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• Nocturnal Media is taking the amusement a couple thousand years into the past, pitting players against one another as fodder for the Roman bloodsports in Gladiator: Quest for the Rudis. Designer Jim Trunzo and co. have taken great pains to preserve historicity, including the bold move of using lots of Latin terms sure to be butchered by gamers everywhere. Gameplay is card-based combat on a hex grid. The winner earns the rudis and their freedom; the loser is sent to the Elysian wheat fields. Are you not entertained!? (KS link)
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• It's clear that Herschel Hoffmeyer loves dinosaurs. Apex Theropod Deck-Building Game is his self-published love letter to the thunder lizards. If you want to unleash your inner beast and run dewclaw-shod over your rivals for 35-210 minutes, this is the game for you. Now, Die-Hard Games is bringing you the Stomping Grounds expansion, with a project video that could pass as a teaser trailer for a Hollywood blockbuster. Herschel knows how to please the crowd, too, as one expansion module features dinosaurs mounted with lasers and machine guns. Yippee ki-yay, mother-dinos! (KS link)
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• Keyflower, from design duo Richard Breese and Sebastian Bleasdale, is blossoming eternal in the hearts and wishlists of gamers, and Game Salute is heeding the call as it is back with its fourth Keyflower-related KS campaign. This time its funding goal is a mere $100, so let's just dispense with the formalities and call this a preorder. Besides the newest printing of the game, a pair of expansions and a brand-new promo tile are also on offer. Medieval Key-land: the ultimate retirement destination for Carcassonne's working class. (KS link)
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• And Game Salute isn't done there! It's spinning three plates at once, with the third one being a campaign for Tim Fowers' Wok Star. The publisher is seeking funding for a third edition of this real-time game about running a Chinese restaurant, promising an improved electronic timer and showcasing a mockup of 3D plastic tokens in the wake of the hullaballoo over the second edition's token snafu. There is significantly less demand for the game this time around, if the pledge numbers are any indication. The tale of another great family-owned restaurant crowded out by the fast-casual boom? (KS link)
• Another hit game that's back again is Xavier Georges' Carson City, this time being published by Quined Games in a definitive big-box edition that includes the long out-of-print Gold & Guns expansion and the brand-new Horses & Heroes expansion. As is often the case with Quined, there is no retail release planned for the game. The game's long history and the limited-run FOMO fervor have combined to push the pledge totals well past the €100K mark. If yer lookin' for a worker placement showdown with friends, head across town to the project page, but be prepared to pony up €75 plus shipping. That's a stiff drink! (KS link)
• If you don't watch enough TV to get your dose of hokey product jingles, then it's time for you to check out the video for Scott King's latest KS project. Fortunately for Scott, his photographer's wizardry — not his singing voice — is what's going to make you open up your wallet. The 2016 Gaming Calendar, King's third such project, is the perfect way to add some gamer cred to your cubicle without earning you sidelong glances and copies of UNO at every office party for the next decade. You can pledge for the base calendar or customize your own from among 48+ photos. Get the picture? (KS link)
Editor's note: My thanks to Dustin for contributing this c.f. round-up! As always, please don't post links to other Kickstarter projects in the comments section. Write to me via the email address in the header, and I'll consider them for inclusion in a future crowdfunding round-up. Thanks! —WEM
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