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

Project: Cosmos: Empires

Designer: Martin Brandel

Artists: Miguel Firewolf, Sasha Hryhorovych, Jonathan Mattos Rosa

Publisher: Bigger Worlds Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, card game, dice rolling, economic, income, investment, neighbor scope, open drafting, print & play, random production, variable player powers, victory points as a resource

Player Count: 2-8

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “An engine building card game. Jump into the galaxy, choose your strategy and build your galactic empire. Race against your friends, exploiting their economy to your advantage. The game is played with a single deck, from which 10 cards are drawn into the pool players can select and build cards from. Each card has a cost, roll value, and production value. Each turn, the current player gets 2 actions and then rolls two 4-sided dice. The current player can use one of their actions to increase or decrease the total of the two dice by one. Then, each player with a card with a Roll value equal to the new total gets Credits equal to the same cards production value. Finally, the current player can use their remaining actions to build a card from the card pool or cycle it and take credits.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $36

All-In (w/shipping): $74

Campaign Ends: 9/6

Game Ships: Nov. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 537% with 21 days to go.

Project: Full Sun

Designer: Christopher Menart

Artist: Christopher Menart

Publisher: Irreducible Games

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, trick-taking

Player Count: 3-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “The shape of the forest is determined by light. Trees are so tall because the highest tree gets all the sun! But not every tree needs to win that contest. For some species, too much light can be as bad as too little. In Full Sun, tricks are sunlight. To win exactly the right number of tricks, you will have to play to the strengths of your own hand while also guessing how many tricks your fellow players are going for. Fortunately, you have an unusual piece of information at your disposal; every card’s suit. Each of the five suits in the game has a unique card back, letting you see what kind of trees each player is holding. You can strategize and plan ahead with a plethora of information right away.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $29

All-In (w/shipping): $29, same as above

Campaign Ends: 9/17

Game Ships: Apr. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 138% with 32 days to go.

Project: Journey Into the Beyond

Designer: Liam Burns

Artist: Eamonn McCorrmick

Publisher: Handsome Monkey Games

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, exploration, fantasy, sudden death ending, tableau building, zone of control

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “An asymmetrical competitive tableau building adventure game. Inspired by epic fantasy games such as Talisman and Mage Knight, Journey takes these long-winded, large scale games and condenses them into a shorter, more palatable experience. Players will notice right away that in the Ragnorwald, death is not only common and inconsequential, but often convenient. Fast paced highly strategic deterministic combat keeps the game flowing, and it’s heavy player vs player elements keeps players interested even when it isn’t their turn. Move around the board, choosing which stories to Encounter. Each Encounter type offers different risks and rewards, from fighting Goblins, exploring Dungeons, and even discovering critical information about the Ragnorwald itself.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $62

All-In (w/shipping): $93

Campaign Ends: 9/13

Game Ships: Sep. 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 35% with 29 days to go.

Project: Ocean Pods

Designer: Lee Miller

Artist: Raquel Paolini Madrid

Publisher: Molinarius Games

Genre/Mechanisms: animals, dice rolling, events, environmental, resource queue, semi-cooperative game, take that, worker placement

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Players must find resources from various Oceans such as Krill, Cephalopods (squid & Octopus), Crustaceans (Crabs & Lobsters), Fish and Pinnipeds (Seals). These resources are exchanged to attract Whales and Dolphins to your pod by paying the resource cost for the animal cards in the open pod deck. Players can also purchase Ocean Event Cards to give them bonuses and hinder there opponents. However each turn the Event dice are rolled to determine which action spaces are covered by Fishing Trawlers and which resource actions are covered by plastic leaking into the sea. The first player to 12 victory points triggers the final round and most points win. Also players have to work semi-cooperatively to clean the plastic or they all lose.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $83

All-In (w/shipping): $83, same as above

Campaign Ends: 9/22

Game Ships: Nov. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 2% with 38 days to go.