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

Project: Green Planet: Powerline & Future Energy

Designers: Dirk Henn (Alhambra, Powerline, Shogun, Wallenstein); Emanuele Ornella (Assyria, Future Energy, Hermagor, Oltre Mare)

Artists: Patricia Limberger (12 Thieves, Alhambra, Marrakesh, Powerline); Dennis Lohausen (Ark Nova, A Feast for Odin, Future Energy, Gaia Project, The Quacks of Quedlinburg, Terra Mystica)

Publisher: Queen Games (Alhambra, Amerigo, Fresco, Lancaster, Shogun)

Genre/Mechanisms: network and route building, pick-up and deliver, point-to-point movement, worker placement (Future Energy); dice, environmental, simultaneous action selection, variable set-up (Powerline)

Player Count: 2-4 (Future Energy); 1-6 (Powerline)

Solo Mode: no (Future Energy); yes (Powerline)

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: low

Summary: “A re-design of Ornella’s Pioneers, Future Energy has players attempting to construct networks of non-carbon-based energy production plants around Europe. Each player’s turn consists of three phases: earning income, making 1-3 purchases of new power networks or contracts, and moving the shared surveyor piece along the built networks (paying other players for their share of the network they use), replacing the old power plant they end on with a new one. Each type of plant they replace gives a special ability or one-time benefit. The old plants are placed randomly on the board each game for a different puzzle every time. At the end of the game, each player is rewarded with additional points based on the number of their plants in their largest network of connected cities.

In Powerline, players attempt to connect cities with new sources of energy production. In each of the 16 game rounds, six colored dice are rolled and arranged on their designated spaces on the central board. Each player has a player board that shows power lines ranging in length from 3-12 spaces, with each space showing the result of a die. Players may choose to use the six dice going from right to left or left to right in order to build the power lines on their board. However, they may use a certain number of dice only a fixed number of times, and a die may be skipped only by taking a penalty. During certain rounds, each of the three game objectives will be evaluated, and at the end of the game players gain points for completed power lines and fully connected cities, then lose points for lines they started but did not complete.

The campaign also includes the ability to add-on Bastille, Fresco, Luxor, Old London Bridge, Runestones, and Scrap Racer.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $52

All-In (w/shipping): $136

Campaign Ends: 1/21

Game Ships: Aug. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 219% with 7 days to go.