board, role-playing, team-based game, variable player powers, video game theme

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Take control of 5 unique characters with vastly different skill sets and fight your way through the forces of the Daimyo, who relies on superior numbers of soldiers and samurai. Hide in bushes and sneak in the shadows as you try to infiltrate enemy camps and castles. Utilize your special skills, lure your enemies into traps and deceive the guards so your friends can swiftly penetrate defenses and deal with the leaders of the rebellion. But on the other side of the table sits the Daimyo, who is prepared for all your moves and gets new abilities gradually as you move toward your target. Every mission comes with different maps and objectives, so you have to adapt your tactics according to the situation.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $17, just the upgrade pack

All-In (w/shipping): $130

Campaign Ends: 3/3

Game Ships: June 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 352% with 13 days to go.

Project: Silicon Saga: Wreck of the Andromeda

Designer: Matthew Houston

Artists: Nikolay Aparuhov, Tom Edwards (Techno Bowl: Arcade Football Unplugged), Mark Graham, Vincentius Matthew

Publisher: Rusted Gear Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, adventure, bag building, card drafting, card game, chit-pull system, cooperative game, events, exploration, grid movement, modular board, move through deck, pieces as map, science fiction, tile placement, turn order: progressive, variable set-up, victory points as a resource

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A sci-fi dungeon crawl/exploration game set aboard the floating wreck of a space research station. Players take on the roles of members of a crew of space marauders looking to strip the station of valuable resources. Unfortunately, the station is not quite as abandoned as they had hoped. They will be faced with lurking dangers and struggling survivors. The goal of the game is to collect a determined amount of silicon from the ship and return to the hanger with the silicon before the game ends. There are variable play modes which allow players to compete against each other or to play cooperatively.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $71

All-In (w/shipping): $219, includes vanity rewards

Campaign Ends: 3/17

Game Ships: Mar. 2022

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

Project: Union City Alliance Deckbuilding Board Game Heroes Unite

Designer: Paul Malchow

Artist: Antonio Garciá

Publisher: Union City Heroes

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, city building, cooperative game, deck construction

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “This cooperative deck- and board-building game offers players the chance to use one of Union City’s iconic heroes to face off against your choice of supervillain. You will explore and build the board panel by panel while confronting the challenges and gaining the rewards of a City Deck that can be mixed with versatile scenarios. You’ll also find and recruit cards from a Union Deck that is customizable each game with Team-Up Heroes. Players strive to fulfill the win condition of the chosen Supervillain and win or lose together, as heroes.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $90

All-In (w/shipping): $220

Campaign Ends: 3/18

Game Ships: Oct. 2021

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

Project: Vault Wars: Relic Roadshow

Designers: Jonathan Gilmour (Dead of Winter, Dead of Winter: The Long Night, Dinosaur Island, Wasteland Express Delivery Service), Ian Moss (Duelosaur Island, News@11, Wonderland’s War)

Artists: Jacqui Davis (Colosseum, Euphora: Build a Better Dystopia, Ex Libris, Stockpile, Viticultue, Viticulture: Essential Edition), Jody Henning (Aristocracy, Festival of a Thousand Cats, Guns & Steel), Kelly McClellan (Epic Resort, For Crown & Kingdom, Vault Wars)

Publisher: Floodgate Games (Bosk, Legacy: Gears of Time, Sagrada)

Genre/Mechanisms: auction/bidding, bluffing, card drafting, card game, deduction, expansion, fantasy, set collection

Player Count: 3-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “Players take turns as an Auction Master, leading a cut-throat bidding war to selling off Vaults full of items to the other players. Each Vault provides a unique experience, introducing new ways for the players to bid. No player quite knows everything that’s in a Vault, and there’s lots of junk to fool your opponents into bidding on. Between auctions, players may sell off their items to gain Gold, or save them for Victory Points — paying storage fees to keep them around. Relic Roadshow adds new temptations to Vault Wars, allowing you to bid your way to the dark side. New Vaults are uncompromised by special rules and instead award the second-highest bidder with powerful Relics to craft! Drawn by the corrupting power, Aspiring Villains reward you for crafting their desired Relics. Vices give powerful, unique abilities… if you’re willing to take on a bit of corruption, of course! Step right up and place your bid!”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $16

All-In (w/shipping): $34

Campaign Ends: 2/26

Game Ships: Sep. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 196% with 9 days to go.