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

Project: Avalonia

Designer: Ar Siu

Artists: Pascal Quidault, Connor Sheehan (Mythic Battles: Pantheon, Sherlock Holmes The Consulting Detective: Jack the Ripper and West End Adventures, Sherlock Holmes The Consulting Detective: The Thames Murder and Other Cases, Splendor, T.I.M.E Stories), Ar Siu, Ray Wong

Publisher: Farside Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action drafting, area majority / influence, area movement, auction / bidding, miniatures, order counters, roles with asymmetric information, wargame, zone of control

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “The story of Avalonia transpires in the lands of Avalon after King Arthur was betrayed and defeated by the four tribes, being left sedated on the Excalibur Tower. A plague was unleashed through the Excalibur, twisted most of the Pure Bloods into Variants, and made them permanently infertile. The four tribes — the Reapers, the Raiders, the Saviours and the Seekers, all thirst for power, endeavoured in hunting down Pure Bloods, using them as breeding machines to sustain the strength of the tribes. Now, a dreadful tribal war is embarked, never ending until someone crushes down the others and takes over the throne in Avalon. Each player will lead a faction, aiming to expand their army, gain resources and conquer lands on the Avalon Map in order to be strong enough to defeat other factions. There are four phases for each round, the Planning Phase, Action Phase, King Arthur Phase and the Clean Up Phase. During the Action Phase, players have to decide their own combinations of actions to be taken from the 6 types of actions available. Over the course of the game, players have to win Artifact Units before the others, gain Pure Blood resources and eliminate troops from other factions. There are two ways of ending the game, either when the Throne Area of King Arthur is full or when one of the players has reached the ultimate score. Players gain Victory Points through harvesting Pure Bloods. In whichever ways that the game ends, the players count their victory points, whoever gets the highest victory points wins the game and becomes the new ruler of Avalon.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $71

All-In (w/shipping): $203

Campaign Ends: 5/18

Game Ships: May 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 53% with 13 days to go.

Project: Camouflage

Designer: Rusty Lumpkin (Sea of Plunder)

Artist: Adam Glass (Life & Legend)

Publisher: Three Nail Games (Sea of Plunder)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, pattern recognition, puzzle, real-time

Player Count: 1-7

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A pattern matching speed game with multiple modes of gameplay. This includes a solo puzzle mode. The entire game is also color-blind friendly. Players will each select a set of six cards that they will then play as quickly and as strategically as possible. This game does not have turns and therefore the players must balance taking the time to find big point combos while at the same time making certain that they have a chance to play all of their cards.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $30

All-In (w/shipping): $77

Campaign Ends: 6/4

Game Ships: May 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 15% with 30 days to go.

Project: Cards of the Dead – The Board Game

Designer: Víctor Amorós (MiniQuest Adventures)

Artists: not credited

Publisher: Mini Tabletop Games (MiniQuest Adventures)

Genre/Mechanisms: cooperative game, deck building, hand management, solo / solitaire game, video game theme, zombies

Player Count: 1-3

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “An adaptation of the ‘Cards of the Dead’ video game and survival game set in a city infested by zombies. The game offers an experience that differs from the video game, and can be played both solo and with multiple players. Players must take control of one of the Survivors and make it out of the city alive over the course of three days. Players are advised to explore the interiors of places like the Supermarket where they will need to stock up with equipment and resources in order to remain alive throughout the game. At the same time, they will need to contain the zombies who infest the city and its vicinity, before being surrounded and falling prey to their incessant hunger.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $53

All-In (w/shipping): $57

Campaign Ends: 6/2

Game Ships: Feb. 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 76% with 28 days to go.

Project: Creators Of The First Dawn

Designer: Falko Seyfferth

Artist: Falko Seyfferth

Publisher: Creator Board Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, action /event, adventure, alliances, automatic resource growth, city-building, fantasy, fighting, map deformation, miniatures, modular board, movement points, multiple maps, pieces as map, prehistoric, player elimination, semi-cooperative game, take that, team-based game, territory building, three-dimensional movement, tile placement, variable set-up

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A turn-based building strategy game. Equipped with omnipotent magic powers and armies of underlings, each player slips into the role of a deity in the struggle for supremacy. With only their goal in mind, they endanger their own creation and set the world ablaze. Into an empty universe, players create a three-dimensional game world. The players acquire resources in order to conquer the territory of the other players with their forces. At the same time, their god can cast more powerful spells turn by turn and thus decisively influence the game. The goal of the game is to defeat all of the opponents’ units so that their god cannot return to the world. One’s own tactics and the behavior of the opponents always give the game captivating twists and make the events unpredictable. The turn-based building system gives new players the opportunity to gradually familiarize themselves with it during their first game. But Creators Of The First Dawn also offers new challenges to experienced players. The basic rules can be supplemented with modifications to freely shape the level of complexity of the game and shift the tactical focus according to one’s own wishes.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $97

All-In (w/shipping): $97, same as above

Campaign Ends: 5/23

Game Ships: June 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 11% with 18 days to go.

Project: Dungeon Makers

Designer: Wesley Woodbury (DIE in the Dungeon!, Legends of Novus)

Artist: Wesley Woodbury

Publisher: FunDaMental Games (DIE in the Dungeon!, Legends of Novus)

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 player only games, fantasy, tile placement

Player Count: 1-2

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A 2 player strategic tile laying game with a light fantasy dungeon map theme. Build a convoluted and trap filled dungeon, scoring points based on creatures, puzzles, traps, and more. The dungeon maker who builds the best dungeon, by scoring the most points, wins the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $37

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

Campaign Ends: 5/28

Game Ships: Nov. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 59% with 23 days to go.

Project: The Flood

Designers: Elijah Morar, Natalie Morar, Ivan Tarasiuk

Artists: Ludwik Łukaszewski, Ben Maier, Mirco Paganessi (Dungeon Twister, Doomtown: Reloaded, The Princes of Florence), Elif Siebenpfeiffer

Publisher: Bedouin Games

Genre/Mechanisms: dice, dice rolling, economic, miniatures, negotiation, prehistoric, push your luck, race, religious

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A euro-style game with Dice/ resource and event mechanics as well as 140+ miniatures. In The Flood, players are taken back in time to the pre-historic world before the flood. Their objective is to build a network of Huts and Camps and collect enough resources to build the Ark before the flood. Each player can obtain a Mammoth- the hero miniature that can collect strategic resources as well. Each turn players will roll the tool and two commodity dice to collect resources from their structures on the triangular hexagons. Commodities include: Gopher wood, Tar, Wool, Vegetables, Limestone and water. The board includes 23 triangular hexagons that are set up with the board edges being the weather markers. Tool tokens are placed on each triangular hexagon. When the correct commodity and Tool is rolled the players will receive resources. During their turns players will build and collect commodity cards, resource tokens, move the mammoths as well as obtain story cards. Story cards control the weather and offer multiple other bonuses and negative effects. Players can choose to strategically purchase re-rolls of the dice to potentially gain an advantage. Trading is a strategic part of the game. Players are able to trade resource cards with each other, the supply in two different ways. All players may loose if none finish building the ark before the flood.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $75

All-In (w/shipping): $177

Campaign Ends: 6/2

Game Ships: June 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 300% with 28 days to go.

Project: KERESIS: Quest for the Elements

Designer: Mathieu Monpate

Artists: Hadi Hassan, Haim Yuki

Publisher: Meeple Squad Games

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, alliances, area majority / influence, dice rolling, exploration, fantasy, modular board, roll / spin and move, take that, tile placement, variable player powers, worker placement

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A mix of exploration, territory control and resource management. Each player takes the lead of an ancestral tribe and faces his opponents to become the master of the four elements. The chaotic world of Keresis is about to collapse. To save your tribe, you must find a way to reach the lost shrines. As an explorer, you have a special ability and can unlock new powers later during the game. A shaman and some of your fierce warriors will join you in this unique adventure. Dangerous events may occur at any time during your expedition. Collect movement points and explore the map; lay hex tiles and connect them to create paths to follow. Collect and use the available resources at your disposal: energy, element stones and powerful action cards. Use element stones to deploy some of your warriors or expand your domination by invading enemies territories. Protect your territories, rotate them or unleash the mysterious powers contained in the shrines. Each amulet placed on a shrine will bring you one step closer to victory. But it won’t be easy: each territory is only associated with one shrine. Controlling the right kind of territory is key for placing your amulets. The first player to place an amulet on each of the four shrines OR the player with the highest score at the end of twenty-four rounds is declared the winner.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $67

All-In (w/shipping): $67, same as above

Campaign Ends: 6/2

Game Ships: June 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 7% with 28 days to go.

Project: Pocket Landship, No Man’s Land

Designer: Scott Allen Czysz (Count of Nine, Pocket Landship, Pocket Landship Free Trial Version)

Artists: Robert Butler (Air Flix, Pocket Landship), Mirco Paganessi (Dungeon Twister, Doomtown: Reloaded, The Princes of Florence)

Publisher: Word Forge Games (D-Day Dice Second Edition, D-Day Dice Pocket, Pocket Landship)

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 player only games, card game, cooperative game, dice, dice rolling, expanion, science fiction, semi-cooperative game, solo / solitaire game, steampunk, wargame

Player Count: 1-2

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Pocket Landship is based on the print and play Board Game Geek Award-nominated soloplay card wargame. In this version we see a steampunk theme and expanded gameplay with additional enemy and friendly options, as well as multiplayer options. Command a Landship (the original British term for tanks) to clear a sector of enemy infantry, artillery, and enemy mech and alike. The player chooses a Landship to control with weapons or support units to create either a single high powered Landship or a more disparate defending force, including a squad of shock troops. The enemy appears as waves of enemy mech, artillery, infantry, and mine fields arranged in 2 rows of 3 cards. Each turn, the player will roll 3 6-sided dice and assign each die to each of their cards to attack the enemies. Then, for the enemy turn, roll the 3 dice and assign them low to high left to right across the front enemy line, then take the assigned actions. Each card has its own damage track. When a card is destroyed, it is removed from the game. Win by destroying all 9 enemy cards. Lose if the enemy destroys your landship.

In the No Man’s Land expansion, you are both tasked with beating the enemy Mech and the ‘Big Bad’ Enemy Base, but who will garner the most honor in the victory?”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $17

All-In (w/shipping): $40

Campaign Ends: 5/31

Game Ships: Oct. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1320% with 26 days to go.

Project: Ra (on Gamefound)

Designer: Reiner Knizia (Modern Art, My City, The Quest for El Dorado, Samuari, Tigris & Euphrates)

Artist: Ian O’Toole (The Gallerist, Lisboa, Kanban EV, On Mars, Vinhos Deluxe Edition)

Publisher: 25th Century Games (Kingswood, Kōhaku, Three Sisters)

Genre/Mechanisms: ancient, auction / bidding, auction: once around, closed economy auction, constrained bidding, mythology, push your luck, set collection

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “An auction and set-collection game with an Ancient Egyptian theme. Each turn players are able to purchase lots of tiles with their bidding tiles (suns). Once a player has used up his or her suns, the other players continue until they do likewise, which may set up a situation with a single uncontested player bidding on tiles before the end of the round occurs. Tension builds because the round may end before all players have had a chance to win their three lots for the epoch. The various tiles either give immediate points, prevent negative points for not having certain types at the end of the round (epoch), or give points after the final round. The game lasts for three ‘epochs’ (rounds). The game offers a short learning curve, and experienced players find it both fast-moving and a quick play.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $52

All-In (w/shipping): $95

Campaign Ends: 5/25

Game Ships: Oct. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 724% with 21 days to go.

Project: Wombat Kombat

Designer: Arif Nezih Savi (Sinners)

Artist: Mustafa Göçmezler

Publisher: NeoTroy Games (Sinners)

Genre/Mechanisms: animals, card game, dice rolling, end game bonuses, hand management, humor, party game, set collection

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Players recruit fighting wombats with different amounts of Poo. When players have two or more cards of the same wombat in their hands, they can lay these cards on the table (if they want) to collect Poo at the end of the game. If, however, an opponent lays out more cards of the same type, then the wombats of that type already on the table are flipped and placed in the respective player’s burrow, face-down. The game ends when one player lays down five different wombats in front of him/her or the Draw Pile is exhausted, then players proceed to collect Poo. Each card depicts a wombat with a different fighting style. The number on a card indicates how many of that wombat is in the game – eighteen samurai wombats, for example, but only four boxer wombats. The number also indicates the amount of Poo that each type of wombat gives during scoring. Some cards have a special skill icon on the top left corner too, which only activates once (as you lay them down). It doesn’t matter how many cards with icons you have in one set of wombats. The player with the most Poo wins. In case of a tie, tied players roll the power dice once (or more if still tied) to break the tie.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $14

All-In (w/shipping): $105

Campaign Ends: 6/3

Game Ships: Feb. 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 37% with 29 days to go.

Project: Zerywia The Board Game – Reprint

Designers: Dominik Kasprzycki, Przemysław Zub

Artist: Dominik Kasprzycki (D-Day Dice Second Edition, The Lord of the Ice Garden, The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game)

Publisher: Koliba Games

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, cooperative game, dice rolling, exploration, fantasy, mythology, push your luck, solo / solitaire game, storytelling

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A cooperative adventure board game set in the primeval world of Slavic myths. It includes a campaign mode composed of individual adventures for 1 to 4 players, linked together by an overarching storyline. Each adventure can also be played separately, as standalone episodes. This enables the players to experience each story in different ways and allows to lead their Heroes on a different path during each playthrough. Each Hero has their own Saga, a tale waiting to be uncovered and told. Progressing through it grants powerful, new relicts, rituals or allies. As they roam the lands, the Heroes will be able to acquire new Sagas, which shall give them more power and unlock new, hitherto hidden parts of the story. This is why our Heroes are a work in progress, so to speak, and it falls upon the players to shape them and lead them to noble (or not quite so) deeds.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $93

All-In (w/shipping): $368

Campaign Ends: 5/24

Game Ships: May 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 117% with 19 days to go.