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

Project: Animals in Espionage: Natural Selection

Designer: Joe Hout

Artist: Mariana Moreno (Dino Dunk)

Publisher: Twin City Games (Dino Dunk)

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, animals, bluffing, card game, deduction, i cut you choose, spies/secret agents

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A quick game for 2 players where each player is the Director of their very own spy agency. Each round, players attempt to discreetly recruit one of the six Animal Agents, while also trying to send a secret spy to their opponent. Players will alternate rounds where they split a hand of agents into two groups, and their opponent then chooses which group of agents they want to recruit first. After all the agents have been divided between the players, players will simultaneously guess the agent their opponent was trying to secretly recruit throughout the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $14

All-In (w/shipping): $14, same as above

Campaign Ends: 5/20

Game Ships: Oct. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 65% with 28 days to go.

Project: Dark Mages: Advanced Edition

Designer: Eric Bleney (Dark Mages)

Artists: not credited

Publisher: Bleem Divertissements Inc. (Dark Mages)

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, adventure, card drafting, card game, dice rolling, fantasy, fighting, hand management, interrupts, take that

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Play a powerful Wizard trying to defeat your opponents in an epic battle to take leadership of the realm of Ollavan. Dark Mages is a strategic evolutive card game using RPG dice mechanics and a leveling up system (XP) that gives players the opportunity to cast stronger spells. An interesting twist is to fend off a swarm of monsters that can overwhelm the players randomly during the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $52

All-In (w/shipping): $52, same as above

Campaign Ends: 5/13

Game Ships: Dec. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 10% with 21 days to go.

Project: Hidden Leaders

Designers: Markus Müller, Andreas Müller, Raphael Stocker

Artist: Satoshi Matsuura

Publisher: BFF Games

Genre/Mechanisms: bluffing, card game, deduction, fantasy, hand management, hidden roles, party game, take that, track movement

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Take the role of one of six secret leaders, each of them is allied with two of the four factions/colors. By playing heroes into your tableau, either openly or secretly, you influence the outcome of the conflict. Hidden Leaders is a quick, light strategy card game with direct player interaction that combines tableau building with deduction elements.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $33

All-In (w/shipping): $33, same as above

Campaign Ends: 5/14

Game Ships: Jan. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 354% with 23 days to go.

Project: It’s a Wonderful Kingdom

Designer: Frédéric Guérard (Ilôs, It’s a Wonderful World, Meeple Land)

Artist: Anthony Wolff (It’s a Wonderful World, King of Tokyo, Zombie 15′)

Publisher: La Boîte de Jeu (Call to Adventure, DinoGenics, It’s a Wonderful World, Outlive)

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, betting and bluffing, bluffing, card drafting, card game, fantasy, i cut you choose, medieval

Player Count: 1-2

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “A standalone solo or 2-player game in a low-fantasy universe. Inspired by the core mechanics of its predecessor It’s a Wonderful World, this new game offers more interaction, a bluff mechanism and new challenges. The game is played using modules, each different and offering mechanical twists. Each game, players will choose one of the different modules to compete against each other.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $45

All-In (w/shipping): $72

Campaign Ends: 5/6

Game Ships: Jan. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 639% with 15 days to go.

Project: Monster Hunter World: The Board Game

Designers: Mat Hart (Dark Souls: The Board Game, Guild Ball, Resident Evil 2: The Board Game, Sherwin Matthews (Bardsung, Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game, Resident Evil 2: The Board Game)

Artists: Russ Charles (Bardsung, Beyond the Gates of Antares: The Dice Game), Holly Woolford (Bardsung), Thomas Lishman (Android: Netrunner, Dark Souls: The Board Game, Descent: Journeys in the Dark), Doug Telford (Godtear, Guild Ball, Guild Ball: Kick Off)

Publisher: Steamforged Games Ltd. (Dark Souls: The Board Game, Dark Souls: The Card Game, Guild Ball)

Genre/Mechanisms: cooperative game, deck construction, fantasy, fighting, miniatures, video game theme

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “The Astera basecamp needs YOU. Become a hunter of the Fifth Fleet to track down and slay the fearsome monsters roaming the New World. Protect basecamp and craft awesome new equipment with the loot collected from your fallen foes, so you can take on bigger and badder beasts! Gather your party of 1-4 hunters and venture out on quests made up of three phases: Gathering, Hunting, and HQ.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $99

All-In (w/shipping): $323

Campaign Ends: 4/30

Game Ships: Sep. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1151% with 8 days to go.

Project: One Card Wonder

Designer: Nathaniel Levan (Nantucket, New Bedford, Supertall)

Artist: Guillaume Tavernier

Publisher: APE Games (The Great Dinosaur Rush, Rolling Freight, Spirits of the Rice Paddy)

Genre/Mechanisms: ancient, hand management, print & play, set collection, variable player powers

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “In One Card Wonder, each player receives a card that shows a wonder of the ancient world and a set of support buildings. The multiple stages of the wonder must be built from the ground up, while the buildings may be built in any order. Players have four worker meeples and a personal supply of resources, and a general supply of resources also exists. On a turn, you take one of four actions: draw three cubes from the cloth supply bag, take all resources of one type from the general supply, build a level of the wonder or a building, or sell pairs of matching goods to the supply. In games of four or more players, players may also trade.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $29

All-In (w/shipping): $29, same as above

Campaign Ends: 5/10

Game Ships: Sep. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 114% with 18 days to go.

Project: Riot Quest: Chilly Con Carnage

Designers: Will Hungerford, Matt Wilson

Artist: Andrea Uderzo (Hordes Primal Mk III, Warmachine Prime Mk II)

Publisher: Privateer Press (Level 7 [Omega Protocol], Warmachine, Warmachine Prime Mk II)

Genre/Mechanisms: dice rolling, grid movement, miniatures, variable player powers

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Riot Quest is a fast-moving, highly unpredictable skirmish board game where players assemble a crew of 5–10 Heroes and an equal number of Riot Gear cards to compete in a chaotic battle to loot a dungeon’s treasures and rack up victory points for the win. The Chilly Con Carnage Kickstarter campaign features the Karchev & Deathjack Boss Fight Expansion, the Heist Expansion with Princess Dolores, the Bounty Expansion, and six New Heroes.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $58

All-In (w/shipping): $237

Campaign Ends: 5/6

Game Ships: Nov. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 293% with 15 days to go.

Project: Save Patient Zero

Designer: Cédric Martinez

Artist: Emiliano Ponzi

Publisher: Helvetiq (Bandido, Kariba, Zen Master)

Genre/Mechanisms: deduction, medical, simultaneous action selection, team-based game

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Gamemaster-led team deduction game, about rival research labs trying to find the antidote as soon as possible. Save Patient Zero pits two labs against each other. Each lab employs one or two scientists (i.e., players), while another player plays a lab computer named Savvy. The labs compete to identify an antidote of three molecules, with the labs typically sharing no information with one another; whichever lab finds the antidote first wins.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $53

All-In (w/shipping): $79

Campaign Ends: 5/13

Game Ships: Sep. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 42% with 21 days to go.