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

Project: 1812!: War on the Great Lakes Frontier

Designer: Ken Repel

Artist: Iván Cáceres (Almoravid: Reconquista and Riposte in Spain 1085-1086, Granada: Last Stand of the Moors – 1482-1492, Santa Cruz 1797)

Publisher: Compass Games (Crusade and Revolution: The Spanish Civil War, 1936 – 1939; Enemy Action: Ardennes; The Russian Campaign)

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 player only game, campaign / battle card driven, hexagon grid, nautical, simulation, wargame

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: heavy

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “A card-driven strategic wargame that simulates the naval and land actions fought on and around the Great Lakes of North America during The War of 1812. This is a two-player game with either player commanding the naval and land forces of the United States of America or the British Empire. Players will alternate playing Strategy cards, spending Operation Points and causing historical events to occur. Operation Points are the currency used to move and fight battles with military units. The scale of fighting units is regimental and single ship. Each leader, regiment and naval vessel has been researched to determinee its relative strength and weaknesses based on battle performance, unit size, and type. With armies rarely exceeding a few thousand men, the forces are manageable and the clashes are skirmishes in comparison to the battles fought in Europe.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $90

All-In (w/shipping): $172

Campaign Ends: 1/22

Game Ships: Mar. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 153% with 10 days to go.

Project: Artislime

Designer: Alexz Martinez (Kaikoro)

Artist: Ely Moonlign

Publisher: Rawr Games (Kaikoro)

Genre/Mechanisms: abstract strategy, card game, chaining, educational, hand management, print & play, puzzle, race, set collection, solo / solitaire game

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “A puzzle card game where players must mix slimes to produce new colors. Take advantage of the different effects of the slimes to chain combos and continue playing actions. Mix the slimes in your playing area in a certain order to get paintings and win the game.”

Base Pledge: $2 (print & play only pledge)

All-In: $6 (print & play only pledge)

Campaign Ends: 1/31

Game Ships: Feb. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 314% with 19 days to go.

Project: Circadians: First Light – Specialists Expansion + Circadians: Chaos Order – Harbingers Expansion

Designers: S J Macdonald (Architects of the West Kingdom, Circadians: First Light, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Viscounts of the West Kingdom), Zach Smith (Circadians: Chaos Order)

Artist: Sam Phillips (Circadians: First Light, Hadrian’s Wall, Raiders of Scythia)

Publisher: Garphill Games (Architects of the West Kingdom, Hadrian’s Wall, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Raider of the North Sea, Viscounts of the West Kingdom)

Genre/Mechanisms: action drafting, area majority / influence, area movement, card play conflict resolution, expansion, hand management, hexagon grid, income, science fiction, variable player powers, wargame (Circadians: Chaos Order – Harbingers); contracts, dice, dice rolling, events, expansion, secret unit deployment, science fiction, set collection, solo / solitaire game, space exploration, variable player powers, worker placement, worker placement with dice workers (Circadians: First Light – Specialists)

Player Count: 2-5 (Circadians: Chaos Order – Harbingers), 1-4 (Circadians: First Light – Specialists)

Solo Mode: no (Circadians: Chaos Order – Harbingers), yes (Circadians: First Light – Specialists)

Complexity: heavy

Risk: low

Summary: “The aim of Circadians: First Light is to lead a team of researchers on the planet of Ryh. Players need to manage their crew (dice) to visit various parts of the planet for trade, farming, construction and research. Players score points for negotiating with the locals, harvesting resources for the depository, upgrading their research base, exploring the planet, and collecting gems. The Specialists Expansion adds two new local factions for players to negotiate with, a temple location to visit, and outpost boards to extend their research bases. It also adds a lot of new characters (variable player powers) and contract cards, and the new, powerful specialist dice.

In Circadians: Chaos Order, players take on the role of asymmetric factions. Each faction has their own means of winning the game, unique leaders, attribute cards and other abilities. Across the landscape lay six massive structures, towering over the forces fighting below. They seemed to pulse and flicker with a golden haze. Could these be the ancient relics the Oxataya spoke of? There is so much we still do not understand, but we cannot concede to indecision. Will we stay and fight, or retreat back to Moontide? The Harbingers mini expansion adds 12 Leader Cards, 6 Attribute Cards, 12 Tactics Cards, and 2 new Production Tokens. Each Faction now has 2 new Leaders to choose from. After deploying their starting Leader during setup, they must select 2 of their other Leaders, and return them to the box. This provides a lot more variability and strategies to discover within each Faction.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $22

All-In (w/shipping): $157

Campaign Ends: 12/19

Game Ships: Oct. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 366% with 7 days to go.

Project: Dungeon Makers

Designer: Wesley Woodbury (Die in the Dungeon!, Legends of Novus)

Artist: Wesley Woodbury

Publisher: FunDaMental Games (Die in the Dungeon!, Legends of Novus)

Genre/Mechanisms: fantasy, tile placement

Player Count: 1-2

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “A tile laying game with a light fantasy dungeon map theme. Build a convoluted and trap filled dungeon, scoring points based on creatures, puzzles, traps, and more. The dungeon maker who builds the best dungeon, by scoring the most points, wins the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $6 (print & play only pledge)

All-In (w/shipping): $34

Campaign Ends: 12/28

Game Ships: June 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 122% with 16 days to go.

Project: The Last Doge

Designer: Gaël de Robien

Artist: Martin Mottet (The Magnificent, Revive, Vampire: The Masquerade – Vendetta)

Publisher: Don’t Panic Games (Cowboy Bebop: Space Serenade)

Genre/Mechanisms: dungeon crawler, exploration, fantasy, hand management, memory, post-apocalyptic, variable player powers

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “It is the not-so-distant future, and humanity has come close to extinction. Numerous ecological disasters and incessant wars have caused it to regress to almost prehistoric levels. Nature has reclaimed its rights, invading the former world, the remains of which are barely visible under the luxuriant vegetation. Yet, little by little, a new civilization is emerging. And it is sending explorers to the ruins of the old world to try to discover its secrets. One of these cities, which was once Venice, is the focus of much interest. For a long time, it was inaccessible, almost entirely submerged under waters teeming with predators. But a few months ago, the sea level began to drop, revealing an ancient city just waiting to be explored. Several tribes have sent their best trackers to follow rumors of a mythical treasure and numerous artifacts from the past. But the city holds many threats, including a mysterious half-man, half-machine guardian known as the Doge. You play as the champion of one of six tribes living on the outskirts of the city, each with a good reason for wanting to explore the city and find the treasure, the nature of which changes according to their legends. This will not be easy, but you can also be satisfied with bringing back artifacts from ancient times, or simply getting in the way of the other champions… or at least escaping with your life. To win, you must be the player with the most trophies at the end of the game but also survive long enough to escape the wrath of the city’s dreadful guardian.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $53

All-In (w/shipping): $128

Campaign Ends: 2/9

Game Ships: Sep. 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 54% with 28 days to go.

Project: OrcQuest WarPath: Resurrection

Designers: Yoann Bugny (Orcquest), Thomas Maufroid (Orcquest)

Artists: Carlos Amaral (Anastyr), Alexander Brick (Bad Bones), Antal Kéninger (Machina Arcana, Machina Arcana Second/Third Edition), Loïc Muzy (Fireteam Zero, Mythic Battles: Pantheon, Rallyman: GT), Daniel Zrom (Anastyr)

Publisher: Monolith

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, campaign game, cooperative game, dice rolling, exploration, fantasy, fighting, grid movement, miniatures, modular board, variable player powers

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: low

Summary: “A cooperative game in which you take the role of green skins who embark together on an adventure to avoid the potential annihilation of their race. Together, they will use their teamwork and unique skills to overcome the enemy and hopefully find the source of all evil. Throughout the adventure, you can develop your weapons, and working together as a team, you will pay homage to the Badass God by leaving a trail of blood and bones everywhere you go. Ten scenarios on double-sided modular tiles that will test your stealth, your teamwork and your Orc skills against the human scum and maybe… other surprise guests. Players follow a campaign where the objective is to find out what motivates the expansion of the human lands. Players will go through different quests (saving allies, fighting big bosses…) and will develop themselves as well as their equipment as the campaign advances. In order to reach the end they must use their team spirit as well as their stealth skills to go through the different scenarios. Players win by reaching the last chapter and defeating a “still secret” opponent. Players lose if the Alert Level reaches the maximum allowed or if all heroes die.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $186

All-In (w/shipping): $186, same as above

Campaign Ends: 1/18

Game Ships: Oct. 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 96% with 6 days to go.

Project: Phantom Epoch

Designer: Tyson Abernathy

Artists: Moy Shin Hung (Alienation, Danger Park, Runewars), Imaginaires (Ukiyo, Upkeep), Henning Ludvigsen (Android: Netrunner, Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Blood Rage, Star Wars: Imperial Assault, Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game), Janette Ramos (Arcane Alley, The Pirate Republic, Ukiyo), Hjalmar Wåhlin, Sycra Yasin

Publisher: Doteira Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action drafting, adventure, campaign / battle card driven, cooperative game, deck construction, deck building, dice rolling, dungeon crawler, fantasy, grid movement, hexagon grid, legacy game, miniatures, scenario / mission / campaign game, science fiction, simultaneous action selection, space exploration, solo / solitaire game

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A fully cooperative tactical combat role-playing board game with a persistent, choice-driven, 40+ mission campaign that blends sci-fi and fantasy themes. A wide range of character choices, including human and alien species which can be combined with a diverse set of classes, allows players to create and grow their own characters to match their own play style. Each mission has its own map, objectives, enemies, and challenges. Every map has a completely unique layout. No two missions will be the same, and players will have to adjust their strategies accordingly. Outside of missions, players will need to gather resources to repair and restore functionality to the starship that serves as their headquarters. Doing so will unlock facilities to improve their characters with upgraded equipment, attributes, and skills. As secrets from the past are revealed, they will gain combat knowledge in the form of branching advanced classes that allow players to further customize and empower their characters. Before missions, players prepare their equipment and Action cards that they’ll bring with them on a mission. During a mission, players and adversaries simultaneously select Action cards at the start of each round. The selected cards determine the turn order for the round. During their turns the players and adversaries play the selected action cards one at a time. As a fully cooperative game, players win a mission together by completing the mission objective, or lose together when all players are defeated or the objective is failed.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $171

All-In (w/shipping): $171, same as above

Campaign Ends: 3/11

Game Ships: June 2024

Funding Status: Currently at 61% with 58 days to go.