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

Project: Graveyard Chess

Designer: Nathan Benson

Artist: Catherine Gilson Highton

Publisher: Nathan Benson

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 player only games, abstract strategy, chess, fantasy, grid movement, miniatures, pattern movement, square grid, static capture, zombies

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “An undead-themed chess variant in which the Kings are replaced with Necromancers, and the other pieces are replaced with various undead creatures. Functionally, Graveyard Chess plays similarly to regular chess, but with a smaller board, and a simplified lineup of pieces. The main key difference is that after you capture an opponent’s piece, you can skip your turn to resurrect it onto the board as your own.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $25

All-In (w/shipping): $75

Campaign Ends: 12/10

Game Ships: July 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 12% with 38 days to go.

Project: Inheritance

Designer: Paul Capovilla

Artist: Cameron Faulks

Publisher: Flying Man Games

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, hand management, medieval, multi-use cards

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Each player tries to prove their legitimacy as a suitor by addressing the ever changing desires of a fickle successor and their family. Use your influence to manipulate these desires. The nature of your proposal will be of great importance, which will lead to your success? A declaration of true love? A proclamation of peace? A generous dowry? Perhaps a declaration of War! Each turn you’ll play one card from your hand that can either influence the successor’s family, or change the terms of the wedding proposal. Choose carefully to ensure your selected Admirer is favoured. You win the game if you start your turn as the favoured Admirer.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $31

All-In (w/shipping): $42

Campaign Ends: 11/30

Game Ships: Mar. 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 16% with 28 days to go.

Project: Monsters: The Dead

Designer: Joey Vigour (Chaosmos, Growl, Stranger Things: Attack of the Mind Flayer)

Artist: Vlad Botos

Publisher: Vigour Games (Growl)

Genre/Mechanisms: betting and bluffing, card game, hand management, horror, memory, open drafting

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “The third cycle of the ‘Monsters’ series features the cinematic slashers of 1981-1990. All monsters and tactical cards (neutralizers) have unique powers from the other cycles. This third set adds a neutral area called the Dead Zone, which represents a parallel dimension, dream realm, or comatose hallucination. The Dreamstalker can trigger a card in the dead zone, the chainsaw-wielding Butcher or the machete-wielding Slasher can send monsters there, and Reanimation Serum can bring back a monster. Each monster has an ability such as triggering the top card of your discard pile. You don’t play cards from your hand; you take cards from a 4-card pool and trigger the card as you take it. At the end of the game players discard down to their best 2 cards. Then, tactical cards (neutralizers) destroy their corresponding monsters, and the player with the best surviving combination of cards wins. Draw a card from the Pool, say its name and number aloud, and trigger/resolve its primary ability. (If another card gets triggered, reveal it and resolve it.) Fill the Pool back to 4 from the face-down deck. At the end of your turn, if you exceed your hand limit (3 cards), discard excess cards face-down to your discard pile. When the draw deck is empty, continue taking turns until everyone has had an equal number. Then Resolution begins. At the end the game have the highest combined point total between your final 2 cards to win.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $12

All-In (w/shipping): $58

Campaign Ends: 11/10

Game Ships: Apr. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 169% with 9 days to go.

Project: Munchkin Witches

Designer: Will Schoonover (Level 7 [Escape], Level 7 [Omega Protocol], The Undercity: An Iron Kingdoms Adventure Board Game)

Artist: Len Peralta (Apocrypha Adventure Card Game: Box One – The World, Munchkin Apocalypse, Star Munchkin)

Publisher: Steve Jackson Games (Illuminati, Ogre, Revolution!)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, fantasy, fighting, hand management, humor, take that, variable player powers

Player Count: 3-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: low

Summary: “Go down in the dungeon. Kill everything you meet. Backstab your friends and steal their stuff. Grab the treasure and run. Admit it. You love it. This award-winning card game, designed by Steve Jackson captures the essence of the dungeon experience with none of that stupid roleplaying stuff. You and your friends compete to kill monsters and grab magic items. And what magic items! Don the Horny Helmet and the Boots of Butt-Kicking. Wield the Staff of Napalm or maybe the Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment. Start by slaughtering the Potted Plant and the Drooling Slime, and work your way up to the Plutonium Dragon. And it’s illustrated by John Kovalic! Fast-playing and silly, Munchkin can reduce any roleplaying group to hysteria. And, while they’re laughing, you can steal their stuff.

This new mini-expansion is packed with new Munchkin cards for your next adventure. Expand the classic game with joyous witchery.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $12

All-In (w/shipping): $62

Campaign Ends: 11/10

Game Ships: May 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 2,169% with 8 days to go.

Project: The Thinning Veil

Designer: Paul Rose

Artists: Maxim Kostin (Machina Arcana Second/Third Editions), Henning Ludvigsen (Android: Netrunner, Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Blood Rage, Star Wars: Imperial Assault, Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game)

Publisher: Triskelion Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, adventure, cooperative game, dice, dice rolling, dungeon crawler, exploration, fantasy, fighting, horror, miniatures, modular board, narrative choice / paragraph, once-per-game abilities, scenario / mission / campaign game, storytelling

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A solo or co-operative board game of horror fantasy inspired by Celtic mythology and Irish legend. It can be played as a narrative based progressive campaign across many scenarios or as one shot games from the Game Night Scenarios book. This gives players the option of an adventure game format or a dungeon crawl experience. This roguelike system offers elements of puzzle solving, objective based and narrative based scenarios, and compelling gameplay, exploring a world familiar yet fantastical. Once you have selected a Hero your journey begins. Will you be valorous and pure, or villainous and corrupt? Will your legend help bring humanity to a new dawn of fresh hope or prolong the night, plunging us into ever deeper darkness? Confront treacherous and deceitful cultists with hidden agendas, fight restless spirits and veil-dwelling horrors from the Land of the Dead; combat or outwit the denizens of the Other Side of Midnight, in this exciting game of high adventure.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $178

All-In (w/shipping): $278

Campaign Ends: 11/30

Game Ships: May 2024

Funding Status: Currently at 22% with 28 days to go.