The Cthulhu-head dice tower looks amazing but I won’t be held responsible for what happens should you actually bring it to the table or, worse yet, feed it dice.

Lone Shark’s The Apocrypha Adventure Card Game has a modern horror theme but is built off the system that Mike Selinker developed for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. Also differentiating it from its predecessor is character development. Rather than with check-boxes, players add cards to their character decks as they reveal their character’s repressed memories.

Requiem Vampire Knight is a game for which I published a detailed preview when it originally sought funding on Indiegogo 2 years ago. Now on Kickstarter, the game I’m told plays pretty much the same, though with a thoroughly-edited rule book and an upgrade to plastic miniatures. As a I said then, the game does have some interesting mechanics but it’s the dark theme and artwork that’s particularly striking.

On a lighter, cuter note there’s JunKing, a card game about scavenger imps who hoard garbage. Pulling the “Crown” from the junkpile (a.k.a., the draw pile) ends the game and is a major point boost, but holding the “Perfectly Good Sandwich” (“Someone threw this away?”) is a strong consolation prize.

BattleBards is a background-audio system for tabletop games. Audio tracks and a soundboard from the same company already exist for PC and MAC. This project is for creating a web-based soundboard, producing additional audio, and recording a series of voice-overs covering standard fantasy adventure encounters (such as the barmaid in the tavern that the PCs always visit).

From the creators of Driking Quest comes Haiku Warrior, a card-based roleplaying game told via haiku. “Fight monsters, find souls, eat fruit.” I think maybe they played with their first product a little too much.

• Comments Off on Crowdfunding Highlights

Of note this week, The Siblings Trouble calls back to the halcyon days of summer vacation adventures. This card-driven storytelling game is part Goonies, part Hardy Boys, and part Studio Ghilbi. You and family and friends have a grand adventure featuring trolls, the Rat King, and Big Secrets before rushing back home in time for dinner. This game looks insanely cute and fun and I have a feeling I’ll be backing it before it’s over.

I’ve already backed Cucu Dice, a set of a dozen (as of this moment) 16mm dice that are designed to work well with Fantasy Flight Games’ various Lovecraft-themed games. With one red face, two green, and three blue, these dice are designed to easily read successes in these types of games where a six-sided die is used for binary success/fail resolution. A full dozen dice is about $13 shipped to the US. (Honestly, I’ll be using them for my Shadowrun game.)

Calliope Games’ Titan Series is a subscription-based casual game series featuring well-established game designers such as Richard Garfield, Mike Selinker, Rob Daviau, James Ernest, and eight other prominent game designers. With a minimum of nine gateway games (plus three more as stretch goals), backers can subscribe to the entire series or pick and choose the games they want to pick up. Games will run from 2-8 players (various player counts on different games) and have a play time of 60 minutes or less. This campaign continues for another month and a half and is nearly funded as of this writing.

Playroom Entertainment’s Sitting Ducks Gallery Deluxe funded within a day of launch. The game is an update to the award-winning (Games 100, Golden Geek, and more) 2005 version. The theme echoes shooting duck galleries on a carnival midway, with players taking out their opponent’s ducks with humorous action cards and trying to be the last duck in the pond. It looks to be goofy fun.

It’s a Car Wars Kickstarter, but not the all new version of Car Wars Kickstarter I’ve been waiting for. If you already have Steve Jackson Games’ recent Car Wars Classic (or your set from the ‘80s), you’ll want to pick up Car Wars Arenas, collecting five different arenas from early in the product line now published for the first time at Classic scale. But what excites me about this campaign is they just announced an updated version of Car Wars: The Card Game to be released this summer. Pledging at the $65 Pro Duellist level will get you CW Arenas, CW Classic, and the card game. The updated 150-card game will retail for about $25.

• Comments Off on Crowdfunding Highlights

North Star Games today launches a Kickstarter project for an expansion to Evolution. The original is a title that I wrote about nearly a year ago and continue to feel is a fun, moderate-weight strategy game that presents challenging yet approachable decisions even for a beginner. However, having since had an opportunity to play it a few additional times—including with the practiced crew at North Star—I’ve also come to realize that there’s a fair amount of depth and complexity to the game, particularly in the way the trait cards balance and interact. An experienced Evolution player is going to have a significant advantage over a newbie.

Now the expansion, Flight, adds to that depth, providing fans with more options, more strategies, and more interactions to explore—though again, not in a way that precludes the casual player from understanding how it works. In fact, it’s quite simple. Instead of creating the usual new species (at the cost of one card), the expansion allows players to create a new species (at a cost of two cards) with flight as a starting trait. Flight is a defense against carnivores that don’t also have flight, allows a species to feed from a second location (the cliff), and provides certain bonuses when combined with other new traits such as nesting and brood parasite.

Another important aspect of flying species, though, is that they require additional food to survive—one more per body size (a lot of energy is required to power those wings). Of course, one can look at that as a challenge to maintaining flying species (the additional food doesn’t score) but it can also be an advantage. Carnivorous flying species are ravenous! A species without a defensive trait against meat-eating avians has a good chance of being eliminated.

The Evolution Flight expansion will come with 12 avian species boards (for tracking population, body size, and food), 12 special flight trait cards, 48 additional trait cards, and a cliff feeding board.

Additionally, as North Star is launching this expansion Kickstarter project, the company is also producing a second edition for the base game, making changes in two areas: art and card text. Both, though, are matters of refinement. In terms of the art, some card images have been improved, the watering hole graphics have been modified to better allow food tokens to stand out, and the box cover has been made more colorful. In terms of trait card text, the changes are slight but meant to improve balance and make for more interesting combinations. For example, the body size bonus of hard shell is being increased to +4 as an offset to the late game power of pack hunting, and foraging will now trigger any time a species eats plant food, for better synergy with several other traits.

For concerned owners of the first edition, all Kickstarted copies of the Flight expansion will ship to backers with a full set of second edition trait cards.

A complimentary copy of Evolution (second edition), as well as prototype Flight components, were provided for review by North Star Games.

• Comments Off on Kickstarter Preview—Evolution Flight

If you are well versed in the English language, Dexikon may be a good run for you. This deck building game is similar to Scrabble in that you must pick letters and play words. However, players are able to attack each other by playing special cards that force an opponent to draw a penalty card, which adds a negative effect to your final point score.

You would think that, at this point in my life, I’d be sick of zombie-themed games, but I’m not. I love horror-related content and zombies hold a special place in my heart. In Deck of the Dead, 1 – 6 players must kill the most zombies by using supply cards that have weapons against event cards that make you draw zombies. Games last, on average, 30 – 60 minutes and are appropriate for ages 12 and up.

In Norsaga, players tell tall tales to two to four opponents in an effort to spin the best and most realistic family history. Draw cards and play tokens to increase the heroes and adventures on your family tree. If your opponents think you are lying, they can tear down your story. Your goal is to do the same to them. Gameplay lasts about 30 minutes and is appropriate for ages 10 and up.

Battleborn Legacy is a strategy game where two to four players work to control land and manage resources. The package comes with a ton of fancy tokens, cards, stands, player boards, and a beautiful board. The player with the most thriving economy in the end is the winner. Players complete quests, control provinces, fight enemies, and more. Natural disasters and a nasty dragon will always be a burden in this world.

In Salem, Mass in 1692, it was all the rage to go around accusing people of witchcraft. If you upset your neighbor, or made your best friend cry, chances are, you’d be burned at the stake the next week. In this strategy card game of Salem, four to 12 players act as townsfolk and try to determine who the witch really is amongst the group. It reminds me of a pared down version of Battlestar Galactica. Your best bud will be calling you a witch and trying to have you killed in no time.

• Comments Off on Crowdfunding Highlights

Get into a literal monster mash with Chaos of Cthulhu. Players roll a set of five “Elder” dice to create a monster made out of multiple abominations. Then, set your mixed up monster on your opponent for a dice-based battle of the baddies. The player whose mashed up monster is still standing at the end of the game is the winner. I especially love the art of this game. It reminds me of one of my favorite comic book artists, Mike Mignola.

I love it when fantasy and nature are mashed together. Nothing says “relaxing” like a good solid card game set in a beautiful forest. That is, unless the forest is filled with magical creatures. Especially if those creatures are casting spells. Wizards of the Wild is a fast-paced dice game for two to four players that uses player card combinations to cast spells.

There are a few women in science that rose to the top of our history books to be remembered for their contributions. However, there are thousands more women in science that have never received the recognition they deserve. The Women in Science Card Game is designed encourage girls and women to see science as a viable option for the future. Similar to Rummy, players try to build a “lab” by placing cards with the same color on the table. The first player to reach three labs wins.

The biggest problem I have with board game night is that too many people want to join in. Most games accommodate about six to eight players, tops. For nights when you have 10, 20, or even 30 board game fans in your living room, break out Arkham Nights so everyone can play the same game. The Cthulhu inspired card game accommodates between seven and 30 players for one giant showdown.

I’m a big fan of going off the rails when it comes to dice rolling. Just because your parents gave you a set of six-sided die to roll, doesn’t mean you have to stick to polyhedral shapes. With Deck Dice, you can “roll” for initiative using a deck of 60 playing cards. Each card features an illustration of random die roles for d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20. Shuffle cards and draw to see what you’ve rolled. It is also usable as a traditional 52-card deck with two jokers, two Rooks, and four Wizards.

• Comments Off on Crowdfunding Highlights

Alderac Entertainment Group will be seeking support via Kickstarter for some of its upcoming games, and at the GAMA Trade Show asked store owners to “Kick it with us.” Acknowledging the impact of Kickstarter while at the same time expressing continued support for local game stores, CEO John Zinser said that AEG wants its crowdfunding projects to represent a partnership with retail.

Towards that end, AEG is planning to provide retailers with promotional materials and sample products that they can demo during the Kickstarter projects. And it will accept preorders from those retailers, which will qualify for the same products as provided to backers.

Specialty retailers have had an uneasy relationship with crowdfunded games. Weather this approach improves the situation of course remains to be seen.

• Comments Off on AEG Asks Retailers to “Kick it With Us”

In the lead position this week is a game that despite hitting my pet peeves—chaotic, an “intentionally vague ruleset,” and that annoying exclamation point—still somehow manages to sound interesting. Mr. Game! appears to be the kind of game where the winning player changes rapidly and is pretty much selected at random. There must be something subliminal hidden in the video.

Among Nobles, though, makes a more direct play for my interest. It’s a game of political intrigue and military conquest in feudal Europe. Military conquest is abstracted at a high level. But more interestingly, political intrigue in the game is focused on the arrangement of marriages between noble houses. When cards representing royal husbands and wives are brought together, the number of actions available to the owning player multiply.

Updating to the Fate Core rule set is the Bulldogs roleplaying game. [Oh, wait a minute. It’s got one of those pesky exclamation points too, so…] Bulldogs! is for high-action science fiction adventure in space. But not for some sissy fantasy version of science fiction. Rather for adventure in a rough-and-tumble, save-your-own-hide version of space.

In Poland, a team is planning to rent out Czocha Castle for a series of 4 day LARPs about a College of Wizardry. Each event can accommodate about 130 people. Though a variety of lower-priced pledge levels are available, tickets start at $375. Or for $75,000, the organizers will run a private LARP just for you and your friends.

Puca Trade is seeking support for extending its service to Magic: The Gathering Online. With $50,000 to finance further development work, Puca Trade also promises that users of its service will even be able to trade physical cards for digital ones.

Best Treehouse Ever has players, of course, competing to build the better treehouse. The game incorporates card drafting and spacial reasoning, in that the rooms to be built an a treehouse are featured on individual cards, and when built must be added in balance (to prevent the house from falling down).

• Comments Off on Crowdfunding Highlights

Wizard’s Academy is a cooperative game for 2-6 players where the players are trying to save their school using magic way beyond their limits. I received a preview of the game in prototype form to put it through its paces. Note that all my components were hand made, so this preview doesn’t take them into account. The final version of the game will include miniatures, etc…

The basics of the game are that you’re going to draw a threat each round and try to endure that threat. You do this mainly by casting spells, the absolute best part of the game. The game is actually pretty simple to learn, though a first look through the rules may make you think otherwise. I’d say it only took my oldest 2 kids and I about 15 minutes to get into the swing of things.

I can say I’m a fan. The modular nature of the game, spells, etc… create interesting variations that I can see effecting play in many different ways over several plays. There’s always more than one way to solve a problem, and I think that’s one of the best features about the game. You can come at problems totally different ways and yet still come out on top.

The game is approachable, fun, and most importantly, satisfying.  Take a look at the rules yourself, then consider backing the project. A pledge of $75 will get you the game and shipping once it’s funded.

A preview copy of Wizard’s Academy was provided for free by 3DTotal Games.

• Comments Off on Kickstarter Preview—Wizard’s Academy

DragonMage Warfare is a strategy board game based in the fantasy world of magic is designed for two to four players. The goal is to become the head wizard on the DragonMage council by beating your opponents in a card-based battle of spells.

Head into the world of witchcraft and sorcery with Find It & Bind It, a fast-paced card game for two to six players. By controlling two witches, players attempt to find the Book of Shadows and bind it before their opponents do. Players search through a “field” of cards that are laid out on a three-by-three grid, looking for the Book of Shadows card. Once found, the player uses a special action to bind it. This game is already past its second stretch goal, which includes additional game components and the ability to add more players.

If you are getting board with painting the same old orcs and goblins for your fantasy miniatures battle game, The Edge brings a bit of the mechanical into the world with a Steampunk themed skirmish miniatures war game set in a post-apocalyptic universe. The 35mm scale models range from small infantry to vehicles, to major constructs and giant monsters. The game will come with 20 crystal tokens, a PDF of the rulebook, a set of player cards, and a set of high-quality resin minis. The Kickstarter has already surpassed a few stretch goals, which include new mini figs added to the collection.

Gather the knowledge of the world to store in the Sultan’s Library with this card game for two to four players. Your goal is to find books amongst the shuffled deck and bring them to the Sultan’s library. The player that brings the most books wins.

Mistfall is a cooperative adventure board game for one to four players where you fight monsters and gain friendships. Choose a hero, play tiles, draw encounters, complete quests, and fight enemies in this epic adventure. This game has already passed 11 stretch goals and is on the verge of making it to the final one with 17 days still left in the Kickstarter campaign.

• Comments Off on Crowdfunding Highlights

The latest nostalgic trigger overfunding on Kickstarter is the Thunderbirds Co-operative Board Game from Modiphius Entertainment. Designed by Matt Leacock of Pandemic fame, the game has players taking on the roles of the individual Tracy family members, completing various rescue missions around the world, and most importantly, piloting miniatures of the beloved Thunderbirds vehicles. The project is currently working toward a stretch goal that would allow a fifth player to act as the evil Hood.

If for no other reason, I would have had to mention Bad Medicine for best integration of a gorilla suit in a project video. Fortunately, though, this party game that bucks the recent trend of simply being crude has more to offer than that. In Bad Medicine players identify maladies, concoct remedies, and argue over side effects. Sounds like a visit with the grandparents.

RPE Miniatures’ Phroggs project is for 28mm metal figures of science-fiction amphibians. They’ll be produced in Poison Dart Frog, Fire Bellied Toad, and Bullfrog versions, each with futuristic uniforms and weapons.

Another minis project is the one for cast resin terrain by THMiniatures. It features unpainted elements in two groups: fortifications and ruins.

I’m a very geeky geek. Besides the obvious focus on games, I have a real fascination with the history of electric utilities (it’s the engineering background, I guess). So Artana’s project for a board game on just that subject hooked me on two fronts. Tesla vs. Edison has the PR antics, stock shenanigans, and business chicanery that was a real part of the industry in its early days. My only beef (without having played the game yet) is Artana’s assumption that all geeks will side with Tesla. You can count me in the Edison camp.

Nova Aetas is a tactical combat board game set in Renaissance Italy. Nova Aetas can be played single-player, cooperative, or competitive and includes 50 miniatures, 3D terrain, and a campaign of 30 scenarios. It also promises tough enemies controlled by an aggressive AI and a time-based action management system.

• Comments Off on Crowdfunding Highlights