I’ve got several Kickstarter boardgame reviews I’m working on (and plenty more coming this summer), but here are a couple projects that tabletop fans may enjoy, but that I didn’t get a chance to play prior to launch.
Eminent Domain: Battlecruisers & Exotica
Eminent Domain was Tasty Minstrel Games’ first huge Kickstarter success. It combines deck-building and role-selection with a sci-fi theme, along with lots of different technology to choose from. I’ve only played the base game myself, but there are a couple expansions out that have been quite popular. The latest is Exotica, seeking funding now.
Battlecruisers is a stand-alone game set in the same universe but with different gameplay. Players are competing commanders, trying to accomplish a mission or bring down the other battlecruisers.
I really enjoyed the two-player microgame Eminent Domain: Microcosm that was Kickstarted last year, but I haven’t gotten a chance to play these others.
Dice Hate Me Games (now part of Greater Than Games) has a whole bunch of great titles, all funded through Kickstarter, and their latest title is Monster Truck Mayhem, a real-time dice-rolling racing game that sounds like a whole lot of noisy fun. It’s designed by Ben Pinchback and Matt Riddle, the team that brought you Fleet and Eggs & Empires (my game of the year for 2014).
This time around, there are no stretch goals. That’s right. Everything was unlocked from the beginning (assuming the project funds) and Kickstarter backers also get the expansion included for free.
I found out about this one through Eagle-Gryphon Games’ newsletter, and it looks pretty fascinating. They’ve done a couple of art-based games with real art in them, and one interesting thing about this one is the inclusion of contemporary art.
This one’s not for the faint-hearted, though. Designer Vital Lacerda’s other titles include CO2 and Kanban, both very involved games with lots of moving parts to keep track of. But if you like big Eurogames, this looks like a beautiful one to try.
Despite the overuse of the word “epic” in game titles these days, I feel I can safely recommend this one. It’s from the designers of Star Realms, a little two-player, pocket-sized deck-building game that surprised a lot of gamers with its depth. Epic Card Game is a fantasy based combat game, and the box will let two to four players play in various modes–you can draft decks, use premade decks, or even construct your own decks if every player has a box.
I like Wok Star so much I’ve actually had 3 versions of it–a prototype I was sent to review, the first edition from Gabob Games that I preordered, and the second edition that was Kickstarted (and took a long time to deliver due to the electronic timer). Now that they’ve gotten those kinks worked out, the third edition should be pretty easy to produce.
The one thing I’m eyeing this time around is the set of 3D-printed tokens. Yeah, the wooden tokens work just fine, but the 3D tokens just look so adorable. Order up!
Boardgames That Tell Stories 2
This last one’s not a game, but it’s a book that tabletop fans will enjoy. Ignacy Trzewiczek is the designer of Robinson Crusoe, Imperial Settlers, and several other great board games. He also likes to blog, with his own particular brand of English. In 2013 he ran a successful campaign to fund the printing of a collection of some of his favorite essays as a hardcover book, along with contributions from several other game designers. I backed the project, and really enjoyed reading the various essays once the book arrived. (You can read my review here.)
Now he’s back with another campaign, a new list of designers to contribute their essays (most of these stretch goals have already been hit), and I’m in for round two. I’ve loaned out my copy several times to people who missed the first Kickstarter project and wished they hadn’t. Don’t miss out this time around!
So many good games on there right now!