Previously, On Kickstarter… #482
(or here’s a list of what launched yesterday that might deserve a closer look)
Project: Arcana Resurgence TCG
Designer: Nikko Brown
Artists: Anebarone, Luana Marques, Nantu Sorina
Publisher: Arcana Resurgence
Genre/Mechanisms: bluffing, card game, deck building, fantasy, fighting, hand management, interrupts, single loser game
Player Count: 2-6
Solo Mode: no
Complexity: medium-light
Risk: HIGH
Summary: “A fantasy card game set in the modern world. Control various mages as they seek to learn from the magical world and, ultimately, control it. What makes Arcana Resurgence unique is the usage of Mage permanents as a means of using spells and relics. Unlike traditional deck-building games, players are limited in the amount of cards they can directly use. In order to cast spells or create relics, a player needs not only the right resources, but a Mage available to use it. Additionally, Mages provide their own resource outside of mana: Intelligence. In the process of opening their eyes to the world of magic, these individuals have also expanded their minds to both the schools of science and the arcane. Once per turn, each Mage may focus their knowledge towards creating a non-magical Relic or “Spell.” However, some Mages are wiser than others, allowing them to create more complex and powerful Relics without spending mana.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $45
All-In (w/shipping): $115
Campaign Ends: 10/18
Game Ships: Mar. 2022
Funding Status: Currently at 20% with 17 days to go.
Project: Beast
Designers: Aron Midhall, Elon Midhall
Artist: Aron Midhall
Publisher: Studio Midhall
Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, deduction, fantasy, fighting, hand management, hidden movement, horror, point to point movement, secret unit deployment, team-based game, variable player powers
Player Count: 2-4
Solo Mode: no
Complexity: medium-light
Risk: HIGH
Summary: “Welcome to the Northern Expanse, a place where nature is still unexplored, mystical and dangerous. When the humans first arrived, they thought they found an unspoiled paradise, filled with bountiful forests, lakes swimming with fish and cold freshwater flowing from the mountains. But as their settlements expanded and the surrounding forests grew thinner, nature itself pushed back. Great creatures known as Beasts emerged, and with their fangs, claws and mystical powers, they proved an incredible threat to the humans. In order to protect the settlements, humans enlisted specialized hunters, tasked with tracking and killing the Beasts before too many of their kin perish. In order to win this game, you either need to cooperate every step of the way if you play as a hunter, or skillfully outmaneuver your opponents if you play as Beast. On their own, hunters are never stronger than the Beast. Only when hunters communicate, strategize and combine their actions can they bring down the Beast before it’s too late.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $59
All-In (w/shipping): $85
Campaign Ends: 10/28
Game Ships: Aug. 2022
Funding Status: Funded; currently at 923% with 27 days to go.
Project: Caterpillar Filler
Designer: David Newton (Temp Worker Assassins)
Artist: Lorenzo Uccheddu
Publisher: David Newton
Genre/Mechanisms: animals, grid movement
Player Count: 2-4
Solo Mode: no
Complexity: light
Risk: HIGH
Summary: “You each control a caterpillar exploring a garden looking for delicious flowers to eat. You must avoid the wasps and potentially other caterpillars while you scavenge for food. On your turn you roll the die to see how many spaces you can move your caterpillar within the garden (a 16×16 grid). If you move your caterpillar onto a space with a flower token; your caterpillar will grow. Caterpillars don’t just eat flowers; they can also chomp on other caterpillars. If you move onto another player’s caterpillar, you will grow while they will shrink (as you take a bite out of them). Players can also gain wasp tokens to block (or trap) opponent’s caterpillars within the garden. At the end of the game, the player with the largest caterpillar has enough energy to transform into a beautiful butterfly and wins.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $34
All-In (w/shipping): $34, same as above
Campaign Ends: 10/28
Game Ships: May 2022
Funding Status: Currently at 23% with 27 days to go.
Project: Drop Drive
Designer: Scott R. Smith (Dungeon Drop)
Artists: Gong Studios (Aeon’s End, Aeon’s End: The New Age, Aeon’s End: War Eternal, Tiny Towns)
Publisher: Phase Shift Games (Dungeon Drop)
Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, end game bonuses, exploration, flicking, pattern movement, pick-up and deliver, push your luck, science fiction, set collection, space exploration, variable set-up
Player Count: 1-4
Solo Mode: yes
Complexity: light
Risk: HIGH
Summary: “Drop Drive is a lightweight sandbox game featuring a new “drop-style” mechanic that assures no two games could possibly be the same. Drop Drive blends strategy with a novel spatial element. At the start of each game, crystals and other components representing lost captains, pirates, and planets, are dropped onto the table from a height of 4 to 8 inches. This creates a galaxy layout with infinite possibilities. You will then use your customized spaceship to explore space, upgrade your ship, mine asteroids for precious resources, and land on mysterious worlds to sell your cargo, pickup passengers, and collect strange alien specimens.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $41
All-In (w/shipping): $168
Campaign Ends: 10/28
Game Ships: Oct. 2022
Funding Status: Funded; currently at 204% with 27 days to go.
Project: Gods and Heroes
Designer: Derek Heath
Artists: A-Ravlik, Joakim Olofsson (This Is Not a Test: Post-Apocalyptic Skirmish Rules), Studio Rexard (Clash of Cards)
Publisher: Dwarven Beard Games
Genre/Mechanisms: bluffing, campaign/battle card driven, card drafting, card game, deck building, fantasy, fighting, solo/solitaire game
Player Count: 1-2
Solo Mode: yes
Complexity: medium-light
Risk: HIGH
Summary: “A fast-paced card battler with drafting and in-game deck-building. Gods and Heroes is a battle of strength and prestige between warring Gods and their subjects. Build Temples of worship to bolster your armies and weaken your foes. Let loose your mightiest Heroes and crush your enemies in the name of your chosen Deity. Each player represents a God, or Goddess fighting for dominion over the Lost Realm. Players draw and play cards to attack the other Temple Guardians. Once all a player’s temple guardians are destroyed, a player loses the game. Victory goes to the one who destroys all enemy Temple Guardians. Alternatively, whoever cannot discard three cards during a reshuffle, loses.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $42
All-In (w/shipping): $325
Campaign Ends: 10/21
Game Ships: May 2022
Funding Status: Currently at 82% with 21 days to go.
Project: Hyperwars
Designer: Fabricio Leotti
Artist: Niklas Hook (Moogh)
Publisher: Dice Coalition Games
Genre/Mechanisms: action/dexterity, area majority/influence, real-time, science fiction
Player Count: 3-5
Solo Mode: no
Complexity: light
Risk: HIGH
Summary: “A cyberpunk themed real-time area control board game where players take on the role of large Corporations set in the dystopian city of Urbana. You are competing for hegemony in the market of illicit products. The game is played in two stages: the Action Phase and the Scoring Phase. The Action Phase is played in real-time for exactly five minutes. There are no individual player turns. Players perform all actions simultaneously. During this phase, players use their Action cards to deploy Agents and move goods from their sources to the Districts they wish to control. Each District has strict needs the Corporations need to supply. The Scoring Phase happens after the five-minute Action Phase ends. During that phase, the player with more Agents in a given District is said to control it and has the chance to fulfill the needs of that District, getting points for that or failing miserably. After all Districts are scored, penalties are applied based on the number of Actions cards they have left in their hands, and the winner is determined.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $56
All-In (w/shipping): $56, same as above
Campaign Ends: 10/19
Game Ships: June 2022
Funding Status: Currently at 31% with 18 days to go.
Project: Keep the Heroes Out
Designer: Luís Brüeh (Covil; The Dark Overlords, Dwar7s Fall, Dwar7s Winter)
Artist: Luís Brüeh (Dwar7s Fall, Dwar7s Winter, Gnomopolis)
Publisher: Luís Brüeh
Genre/Mechanisms: cooperative game, deck building, dungeon crawler, fantasy, modular board, scenario/mission/campaign game, worker placement
Player Count: 1-4
Solo Mode: yes
Complexity: medium-light
Risk: medium-high
Summary: “An asymmetric, cooperative dungeon defense game where you play as the monsters protecting their hard-earned treasures against invading hordes of looters (so-called heroes) trying to steal it. In their turn players draw 5 cards and play, these cards allow them to move, activate the tiles they are to perform the tiles actions, attack heroes, and move their units around. After each player, draw and perform cards from the heroes deck. Your goal as a team in every scenario is to survive the 3 levels of threat from the invading heroes by protecting the treasures on each room. If the main treasure is taken, the game ends and you lose, but if you manage to protect the treasures for long enough, you all win.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $67
All-In (w/shipping): $67, same as above
Campaign Ends: 10/18
Game Ships: Aug. 2022
Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1886% with 18 days to go.
Project: Lost Empires
Designer: Brad Pye (Terrors of London)
Artist: Ryan Pye (Terrors of London)
Publisher: Kolossal Games (Omen: A Reign of War, Terrors of London, Western Legends)
Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, card game, deck construction, science fiction, space exploration
Player Count: 2
Solo Mode: no
Complexity: medium-light
Risk: medium-low
Summary: “Lost Empires is a head-to-head, card-driven area control game with a focus on tactical movement and deck design. Each player chooses a faction to play, and using the cards available to that faction, constructs an 18-card deck with which you do battle. You earn artifacts by controlling objectives and destroying elite enemy units augmented with alien technology. Once you have collected sufficient artifacts, you use them to construct a Wormgate. The first person to build a Wormgate wins the war for the new sun.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $33
All-In (w/shipping): $55
Campaign Ends: 10/19
Game Ships: July 2022
Funding Status: Funded; currently at 140% with 19 days to go.
Project: Moku Tower
Designers: Louis Hsu, Ivan Kan
Artists: Louis Hsu, Ivan Kan
Publisher: Mokuomo
Genre/Mechanisms: action/dexterity, card game, hand management, party game, race, stacking and balancing, take that, time track
Player Count: 2-6
Solo Mode: no
Complexity: light
Risk: HIGH
Summary: “In order to win in Moku Tower, you need to be good at timing, stacking and strategy. Within the time limit from the hourglass, players need to stack the wooden rocks to gain points based on the requirements that they draw from the cards. Throughout the stacking process, your opponents can attack you using their “Function cards.” Make good use of the Function cards! It can be the turning point for the whole story. The player who first reaches the accumulative target point wins the game.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $86
All-In (w/shipping): $86, same as above
Campaign Ends: 10/29
Game Ships: Dec. 2021
Funding Status: Funded; currently at 454% with 28 days to go.
Project: PaleoVet
Designer: William Thompson
Artists: Brigette Indelicato (Art Decko, Star Trek: Galactic Enterprises, War Chest), Zuzana Randáková
Publisher: Absurdist Productions (Churrascaria: A Cutthroat Game of Gluttony)
Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, card game, dice, die icon resolution, re-rolling and locking, science fiction, set collection
Player Count: 2-4
Solo Mode: no
Complexity: light
Risk: HIGH
Summary: “In Paleovet, players take turns drafting dinosaur cards from a central river, rolling dice, and spending dice icons for various effects, most notably curing sick and injured dinosaurs. Each dinosaur card lists which icons are needed to cure it, and effect, victory points, its genetic order, and diet. Dinosaur effects can occur when the dinosaur appears in the center of the table when it is added to your hospital, or while it remains in your hospital. These effects can change gameplay in a variety of ways.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $53
All-In (w/shipping): $73
Campaign Ends: 11/12
Game Ships: Nov. 2022
Funding Status: Currently at 56% with 32 days to go.
Project: Pirate Hunter expansion for Clear the Decks!
Designer: Chris Pinyan (Clear the Decks!)
Artist: Anwar Hanano
Publisher: Chris Pinyan (Clear the Decks!)
Genre/Mechanisms: campaign/battle card driven, card game, cooperative game, expansion, nautical, wargame
Player Count: 1-4
Solo Mode: yes
Complexity: medium-light
Risk: HIGH
Summary: “Clear the Decks! Pirate Hunters is an expansion to the original game Clear the Decks! The base game is required to use this expansion. Pirate Hunters adds three new mechanisms and 50 new cards to the original game. The 74 card sized box also has new tokens for adding Marines to the Longboat Attack.Pirates are the scourge of the seas and islands of the world – attacking, robbing, pillaging and kidnapping those that would live and trade in peace. Someone must rise to the fore and rid the waters of these dastardly villains. Take command of a man-o-war, add a brave crew and set out to sea as a Pirate Hunter.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $17
All-In (w/shipping): $53
Campaign Ends: 10/28
Game Ships: Dec. 2021
Funding Status: Funded; currently at 236% with 27 days to go.
Project: Reap
Designer: Jason Anarchy (Drinking Quest, Drinking Quest: Journey Into Draught, Newfoundland Jam)
Artists: Kelly Bastow (Newfoundland Jam), Gaelen Adric Izatt Galloway III
Publisher: Jason Anarchy Games (Drinking Quest, Drinking Quest: Journey Into Draught, Newfoundland Jam)
Genre/Mechanisms: action points, adventure, animals, exploration, fantasy, hand management, hexagon grid, nautical, modular board, multiple maps, pick-up and deliver, take that, team-based game, variable player powers
Player Count: 2-4
Solo Mode: no
Complexity: light
Risk: medium-high
Summary: “Become death and play as a new Reaper each turn, trying to seize more souls than your fellow Reapers. Players will each draw a new Reaper Card, Place 1-3 skull tokens on either the Reap, sweep and keep located on their reaper card, behind a small Screen. Reveal their cards and take turns Reaping (moving their Reaper Meeple around the board), Sweeping (removing the less desirable souls off the board), or Keeping (attempting to out bid other players for souls of the same type that their meeple is standing on). The Player who successfully claims 9 souls by successfully outbidding the others is the winner.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $34
All-In (w/shipping): $127
Campaign Ends: 10/28
Game Ships: July 2022
Funding Status: Currently at 95% with 27 days to go.
Project: Snapshot
Designer: Marcos Avlonitis, Martin Daine, Richard Caves
Artists: not credited
Publisher: Paper Boat Games
Genre/Mechanisms: animals, card game, dice, dice rolling, hand management, push your luck, set collection
Player Count: 1-4
Solo Mode: yes
Complexity: light
Risk: HIGH
Summary: “Snapshot is a card-collecting, dice-managing, push your game that challenges the player to make balanced decisions throughout the game. The player will constantly be making risk/reward decisions and trying to manage their portfolio to maximize their prestige. In Snapshot, you’ll learn how to track animals by drawing cards to place into the tableau and gain vital tracking tokens that will help you to photograph animals by manipulating the dice rolls. Snapshot comes with beautiful animal cards from 4 different environments – The Shoreline, The Savannah, The Mountains, and The Rainforest. The use genuine animal characteristics in its set collection – species; lifespan; eating habits; and position in the food chain.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $47
All-In (w/shipping): $74
Campaign Ends: 10/28
Game Ships: Dec. 2021
Funding Status: Funded; currently at 202% with 27 days to go.
Project: Stefan Feld City Collection – New York City & Marrakesh
Designer: Stefan Feld (Bora Bora, Bruges, Castles of Burgundy, Notre Dame, Trajan)
Artist: Klemenz Franz (Agricola, Caverna: The Cave Farmers, Clans of Caledonia, Le Havre, New York City, Orleans)
Publisher: Queen Games (Amerigo, Chicago Express, Fresco, Lancaster, Shogun)
Genre/Mechanisms: city building, cube tower (Marrakesh); action drafting, auction/bidding, card game, city building (New York City)
Player Count: 2-4
Solo Mode: no
Complexity: medium-heavy
Risk: low
Summary: “Marrakesh is played over three rounds, with each round consisting of four turns. On each turn, players simultaneously and secretly choose three colored cylinders from behind their screen. Then, in turn order, they place matching colored assistants on their player board and perform the corresponding action, then all cylinders are placed in the cube tower. Then, in turn order, players select a color and take 1-2 of the cylinders that have passed through the tower (or those that were stuck from a previous round but have now emerged) and place them on their player boards. These cylinders will enhance future actions taken in the same color in future rounds. Actions allow players to gain wealth, which can be traded for influence in the city. Performing various actions also earns bonuses and enhances actions even more as the game proceeds. The player who scores the most points by the end of the game wins.
A game of New York City is played over six rounds (one for each borough). Each game, the value of boroughs is randomly assigned, and the player with the most skyscrapers in a a borough receives full value, and the next player receiving half, and so on. There is also a borough for building in every borough. Points are also awarded for certain characters, and the player with the most points is the winner. Based on Rialto, a previously designed game by Stefan Feld.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $90
All-In (w/shipping): $785
Campaign Ends: 10/18
Game Ships: May 2022
Funding Status: Funded; currently at 643% with 17 days to go.
Project: Voidfall
Designers: Nigel Buckle (Imperium: Classics, Imperium: Classics, Omega Centauri), David Turczi (Anachrony, Imperium: Classics, Kitchen Rush, Tawantinsuyu: The Inca Empire, Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun)
Artist: Ian O’Toole (Age of Steam, The Gallerist, Lisboa, On Mars, Vinhos Deluxe Edition)
Publisher: Mindclash Games (Anachrony, Cerebria: The Inside World, Trickerion: Legends of Illusion)
Genre/Mechanisms: 4x, action points, area impulse, civilization, command cards, events, economic, grid movement, hand management, hexagon grid, income, modular board, science fiction, space exploration, variable player powers
Player Count: 1-4
Solo Mode: yes
Complexity: heavy
Risk: low
Summary: “A space 4X game that brings the genre to Euro enthusiasts’ tables. It combines the tension, player interaction, and deep empire customization of the 4X genre with the resource management, tight decisions, and minimum-luck gameplay of an economic Euro. Win by pushing back the Voidborn in the solo/coop mode, or by overcoming your rivals’ influence in restoring the Domineum in the competitive mode — both using the same rule set and game system. Variability is ensured not only by multiple playable houses with their own strengths and weaknesses, but also by many different map set-ups for all game modes. As the leader of a defiant Great House, you play through three cycles, each with a game altering galactic event, a new scoring condition, and a set number of focus cards that can be played. Focus card decisions and sequencing is the centerpiece of the gameplay. By selecting two of their three impactful actions as you play them, you develop and improve techs; advance on your three house-specific civilization tracks; manage your sectors’ infrastructure, population, and production; and conquer new sectors with up to five different types of space fleets. Space battles are fought either against the Voidborn’s infected forces (which are present as neutral opponents even in the competitive mode) or against other players. Instead of relying on the luck of a die roll, battles in Voidfall are fully deterministic and reward careful preparation and outsmarting your opponents.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $109
All-In (w/shipping): $184
Campaign Ends: 10/18
Game Ships: Feb. 2023
Funding Status: Funded; currently at 509% with 17 days to go.
Project: Zurmat
Designer: Tim Densham
Artist: Dominik Šinkevič
Publisher: Catastrophe Games
Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, modern warfare, wargame
Player Count: 2
Solo Mode: no
Complexity: medium-light
Risk: medium-high
Summary: “Play all your cards without tipping over the iceberg to win in this dexterity game. Players take turns stacking cards of varying colors and symbols as well as cardboard cut-out standee dictated by their opponent’s card. A card must match either the color or symbol of the previous placed card, so players can try and outwit their opponents by demanding they place either large ice blocks, small penguins or heavy ice crystals. The player who successfully empties their hand is the winner. If a player knocks over the stack, then the player with the fewest cards is the winner.”
Base Pledge (w/shipping): $75
All-In (w/shipping): $75, same as above
Campaign Ends: 11/17
Game Ships: Mar. 2023
Funding Status: Funded; currently at 135% with 48 days to go.