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

Project: Artefacts

Designer: Franck Bovet

Artists: Paulina Bajer, Victor Debatisse, Yuio (Rockwell, Takenoko, Wiraqocha)

Publisher: Fabulist Factory

Genre/Mechanisms: fantasy, industry/manufacturing, player elimination, tile placement, turn order: claim action, variable set-up, worker placement

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Artefacts combines resource management, worker placement, and tactical confrontations with the theme of Steampunk aristocracy from the late 19th century. The Grand Tournament takes place over a whole astral year, during which the contenders for the illustrious distinction will each have to build a Machine-Artefact by combining Water, Fire, Earth, Air and Lightning with metal skeletons. Each Master Artefactor will have to design and build his machine, which will compete against those of his competitors in confrontations. But only one of them will get a place on the Council. Machine-Artefacts will be evaluated on their construction qualities and their results during rounds of combat. Nevertheless, it will be necessary to be a good strategist to thwart the traps posed by his opponents, not to mention the low blows that certain Masters, less scrupulous, are already preparing in the shadows. Skillful negotiators can also hope to succeed by establishing alliances. Ingenuity, tenacity and cunning will therefore be required in order to hope to become the next Grandmaster.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $141

All-In (w/shipping): $218

Campaign Ends: 9/7

Game Ships: Nov. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 39% with 20 days to go.

Project: BaristaCat

Designer: Adam Shields

Artist: Reese Banke

Publisher: Tiny Wolf Productions

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, hand management, turn order: claim action

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Players assume the roles of baristas and compete against other players to claim feline customers by fulfilling coffee orders. Each round players collect ingredient cards that can be combined to create different drink orders. There is a ‘lobby’ of 8 customers waiting for their order, and each customer card displays the type and number of each ingredient needed to craft their drink. Each customer is worth a given dollar amount based on that customers’ order, which can vary in complexity and size, and this amount counts towards a player’s point total at game end. If a player has the required ingredients to fulfill a customer card on their turn they claim that customer towards their total score!”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $39

All-In (w/shipping): $39, same as above

Campaign Ends: 8/28

Game Ships: Mar. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 57% with 10 days to go.

Project: Biff!

Designer: Toby Fairclough (Fishy Tactics)

Artist: Toby Fairclough (Fishy Tactics)

Publisher: Mushroom Gaming Co. (Fishy Tactics)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, hand management, pattern recognition, player elimination, print & play, rock-paper-scissors, sports, take that

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Biff! is a lighthearted, quick-fire, take-that boxing game. Outwit your opponent with your mind, brawn and moves until they can no longer respond and win the round. Each player shuffles their deck and draws 2 cards. In turns, play a card from your hand into ‘the ring’ (according to the card chart) and draw a card. If you can’t play a card you’re knocked out of the round. The player with the most points after 12 rounds win the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $15

All-In (w/shipping): $40

Campaign Ends: 9/8

Game Ships: Dec. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 76% with 20 days to go.

Project: Doomtown: Weird West Edition

Designers: Dave Williams (Deadlands: Doomtown, Doomtown: Reloaded, Legend of the Five Rings), Mark Wootton (Doomtown: Reloaded, Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruin, Thunderstone Quest)

Artists: not credited

Publisher: Pine Box Entertainment

Genre/Mechanisms: american west, area majority/influence, betting and bluffing, card game, city building, fantasy, hand management, horror, variable player powers

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Build your own deck from a fixed set of cards in the box. Play your dudes to control deeds in the town, and use actions, hexes, and more to thwart your opponents. Shootouts are resolved via a poker mechanism as every card has a suit and value. Preparing for the hands you want to draw is as much a part of deck building as choosing the actions and dudes you’ll want to play.”

Base Pledge: $60 + shipping

All-In: $1,000 + shipping, includes vanity rewards

Campaign Ends: 9/8

Game Ships: May 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 501% with 21 days to go.

Project: Edge of Darkness Expansion Emissaries of the Vale

Designer: John D. Clair (Cubitos, Mystic Vale, Space Base)

Artists: not credited

Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group (Calico, Istanbul, Love Letter, Space Base, War Chest)

Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, cube tower, deck building, expansion, fantasy, turn order: progressive

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: heavy

Risk: low

Summary: “Edge of Darkness is the third card crafting game from Alderac Entertainment Group designed by John D. Clair. Edge of Darkness combines card crafting, worker placement, shared deck-building, and a whole new threat challenge system. This new expansion links the lands of Mystic Vale with the cities of Edge of Darkness.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $57

All-In (w/shipping): $215

Campaign Ends: 8/27

Game Ships: July 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 286% with 9 days to go.

Project: Get Bit!

Designer: Dave Chalker

Artists: not credited

Publisher: Greater Than Games (Sentinels of the Multiverse, Spirit Island, Tak)

Genre/Mechanisms: animals, bluffing, hand management, party game, player elimination, pirates, racing, relative movement, simultaneous action selection

Player Count: 3-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “Get Bit! is a card game where players are competing to stay alive as the others are being eaten by the shark. The order of the swimmers is determined by simultaneously playing cards face-down then revealing the values. The number on each player’s card determines position in line (higher numbers in front, lower numbers in back), however ties don’t move. The swimmer at the back loses a limb to the shark and is flung to the front of the line! The process is repeated until only two swimmers remain on the table. When this happens, the swimmer at the front of the line wins the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $27

All-In (w/shipping): $32

Campaign Ends: 9/3

Game Ships: Aug. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 29% with 16 days to go.

Project: iro

Designer: Khanat Sadomwattana

Artists: Khanat Sadomwattana

Publisher: Khanat Sadomwattana

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, abstract strategy, grid movement, pattern movement, square grid, static capture

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A two-player strategy game where your goal is to have one of your pieces reach the other side of board without being captured. Here is the catch – the movement of each of your pieces is dictated by the color combinations on top – and they are all different.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $37

All-In (w/shipping): $37, same as above

Campaign Ends: 9/14

Game Ships: Jan. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 101% with 27 days to go.

Project: Kharkov Battles

Designer: Greg Blanchett (Fall Blau: Army Group South, June to December 1942)

Artist: Knut Grünitz (Enemy Action: Ardennes, Manoeuvre, Pericles: The Peloponnesian Wars)

Publisher: Compass Games (Crusade and Revolution: The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939; Enemy Action: Ardennes; The Russian Campaign)

Genre/Mechanisms: dice rolling, grid movement, hexagon grid, ratio/combat results table, simulation, wargame, world war II, zone of control

Player Count: 1-2

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “A standalone game covering the second & third battles of Kharkov that can be combined with its predecessor Fall Blau. Given the nature of the covered battles, this game has a shorter playtime and smaller space requirements making it an easier intro into the system used by Fall Blau. Included is a revised Terrain Effects Chart which should ease reference fatigue for either game. An additional map is included which is made to mate with the Fall Blau maps, allowing players to combine the two games into one “Grand Campaign” to be played into March 1943. Also included are extra counters and reinforcement charts to allow for this possibility. There are four scenarios within the game: three independent and one which requires Fall Blau to play.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $68

All-In (w/shipping): $68, same as above

Campaign Ends: 9/1

Game Ships: Dec. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 256% with 14 days to go.

Project: Mercenaries & Privateers

Designer: Jason R. Williams

Artist: Richard Luschek (Combat Infantry: Westfront 1944-45)

Publisher: VRGames

Genre/Mechanisms: expansion, medieval, negotiation, simulation, simultaneous action selection, wargame

Player Count: 2-13

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “The new Mercenary and Privateer cards are in the War (Red) category. Intrigue cards expand the options which Swords & Sails players have during a game and represent many simulated choices which make the game more realistic and very satisfying to play. Intrigue cards are acquired by players during the intrigue phase of the game, with each player gaining at least one card, each turn. The year is 1000 C.E., the middle of the medieval period. The European continent is constantly at war as competing political factions try to control Europe through military might and political intrigue. In Swords & Sails, players control one of these factions in a bid to conquer Europe. Build armies and fleets, build more cities, make and break alliances, spy on your opponents, and go to war to conquer all of Europe.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $31

All-In (w/shipping): $266

Campaign Ends: 9/10

Game Ships: Mar. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 98% with 23 days to go.

Project: Point Blank – V is for Victory

Designer: Sean Druelinger (Nations at War: Desert Heat, Nations at War: Stalin’s Triumph, Nations at War: White Star Rising)

Artists: Blackwell Hird (Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea, Lock ‘n Load Tactical: Day of Heroes, Space Infantry), Shayne Logan (Armageddon War: Platoon Level Combat in the End War, Old School Tactical: Volume 1 – Fighting on the Eastern Front 1941/42, Old School Tactical: Volume 2 – West Front 1944/45)

Publisher: Lock ‘n Load Publishing (Lock ‘n Load: Band of Heroes, World at War: Blood and Bridges, World at War: Eisenbach Gap)

Genre/Mechanisms: campaign/battle card driven, card game, line of sight, solo/solitaire game, team-based game, wargame, world war II

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Point Blank is a card game of squad-level combat in World War II that is inspired by the Lock ‘n Load Tactical game system. There is also a solo option as well as partnerships in teams of 2. Each scenario presents the players with a unique situation involving squads of men, support weapons, leaders, and individual armored fighting vehicles. This game pits the forces of the USA against Germany just after the landings in Normandy (June 1944) through October 1944. Each player has victory conditions determined by the scenario in which to defend or take objectives, seek and destroy their opponent’s units, or one of many other different scenario objectives.”

Base Pledge: $85 + shipping

All-In: $95 + shipping

Campaign Ends: 9/8

Game Ships: Mar. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 69% with 21 days to go.

Project: Reapers

Designer: Daniel Newman (Ahead in the Clouds, Dead Man’s Cabal, Rolled West)

Artist: Daniel Newman

Publisher: New Mill Industries

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, betting and bluffing, drafting, trick-taking

Player Count: 3-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “A necromantic trick-taking game with the souls of the damned on the line. Rooted in traditional trick-taking games like Hearts or Spades, Reapers has some major differences that set it apart: every hand is drafted from face-up piles of 3 cards rather than dealt to players. Winners of tricks score the lowest value card in the trick, rather than the trick itself as a point. There are four suits (daggers, poison, plague, and pistols – each related to the method by which the damned souls died) as well as two different special cards, called ‘Reapers’ and ‘Demons.’ Players will place a wager as to how they think they will do in each hand, giving options for scoring the fewest points, scoring the second most points, or not trying to predict – all of which can be viable strategies.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $20

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

Campaign Ends: 8/31

Game Ships: Nov. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 134% with 12 days to go.

Project: REDLINE: Siege

Designer: Cameron Dueker

Artist: Stephen Huda

Publisher: Cameron Dueker

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, card game, deck construction, dice rolling, mech warfare, pieces as map, science fiction, simultaneous action selection, wargame, zone of control

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “The initial expansion for REDLINE: Tactical Card Combat, a sci-fi expandable card game built around simultaneous combat. REDLINE: Tactical Card Combat is an exciting expandable card game that features simultaneous combat and mission based objectives to secure and hold. REDLINE, blends the tactical maneuvers of tabletop wargames with the fast paced gameplay of card games.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $25

All-In (w/shipping): $126

Campaign Ends: 9/8

Game Ships: Jan. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 70% with 21 days to go.

Project: Siege Command

Designer: Ryan Collins

Artist: Rob Nix

Publisher: Outland Entertainment

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, action points, card game, secret unit deployment, simultaneous action selection

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A two-player, lane-based strategy game containing a mixture of simultaneous planning and turn-based strategy. Deploying a variety of Units and casting powerful Spells, players battle for control over the Turrets in each of the 4 lanes in order to destroy their opponent’s walls.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $37

All-In (w/shipping): $87

Campaign Ends: 9/16

Game Ships: Apr. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 46% with 29 days to go.

Project: The West: Ascendant

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

Artist: 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, card drafting, card game, fantasy, hand management, science fiction, set collection

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “The West: Ascendant is the second card game set in the world of The North: Provenance. Two players take turns acquiring unique Facilities for effects (and to cause the other player to lose points). Those acquired Facilities are then used for a variety of different in-game scoring opportunities and to acquire new cards.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $22

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

Campaign Ends: 9/26

Game Ships: Nov. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 88% with 8 days to go.