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

Project: Barbarian Kingdoms (on Gamefound)

Designer: Christophe Lebrun

Artists: Aurélie Lebrun du Puytison, Nasos Maloudis, Sergey Shikin

Publisher: Jester

Genre/Mechanisms: ancient, area majority / influence, area movement, betting and bluffing, civilization, economic, force commitment, mature / adult, medieval, standees, take that, territory building, variable player powers, variable set-up, wargame, zone of control

Player Count: 3-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “As the Hun horde swept across Europe, they forced the Germanic tribes into exodus. These warlike peoples spread within the borders of the Western Empire and, by dint of looting and war, will eventually cause the collapse of the Empire. In the twilight of Antiquity and at the dawn of the Middle Ages, the so-called “barbarian nations” founded kingdoms on the former imperial territory. In Barbarian Kingdoms, an asymmetrical and competitive strategy game, each player controls his own nascent kingdom and competes for supremacy over Western Europe. The first player to control seven territories or to eliminate two opposing kings wins the game. Assault and Claim actions can be immediately challenged by an opponent and resolved by a battle. During the battle, a bribe may be paid to the opponent to try to reverse the outcome. Players must be vigilant in positioning their forces (with the constraint of a maximum of one unit per province), keep an eye on their opponents, and take advantage of their two asymmetrical powers: that of their kingdom and that of their king.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $66

All-In (w/shipping): $422

Campaign Ends: 11/8

Game Ships: Sep. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 181% with 20 days to go.

Project: Builders of Blankenburg: Second Edition

Designer: Peter Schultz (The Acts, Builders of Blankenburg)

Artist: Liz Stephanoff (The Acts, The Last Hundred Yards, The Last Hundred Yards: Volume 2 – Airborne Over Europe)

Publisher: Cobblestone Games (The Acts, Builders of Blankenburg)

Genre/Mechanisms: area majority / influence, auction / budding, city building, medieval, variable player powers

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “In Builders of Blankenburg you are competing to construct the town and earn the most prestige while doing so. Each player takes on a persona which provides a unique benefit during the game. You begin the game with some basic resources and a small amount of silver. While all structures can earn you prestige, only building what the town’s citizens demand will earn you the silver necessary to bid for and purchase more resources. Each turn consists of four phases: Bidding, Building, Income, and Marketplace. The game introduces the citizen track, a growing group of town folk that allows all players to see which structures will earn them income. It also serves to signal the end of the game once the town is full. The town is split into four districts, each limited in size and awarding bonuses at the end of the game for anyone who controls more of a district than their opponents. If there are no other plots on which to build, the game also ends. Beware, while the citizens are known, the best laid plans can be ruined by events and visitors to the town. The player with the greatest prestige at the end of the game is declared the winner.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $55

All-In (w/shipping): $196

Campaign Ends: 11/10

Game Ships: Feb. 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 59% with 22 days to go.

Project: Canvas: Finishing Touches

Designers: Jeff Chin (Afternova, Canvas, Crypt), Andrew Nerger (Afternova, Canvas, Crypt)

Artist: Luan Huynh (Canvas)

Publisher: Road To Infamy Games (Afternova, Canvas, Crypt)

Genre/Mechanisms: art, card game, expansion, hand management, increase value of unchosen resources, layering, open drafting, painting / paintings, puzzle, set collection, solo / solitaire game, transparent elements

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “In Canvas, you play as a painter competing in an art competition. Players will collect art cards, layering 3 of them together to create their own unique Painting. Each card contains a piece of artwork as well as a set of icons used during scoring. Icons will be revealed or hidden based on the way players choose to layer the cards making for an exciting puzzle. Paintings are scored based on a set of Scoring cards which will change each game. Once players have created and scored 3 paintings the game ends. In Canvas: Finishing Touches, complete your works of art and show them off to the world with the new Frames. These Frames add a layer of interaction as players compete to have their work displayed on the gallery wall. Also features Platinum Ribbons (grab a Platinum Ribbon whenever your painting is framed in the gallery) and new Scoring Cards for puzzling new challenges and added replayability.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $47

All-In (w/shipping): $132

Campaign Ends: 11/15

Game Ships: Aug. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 537% with 27 days to go.

Project: Chris Chan’s Portents

Designer: Christopher Ryan Chan (The Night Cage)

Artist: Christopher Ryan Chan (The Night Cage)

Publisher: New Mill Industries (Reapers, The Science and Seance Society, Union Station)

Genre/Mechanisms: abstract strategy, matching, set collection, slide / push, square grid

Player Count: 1-2

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “You are the king’s last fortune-tellers, but after tonight he’s going to make another budget cut and heads will roll. The sacrifices are scattered on the altar and the king is demanding a reading. It’s time to make a future for yourself. Manipulate the Bird Sacrifice Tiles (referred to as ‘BS Tiles’) into lines of 3 with a shared attribute, called Portents, to collect Omen Tokens from the outside of the Altar. Use Portents to make sets of Omens with a common attribute called Fortunes. Create one Fortune of 4 Omens or two Fortunes of 3 Omens to win.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $39

All-In (w/shipping): $39, same as above

Campaign Ends: 10/31

Game Ships: Feb. 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 75% with 11 days to go.

Project: Deep Shelf

Designer: Richard Keene (DinoGenics)

Artists: Anthony Cournoyer (City of Gears, Crisis, Fantasy Realms), Tan Ho Sim (DinoGenics, The Silver River)

Publisher: Ninth Haven Games (DinoGenics)

Genre/Mechanisms: economic, end game bonuses, exploration, market, pick-up and deliver, scenario / mission / campaign game, science fiction, tech trees / tech tracks, variable player powers

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: heavy

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “A game of deep-sea exploration, exploitation, development, and research. Breakthroughs in deep sea mining technology have ushered in a modern gold rush as corporations’ position themselves to extract the oceans riches of rare earth metals. As corporations seek to exploit the wealth of the ocean, ecologists and research groups see the expeditions as an opportunity to study and catalogue rare lifeforms never before encountered. An uneasy collaboration has formed as scientist make use of the vast wealth of industry and the industrialist depend on the breakthroughs provided by studying the vast and hostile deep-sea ecosystem. Players take on the role of competing corporations seeking to find and develop resource nodes, extract rare earth metals, transport them to the surface and research the unexplored deepest reaches of the ocean. As the leader of your corporation, you will decide whether to expand quickly and strip mine the ocean of its wealth, or take a more eco friendly approach and learn as much as possible about the wonders of the deep. Players must be cautious of mining too greedily, or delving too deep, as such actions will damage the natural ecosystems of the ocean, hastening the end of the game, and not everything in the deep is friendly.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $96

All-In (w/shipping): $120

Campaign Ends: 11/9

Game Ships: Sep. 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 43% with 20 days to go.

Project: Dreadful Meadows

Designer: Lukus Adam (Galilean Moons)

Artists: Paul M Tobin (GKR Heavy Hitters, Shelfie Stacker), Claire Tobin (Shelfie Stacker)

Publisher: Arkus Games (Shelfie Stacker)

Genre/Mechanisms: contracts, economic, farming, market, solo / solitaire game, tile placement, variable player powers

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Welcome to Dreadful Meadows – a land of tricks and treats, where kooky Confectioners compete to be this season’s sweetest supplier. You play a Confectioner, sowing and growing sinister seeds to create the most bountiful candy crops, through crafty candy patch placement. As rounds progress, cultivating your candy crops allows for exciting expansion and experimentation. Conjure up a crew of magic Sugar Sprites who can lend a hand with their abnormal abilities. As you prosper, summon your horrid Harvesters to intensify turnover, or utilize your Candy to discover new Concoctions. Each game is unique through your choice of Confectioner and the strategies you utilize. Actions and patch varieties are limited, so your success in the meadow will rely on calculated decisions in the expansion of your meadow, the concoctions you create, and how you utilize your Sugar Sprites and Harvesters.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $64

All-In (w/shipping): $98

Campaign Ends: 11/3

Game Ships: Aug. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 321% with 15 days to go.

Project: Escape from New York by Kevin Wilson (on Gamefound)

Designer: Kevin Wilson (Arkham Horror Third Edition, Cosmic Encounter, Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition, Fury of Dracula Third / Fourth Edition, Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game)

Artist: Davide Corsi (Kingsburg Second Edition, Last Aurora, The Thing: The Boardgame)

Publisher: Pendragon Game Studio (The Expanse Board Game, Last Aurora, The Thing: The Boardgame)

Genre/Mechanisms: bluffing, card game, deck construction, exploration, hand management, jail / prison, movies / tv / radio theme, semi-cooperative game, take that, tile placement

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “An adaptation of the John Carpenter movie of the same name, you play as Snake, Brain, Maggie, or Cabbie and attempt to rescue the president and his precious tape and bring them to safety, while dealing with the gangs of the most dangerous prison in the world – all of Manhattan.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $83

All-In (w/shipping): $148

Campaign Ends: 11/8

Game Ships: Dec. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 368% with 20 days to go.

Project: Genpei

Designer: Bernat Buxaus

Artists: Voyager Illustration

Publisher: Invedars (Ambar, Big Bang 13.7, Frankenstein)

Genre/Mechanisms: area majority / influence, chaining, deck construction, fantasy, rondel

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “The emperor is dead and the throne awaits its new host. Five powerful houses decide the future of Japan, including the court of the Imperial Palace. Play skillfully to get the support of the clans that dominate the territories in these turbulent times. Genpei stands out for its original mechanics where the players will chain actions to get them closer to victory by influencing more clans than their rival players. Easy to play but hard to master. On your turn you must play one of the two cards from your hand. Whenever you play a clan card, it activates the clan marker on the corresponding clan wheel: move the marker to one of the two adjoining spaces and perform the action indicated on that space. You may perform a chain of actions during the same turn: whenever you draw a card as part of an action its clan marker is activated. Place your influence tokens to get the support of the Houses. The player who receives the support of the most Houses (including the House of the Emperor) is declared the new Emperor and wins the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $39

All-In (w/shipping): $59

Campaign Ends: 11/8

Game Ships: Sep. 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 62% with 20 days to go.

Project: Oathsworn: Into The Deepwood (2nd Edition)

Designer: Jamie Jolly (Farsight)

Artists: Francesca Baerald (Battle for Rokugan, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, Frosthaven), Vladimir Buchyk, Sean Jackson, Dongjun Lu, Dongbiao Lu

Publisher: Shadowborne Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, adventure, card game, card play conflict resolution, cooperative game, deck building, dice, dice rolling, dungeon crawler, exploration, fantasy, hand management, hexagon grid, miniatures, modular board, mythology, novel-based, pattern recognition, puzzle, push your luck, role playing, storytelling, variable player powers

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: heavy

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “A Twisting Tales Game for 1-4 players where play is focused on narrative choices and rich miniature combat encounters. The game is set in the Deepwood where a Free company (the Oathsworn) fights for humanity’s survival against unnatural horrors and the Deepwood itself. Each gaming session sees the players participate in a multi path game book where the story unfolds to an inevitable encounter. The encounters are multi phase scripted boss fights on the encounter board where players have to outwit and outplay the AI driven monsters and enemies. As the sessions unfold the group is taken into a deep legacy campaign where they gain levels, loot and new allies to join them in their journey. Oathsworn boasts a unique push your luck combat system of exploding dice where players are always having to decide between hitting harder and potentially missing the attack. This coupled with a euro style cooldown system called ‘Battleflow’ make for a vibrant and engaging play session.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $158

All-In (w/shipping): $424

Campaign Ends: 11/15

Game Ships: Oct. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 3,349% with 26 days to go.

Project: Race to the Raft

Designer: Frank West (The City of Kings, The Isle of Cats, The Isle of Cats: Explore & Draw)

Artists: Miguel Da Silva (The City of Kings, Vadoran Gardens), Frank West (The Isle of Cats, The Isle of Cats: Explore & Draw, Vadoran Gardens)

Publisher: The City of Games (The City of Kings, The Isle of Cats, The Isle of Cats: Explore & Draw)

Genre/Mechanisms: animal meeples / animeeples, animals, cats, cooperative game, fantasy, grid coverage, grid movement, modular board, pattern building, push your luck, polyominoes, puzzle, scenario / mission / campaign game, solo / solitaire grid, square grid, tile placement, wooden pieces & boards

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “A cooperative, path building, tile placement, social puzzle board game. You play the role of the disorientated island cats who are lost on the smoke-filled island. Nothing seems to be where it once was, and you must find a safe route to the raft by placing pathway cards. As you build pathways, fire, represented by different shaped tiles, will spread across the island limiting your options. You’ll need to find the balance between creating long pathways and keeping the cats ahead of the flames as you move towards the raft. There are 81 scenarios to choose from which include a simple tutorial that will gradually introduce you to new rules and an advanced tutorial for when you’re ready for a far greater challenge. Choose cards, build pathways, and control the spread of the fire as you work together to guide all the cats in their race to the raft.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $67

All-In (w/shipping): $126

Campaign Ends: 11/10

Game Ships: Sep. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 681% with 21 days to go.

Project: Spirit Island: Nature Incarnate (on Backerkit)

Designer: R. Eric Reuss (Fealty, Horizons of Spirit Island, Spirit Island)

Artists: not credited

Publisher: Greater Than Games (Sentinels of the Multiverse, Spirit Island, Tak)

Genre/Mechanisms: action retrieval, area majority / influence, automatic growth resource, campaign / battle card driven, colonial, control board, cooperative game, events, expansion, fantasy, fighting, hand management, miniatures, modular board, mythology, set collection, simultaneous action selection, solo /solitaire game, territory-building, variable player powers, variable set-up, wooden pieces & boards

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: heavy

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “A complex and thematic cooperative game about defending your island home from colonizing Invaders. Players are different spirits of the land, each with its own unique elemental powers. Every turn, players simultaneously choose which of their power cards to play, paying energy to do so. Using combinations of power cards that match a spirit’s elemental affinities can grant free bonus effects. Faster powers take effect immediately, before the Invaders spread and ravage, but other magics are slower, requiring forethought and planning to use effectively. In the Spirit phase, spirits gain energy, and choose how / whether to Grow: to reclaim used power cards, to seek for new power, or to spread presence into new areas of the island. The Invaders expand across the island map in a semi-predictable fashion. Each turn they explore into some lands (portions of the island); the next turn, they build in those lands, forming settlements and cities. The turn after that, they ravage there, bringing blight to the land and attacking any native islanders present. The islanders fight back against the Invaders when attacked, and lend the spirits some other aid, but may not always do so exactly as you’d hoped. Some Powers work through the islanders, helping them (e.g.) drive out the Invaders or clean the land of blight. The game escalates as it progresses: spirits spread their presence to new parts of the island and seek out new and more potent powers, while the Invaders step up their colonization efforts. Each turn represents 1-3 years of alternate-history. At game start, winning requires destroying every last settlement and city on the board – but as you frighten the Invaders more and more, victory becomes easier: they’ll run away even if some number of settlements or cities remain. Defeat comes if any spirit is destroyed, if the island is overrun by blight, or if the Invader deck is depleted before achieving victory. The game includes different adversaries to fight against (e.g. a Swedish Mining Colony or a Remote British Colony). Each changes play in different ways, and offers a different path of difficulty boosts to keep the game challenging as you gain skill.

Spirit Island: Nature Incarnate introduces eight new Spirits, twenty new aspects, and so much more.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $65

All-In (w/shipping): $486

Campaign Ends: 11/17

Game Ships: information not yet provided

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1,469% with 29 days to go.

Project: Super Snipers

Designer: Galen McCown

Artist: H.S. Law

Publisher: Galen’s Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action timer, advantage token, chaining, connections, enclosure, grid coverage, matching, multiple maps, pattern building, puzzle, race, real-time, secret unit development, simultaneous action selection, solo / solitaire game, square grid, sudden death ending

Player Count: 1-2

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A 1-2 player head-to-head sniper dueling game featuring a familiar tetris mechanic. In Super Snipers, players assume the roles of genetically and cybernetically enhanced soldiers, each racing to locate and kill the other Super Sniper first. They do this by placing polyominoes (called ‘Focus’) onto grids. They must locate their opponent, isolate innocent bystanders, and make their kill. The first player to make 3 kills wins. Super Snipers has a simultaneous turns Duel Mode, a real-time Quickdraw Mode, a solo turn-based Contract Mode against an automa, and an intense solo real-time Hostage Rescue Mode against two automa in a hostage situation.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $40

All-In (w/shipping): $63

Campaign Ends: 11/17

Game Ships: Oct. 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 81% with 28 days to go.

Project: Trench Club: Legacy

Designer: Philipp K. Berger (Trench Club)

Artists: not credited

Publisher: PKB Games (Trench Club)

Genre/Mechanisms: alternate history, dice rolling, hexagon grid, legacy game, miniatures, scenario / mission / campaign game, simulation, solo / solitaire game, war game, world war I

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Create your alternative history World War I in this strategy game with detailed miniatures. Command your tanks and troops through battles, develop new technology and make history with the standalone legacy campaign. Expands the rules of Trench Club into the legacy format. Trench Club: Legacy can be played either as a single casual skirmish game or as an epic campaign, where each individual game will influence your future games: you will research new technology that will give you access to new unit types, you will have mission targets depending on your overall war fortune, you will modify the game map, and more. Depending on your actions, your individual epic story of global history will unfold.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $61

All-In (w/shipping): $128

Campaign Ends: 11/17

Game Ships: May 2024

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 412% with 28 days to go.

Project: Trick Shot (Second Edition, on Gamefound)

Designer: Artyom Nichipurov (Guard of Atlantis: Tabletop MOBA, Guards of Atlantis II, Warpate)

Artist: Mathieu Beaulieu (Flip Over Frog, Pony Express, Sobek)

Publisher: Wolff Designa (Guard of Atlantis: Tabletop MOBA, Guards of Atlantis II, Warpate)

Genre/Mechanisms: dice, dice with icons, dice rolling, grid movement, ice hockey, miniatures, push your luck, sports, square grid, variable player powers

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “A tense, tactical, fast-paced game of ice hockey with plastic miniatures and a streamlined rule-set. The game strikes a fine balance between luck and strategy, while still being easy to explain and get to the table. Use smart positioning, special abilities of your skaters, and press your luck to outplay your opponent and score the most goals. This edition offers new abilities for all the Arena cards, introduces new ‘player cards,’ introduces multiple improvements to game-play and more.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $20

All-In (w/shipping): $112

Campaign Ends: 11/17

Game Ships: Dec. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 411% with 29 days to go.

Project: Unluckables

Designer: Derek Zyn

Artist: Kristie Silva

Publisher: Riftway Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, card game, multi-use cards, set collection, take that, trading, variable player powers

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A mad scientist’s experiment gone wrong. Created to give bad luck, they instead absorb it. But if an Unluckable absorbs too much, they turn from playful candy loving creatures into trick playing pranksters. Adopt Unluckables, play tricks, activate unique abilities and do your best to avoid the perils of Unluck. The first player to end a round with 13+ Skellies, wins.”

Base Pledge: $26 + shipping (with no shipping estimates provided)

All-In: $130 + shipping (with no shipping estimates provided)

Campaign Ends: 11/18

Game Ships: May 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 26% with 30 days to go.

Project: Warcrow Adventures

Designers: Alberto Abal (Aristeia!, Infinity Defiance), Jesús Fuster (Aristeia!, Infinity Defiance), Laura Castro Royo, Marcos Bello Soto (Infinity Defiance)

Artists: not credited

Publisher: Corvus Belli (Aristeia!, Infinity N3: Core Book, Infinity: Operation Icestorm)

Genre/Mechanisms: action / event, cooperative game, dice, dice rolling, die icon resolution, dungeon crawler, events, fantasy, grid movement, miniatures, narrative choice / paragraph

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A fantasy-themed narrative co-op and app-driven dungeon crawler based in a new fantasy universe. You’ll become the protagonist of a unique tactical and narrative story. Join your teammates and venture into Hawthorn Point to try and overcome its challenges. The game combines tactical, action playing with a deep focus on the narrative. Through the game, you will interact with other characters, learn their stories, talk to NPCs, explore different scenarios, fight a range of different enemies, and thrive in the development of the story.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $159

All-In (w/shipping): $224

Campaign Ends: 11/1

Game Ships: Feb. 2024

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 148% with 12 days to go.