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

Project: Battle Peak

Designer: Eric Blakenburg

Artist: Eric Blakenburg

Publisher: Eric Blakenburg

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, campaign/battle card driven, fantasy, fighting, hexagon grid

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Players take the role of wizards fighting for their lives on top of the highest mountain in the land. Players cast spells by combining the 4 elements to set their opponents on fire, throw them off the mountain and send them to their eternal doom. The last wizard standing wins the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $57

All-In (w/shipping): $57, same as above

Campaign Ends: 7/29

Game Ships: Mar. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 21% with 25 days to go.

Project: Escape from the Asylum

Designers: Martin Nedergaard Andersen (Bandida, Bandido), Alexander Peshkov, Ekaterina Pluzhnikova

Artists: Anastasia Durova, Dmitry Krasnov, Nadezhda Mikhailova, Pavel Korobkov, Anastasia Stupak, Maxim Suleimanov (Red Outpost), Victoria Kochkina, Victoria Volina-Lukian

Publisher: Imperial Publishing, Inc. (Red Outpost)

Genre/Mechanisms: cooperative game, deduction, horror, medical, puzzle

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “An escape room experience in the form of a co-operative board game. The game is divided into two parts, and each part is a collection of five stories. In each story, you assume a role of a character trying to escape the North Oaks asylum. To accomplish that, you will have to solve puzzles and make life-changing decisions. Reveal more and more of the backstory and watch the stories intertwine as you play.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $57

All-In (w/shipping): $66

Campaign Ends: 7/21

Game Ships: Nov. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 936% with 17 days to go.

Project: F-Life Urbanization & Gangs Expansion

Designer: Ben Palladino (F-Life)

Artist: Martina Molner (F-Life)

Publisher: F-Life Games (F-Life)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, expansion, humor, mature/adult, party game, take that

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A dark-humored party card game about life and all of the terrible things that happen to us all. Each player begins at a young age based on their chosen education level. As you age, you draw many different types of cards that can change everything. The goal is to collect the most amount of money until you die. Once everyone dies, the player with the most money wins. Grow old as you work and earn money. Get too old, and you’ll hit retirement. Ahh, shit! Did you die? That’s okay. Continue playing from the graveyard and use cards to screw over the remaining players that are still alive.” Urbanization and Gangs if the first expansion for F-Life.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $16

All-In (w/shipping): $45

Campaign Ends: 7/29

Game Ships: Oct. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 46% with 25 days to go.

Project: The Great Chase

Designer: Alexander Massar

Artist: Alexander Massar

Publisher: Librarium Games

Genre/Mechanisms: area movement, aviation/flight, card game, card play conflict resolution, cooperative game, dice, dice rolling, moving multiple units, negotiation, novel-based, pick-up and deliver, political, role-playing, scenario/mission/campaign game, score-and-reset game, solo/solitaire game, team-based game, transportation, turn order: auction, variable player powers, variable set-up

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Join Miranda Chase and other characters from M.L. Buchman’s techno-thriller novel series in an interactive global aeronautic investigation game. Build a cooperative team of air-crash investigators, select a mission difficulty, and coordinate global travel with your team each turn to determine the best strategy for solving every crisis… but remember– even the finest plans face the roll of the dice. Players control multiple characters while moving to various locations. Each game consists of 10 missions which the players must try to solve. The final score is computed based on the number of solved and unsolved missions, flight cards, and time zones.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $29

All-In (w/shipping): $56

Campaign Ends: 7/20

Game Ships: Oct. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 132% with 16 days to go.

Project: Hollywood Racers

Designer: Phil Vizcarro

Artists: Franck Barré, Antonio Vizcaino

Publisher: Daedalus Editions

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, humor/ movies/tv/radio theme, modular board, racing, take that, variable player powers

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A crazy race game set in movie studios, with super attacks, low blows and tag team action. On your turn you may choose to perform up to 3 actions among: move, use one of your vehicle’s abilities, ram, honk, or repair. Each track (movie set) has different rules and you will have to adapt and use them to your advantage in order to outsmart your opponents. The first player who manages to reach the finish line with their two vehicles wins the race.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $53

All-In (w/shipping): $135

Campaign Ends: 7/13

Game Ships: Oct. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 120% with 9 days to go.

Project: The Millennium War

Designers: Chuong Pham, Khanh Tran

Artists: Andrii Akhtyrskyi, Dmitry Azanov, Fredo Bernardo, Chuong Pham, Calvin Seraphinus

Publisher: Winged Titan

Genre/Mechanisms: ancient, card game, collectible components, fantasy, fighting, miniatures, MOBA, mythology

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “In competitive mode, players go head to head while building their strategy by selecting teams of legendary heroes, buying items, preparing passive spells to counterattack, and most importantly planning their actions by managing mana resources and movement across the Millennium Arena. There are 3 ways to win in competitive mode: eliminate all your opponents’ teams of heroes, destroy all your opponents’ ancient structures or claim the Millennium Gate by hunting powerful mythical beasts. Millennium War’s competitive mode is inspired by the popular MOBA games but adjusted to be one of a kind as a board game. You don’t win by speed and accuracy, or control of your keyboard, but by how you think and plan your strategy with a combination of choices. In contrast to the swift pace of Competitive mode is the journey to the Millennium world in Cooperative mode, where players must work together to defeat Millennium Bosses. Each Boss presents a unique way of attack and has its own topography that’ll require the entire team to solve the puzzle to defeat the powerful Boss.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $137

All-In (w/shipping): $298

Campaign Ends: 7/29

Game Ships: Oct. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 34% with 25 days to go.

Project: Sandwich Masters: Bread Roles

Designers: Nich Angell (Sandwich Masters), Lucy Brown (Sandwich Masters), Jon Lock (Sandwich Masters), Alice White (Sandwich Masters)

Artist: Nich Angell (Sandwich Masters)

Publisher: Big Punch Studios (Sandwich Masters)

Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, card game, expansion, hand management, humor, take that, variable player powers

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Bread Roles brings an added layer of chaos to the Sandwich Masters experience by introducing 10 new role cards, each of which boasts unique game-bending powers. What’s more, Bread Roles allows six people to play together for the first time by adding extra cards to the core game. Assume the identity of the Undercover Health Inspector, Flavatron 5000 or Colin the Bear (among others) and let battle commence. Your name may have changed but the challenge remains the same: defeat your rivals and become the one true Sandwich Master.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $21

All-In (w/shipping): $41

Campaign Ends: 8/3

Game Ships: Jan. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 35% with 31 days to go.

Project: Storm Chasers

Designers: Ben Gilbert, Michael Keays

Artist: J Pagnan

Publisher: Petros Games

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, contracts, end game bonuses, grid movement, hand management, modular board, tile placement

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Players compete with one another to earn income by viewing storms, completing special assignments, and clearing rubble. Players manipulate tiles to affect storm type, direction, and duration. Multi-purpose playing cards allow players to employ strategy in maximizing their income and wiping out the competition.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $35

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

Campaign Ends: 7/30

Game Ships: Feb. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 15% with 26 days to go.

Project: Velocity: Vanguard

Designers: Joe Cornell, Larry Wolfe

Artists: BalanceSheet, Larry Wolfe

Publisher: Precarious Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, adventure, cooperative game, critical hits and failures, drafting, events, grid movement, hexagon grid, miniatures, moving multiple units, scenario/mission/campaign game, science fiction, simulation, space exploration

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A physics-based space board game with fast and kinetic gameplay. Story driven missions are designed for 1 to 4 players as individual commanders or teams. You’ll encounter asteroids, defense stations, powerful automated enemies, and many other surprises. Choose your faction, crew, ships and modules… then embark! Through a unique physics based mechanic, players control where their ship will be by manipulating their vector token with a navigation action. Each ship has unique handling characteristics that make this an exciting part of gameplay. Depending on the mission and mode (solo, co-op, competitive), each player controls a faction with 1 to 3 ships per faction, for a set number of rounds, or until a particular objective is completed. Within a round, each player will take turns activating ships by placing crew members in navigation, module or specialist crew action slots. After crews have been assigned, the player will move their ship on the tactical board the number of hexes and direction indicated by their vector token on the vector board. Before, during or after movement, players trigger crewed actions by spending energy and then exhausting that crew.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $108

All-In (w/shipping): $204

Campaign Ends: 7/29

Game Ships: Oct. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 58% with 25 days to go.

Project: Villagers: Shifting Seasons

Designer: Haakon Gaarder (Streets, Villagers)

Artist: Haakon Gaarder (Streets, Villagers)

Publisher: Sinister Fish Games (Great Scott!, Streets, Villagers)

Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, city-building, drafting, end game bonuses, expansion, industry/manufacturing, medieval, set collection, solo/solitaire game, tableau building, variable set-up

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Villagers is a bright & breezy affair where players draft from a changing pool of beautifully illustrated villager cards with the aim of building the most prosperous village by the end of the game. Shifting Seasons is an expansion that adds more of what players love about Villagers, plus some new surprises. It offers wider variety and more scoring opportunities, and increases game length by one round on average, giving players more time to create the perfect village. Additional rules are kept to a minimum, with everything easily integrating with the base game and previous expansion.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $29

All-In (w/shipping): $144

Campaign Ends: 7/22

Game Ships: Feb. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 563% with 18 days to go.

Project: Wild Assent – Lavon Rising (On Gamefound)

Designer: Robert McConnell (Wild Assent)

Artists: not credited

Publisher: Lazy Squire Games (Wild Assent)

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, campaign/battle card driven, card drafting, dice, dice rolling, fantasy, miniatures, worker placement

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Wild Assent is a miniatures board game with solo, player-versus-player and cooperative modes. Battle your opponents in the gladiatorial arenas of the Silvestrem in Wild Assent’s skirmish mode. Hunt the dangerous creatures of the Wilds, by yourself or with friends, fighting not just for survival, but to keep your expedition running. Regardless of the mode you choose, Wild Assent offers strategic and varied combat, ensuring no two battles are the same. The Lavon Rising expansion adds more heroes and creatures and a compelling story-based campaign with multiple endings that you won’t need to rearrange your life to finish.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $156

All-In (w/shipping): $416

Campaign Ends: 7/8

Game Ships: Dec. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1603% with 5 days to go.