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

Project: 3 New Valeria-Universe Games

Designers: Glenn Flaherty (Siege of Valeria), Matt Jacobs (Kitten Klash, Thrones of Valeria), Levi Mote (Dice Kingdoms of Valeria, Horizons, Ruse)

Artist: Mihajlo Dimitrievski (Architects of the West Kingdom, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Raiders of the North Sea, Valeria: Card Kingdoms, Viscounts of the West Kingdom)

Publisher: Daily Magic Games (Quests of Valeria, Valeria: Card Kingdoms, Villages of Valeria)

Genre/Mechanisms: dice, dice rolling, end game bonuses, fantasy, paper-and-pencil, roll-and-write (Dice Kingdoms of Valeria); campaign/battle card driven, card game, dice, dice rolling, events, fantasy, hand management, solo/solitaire game (Siege of Valeria); card game, fantasy, team-based game, trick-taking (Thrones of Valeria)

Player Count: 1 (Siege of Valeria); 1-5 (Dice Kingdoms of Valeria); 2-6 (Thrones of Valeria)

Solo Mode: yes (Dice Kingdoms of Valeria, Siege of Valeria); no (Thrones of Valeria)

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “In Dice Kingdoms of Valeria, you’ll roll six dice on your turn–two dice will activate the citizens for all players simultaneously but the other four dice are just for you. Will you hire citizens to patronize the guilds and fill up your treasury so that you can gain scoring options with the yellow die? Slay monsters for glory and rewards with the red die? Or build roads to Domains that give you citizens, gold, monsters, and dice manipulation powers with the green die? Then consider how much Magic you have to make everything that much better with the blue die.

Siege of Valeria is a dice and cards, castle defense, solo game where an army of monster-kin has lain siege to your fortress. Wave upon wave of troops assault your castle walls and deadly siege engines bear down upon you. Your soldiers and wizards are assisted by hearty champions as you battle the horde, but time is running out and the walls are starting to crumble. The game is purpose-built as a solo game. It has a stand-alone game mode and, when you’re ready for a real challenge, there’s a campaign mode where your performance in one siege affects your abilities in the next battle.

Thrones of Valeria is a trick-taking and rank manipulation game that reflects the tug-of-war between the great houses in the earliest days of the Kingdom. Made up of a deck of five suits of cards numbered 1 to 9, plus three special Jesters, Thrones also features a Standings Board and chunky ‘mahjong-style’ House tiles to reflect the relative power of each house throughout the game, with a draw bag for the House tiles and an assortment of coins.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $37, any 1 game

All-In (w/shipping): $85, all 3 games

Campaign Ends: 12/10

Game Ships: Sep. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 142% with 22 days to go.

Project: Biome: Borneo Tabletop Game

Designers: Mark Justin Hylarides, David Pulido

Artist: Missy Ames

Publisher: Goat Rock Games

Genre/Mechanisms: abstract strategy, animals, card drafting, chaining, educational, end game bonuses, environmental, hexagon grid, interrupts, modular board, puzzle, tile placement, travel

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Discover the Bornean rainforest. Form micro-habitats using plant tiles, and attract animals to build food-chains, as you compete for resources and space. Take advantage of opportunities but be ready to quickly adapt to new strategies; as the jungle is transformed into a thriving Biome. On their turn a player is allowed one of three actions: exchange cards, exchange tiles, or play a card and place tiles onto the board. Placing tiles also earns more cards. The game ends when the final tile is picked up by a player, triggering a final action for every player. Points determine the winner and are attained by earning cards through tile placement.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $80

All-In (w/shipping): $110

Campaign Ends: 12/16

Game Ships: June 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 10% with 29 days to go.

Project: Call to Adventure: Epic Origins

Designers: Johnny O’Neal (Boss Monster: The Dungeon Building Card Game, Call to Adventure, Call to Adventure: The Stormlight Archive), Chris O’Neal (Boss Monster: The Dungeon Building Card Game, Boss Monster: Rise of the Minibosses, Call to Adventure: The Stormlight Archive)

Artists: Darren Calvert (All Hands on Deck!, FrankenDie, Overboss: A Boss Monster Adventure), Antti Hakosaari, Ari Ibarra, Kevin O’Neill, Gal Or

Publisher: Brotherwise Games (Boss Monster: The Dungeon Building Card Game, Call to Adventure, Unearth)

Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, card game, cooperative game, deck building, dice rolling, fantasy, role playing, solo/solitaire game, storytelling, tableau building

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “In Devil Bunny Needs a Ham, players compete in a dice-rolling race to the top to see who can get to safety before Devil Bunny knocks everyone down to get his ham– it’s not clear just why Devil Bunny thinks that knocking everyone down will get him a ham, but he believes it and is intent on doing whatever it takes, so you’d better get to climbing! Each player has two sous-chefs on their climbing team. On their turn, players roll the dice to see how far up they get to climb, but if they roll a Devil Bunny, he gets to knock the highest climber down — hopefully, someone manages to catch them. Fall too far and players just might be dead meat. Get it? Like ham?

In Devil Bunny versus the Entire Galaxy, players are intrepid actuaries collecting butterflies of a specific color at a circus. Devil Bunny loves butterflies, and whenever he sees a big enough stack of them, he jumps on that stack, scattering them everywhere. Who will be the first to save enough butterflies, before Devil Bunny destroys the Galaxy?”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $48

All-In (w/shipping): $220

Campaign Ends: 12/2

Game Ships: June 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 510% with 15 days to go.

Project: Garden Wars

Designers: Matthew Borjeson, Holly Hawk

Artist: Kathleen Leary

Publisher: Zesty Games

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, hand management, set collection, take that

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Grow the most beautiful garden in town. Defend your crops from invading predators, disease, weeds and nosey neighbors. Become a force of nature and take down your opponents. Use your trusty almanac to avoid devastation from flood, locust and drought. If your garden is attacked by another player, you can defend yourself instantly if you have a matching Protect card or an Almanac. However, there are three universal Disaster cards that can only be overcome by an Almanac, so use them wisely.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $32

All-In (w/shipping): $325

Campaign Ends: 12/16

Game Ships: Aug. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 19% with 28 days to go.

Project: Robotopia

Designer: Peter C. Hayward (Dracula’s Feast, The Lady and the Tiger, Village Pillage)

Artist: Anthony Clark

Publisher: Blue Beard Entertainment (Dracula’s Feast, The Lady and the Tiger, Village Pillage)

Genre/Mechanisms: industry/manufacturing, modular board, race, science fiction, variable set-up, worker placement with different worker types

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “A worker-placement game about robots who want to rule. Each player is an ambitious robot working to usurp the Master Robot and take control of the factory. Each round, you’ll place a robot on a factory location. This robot will stay at work on the board, and no longer belongs to you. The robot will activate any factory spaces it touches to collect resources, build generators, and influence the robot guilds. The bigger the robot, the more spaces it can use. When you run out of robots, power your generators to build more and move the Master Robot around the factory to crush robots into resource cubes. Gain influence with the robot guilds by spending resources and completing schematics. The game ends once a player has achieved influence with all four of the robot guilds.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $100

All-In (w/shipping): $129

Campaign Ends: 12/10

Game Ships: Dec. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 26% with 22 days to go.

Project: Sammu-ramat & Derrocar (on Gamefound)

Designers: Bruss Brusco (DerrocAr: The Five Presidents Week, KINMO), Besime Uyanik (Sammu-ramat)

Artists: Madeleine Fjäll (Bios: Mesofauna, Pax Viking, Sammu-ramat, Stationfall), Anne Isaksson (DerrocAr: The Five Presidents Week, Stationfall)

Publisher: Ion Game Design (Neanderthal, Pax Porfiriana, Pax Renaissance)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, events, hand management, market, negotiation, political, solo/solitaire game, variable player powers (DerrocAr: The Five Presidents Week); action/event, ancient, cooperative game, point to point movement, variable set-up (Sammu-ramat)

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “In DerrocAr: The Five Presidents Week, you play as the Senators and Governors of the provinces, all seeking to outmaneuver the others and become the next President of the República Argentina. In a country tired of politicians, you need to prove that you are the least bad option, by making sure that the provinces of the other governors are full of conflicts. By making it look like your opponents cannot even manage their own provinces, they will be even less able to manage the country. The game ends when a player is declared President. The rounds are divided into two phases: first, you have to choose one of the options on the board (Propose a Law, Decree, Debt Payment, Embezzlement Fund, etc.) and then buy cards from the Market; then you play a set of cards from your hand (Make Operations, Lobby, Create Conflict with the Establishment, Create Bad Campaigns with the Press, etc.). Meanwhile, you handle your economy, the events (Lootings, Floods, A Bush’s Call) and negotiate short alliances. To win, you must be the player with the most Support when the game ends because other players are full of conflicts.

In Sammu-ramat, you will be one of the advisors surrounding the Assyrian royal court. Each Advisor has its own abilities and strengths. Players spend actions to play action cards and move from region to region along the paths printed on the board, trying to balance the needs of the regions (Military, Supplies, Health, and Religion). In battle with the enemy units are removed 1:1, i.e. combat is deterministic. On each Empire card, there is a Scenario, with one or more win conditions. The specific setup of the Scenario is on the back of the Empire card. Multiple victory scenarios increase the game’s replayability.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $49, DerrocAr only

All-In (w/shipping): $92, both games

Campaign Ends: 12/6

Game Ships: June 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 50% with 18 days to go.