Below is a selection of games that stood out to us while browsing kickstarter.com.
Backing a project can be a great thing, but please do the research on a game before you put money into it. Happy exploring!
Miniatures Games
Role-Playing Games
Other Board Game Related Projects
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Wow!! There are many excellent thematic choices here and lots of great comments as well. My wish list just doubled in size!!
I added Zombicide 3 (completest disease) and New Dawn (Artipia Games) to my list. I had hoped the list would shrink, but I still have quite a few. The last couple months have been brutal. Kickstarter is like a tapeworm in my wallet.
New Dawn
Zombicide: Season 3
Tiny Epic Defenders
HARBOUR
Ultimate Battle
Penny Press
Forge War
and The Captain is Dead may make it back on too.
Had to pledge Harbour! Was almost free – 20$ 😉
And TMG always delivers!
Can’t wait!
Lazy Sunday Kickstarter Brunch was interrupted Orson Wells style today…
Announcement Announcement
Apparently it is time to tune your tabletops to Zombicide Season 3
The Zombies have landed – we suggest all other Kickstarters remain indoors and do not – we repeat – do not attempt launch in the month of July.
Note: I have never witnessed a major Cool Mini Million campaign -that’s the Boy’s Bag. I witnessed a shadow of it when we were a house divided during the Arcadia Quest/SDE:Forgotten King face-off.
Zombicide Season 3 funded in 7 minutes!!! I nearly had a seizure watching the pledge board. I learned the definition of Shock and Awe. The Boy just laughed and clapped his hands (which I am sure Cool Mini Million will be doing when their Day One $150 base pledge turns into a $300 Endgame Add-stravaganza *sigh*)
I’d mention there are still Early Birds available but – yeah – that’s pointless even as I type this. Crazy Town!
BATTLECON.
FINAL 24 HOURS.
GO.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/level99games/battlecon-war-remastered
@Paladin @Account Deletion
I have only been Kickstarting since last summer – but The Boy has been Kicking Around for about two years. Given the standard delays of pledge date +6 months and bouts of Post-Kickstarter plague, things started arriving for him around November of last year. I dubbed it Kickstarter Christmas as mysterious boxes arrived bearing things like Myth (well half of it *bigfrown*) and Battlecon:Devastation among our Amazon orders of gifts for other people. It was a fun time!
With a GenCon push in August – I have a feeling Kickstarter Christmas will start big around then this year and be a pretty steady trickle through the holiday season. Glorious mysterious packages of cardboard loveliness!
Gygax bless us, everymeeple!
It’s Thursday night on the BGdot – time to dim the lights and tune the radio to Shadows over Kickstarter
*cue pipe organ music*
Hmmm…not much to say – @Paladin/@Account Deletion already Abbot and Costello’d their way through most of my list and Lazy Kickstarter Sunday Brunch really didn’t turn up any real poached egg gemstones.
BattleCon:War Facelifted is about to enter the all important Final 48. Solid game and solid campaign. A good time to nab War (and the more advanced mechanic Devastation if you haven’t). This will most likely crack the 200K ceiling which is much rejoicing for Level99. As a Level 99 cheerleader I have it on slightly good authority that things will get a little crazy come the weekend countdown. 😉 If this is lingering on your radar, I highly recommend firing the Pledge Button torpedoes. Even though The Boy and I already own the tiny flagship First Edition of War, I never even stopped to think twice about having to ‘re-pledge’ an edition that will jigsaw seamlessly into BattleCon:Devastation
(@Paladin don’t forget about Devastation:Extended Edition ;))
The Captain is Dead is going strong and will end well. I am loving the Art Deco style and while a tad spoofy – it seems to have solid cooperative depth. The Captain is Dead! Long live the Captain!
At Kickstarter drops in the bucket of $20ish smackers – both Harbour and Tiny Epic Defenders are having maxi-campaigns for the latest hot ticket of micro gaming. (Although I consider Harbour more of a ‘little card game’ than ‘how many meeples can I fit on the head of a postcard’ trend)
Speaking of the micro – I playtested Shadows over Arkham this past Sunday as a Labrat and liked it bunches. Micro-trash Arkham Horror. WHEEE!!! Even with the runaway hit that Province became, looking at their price point vs pledge goal I am making little frowny faces. I think the ‘stars may not be right’ and they will be lost in the micro-sea against the two Tiny heavy hitters that are reigning supreme at the moment. 🙁 🙁 <—little frowny faces.
On the other end of the spectrum – Le Big Box. The Boy has been all about the Big Box ever since Galaxy Trucker:Anniversary Edition (and unfortunately for him I don’t really like it :P). But in terms of ‘wish list ticking off’ both Through the Ages and Dungeon Lords Anniversary are decent ways to move to ‘Own It’ while picking up perks and discounts along the way. (@Account Deletion I have a feeling that Dungeon Lords is going to get a little more ‘deally’ along the way ala Escape:Big Box 😉 )
My Kickstarter Stray Cats
Kobble Fantasy Monsters and Organized Crime? Yes please! It would be like the Mad Hatter in a Daniel Day Lewis hat. Wait…umm…and then came the ‘Silent Running’.
Shadows over Westminster I am still rooting for you. I have my toes crossed. It is suffering a bit from Rive Syndrome. I think there may be a re-Shadow lurking at the threshold. 🙁
Clash! Dawn of Steam I am very very leery of the latest trend of ‘The Amazing Card Game that only needs a Thousand Dollars to Fund’ because…then what. It funded sure, but how are you going to make a product? I always foresee a closet full of ‘other shoes’ ready to drop and the other trend of Post-Kickstarter Plague to set in where ‘someone involved in the project gets really really sick’ and needs 6 months of radio silence to take in the cure waters. Clash isn’t that. It has neat cards and looks comparable to the price point with a reasonable goal. YAY! It just seems to have fallen victim to the other Kickstarter Trend of ‘we didn’t fund in 4 days and don’t seem to care a week later’ 🙁 Enter the Silent Running. BOO! 🙁 I really like this game – but it doesn’t seem to want me to.
@Paladin – I’m not getting a game a week yet, as I didn’t join Kickstarter until November 2013 (I’m sure you were well before this). When you factor in that everything seems to run 2 to 3 months behind, I will probably start getting a steady stream in August or so.
But I do have a pretty absurd 58 funded Kickstarters I’ll be waiting on rewards from for the next year or so. I think if nothing is delayed (or delayed further in the case of TMG’s microgames, Maze Master and Heroes Wanted) I will receive something like 9 games in August. Poor CSI/Cardhaus/Miniature Market/FLGS probably won’t be getting any business from me that month.
Also worth noting, other than parenting I have literally no other hobbies. Prior to kids, I was an avid scuba diver and hiker… those things are on hold until my little boy (and girl on the way!) are old enough to do them with me.
@AD – Crikey! I thought my current pledge list was a bit overboard, but wow — yours is awesome.
My favorite thing about KickStarting board games has become my once every 2 – 3 weeks board game delivery. It’s almost like a “game of the month” subscription. You must be getting a game a week!
Currently on KS:
Ghosts Love Candy
I’m very excited about this Halloween-themed card game from 5th Street Games. If you’re interested in light, family-friendly games, I encourage you to take a look at this one. The art looks great (very playful); and all the kid cards are unique (both artwork and their powers). With so many kid cards different kid cards (that will interact differently depending on where they are positioned), every game will be a little different. Plays 2-6 players in about 30 minutes. It’s already fully funded – they’re just working on stretch goals to add more expansions. I’m hoping they make it to at least $17K to add the “Kids Love Candy” co-op mode.
Penny Press
I love the theme here; looks like a fun & original game.
The Captain is Dead
I think several people have already mentioned this one. The amazing artwork drew me in; the cooperative gameplay sold me. (I’m always looking for new co-op games to appeal to my group).
Antidote
A quick deduction-based card-game. You’ve all been poisoned – which vial contains the antidote? Like Clue, boiled down to the best parts: taking what you know and trying to read the other players to figure out the solution (and trying not to let them read you).
A few other ones on my watch list, but as they’re mostly all funded several times over, don’t need much help from me:
Historia and Through the Ages
I like the civilization games, but I need to do some more research on these to see if they are substantively different enough from Sid Meier’s Civilization, or how they stack against Progress: Evolution of Technology (recently funded on KS) to make it worth the investment.
Tiny Epic Defenders
The follow-up to Tiny Epic Kingdoms (which I missed out on). A co-op game for only $16 ($24)? Seems almost too good a deal.
Dungeon Lords Anniversary Edition
I’m a little wary based on the reviews I’ve read of Dungeon Lords – seems like it may be a little too complicated for my group. (I’ve got one heavy gamer; the rest prefer light-medium games, so this may be too much). But I remember playing the Dungeon Keeper PC game and I love the theme, so I’m a little torn.
Escape: Zombie City
Like @Paladin, I originally wanted to back this one, but ultimately decided not to. I just backed the Escape Big Box from Queen Games, and after I’m not sure this adds enough new/different to justify the extra money right now for what feels like just a new skin (especially when I don’t have any big zombie fans in my group).
My carry-overs are Waggle Dance, Bedtime Heroes, Forge War, The Captain is Dead, Ophir, Harbour, Historia, Luck O’ the Dice, Spells of Doom, Tiny Epic Defenders and Through the Ages.
The campaigns I’ve backed since last week are:
Escape: Zombie City: I have none of @Paladin’s reservations. I consider myself mostly done with zombie games so this may be the last one I buy… but I’m definitely staying in. Although I haven’t played it, I know I will love Escape: Curse of the Temple when its Big Box rewards are sent. This changes just enough to be “different”, but I expect the quality to be the same.
8 Planets: Captains of the Solar System: I won’t be able to play Twilight Imperium for another decade or so, but even getting shorter games like Eclipse to the table is a real challenge for me. As @Paladin is using this for a “not enough time for TI” game, I would use it as a “not enough time for Eclipse” game… IF it funds. It has a very long way to go.
Dungeon Lords Anniversary Edition: like Through the Ages, I can remove a game that’s sat on my Wish list for ever, and get the latest and greatest from it. I initially had pause at the $80 price tag given the game can be had on Amazon for under $50… but then I looked into the Festival Season expansion (which is included with the base game in the Anniversary Edition) and saw that it goes for $40ish. Couldn’t pledge quick enough.
Just ended:
Progress: Evolution of Technology.
If you were in on this one, holy moley! What a last 48 hours and what an amazing set of stretch goals. Here’s hoping they deliver a solid product on time-ish.
On deck:
BattleCON: War Remastered.
I’m in at $135 right now because I’m planning on picking up Devastation at Gen Con or online WAY before December/January/February when War arrives.
The Captain is Dead.
I think I already mentioned this last week. Looks fun, and we’re backing it with Turbulence because the latter is so Tsuro-esque.
Harbour.
Because yes. Please throw a $20 bill at this one and get us to the $500,000 mega-stretch, folks. I dragged 3 people aboard today because I want custom mega-meeples.
Escape – Zombie City.
The more I think about it, the more I’m likely to drop. I can’t figure out what I’d get from the KickStarter that I won’t get online and, while I like backing Queen Games, I feel like I can get my Escape fix from Curse of the Temple and my zombie fix from Zombie 15′.
8 Planets: Captains of the Solar System.
It seems all right. Plutonian Pirates sound like a fun time. I don’t think it’s going to come anywhere near funding. If it hits $30k or so I’ll probably review it more deeply and figure out whether to abandon ship. Looks like it might be nice when I can’t invest 12 hours or get 6 people together for TI:3, though.
Fistful of Dinero.
It’s cheap, and plays fast. Why not have it on the shelf?
Stonemaier Treasure Chest.
I’m actually on the fence for it, despite loving Jamey’s work. I just don’t play a lot of games that use these resources, and the pieces that DO come with the games work just fine for me. On the other hand, $33.00 for a MSRP $60.00 item might be a nice eBay flip.