Crowdfunding Round-up: Pirates vs. Dinosaurs, Tomorrow, Hegemonic, BattleCON: Devastation of Indines & 1775: Rebellion (Again!)

Pirates vs. Dinosaurs is a game for 2-5 players by Richard Launius (designer of Arkham Horror) in which players control pirate captains and their cutthroat crews, all with partial knowledge of the whereabouts of buried treasure on a forgotten Pacific island.

The catch? They don't know the island is the final home of dinosaurs, survivors of millions of years, and they aren't happy to let outsiders explore their island. Of course, the pirates also don't know that the island is sinking or that there are other pirates looking for the same treasure. Who will get away with the most loot and become the pirate remembered by history?

Before the game, players outfit themselves with a variety of crew, weapons, and gear before choosing the section of the island that they will explore, knowing that the jungle takes longer than the beach as they look for their parts of the map. The search can be interrupted as other players play dinosaur (and other) cards to cause mayhem and carnage. Once the treasure is located, players draw treasures from a bag, looking to avoid the pirate ghost and island sinking events, and return safe to their ship – a question of how far they'll go in pushing their luck.

It is a few years in the future and the nations of the world concur with the opinion of an unprecedented number of leading scientists: a combination of overpopulation, environmental change, and resource depletion has put the human species at imminent and dire risk. Something needs to be done – but what? In the span of a few weeks, top advisors and experts in each major world power conclude that the only way their people – and, indeed, all of humanity – will survive is via dramatic and immediate global de-population. With no one wanting to put their own people at risk, it will take aggressive and even inhumane acts to somehow save the world.

Tomorrow simulates a near-future in which six world powers struggle to save their people and culture in the face of imminent world calamity. You control one of six powers – the United States, the European Union, Russia, China, India, or the Arab Caliphate – in a live-or-die struggle to save the planet and your people, while preserving your culture and heritage for the generations hopefully to follow. Your objective is to contribute to the unavoidable de-population, while maximizing the goodwill of your people and the world. Tomorrow includes many exciting gaming elements:

-----• High levels of social interaction: Much of the game is conducted via face-to-face diplomacy involving all six players.
-----• Player determination: This low-luck game forces you to match wits with your antagonists – not roll dice – in order to beat them.
-----• Variety: Every game is different thanks to a range of Event Cards that have many different effects on the action.
-----• Various types of warfare to choose from, each with their own strengths and weaknesses: You can choose to use Conventional Military or Terror, or even unleash Biological and Nuclear horrors.

Hegemonic is a game of galactic exploration, empire building, conflict, and cunning that's playable in 30-45 minutes per player. Each player assumes the role of a Great House Leader, exploring sectors of the new galaxy; building industrial, political, and martial systems; employing far-reaching technologies; and performing calculated actions to leverage their power. The game scales from 2-6 players and uses a modular board system to create a balanced and highly replayable experience.

Players exercise their power through industrial expansion, political leverage, and military force using a simultaneous action selection mechanism. The game proceeds over a number of turns until the galaxy is fully explored. Each turn consists of an exploration phase followed by three action phases and an arbitration phase. All players move through each phase collectively, resulting in a fast-paced and engaging gameplay experience.

Each player balances his hand of dual-purpose Resolution/Technology cards, which are used to influence success in conflict or can be played as a permanent technology benefit for his empire. Players must decide carefully how and when to use these cards as there is a tradeoff between saving high power cards for their resolution power and using them for their technological advantages. These dual-purpose cards ensure that each one can serve a strategic purpose in expanding a player's reign while greatly mitigating the luck of the draw.

Players accumulate VPs at the end of each turn based on the relative control they have over each galaxy region. The game ends when the galaxy is fully explored by having a sector tile placed on every galaxy board location, typically 7 to 9 turns. Final bonus scoring includes points for total power and technology advancement. This scoring mechanism forces critical decisions throughout the game as you must continually balance the amount of power your bases provide and its location relative to other players. The player able to extend their power and influence the most strategically across the galaxy will establish the new dominant hegemony and win the game!

As new villains appear to lay claim to the world of Indines, new heroes rise to challenge them. BattleCON: Devastation of Indines puts you in control of 18 mighty heroes and deadly villains to decide the fate of the world.

BattleCON: Devastation of Indines is a standalone dueling card game designed for head-to-head and team play. Each player selects a character who uses a unique gameplay mechanism to give them an edge in combat. Take control of guitar-playing summoner, a pair of tag-teaming werewolves, a prodigal paladin, a genius artificer, and more! Each character's play style requires new strategies, but uses the same foundational tactics, making a new character easy to learn, but challenging to master.

Players move along a seven-space-long board, trading blows and attempting to strike the opponent, using attacks formed by combining a character's unique styles and abilities with a set of basic cards that all characters share. The last player standing wins!