Do you play Fantasy Flight Games’ X-Wing or Armada? The creators behind the Magnetic War Mats campaign on Kickstarter do, and they’re printing 36″ square and 36″ x 72″ magnetic rubber game mats to keep ships steadier on the playing field. The products that would be funded in this campaign can be ordered with or without printing; mats without printing can be placed under other company’s printed mats (such as Wings of Glory/War) to help prevent your ships from slipping during play. All of the currently-proposed prints are space scenes. Each set comes with either 20 or 40 neodymium magnets to attach to ships “completely flush with the bottom of [the X-Wing type] game base”. Mats begin at $20 unprinted, $40 for printed (with carrying travel case).

Tasty Minstrel Games is halfway through a campaign for two Eminent Domain-based products. Battlecruisers is a standalone game in the ED setting; Exotica is the second expansion to Eminent Domain. Already funded (over $70k as of this writing), TMG has added several stretch goals to the project. The base game was one of the first boardgame Kickstarter campaigns, launched in 2010, and is one of TMG’s flagpole games. Eminent Domain: Battlecruisers & Exotica‘s Kickstarter campaign ends on July 1st.

Meanwhile on IndieGoGo, there’s a papercraft car racing game called Papecarz. With a throwback 60’s design and plenty of Good Girl Art, Papecarz comes with track, stands, and six cars, all pre-cut and pre-creased. All you need is glue to assemble. Funding levels include a $29 for the game tier (with modern-day NASCAR-like cars), $10 more for six additional “vintage” race cars, and slightly higher tiers for custom car designs. This IndieGoGo campaign will only be funded if it hits the $5000 mark on July 14th.

Over on Patreon, Kaitlynn Peavler is creating stock illustrations. Her goal is to have weekly releases available to use by all patrons, with diverse characters “of many different ethnicities, genders, body types, and ages.” A $1 pledge gets you access to the images while a $10 pledge (limited slots) will let you suggest illustrations.

Lowell Francis is covering the history of roleplaying games, looking at a genre of games (like superhero, post-apocalyptic, and others) in a certain time period, describing how they fit into the culture of the time, and then listing games (with reviews, where possible) from that period. As an example, “History of Superhero RPGs (Part Four: 1993-1996)” beings with a personal look at the era and a review of the state of the comics industry at the time, followed by twelve different entries for the four-year period. Suggested pledge levels start at fifty cents.

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Knapsack Games is just about ready to launch a Kickstarter project for their new game, Apotheca: The Secret Potion Society. I had a chance to try out a preview copy of the game with my family, and was marveled by the ease of play and the depth available. The game says it’s for 14+, but with a little help with some of the reading, even my 5 year old got in on the action.

In Apotheca, you’re trying to create 3 potions by matching 3 secret potion tiles of the same type on the board. During the game you’ll be secretly seeding the board with face down tiles, moving things around the board using the powers of 15 apothecaries, and flipping over tiles in hopes for a match. Apothecaries can be hired with gems earned by revealing potions on the board, but their powers are spent when a match is made.

Play is quick. Knapsack says about 30 minutes, and once you get the hang of things it’s about that, or even less. Our first game took around 45 minutes, but I pretty much expected that since I was reading the rules for the first time as we played.

Apotheca’s Kickstarter goes live on June 16th, and for a $35 pledge you can get the full game if funded. If you only want a print-and-play version you can pledge $10. Knapsack is looking for $20,000 to fund the game, and I’m really hoping they reach that number. Apotheca is an excellent game, and one that I hope I can add a production copy of to my collection.

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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission today announced the settlement of its first case for a failed crowdfunding campaign and it’s for a board game project. Erik Chevalier, doing business as The Forking Path, raised nearly $123,000 via Kickstarter for The Doom That Came To Atlantic City but failed to produce the game or issue refunds. The FTC found that instead of putting the money raised in to production of the game, Chevalier spent backer funds on personal expenses, such as rent. A press release from the Commission quotes Director Jessica Rich:

Many consumers enjoy the opportunity to take part in the development of a product or service through crowdfunding, and they generally know there’s some uncertainty involved in helping start something new. But consumers should able to trust their money will actually be spent on the project they funded.

Kickstarter’s Terms of Use at the time of the project required project owners to fulfill all promised rewards or issue refunds. Backers of $50 or more for The Doom That Came To Atlantic City were to get a copy of the game.

The FTC settlement order prohibits Chevalier from making any misrepresentations or failing to issue refunds with regard to any crowdfunding campaign, or disclosing or benefiting from backers’ personal information. The order also imposes a $112,000 judgement, though the obligation is suspended because of Chevalier’s inability to pay, and various reporting requirements for a period of 18 years. The settlement does not require Chevalier to admit any wrongdoing.

The Doom That Came To Atlantic City game was eventually produced and sold by Cryptozoic without the involvement of Erik Chevalier.

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The publisher of Numenera and The Strange has a new RPG project, one meant specifically for children. Called No Thank You, Evil!, the game is low-complexity that also scales with the age of the players. Its setting is a generic fantasy-land in which the players help make up the obstacles that challenge their characters.

Already with a strong reputation in the genre for its Deadlands game, Pinnacle Entertainment is developing a weird-west RPG based on The Sixth Gun comic books (of course employing Savage Worlds). The story follows six ancient pistols with mystical powers, including the ability to remake the world. Backers can get a book, inserts for Pinnacle’s generic game-master-screen, and Sixth Gun miniatures.

Twizmo Games’ bold claim of “the next big strategy board game” aside, Tak Tak does appear to be an abstract worth exploring. Played on a 6×7 grid, the game takes the traditional approach of having players try to move their pieces to the opponents side of the board. With 10, 20, 30, and 40 point pieces in each of three colors, though, a player is able to capture and bring along for the ride any adjacent piece (their own or their opponent’s) that has a matching number or matching color.

Il Gioco del Ponte (The Battle for the Bridge) is a board game based on a festival and challenge held annually in Pisa, Italy. The event pits teams from the north and south sides of the Arno river against each other in a shoving-contest to move a 7 ton cart. The board game based on the event appears relatively simple to play but carefully handcrafted to be as much an art-piece as a game.

Simon Foster’s Patreon project supports his map-making for fantasy roleplaying games. He’s scheduled to produce 2-3 per month, which along with some information on the monsters that live in the illustrated locations, he intends to assemble in to a Book of Lairs.

Dino Dude Ranch is an introductory strategy game about ranching dinosaurs. The game features simple resource-management and set-collecting mechanisms appropriate for light family play or as a stepping-stone for children to more complex games. Players roll dice to collect different types of food, which in turn allow them to attract and feed various species of dinosaurs.

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If you’ve ever wondered what you would get when you combined Terminator with Fantasy Football, Iron League has your answer. This game of two to six players puts you into an arena where teams of robots compete in sporting events. The game pieces include mini figs with interchangeable legs, arms, and weapons. Plus, the rest of the game components, which aren’t nearly as cool as a mini robot that has interchangeable arms and legs.

The drinking game has just gone over the limit with Hey Bartender! cocktail-themed party game. Players draw cocktail cards that they must mix and travel around the game board, collecting various ingredients to create the perfect drink. The first player to complete all cocktail cards in a hand wins. Pledging starts at $40 for the base set plus some fancy jumbo wooden dice.

Blackout is a “dark adventure” game that has you traveling to the Northern Wastes, seeking out fortune and glory in mission-based adventures. Traveling through abandoned buildings revealed by hall and room sections that fit together and can be configured based on premade campaigns, or in any customizable way you want. The artwork for this game looks amazing.

In the post-apocalyptic future of Bane, only vampires, werewolves and super humans survive. So, you’d better be one of those if you want to survive. Oh, you’ll also need to be willing to hunt the other two species. The more you hunt, the more skilled you will become. The player that reaches a mastery level on their score track and has the most trophies (werewolf heads mounted over the fireplace?) at the end wins.

In the fantasy world of Cabal, players choose a group of ancient folkloric factions and try to take over each other’s region. It is a mix between deck building and tactical board gaming. Players attempt to move at least one creature into an opponent’s stronghold using well-planned strategies. The winner will succeed at his or her goal to overpower the other cabals.

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ModCubes are dice-like accessories with exchangeable faces. They’ll ship with symbols for use as marker tokens in Star Wars X-Wing, Warhammer 40,000, and Corvus Belli.

Coup Rebellion G54 has the same basic play as Indie Boards & Cards’ original bluffing game, Coup. This one, however, comes with 25 new characters.

From the designer of Escape and publisher, Evolving Games, is Automania, a Euro-style strategy game about building cars. Workers are placed to build out a player’s factories. Then cars of various types are assembled and shipped out, with income earned based on the popularity of their features.

Steampunkish space battles are the subject of Clockwork Armada. Plus miniature ships, one faction of which has wings!

Planet Mercenary is a Schlock Mercenary roleplaying game, which is probably all I need to say about that.

And then there’s Fast & Furious: Full Throttle, a board game based on the movie series. Obviously, it’s a racing game. Movement is governed by the play of gear cards. Before each game, though, players select sets of upgrades, each of which allows a car a specific type of special move once during a race.

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Columbia Games has just started a Kickstarter project for a cooperative game called The Last Spike Railway.

Of course the game isn’t entirely cooperative.

In The Last Spike Railway players must cooperate to build the Trans-Continental railway from St. Louis to Sacramento. Each player is also trying to make the most money before the last spike is driven into the ground.

Head on over to the Kickstarter page to get a peek at what the game will look like. I’m liking the 2-6 player ages 10+ range it’s going to have. A 45-60 minute playtime is also a plus.

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In Ross Cowman’s story-telling game Fall of Magic, you are a traveler with The Magus, who is dying along with magic, on a trip to the land where magic is born. The thing about the game that is really impressive is it’s played out on a five-foot long scroll map that is revealed through play. As the group continues on their heroic journey, various locations are discovered along with story prompts. The handmade scroll reward tier is $65 (a digital version is $15) with estimated delivery in October of this year.

Holy cow, there’s a lot of fantasy-inspired coins on Kickstarter these days! Fan favorite Campaign Coins’ Starter Sets and Epic Treasure campaign is just about over. Campaign Coins offers sets of forty to fifty coins for AUD $40 (about USD $32). One of the sets of these metal coins is designed for boardgames with 25 ones, 15 fives, and 10 twenties. Although based in Australia, fulfillment will be based from the region where the order is placed, so gamers won’t have to worry about a large shipping bill.

UK-based Ulfsark Games is producing two different metal coin sets called Dragon Scales Coins – Wave 1 – Dwarven and Elven (elven set pictured). With over three weeks to go, this manufacturer offers standard international shipping with shipping cost included in the pledge level price. A basic set of 10 coins is GBP 15 (about USD $23) with additional sets of 10 at GBP 7 (about $12), so a set of 30 would be about USD $46.

Fantasy Coins’ Fantasy Coins and Bars campaign has over a week and a half left. For this campaign, there are ten new metal coin sets available, including gemstones and minted metal bars. Already funded, Fantasy Coins’ campaign comes with a spreadsheet to help calculate shipping. For instance, one set of 30 coins will run $21, $24, or $31 depending on if you live in the US, Canada, or elsewhere in the world.

Perhaps you’d like something to put those in? Then take a look at The Adventure Case: the Ultimate Tabletop Gaming Accessory by Dog Might Games. It’s a box, but it’s a super cool box that’s a dice box, rolling tray, storage bin, and the lid is set up to be a dice rolling screen, in case you need to hide your rolls from other players. Sure, you could get one of these beauties with a brass plate design, but you might want to pony up a few extra bucks for the carved wood designs. And add on the pretty pretty colored lights.

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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.

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Norsaga is a puzzle-battle game where you’re trying to construct a family tree of heroes to prove you’ve completed a legendary feat. You do this by pairing heroes together throughout the tree to earn inheritance tokens to to match the ones on your Saga. Each hero provides a dominant trait, and the possibility of a recessive trait. You can only use the dominant trait of one of your coupled heroes, but if you match the recessive trait on both, you can snag that one too.

If course it would be too easy to just plop down heroes until you’ve got what you need. That’s were embellishments, ghosts, and poetic skalds. Each let you take special actions, disrupt your oppontents’ family trees, and gain access to powerful abilities. You can get more of a feel for the game by reading the rulebook, or trying the online demo.

Meromorph Games sent me a prototype of the game to try out. I got the deck of cards, but needed to provide tokens and such myself. I’ve had a chance to sit down and play with both my 5-year-old and 9-year old, both who really liked the game. The art on the cards, the simplicity of learning/playing the game, and the quick play time all were contributing factors in the boys’ enjoyment of the game. Before you know it they were planning use of their embellishments and tossing ghosts around like nobody’s business. My little guy needed a bit of help at first, but quickly got the hang of things, and even pulled a victory of his own by the time we were done playing a few games.

Norsaga is almost funded, and you can get in on a copy of the game for only $20. Not a bad deal for such a fun game, in my opinion. This is one you really shouldn’t pass up.

A preview prototype of Norsaga was provided free for review my Meromorph Games.

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