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

Project: Battle for Biternia: Pixelvania Hero Pack

Designer: Chris Faulkenberry (Battle for Biternia)

Artists: Fábio Fontes (BattleCON: Devastation of Indines, BattleCON: War of Indines, Millennium Blades), Laura La Vito (Empyreal: Spells & Steam, Exceed Fighting System, Exceed: Street Fighter – Ryu Box)

Publisher: Stone Circle Games (Battle for Biternia)

Genre/Mechanisms: action queue, card game, deck building, fantasy, fighting, hand management, moba, point to point movement, simultaneous action selection, variable player powers, video game theme

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Battle for Biternia combines the aesthetic of classic role-playing video games with the gameplay of the wildly popular Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre. Take control of a team of four heroes and do battle with your opponent. Take down their defensive towers and destroy their Elemental Crystal to win! Each of the 19 Heroes is different, with unique powers that they can gain over the course of the game.””Venture into a gloomy new territory with Pixelvania, an exciting new Hero Pack that expands the base set of Battle for Biternia with a roster of fun and foreboding new Heroes and effects which are fully compatible with your existing collection. Drawing inspiration from Castleviania, Ghosts & Goblins, and other classics, Pixelvania seeks out the things that go bump in the night… and the brave souls who wish to slay them.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $33, just the new Pixelvania Hero Pack

All-In (w/shipping): $89, also includes the base game

Campaign Ends: 4/22

Game Ships: July 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 54% with 29 days to go.

Project: Dirge: The Rust Wars

Designer: John Clowdus (Mezo, Neolithic, Omen: A Reign of War)

Artists: Liz Lahner, Aaron Nakahara (Ascension: Dreamscape, Ascension X: War of Shadows, Shards of Infinity)

Publisher: Small Box Games (Hemloch, Neolithic, Omen: A Reign of War)

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, area majority/influence, card game, deck construction, fantasy, fighting, grid movement, hand management, science fiction, take that, variable player powers

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “A card based tabletop skirmish game in a forgotten future for two players. With area control, multiple scoring opportunities, combo driven actions, and a pinch of deck building, Dirge: The Rust Wars fits a whole lot of game in a small package with a 30 minute play time.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $22

All-In (w/shipping): $22, same as above

Campaign Ends: 4/1

Game Ships: June 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 108% with 8 days to go.

Project: DVG – Warfighter Expansion Packs Wave #3

Designer: Benjamin Chee, Vincent Cooper, Brett Grimmond, Colin David Makin

Artists: not credited

Publisher: Dan Verssen Games (Field Commander: Napoleon, Thunderbolt Apache Leader, Warfighter: The Tactical Special Forces Card Game)

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, campaign/battle card driven, card game, cooperative game, dice rolling, expansion, hand management, modern warfare, simulation, solo/solitaire game, variable player powers, wargame

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “A New Wave of Warfighter Expansions for WWII, The Gulf War, and Modern. Warfighter is a fully solitaire or cooperative tactical card-based game for one to six players, where you select and equip a squad of soldiers, and execute the mission by fighting your way to achieve the objective. It is available in Modern and WWII eras, and each expansion set adds to the incredibly deep game play narrative with new cards for your Loadout.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $23, includes 1 expansion pack

All-In (w/shipping): $185, includes 14 expansion packs

Campaign Ends: 4/16

Game Ships: Mar. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 263% with 21 days to go.

Project: Factory Funner, Bear Raid, and Ghosts of Christmas

Designers: Ryan Courtney (Bear Raid, Curious Cargo, Pipeline), Corné van Moorsel (Factory Fun, Factory Funner, Habitats, Nova Luna), Taiki Shinzawa (American Book Shop, Ghosts of Christmas, Maskmen)

Artists: Nick Nardazzo (Bear Raid, Dragoon, Human Era, Life Siphon), Maria Surducken (Ghosts of Christmas, Zestrea), Steven Tu (Factory Funner, Habitats, Roll to the Top!)

Publisher: Boardgametables.com (Factory Funner, On Tour, Q.E.)

Genre/Mechanisms: commodity speculation, economic, dice rolling, stock holding (Bear Raid); hexagon grid, network and route building, puzzle, real-time, tile placement (Factory Funner); card game, trick-taking (Ghosts of Christmas)

Player Count: 3-6 (Bear Raid); 1-5 (Factory Funner); 3-4 (Ghosts of Christmas)

Solo Mode: no (Bear Raid, Ghosts of Christmas); yes (Factory Funner)

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “In Bear Raid, players will buy, sell, and short stocks in the stock market during the action phase of the game. Forecast cards with clever news headlines will be used to determine how each stock is affected. Through the use of dice that you can manipulate and clever play, you’ll influence the market, hopefully bending the stock prices to your advantage.”

“In Factory Funner, players are factory managers who select and install machines in their factory. They try connect all machine input and output pipes to the right reservoirs or to other machines in order to build the most profitable configuration. A new machine brings revenue. Other things you build cost 1K money each. In each game round, players may select one machine (from a number of machines equal to the number of players) simultaneously, which means players try to quickly determine possible connections, then grab the tile they want. But by choosing too quickly, you risk taking a machine that doesn’t fit well.”

“Ghosts of Christmas is a re-implementation of Time Palatrix, along with a re-theming to that of A Christmas Carol. As winter blows in and ghosts start to appear, play “tricks” to the past, present, and future. As turns progress, your foes will play – out of order – to any of these time periods, and you will start to figure out who might “lead” each trick. Even though you can play to the tricks in any order, the tricks will resolve based on who was leading. Can you figure out who will be leading or manipulate the leader to set yourself up to win tricks? Points are awarded to whomever has correctly bid on the number of tricks they thought they’d win.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $15, Ghosts of Christmas only

All-In (w/shipping): $129, all 3 games, upgraded components, and game bag

Campaign Ends: 4/15

Game Ships: Nov. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 174% with 22 days to go.

Project: Fjords – A Grail Game

Designers: Franz-Benno Delonge (Container, Container: 10th Anniversary Jumbo Edition!, Manila), Phil Walker-Harding (Archaeology: The New Expedition, Bärenpark, Cacao, Gizmos, Imhotep, Silver & Gold, Sushi Go!, Sushi Go Party!)

Artist: Beth Sobel (Arboretum, Between Two Cities, Calico, Herbaceous, Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, Snow Tails, Viticulture, Viticulture Essential Edition, Wingspan, World’s Fair 1893)

Publisher: Grail Games (Medici, Stephenson’s Rocket, Yellow & Yangtze)

Genre/Mechanisms: area majority/influence, map addition, modular board, territory building, tile placement

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Fjords is a tile-laying game that takes place in two phases. First, the players explore the fjords around them by laying hexagonal landscape tiles. Second, beginning from the encampments placed during phase one, players will walk the landscape, claiming as much of the plains and cliffs as possible. This new edition of Fjords differs from the original release in the following ways: the game now plays up to four players; and the game contains five new variants/modules designed by Phil Walker-Harding. These add optional variety and flavor to the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $35

All-In (w/shipping): $56

Campaign Ends: 4/13

Game Ships: Nov. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 738% with 19 days to go.

Project: FlickFleet: Box of Flicks 2

Designers: Jackson Pope (Border Reivers, Carpe Astra, FlickFleet), Paul Willcox (FlickFleet)

Artists: R. H. Aidley (FlickFleet, Ice Flow, It’s Alive), Jackson Pope (Border Reivers, FlickFleet)

Publisher: Eurydice Games (FlickFleet)

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, action/dexterity, dice rolling, flicking, scenario/mission/campaign game, science fiction

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “The fate of the fleet is in your hands, literally. Flick your ships to move. Flick dice to attack. FlickFleet is a two player dice dexterity game which combines tactical ship-to-ship combat with a dexterity element. Raise your shields and get your flicking finger ready! This campaign introduces an all new set of Kickstarter-exclusive add-ons known as Box of Flicks 2 to FlickFleet. The Box of Flicks 2 starts out as 10 all new add-ons to the game, and as we unlock the Stretch Goals more add-ons will get added to the box. Backers will vote on which of the available stretch goal add-ons they would like included each time we unlock a Stretch Goal.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $26, two standard add-ons only

All-In (w/shipping): $161, Deluxe game with Box of Flicks 2

Campaign Ends: 4/6

Game Ships: Nov. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1135% with 12 days to go.

Project: Floriferous

Designers: Eduardo Baraf (Herbaceous, Skulk Hollow, Sunset Over Water), Steve Finn (Biblios, Herbaceous, Sunset Over Water), Keith Matejka (Herbaceous, Roll Player, Skulk Hollow)

Artists: Clémentine Campardou, Kim Robinson (The Whatnot Cabinet)

Publisher: Pencil First Games (Herbaceous, Skulk Hollow, Sunset Over Water)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, set collection

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “Spend the afternoon in your floriferous garden. Pour a cup of tea, relax, and enjoy this elegant game of picking, pairing, and arranging flowers. Find joy in the abundance of nature. Your objective is to score the most victory points by collecting flowers and pairing them with Arrangement, Desire, and Bounty Cards.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $28

All-In (w/shipping): $72, includes 2 additional games and a mini-expansion for each

Campaign Ends: 4/5

Game Ships: May 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 324% with 11 days to go.

Project: Heads Will Roll

Designer: Matt Fantastic (Before There Were Stars…, Team3 Green, Team3 Pink)

Artist: Nick Nardazzo (Dragoon, Human Era, Life Siphon)

Publisher: Lay Waste Games (Dragoon, Human Era, Life Siphon)

Genre/Mechanisms: action/dexterity, flicking

Player Count: 2-10

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Roll out chunky metal skulls and flick your way to victory in this pocket dexterity game made by dragons.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $21

All-In (w/shipping): $46

Campaign Ends: 4/8

Game Ships: Oct. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 234% with 15 days to go.

Project: Quad City Killers

Designers: Dexter Dakota, Adam Zonca

Artists: Dexter Dakota, Adam Zonca

Publisher: Barely Suitable Games

Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, dice rolling, exploration, humor, map reduction, murder/mystery, once-per-game abilities, party game, roll/spin and move, take that, variable player powers

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “In Quad City Killers, players take turns travelling between cities, Hunting and Attacking their Prey with a combination of card play and dice rolls. As activity increases in each city, so does the Heat from Law Enforcement challenging your ability to acquire your Prey. Fortunately for you, the more you kill the more your skills increase, allowing you to stay one step ahead of the law – and your friends around the table.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $45

All-In (w/shipping): $75, includes vanity reward

Campaign Ends: 4/16

Game Ships: Sep. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 58% with 22 days to go.

Project: Questeros

Designer: Wesley Woodbury (Die in the Dungeon!, Legends of Novus)

Artists: John de Campos

Publisher: FunDaMental Games (Die in the Dungeon!, Legends of Novus)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, fantasy, trick-taking

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Questeros is a fun, strategic, trick taking card game using a fantasy-based 78 card tarot deck combined with elements of classic RPG gaming. Players will have 10 cards each round, over a series of 10 rounds. Each round involves ten turns of each person playing a card. Each card has a value and a ranking, the highest ranking card will earn a Quest.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $35

All-In (w/shipping): $35, same as above

Campaign Ends: 4/5

Game Ships: Nov. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 31% with 12 days to go.

Project: Robinson Crusoe – Collector’s Edition (on Gamefound)

Designers: Joanna Kijanka (Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North), Ignacy Trzewiczek (51st State: Master Set, Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game, Imperial Settlers, Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North, Prêt-à-Porter, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island, Stronghold)

Artists: Tomasz Bentkowski (Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island), Mateusz Bielski (recheck), Vincent Dutrait (Atlantis Rising Second Edition, Broom Service, Diplomacy, Discoveries: The Journals of Lewis and Clark, Elysium, Jaipur, Lewis & Clark: The Expedition, Lost Cities, Lovecraft Letter, Medici, Mythic Battles: Pantheon, New York 1901, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords – Base Set, The Quest for El Dorado, Raptor, Rise of Augustus, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island, Treasure Island, When I Dream, Yellow & Yangtze), Jerzy Ferdyn (recheck), Maciej Janik (recheck), Mateusz Kopacz (Prêt-à-Porter, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island), Mateusz Lenart (Aeon Trespass: Odyssey, Citadels, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island), Dominic Mayer (Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island), Maciej Mutwil (Pixel Tactics, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island, Theseus: The Dark Orbit), Zhao Run Quan (Gladiatori, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island, Zong Shi), Rafał Szyma (Cry Havoc, Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game, Imperial Settlers, Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy, The Resistance: Avalon, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island), Piotr Słaby (Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage, Hannibal & Hamilcar, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island), Ignacy Trzewiczek (Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island), Michał J. Zieliński (recheck)

Publisher: Portal Games (51st State: Master Set, Cry Havoc, Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game, Imperial Settlers, Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North, Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy, Prêt-à-Porter, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island, Stronghold)

Genre/Mechanisms: action queue, adventure, animals, area movement, cooperative game, dice rolling, expansion, exploration, farming, fighting, hexagon grid, horror, narrative choice/paragraph, novel-based, scenario/mission/campaign game, solo/solitaire game, tile placement, variable player powers, worker placement

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: heavy

Risk: low

Summary: “Robinson Crusoe: Collector’s Edition includes amazing miniatures crafted by Awaken Realms, a tutorial campaign called the Open & Play Campaign, and companion app, plus the new expansion The Book of Adventures with several dozen scenarios labeled by their length, difficulty, and theme to help you find a perfect one for the gamenight.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $54, The Book of Adventures only

All-In (w/shipping): $233

Campaign Ends: 4/12

Game Ships: Feb. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1063% with 19 days to go.

Project: Tome: The Light Edition

Designer: Anthony Thorp

Artist: Lauren Yu

Publisher: Reversal Games

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, fantasy, player elimination, team-based game, trick-taking

Player Count: 3-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Tome is a fast paced trick-taking game set in a world of magic and spells. Players complete to play the strongest spell, using whatever tricks at their disposal to trump their opponents. Summon raging flames, crashing waves, and the might of the Earth and sky itself!”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $20

All-In (w/shipping): $20, same as above

Campaign Ends: 4/22

Game Ships: Dec. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 35% with 28 days to go.