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

Project: Clash of the Ardennes

Designer: Elwin Klappe (BlockYou!)

Artist: Elwin Klappe (BlockYou!)

Publisher: Elwin Klappe (BlockYou!)

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, abstract, card drafting, grid movement, tile placement, war game

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: high

Summary: A tile placement & action point allowance war game with several varying pledge options: the card game version, card game with a wooden lasered box, a cheaper DIY Board game version, the standard board game version, and a collector’s version with a board made from walnut and your choice of maple, alder, oak, or cherry.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $31

All-In (w/shipping): $186

Campaign Ends: 9/24

Game Ships: Dec. 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 16%, with 12 days to go.

Project: Donning the Purple + Votes & Virtue Expansion

Designer: Petter Schanke Olsen (Donning the Purple, Kill the King)

Artist: Joeri Lefevre (Donning the Purple, Europa Universalis: The Board Game)

Publisher: Tompet Games (Donning the Purple, Kill the King)

Genre/Mechanisms: area control, civilization, dice rolling, economic, fighting, hand management, miniatures, political, variable player power, voting, worker placement

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: heavy

Risk: medium-high

Summary: Asymmetrical king-of-the-hill game Donning the Purple gets a 4th player expansion, a new phase, and lots of new cards.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $41

All-In (w/shipping): $99

Campaign Ends: 10/3

Game Ships: Aug. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 238%, with 21 days to go.

Project: The Isofarian Guard

Designers: Eric Bitterman (The Stonebound Saga), Sean Craten, David Yanchick

Artist: Muhamad Faizal Fikri

Publisher: Sky Kingdom Games (The Stonebound Saga)

Genre/Mechanisms: action point allowance system, campaign/battle card driven, cooperative play, deck building, hand management, storytelling, variable player powers

Player Count: 1-2

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-high

Summary: The Isofarian Guard contains 4 unique campaigns of 30-50+ hours of gameplay. The campaigns can be played solo or with 2 players, and the main objective is for players to play through all 4 campaigns, each with a set group of characters, to discover the larger source of corruption spreading across the land. The game can be played with or without the additional Forteller narration app.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $99

All-In (w/shipping): $129

Campaign Ends: 10/3

Game Ships: Dec. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 170%, with 21 days to go.

Project: LumberJerks

Designers: Dave Collinson, Alexander Delfino (The Curse of Misfortune Lane), Austin Mace (The Curse of Misfortune Lane)

Artist: Dave Collinson (The Curse of Misfortune Lane)

Publisher: Howling Hog Games (The Curse of Misfortune Lane)

Genre/Mechanisms: dice rolling, take that

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: A lumberjack-themed hand management game where the struggle to cut down the tree is real; “embrace your inner jerk and chop block your friends!”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $16

All-In (w/shipping): $35

Campaign Ends: 10/2

Game Ships: July 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 54%, with 20 days to go.

Project: Nouvelle-France

Designer: Jacques-Dominique Landry

Artist: Jacques-Dominique Landry

Publisher: JackBro Playful Creations (40, Vikingar: The Conquest of Worlds)

Genre/Mechanisms: abstract

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: An abstract strategy game with 3D Tetris-like pieces, some card play, and a historical theme of French-American settlers.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $72

All-In (w/shipping): $91

Campaign Ends: 10/10

Game Ships: Sep. 2020

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

Project: Philosophia

Designers: Joseph N. Adams, Madeleine Cole

Artist: Joseph N. Adams

Publisher: Cogito Ergo Meeple

Genre/Mechanisms: auction/bidding, card drafting, miniatures, point-to-point movement, take that, variable player powers

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: heavy

Risk: medium-high

Summary: A sandbox game that casts players in the roles of great Philosophers and allows them to take 1 of 13 actions on each turn; participation in the end-game final debate requires the collection of 3 Labryinth Tokens from fulfilling various win conditions over the course of play.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $79

All-In (w/shipping): $79, same as above

Campaign Ends: 10/10

Game Ships: June 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 56%, with 28 days to go.

Project: Queen Collection & Clash of Vikings

Designers: Daniel Bernsen (A Queen’s Collection), Anthony Rubbo (Clash of Vikings, Dark Seas, Hey Waiter!, Renaissance Man)

Artist: Dennis Lohausen (Aquasphere, Camel Up, Carcassonne: South Seas, Coal Baron, Dominion: Intrigue, A Feast for Odin, Fields of Arle, Gaia Project, Glass Road, Hansa Teutonica, Hawaii, Merlin, No Thanks!, The Oracle of Delphi, The Quacks of Quedlinburg, Rajas of the Ganges, Rune Stones, Terra Mystica, Village, The Voyages of Marco Polo)

Publisher: Queen Games (Alhambra, Amerigo, Aton, Chicago Express, Escape: The Curse of the Temple, Fresco, Kingdom Builder, Lancaster, Merlin, Roma, Shogun, Thebes, Wallenstein First Edition, Wallenstein Second Edition)

Genre/Mechanisms: bluffing, fighting, hand management

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: low

Summary: A Queen’s Collection is a very limited print-run of a meta Queen Games’ set collection game and Clash of Vikings is a chance to grab their new Essen Spiel release; there won’t be a pledge manager, but various pledge levels also include games from their back catalogue.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $22

All-In (w/shipping): $153

Campaign Ends: 9/19

Game Ships: Nov. 2019

Funding Status: Currently at 58%, with 28 days to go.

Project: Ultimate Rush

Designer: Jerry Haerle (Sly Dice)

Artists: Martina Fackova

Publisher: Purple Wizard

Genre/Mechanisms: action/dexterity, hand management, real-time, set collection, simultaneous action selection, take that

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: high

Summary: A quick & light, real-time monster-slaying game (with absolutely no connection to the designers, artists, or publishers of either Kitchen Rush or Kingdom Rush: Rift in Time).

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $51

All-In (w/shipping): $51, same as above

Campaign Ends: 10/10

Game Ships: June 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 55%, with 29 days to go.