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

Project: A Brazen Crown

Designer: Brendan Evans (Skyward)

Artist: Perplexing Ruins

Publisher: Long Tail Games

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, deck construction, fantasy, hand management, horror, open drafting, player elimination, push your luck, take that, variable player powers

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “The first card game based on Mörk Borg, a pitch-black apocalyptic fantasy RPG set in a bleak and dying world. A Brazen Crown is a lightning-fast battle card game with strong drafting options. Each player controls a blended deck from two of five iconic factions (Royal, Occultist, Esoteric, Fanged & Scum) and wins by reducing their opponent’s health points to zero. On their turn, a player has three coins to spend on minions, spells, relics and traps from their hand. While the ultimate goal is to deal damage to the opponent, other card abilities include wounding or healing minions, searching for other cards, gaining loot to be spent on later turns, and so on. A player holding the Brazen Crown card at the end of their turn is able to draw an extra card; however, this also increases the misery of the world. The game instantly ends if seven miseries are summoned, with the triggering player losing. Uneasy is the head…”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $57 (there is a lower pledge level for the digital version only)

All-In (w/shipping): $57, same as above

Campaign Ends: 12/10

Game Ships: Sep. 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 19% with 28 days to go.

Project: Copan: Dying City

Designers: Eric Dubus (Dominations: Road to Civilization, Museum, Museum: Pictura), Olivier Melison (Dominations: Road to Civilization, Museum, Museum: Pictura)

Artist: Ronan Toulhoat (The Court of Miracles, Encyclopedia)

Publisher: Holy Grail Games (Dominations: Road to Civilization, Museum, Rallyman GT)

Genre/Mechanisms: animals, area movement, expansion, modular board, pattern building, pick-up and deliver, set collection

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: heavy

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Welcome to the city of Copan, shining jewel of the Maya civilization. The city is flourishing, and as one of its ruling families, this golden age holds many opportunities for you to increase your influence and wealth. But Copan is destined to fall. Dark times lie ahead, and as you work to secure your legacy over generations, you have to face the city’s slow decline. Your progress will hindered by dwindling resources, crumbling political structure, natural disasters, and war. Copan: Dying City is a heavy Eurogame with both worker-placement and tile-placement mechanisms. The game features a reversed difficulty curve because when play begins, resources are plentiful, making most actions easy to accomplish. However, all resources are finite. When they reach critical levels, they trigger potentially devastating events, and once they run out, they’re gone forever. Every move you make impacts the rest of the game, both for you and other players, as Copan’s inevitable fate looms.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $77

All-In (w/shipping): $106

Campaign Ends: 12/1

Game Ships: Sep. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 126% with 19 days to go.

Project: The Cottage: A Print n’ Play Horror Adventure

Designer: Dave Navarro

Artist: Dave Navarro

Publisher: Dave Navarro

Genre/Mechanisms: dice, dice rolling, exploration, horror, print & play, roll-and-write, solo / solitaire game

Player Count: 1

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A print & play game inspired by survival horror video games like The Quarry, Until Dawn or The Dark Pictures. Welcome to Connieville, a small fishing village that has acquired the reputation of a cursed town. Both the village and its inhabitants hide dark secrets. The game is designed to be played alone, although it is perfectly possible to play in a group by making decisions together and solving the puzzles as a group. In order to play The Cottage you will need a pencil, a classic die, the story book (PDF), print the character sheet and the maps. Scenarios can be played on a tablet or printed on paper. When you move around the map and choose an area to investigate, open the page and look for the paragraph indicated on the board to find out what your character will do. Here you will decide if you want to take objects, go one way or another, talk to another character, even take control of the conversation. When you enter a new map, you must read the introductory text and play the game following the established turns. When you find yourself in a square you want to explore, go to the number of that square in the scenario and find out what it hides.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $18 (not including early bird rate)

All-In (w/shipping): $25

Campaign Ends: 12/9

Game Ships: Oct. 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 63% with 28 days to go.

Project: On the Underground: Paris / New York

Designer: Sebastian Bleasdale (Black Fleet, Keyflower, On the Underground)

Artist: Viktor Csete (Crisis, The Manhattan Project, Twilight Struggle)

Publisher: LudiCreations (Crisis, Enchanters, On the Underground: London/Berlin)

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, action queue, card game, deck building, dice rolling, dogs, fantasy, grid movement, miniatures, post-apocalyptic, role playing, science fiction, two-player fighting games, variable player powers, wargame

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Players build the Paris Métro lines or the New York City Subway lines. Each player controls 2-4 different lines, depending on the number of players. On each turn, four destination cards are available, corresponding to stations on the map. You can take up to four actions; an action is either building track by placing one of your track tokens on the board or taking a branch token. A player may use two branch tokens to branch out of an existing line (whereas normally lines can be extended only at the endpoints). After each player’s turn, a passenger token is moved along players’ lines, avoiding walking as much as possible, to reach one or two destinations determined at the beginning of the turn. Destination cards corresponding to the visited stations are then replaced by new ones, then the next player takes their turn. Players score points in two ways: by building track and connecting their lines to various types of stations, by collecting landmark tiles (in Paris), by connecting stations across water (in New York) or at the end of the game if they have achieved their secret objectives (in Paris); or by having the passenger use their lines when moving.  Paris is a thoughtful map offering many options. New York is a fast-paced map reflecting the hectic pace of life in the big Apple.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $58

All-In (w/shipping): $112

Campaign Ends: 11/29

Game Ships: Dec. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 280% with 18 days to go.

Project: A Wayfarer’s Tale

Designer: James Emmerson (Tranquility)

Artists: Tristam Rossin (Brick & Mortar, Cosmic Colonies, Tranquility)

Publisher: Bright Light Games (The Mariana Trench)

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, dice, dice rolling, exploration, fantasy, multiple maps, paper-and-pencil, print & play, roll-and-write, solo / solitaire game

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Players race to explore uncharted islands, collecting Treasure and avoiding Monsters along the way to score the most points. Turns are taken simultaneously, and there are no rounds in this roll-an-write voyage of discovery. Instead, players choose from a shared pool of dice each turn, adding 2 dice values together to enlist the services of an intrepid Explorer to help them traverse tricky terrain. Play continues until a player visits every Town on the island, but true victory is measured in fame and wealth. Your final score in A Wayfarer’s Tale is based on how many Towns you visit, how much Treasure you discover, and how many Monsters you face.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $6

All-In (w/shipping): $10

Campaign Ends: 11/30

Game Ships: Dec. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 534% with 18 days to go.