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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HEAT.
Dungeon Dice kind of has a Munchkin meets Dungeon Roll feel to it.
As always, some excellent games up on KickStarter. It’s good to see that Transylvania will be funded, but I certainly wish it had met more stretch goals than it has.
I am lucky to be demoing a prototype copy of Evolution at a local con this summer, so I’m excited to see it doing so well on KS.
I watched Apex a LOT compared to most and in the end did not back it. Reading what the creator has in mind, I’m actually more interested in his new vision (beta 2.0) for the game. Clearly, if he had known what he now knows, he shouldn’t have launched the KS until he had the near-finished product (which is why I didn’t back it in the end). But it probably would be worse to put out what he promised and have it fall flat when his updated vision may be a lot better.
I’m still waiting on the expensive and heavily delayed Democracy board game (though they’ve got new folks communicating with us now).
@Penta & @Paladin
My problem with Myth is the number of mistakes in the cards and rulebook for the price I paid at the Captain Level. I’d have no problems if Mercs was going to reprint the rulebook and cards and send them to their loyal backers…but they are going to charge us for it instead. Pandasaurus had a few typos and a tile that was not cut properly, and they sent new tiles and an expansion to their backers. Now that’s good customer service. I’m happy some people are fine with Myth, but my group plays a ton of RPGs, and we like a well defined ruleset to help streamline the game and avoid arguments. Myth was a bit undercooked, and we don’t want to be beta-testers. We have over 2,000 games between us, and Myth is going on the back burner until it’s all sorted out. We are also unhappy that the second wave has been delayed…until who knows when. I am glad to see that they have 3 new game play videos up and are working away on the rule book. The new cards are clearer as well. I just don’t feel great about shelling out more money for it.
BTW I haven’t reviewed Myth yet, and won’t until after I play it with all the correct rules. I hope it turns out to be the game I was thinking it would be. The miniatures and art are top notch.
@inmarg
The designer said he’d be back with Black Forest. It sounded like he had more art to pay for, and wasn’t happy with the backer count. He was concerned this was due to not being EU friendly. I do know that it is difficult to find the right EU distributor and facilitate a split of the shipment to Europe.
@Penta, @Paladin,
I THINK Granny’s issue is that they changed many things about the game post-Kickstarter, so you feel like you’re getting a different game than what was advertised during the campaign. I could be wrong, though – I didn’t back Myth and don’t know anything about it or the campaign.
Incidentally, if anybody is interested in Myth and missed the KS, it’s included in the Cardhaus Summer Clearance Sale for $54.99. That seems to be a great discount for a just-released game.
@Paladin
I thought i had pledged at the myth level of recon but it turns out i didn’t. Still kicking myself over it.
@Penta – Ditto. I love MYTH and have a great time whenever we break it out. It requires no more errata than the Pathfinder card game, which everyone loves so much. Choices for minions and mini-bosses are a little sparse at the moment, but that’ll be resolved in a few more months.
I threw $40 into RECON for 3 or 4 MYTH-related items and don’t regret it. The moment MERCS posts the second MYTH campaign, I won’t be able to click fast enough.
I don’t understand everyone’s big issue with Myth. Between me and my buds we were able to pretty much reason whatever the rulebook got wrong. I really enjoyed that game every time I’ve tried it. Especially the free-form questing
@ Granny
Do you have any inside information if Black Forest will make a reappearence on KS? It looked like a very interesting game to me.
I’ve been pretty lucky with Kickstarter, but I haven’t backed a ton of stuff and everything that’s still unfulfilled at this point is stuff I pretty much went in with the idea that I wasn’t getting anything back – they were projects I just wanted to see happen.
My personal view is to either go in expecting nothing, or, if I do expect something, to only go in on highly trusted companies.
For me that’s been Cool Mini or Not, Small Box Games, Reaper Miniatures, and Dwarven Forge. Those are the ones I’ve checked out enough to trust them implicitly at this point.
Tomorrow…Level99…BattleCon:War…Facelift Edition 😛
@Granny – it’s such a shame, too. The game looked amazing when the campaign closed. I guess it was too good to be true.
@Account Deletion
Apex is the reason I won’t back a game without a defined rulebook anymore. I won’t even get into my experience with Myth.
My carryovers: Town Center expansion map, Transylvania, More Castle!, March of the Ants, Thebes, Capes & Villains, The Lord of the Ice Garden, 12 Realms and Dungeon Dice: Guilds.
I have backed 4 new games since last week:
Luchador! Mexican Wrestling Dice – I’m already backing the Castle Dice and Dungeon Dice expansions at levels that get the base games, so this might be dice overkill… but it looks like a bunch of silly fun.
Realm of Heroes – nice looking modular board strategy game, much cheaper than most Kickstarter games I’ve backed ($24 for 4 player game, $34 with 6-player expansion).
Rive – deck building board game that looks amazing… but it might have trouble funding with a huge goal.
Waggle Dance (not listed here) – a worker placement game themed around bees producing honey. Looks cute.
On a side note, have any of the backers of Apex been watching what’s going on with this game? I mentioned a few weeks ago that the designer was making major game play changes well after funding, but it really went crazy last week when he decided he was also going to change the art and alter the game’s contents – even going so far as removing some unlocked stretch goals to save them for later expansions. He’s also made the GripMat add-ons much less useful, as he’s decided to include a board with the game… but of course it’s too late for the backers to drop their pledges and remove the GripMats.
The designer seems like a good guy (although far too defensive and confrontational), and I do believe he’s doing what he believes is best for the game… but this is the first time I’ve considered asking for a refund (which he is offering).