Crowdfunding Round-up: Candles and Realms, Souls and Thieves

Battle For Souls is a card game pitting the seven archangels of heaven versus the seven princes of hell in a fight for the eternal souls of humankind.

In the game, 1, 2 or 4 players choose the side of heaven or the side of hell. Each side will battle for 21 souls, which are worth victory points. Players add holy or unholy points on the souls in play based on how they use temptation, virtue, sin, intercession, holy relic, unholy relic, angel and devil cards. Earn enough holy points, and when the soul is reaped it goes to heaven, earning the side of good victory points; earn enough unholy points, and when the soul is reaped it goes to hell, earning the side of evil victory points. If a soul does not earn enough holy or unholy points and is reaped, it goes to purgatory where its victory points are not counted.

Guiding a soul to complete purity or complete darkness before death and final judgment adds a new archangel or prince of hell to a player's arsenal. Each of the seven archangels and seven princes of hell have special abilities that allow a player to gain souls more quickly, and each one gained adds additional victory points to your final tally.

Many strategic decisions impact play. Strategies include focusing on gaining more help from heaven or hell to increase your power, working to reap souls quickly from the start with little intervention from the angelic and demonic hordes, or balancing your play to ensure victory.

Sin, Intercession and Relic cards can be purchased for beneficial effects at the cost of holy and unholy points. These help to make for deep gameplay and excellent risk/reward scenarios. Invest in these cards to strengthen your position.

Siegfried, Snow White, D'Artagnan, Red Riding Hood, and the other heroes of the twelve realms are being reunited for one last great adventure. The Dark Lords have joined forces to completely conquer and subjugate all the known Lands, and only the combined efforts of all the greatest heroes can halt their nefarious plan.

12 Realms is a fast and lighthearted cooperative game for 1 to 6 players. All players must band together to stop the Dark Lords' overwhelming hordes from pillaging the 12 Realms. Individual invaders can be defeated by using each hero's different talents, but to vanquish the Dark Lords you must claim a powerful artifact.

In their quest to stop the invasion, the heroes can travel together between different lands, or they can try to single-handedly defend a Realm. Each of the 12 Realms is an individual land, with different treasures and events, and populated by unique creatures.

The Menorah Game is a quick set-collection, auction, money-management game in which you buy/sell/auction candle tiles in order to be the first to collect the entire set of candles necessary to light your menorah.

On your turn, you a) flip over a card or buy a card from a graveyard, then b) buy, sell, or auction the card. The auction starts with you and goes once around but does not come back to you. If you win the auction, you pay the bank; if another player wins, she pays you and takes the candle. In addition to candles, the deck includes hazards that you must pay off, but which can be used to pay off other hazards or buy cards from a graveyard. The hazards in the 2005 self-published edition were Greek soldiers, while they are unlit candles in the 2013 edition, a.k.a. Candle Quest. The deck also includes gold (dancing) candles that are wild, and can be used for any color.

In the basic game, the first player to collect all eight differently colored candles wins. In the advanced game, the player whose board is the best at game's end wins. Candle Quest includes rules for a children's game that removes auctions and graveyard purchases and changes hazards so that they can be used to steal a candle from another player.

Candle Quest is essentially a re-theme of It's Alive! with a new production company and artist, while It's Alive! was a version of The Menorah Game with more tiles, slightly different rules, and components for up to five players.