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

Project: Blood of the Northmen

Designer: Carl Chudyk (Glory to Rome, Innovation, Mottainai, Red7)

Artist: Radoslaw Jaszczuk (2019: The Arctic, Sigismundus Agustus: Dei gratia rex Poloniae, Veto! Szlachecka Gra Karciana 2 edycja)

Publisher: Czacha Games (Champions of Midgard, Clans of Caledonia, Fields of Green, Keyflower, The Manhattan Project, One Deck Dungeon, The Pursuit of Happiness)

Genre/Mechanisms: area majority, hand management, miniatures, modular board, network/route building, point-to-point movement, tile placement, variable player powers

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-high

Summary: A tile placement and area control game with miniatures, from the designer of Glory to Rome and Innovation.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $70

All-In (w/shipping): $70, same as above

Campaign Ends: 10/23

Game Ships: June 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 246%, with 8 days to go.

Project: Calico

Designer: Kevin Russ

Artist: Beth Sobel (Arboretum, Between Two Cities, Herbaceous, Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, Snow Tails, Viticulture, Viticulture: Essential Edition, Wingspan, World’s Fair 1893)

Publisher: Flatout Games

Genre/Mechanisms: pattern building, set collection, tile placement

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: high

Summary: Sew patches together in this abstract tile placement game, where sewing the right patterns will attract calico cats to your calico player board for nap time and bonus points!

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $38

All-In (w/shipping): $38, same as above

Campaign Ends: 11/7

Game Ships: Oct. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1057%, with 23 days to go.

Project: Cosmic Colonies

Designer: Scott Almes (Heroes of Land, Air & Sea; Tiny Epic Galaxies; Tiny Epic Quest; Tiny Epic Zombies)

Artists: Matt Bain, Matt Paquette (Mystic Vale, Thunderstone Quest, Tiny Towns), Tristam Rossin (3 Laws of Robotics, Kingswood, Rune)

Publisher: Floodgate Games (Legacy: Gears of Time, Sagrada, Vault Wars)

Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, pattern building, resource management, simultaneous action selection, tile placement

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: A sci-fi-themed game of card selection and tile placement, from the designer of the Tiny Epic games.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $44

All-In (w/shipping): $44, same as above

Campaign Ends: 10/24

Game Ships: May 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 72%, with 10 days to go.

Project: Hierarchy

Designer: Hugo Kawamata

Artist: Hugo Kawamata

Publisher: Button Shy Games (Circle the Wagons, Sprawlopolis, Tussie Mussie)

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, area majority, hand management, take that

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: An 18-card game from Button Shy that plays like a 2-player variant of Love Letter or a streamlined, travel version of Lost Cities.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $13

All-In (w/shipping): $33, includes other games

Campaign Ends: 10/19

Game Ships: Jan. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1253%, with 4 days to go.

Project: Indoctrination

Designer: Matthew Taylor

Artists: Juan Vera Jr.

Publisher: Westward Media

Genre/Mechanisms: hand management, take that

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: high

Summary: Choose a God, then upgrade your God with cards while recruiting groups of followers before all four Horsemen of the Apocalypse show up to end the game.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $48

All-In (w/shipping): $58

Campaign Ends: 11/7

Game Ships: Feb. 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 8%, with 23 days to go.

Project: Oathsworn: Into The Deepwood

Designer: Jamie Jolly (Farsight)

Artist: Dongjun Lu

Publisher: Shadowborne Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, app support, campaign driven, card selection, cooperative play, dice rolling, fighting, hand management, hexagon grid, miniatures, modular board, pattern recognition, push your luck, role-playing, variable player powers

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: high

Summary: A cooperative, campaign-driven narrative game with miniatures, app support, lots of unlockables, and multi-phase, scripted boss encounters.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $133

All-In (w/shipping): $344

Campaign Ends: 11/5

Game Ships: Dec. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 2496%, with 21 days to go.

Project: Pandemain: Traditional Farmers’ Bread

Designers: Javier Fuentes (Pentaurus: Duel), Rafael Oliva (Pentaurus: Duel)

Artist: DanielRPG (Pentaurus: Duel)

Publisher: Amphora Games (Pentaurus: Duel)

Genre/Mechanisms: resource management, set collection, simulation, worker placement

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: high

Summary: A worker placement and resource management game about running a small bakery in the Duchy of Schwaben in the year 1296 during the Inquisition.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $65

All-In (w/shipping): $208

Campaign Ends: 10/25

Game Ships: Sep. 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 21%, with 10 days to go.

Project: The Search for Planet X

Designers: Matthew O’Malley (Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Between Two Cities, Diner), Ben Rosset (Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Between Two Cities, Brew Crafters)

Artist: Michael Pedro

Publisher: Foxtrot Games (The Fox in the Forest, Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, Worlds Fair 1893)

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, app support, deduction

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: A space-themed, app-supported deduction game that almost plays like a roll & write.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $39

All-In (w/shipping): $49

Campaign Ends: 10/30

Game Ships: May 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 126%, with 15 days to go.

Project: Tremor

Designers: Julian Hollis, Jonah Primo

Artists: Travis Anderson (Icaion, Mysthea, Volfyirion), Jonah Primo, Hannah Rayne

Publisher: Curly Bros Games

Genre/Mechanisms: dice rolling, grid movement, modular board, pattern recognition, push your luck, variable phase order, variable player powers

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: high

Summary: Play competitively or in 2 vs. 2 mode, protecting animal species in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by climate change, triggering disasters to affect the game board and its tiles.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $54

All-In (w/shipping): $54

Campaign Ends: 11/8

Game Ships: Apr. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 138%, with 24 days to go.