This week there are 10 Projects launching over on crowdfunding platforms. Terraforming Mars introduces a dice variation and the super cute ArchRavels has an expansion to treat all of the lovers of knitting. Redwood from last week was delayed till October 4th, so, should launch in the coming week. Remember, back with your head and not your heart, know your budget and love your board game collection.
In the 2400s, mankind begins to terraform the planet Mars. Giant corporations, sponsored by the World Government on Earth, initiate huge projects to raise the temperature, the oxygen level, and the ocean coverage until the environment is habitable. In Terraforming Mars, you play one of those corporations and work together in the terraforming process, but compete for getting victory points that are awarded not only for your contribution to the terraforming, but also for advancing human infrastructure throughout the solar system, and doing other commendable things.
This is the Dice version of Terraforming Mars by Jacob Fryxelius.
The Good Witches and Wizards of Joralee have been kidnapped by a horde of evil Foes! The only hope is for their Familiars to dutifully band together on a quest to overthrow the Foes and save their spell-casting partners. They’ll bumble their way through new spells, unleash ancient artefacts, and craft crazy combo attacks to succeed. They may just surprise their Witches and Wizards with a few tricks (and Familiars) of their own!
Familiars and Foes is a 1 to 5 player co-operative style game where you play as one of five Elemental Familiars with their own unique abilities - Earth, Wind, Fire, Air, or Aether. The game is played in four waves. Each wave increases in difficulty and reveals a new set of Foes that must be defeated to save a Witch or Wizard.
On each turn a player must choose one of three actions to perform - a physical attack, cast a spell, or use an artefact. The success or failure of the action is determined by a dice roll or coin flip. The rest of the players have the opportunity to contribute to the active player's turn and create combination moves. They can perform team attacks, use special abilities, or cash in rewards to boost the initial attack or benefit Familiar health. Group strategy is key to surviving and beating the game.
The Foes don't just sit idly and take beatings the whole game. They have their own turn each round where they release potentially devastating attacks on the Familiars. The Familiars have a few tricks to defend themselves or they can just hope for a weak attack to survive another round.
The game is won when all four waves of Foes have been defeated, all the Witches and Wizards have been rescued, and at least one Familiar is still standing.
Pocket Book Adventures is a solo-only, minimalist dungeon crawler that’s built for travel. Explore dozens of maps, encounter unique monsters, level up, grab loot, and do it all from a book that fits comfortably in your pocket or purse!
Best of all, you can play this entire game with nothing but the gamebook and a pencil! Rather than using dice or cards to generate randomness, Pocket Book Adventures introduces a simple, dexterity-based system that balances skill and luck for truly engaging gameplay.
With its compact size, minimal components, and built-in ability to save your progress, Pocket Book Adventures is the perfect game for playing on the go!
In Biergarten, players compete to create the most beautiful Biergartens before Oktoberfest. Each turn, players will draw one tile from the supply, the open market, or randomly from another player's hand, then play one tile to expand their Biergarten and score points. Players score points by playing tiles that have matching colours, linking up umbrellas, and walling off their Biergarten. The player with the most points by the time Oktoberfest rolls around wins!
The game includes 76 beautifully illustrated tiles for players to choose from to truly make their Biergartens unique.
This second edition of Biergarten introduces all-new art, upgraded components, and new ways to play, including a solo mode.
Prost!
By the 22nd century, Earth’s population has reached 14 billion. Escalating crises have left mankind hopeless and desperate on a resource-starved homeworld. After multiple failed attempts at planetary colonization, the United Civilizations launched the Argo expedition through newly discovered wormholes at the edge of the solar system.
They arrive on Janus, the two-faced planet, with hellish Helium-3 solar winds on one side, frozen seas of methane gas on the other. Mankind has no choice but to settle on the frozen frontier in search of vital resources. Hope has been found, but space is cold and unforgiving.
Frozen Frontier is a highly strategic Eurogame for experienced players about the cosmic future of humanity.
Each turn, a player has an opportunity to move their Carrier to any city, collect a project card, and take 1 of 3 possible actions:
а) Construct A player uses the top part of a multi-use project card to construct a building. Each card defines the type of building and where to build it. If a player meets both requirements, the project card gets added to their player board, and they benefit from the effect on the bottom half of the card anytime it’s triggered. Most buildings advance a player’s Industrial or Science tracks to gain new opportunities but cost a varying amount of resources to build.
b) Collaborate A player can settle colonists and use their own, or their competitors’, production/science buildings to receive resources and valuable effects.
с) Raise funds A player receives Qubits and/or special opportunities by using a subsidy card.
When the Subsidy cards deck is empty, players perform these steps in order:
1) receive income from their own buildings and from their cards with an income phase effect
2) send resources to Earth: fulfil common shipments contracts from the board (scheduled shipments), private ones from their hand (unscheduled shipments), and provide the requested amount of He3 to avoid a penalty token (mandatory shipments).
3) prepare the game for the next round
When the 3rd round ends, players count how many victory points each of them has earned. The one with the most points is the winner!
Players earn victory points for: - controlled cities (the corporation that has more buildings and AI tokens in a city controls it) - settled colonists - fulfilled Shipment contracts - the circumstances described on the cards with “end of the game” effects
New Avernus is a 1-4 player, competitive apocalyptic city building board game.
Over 7-10 turns of gameplay, players take up one of the four unique factions with their own starting resources, worker count, and abilities, and seek to clear the ruins of the previous cities to gain building blueprints, much needed resources, and finally to build, and fortify or beautify, your city.
At the end of each turn, an Occurrence card offers aid, resources, or harrowing events on the way to revealing the Meteor card, which is somewhere in the bottom 4 cards of the Occurrence deck. When it is revealed, play stops and the meteor strikes.
The meteor strikes a series of random spaces on each player's board, and when it's finally over, all surviving structures and points are counted up and a winner is decided.
A witch named Hester was hung, burned and buried under a tree. Some time later the family of Hester come to Harrow County to destroy it, but standing in their way is 18-year old Emmy who mysteriously has powers of her own.
In this 1 vs. 1 asymmetric combat game, players can play as one of the Protectors, trying to rescue townsfolk, or as one of the family, trying to destroy Harrow County. You can play as a third faction - the surprise return of Emmy's twin sister, Kammi. Kammi wants to rule over Harrow County. Players activate mason jars to move their haints (undead creatures) around the hex-based board, as they try to accomplish their missions. Combat is resolved using a never-before-seen cube tower that's built into the actual box.
Finally, a third player can enter the game: Hester, the dead witch buried under the tree. She controls the roots of the tree and using the cube tower, Hester can infect haints on her roots, which causes a snake to be placed into its ear. That player can still control this haint, but now so can Hester. If Hester comes back to life, then she needs to eat the other legend’s to gain all her power back to win.
Experience the colourful and crafty world of fibre arts with ArchRavels! Play as one of four characters, each with their own unique crafting specialty. Hit the Yarn Bazaar to build up your stash. Follow the patterns to make cuddly bears, warm blankets, and cosy scarves. Along the way you’ll get some unique special requests. Turn in your completed items to master a pattern, complete projects, and score points. When the project list runs out, the crafter with the most points wins!
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I have asked each of you in this room for a purpose. It is with grave urgency, and top secrecy that I request your time, your assistance, and your loyalty. I ask that you save our nation, and in turn save my life…” – The President
On the brink of civil war, The President of Karmonia has been given five letters from an assassin, each marked with a day. It has been made clear that if the President does not meet each of the assassin’s demands, there will be dire consequences resulting in the death of The President.
Five letters. Five threats. Five days to die.
Patriot is a semi-cooperative board game of social deduction, betrayal, strategy and teamwork for 1 to 6 players. Each player is dealt a secret card outlining their allegiance to The President – save, or assassinate. Through the midst of this, the country of Karmonia is in turmoil. It is up to you and your team to find the assassin whilst maintaining the country through a number of difficult missions!
However...! If you are the assassin, it is your mission to sabotage, betray and secretly manoeuvre the game in your favour, resulting in the assassination of The President and the destruction of Karmonia. Just don't get caught.
We're Sinking! is a 3-6 player, secret action-taking survival game.
Players take on the roles of pirates on a ship under siege. As the ship takes damage, the crew must work together to repair the ship and defeat one of the threats,(Kraken, Skeleton Pirates, Megaladon, and Sirens) while keeping the ship from... well, Sinking! Will you or your fellow crew choose to selfishly pocket treasure instead as precious time runs out? The game is over if you can manage to take out the threat. You win if you have the largest total score of treasure. If the ship sinks before taking out the threat, you win by having the fewest cards in your hand so that you're light enough to escape on the lifeboat.
Each turn players will choose one of 4 actions to take, (Bucket, Patch, Fire, or Plunder) Bucket, helps decrease the current water level. Patch, helps fix breaches and busted cannon. Fire, allows you to fire cannons at the enemy, or Plunder, which allows you to steal revealed loot cards. Players will discuss and possibly bluff about what actions they should take. Then players will secretly choose their actions on hidden compass dials and places them facedown. Once all dials have been placed, players will then reveal dials simultaneously.
A pirate's life is all about the treasure, or surviving to tell the tale! Turn yourself into a legend by defeating the enemy, saving the ship, and having the most valuable loot in your hand. But if the ship sinks first, be the pirate who survived to tell the tale by having the fewest cards in your hand so you can be light enough to flee on the lifeboat.
Players constantly make tough decisions as they change their strategies based on how close they think the ship is to sinking or how trustworthy their fellow mates ar(rrr)e