Crowdfunding Round-up: Ye Olde Kickstarter Standards — Cthulhu, Zombies, Dragons & Fighting Games

Crowdfunding Round-up: Ye Olde Kickstarter Standards — Cthulhu, Zombies, Dragons & Fighting Games
Board Game: Shadows Over Normandie: Achtung! Cthulhu
Heroes of Normandie is still warming in the sun on the doorsteps of some Kickstarter backers, and publisher Devil Pig Games has already launched a companion game: Shadows over Normandie, which as the portmanteau title suggests blends the setting and gameplay of the original game with a healthy dash of Lovecraft, who was fond of placing shadows over things. (KS link) An overview of the setting and gameplay:

Quote:
A few weeks after D-Day, a U.S. Ranger Company lost in Normandie has to confront the terrifying power of the Nazis' Cult of the Black Sun. Allied with an ancient Deep Ones tribe, the Cult of the Black Sun is preparing a dark ceremony to summon the great Cthulhu.

Shadows over Normandie is a squad/platoon sized game based on the Heroes System and is totally compatible with the Heroes of Normandie board game. The game features three opposing armies controlled by the players. These forces include the German Cult of the Black Sun, the ancient Deep Ones, and the U.S. Rangers. Each force is made up of infantry, tanks or creatures and of course, heroes and villains. Each unit has its own set of unique characteristics and skills depicted on the high quality chunky tokens.

Players use order tokens to determine initiative and to bluff. While a single six-sided die determines combat, action cards are played to spice things up. Secretly plan your attacks and outwit your opponent. Block the opposing strategy and surprise the enemies. Deploy your units and don't turn back!
• We'll contrast SoN with the more generic-sounding Factions from first-time designer and publisher Ben Wolf and TheoryCraft Gaming: "In this tabletop card game, players take on the roles of opposing generals to battle one another for supremacy. These seasoned generals maneuver their chosen Faction into battle towards critical Victory Points on a unique hexagonal board. Players have the ability to experiment with different army configurations and will discover various strategies to help them conquer their opponents. Each game is different and can be customized prior to playing." (KS link) Or maybe any Cthulhu-based game is more generic at this point. Hmm, something to contemplate in the sauna perhaps...

Board Game: Switching Tracks
Switching Tracks from Kris Gould and Wattsalpoag Games appears to be a lighter pick-up-and-deliver train game with "switch" tiles at various intersections on the track to allow trains to move in different directions. (KS link) More short description: "You can upgrade your train to go faster or to carry more goods, or you can get more switchmen in order to be able to change more switches before you run your train. Offices can grant you special abilities during the game. Delivered goods are used to fulfill contracts. The first to fill five contracts wins the game."

• Did you know that Zombicide is undergoing yet another c.f. campaign from Cool Mini Or Not? This time for the standalone/expansion Zombicide Season 3: Rue Morgue and the nothing-but-expansion Zombicide: Angry Neighbors? Can you imagine my lack of surprise at this project netting more than $1 million? Zombies + miniatures is still a cash cow on KS in 2014. We'll see what next year brings. (KS link)

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• I love the sound of the gameplay in Rebecca Smith's [thing=160722]The Dragon Games[/thing] — a trick-taking board game with special powers and a deck that evolves over the course of the game — but then I look at the artwork on the cards and game board and close the tab. (KS link) Perhaps that's shallow on my part, but given the number of games I already own, any reason to cross a game off the list is often good enough. (I hear this comment a lot while walking around Spiel as you're faced with hundreds of new games with only a limited amount of Euros and luggage space on hand.)

• Eric Goscicki's Game Over is another take on the "video game becomes a board game" phenomenon, with players each controlling three characters and building them up through drawn item cards or purchased gem-based bonuses in order to knock out all of the opponents, be the first to score 25 points, or uncover three hidden items in the play deck. (KS link)

Dolmen, eggertspiele's revamped version of Thomas Odenhoven's druid-based abstract strategygame Die Dolmengötter, is halfway to its funding goal on Spieleschmiede, but with eggertspiele now sitting on Spiel des Jahres-winning Camel Up, that company will undoubtedly be pulled in all sorts of directions in the next few weeks. (SS link) Not suggesting the eggertspiele won't carry through on the project; only that it suddenly has a lot of balls to juggle as it moves this and other games toward production prior to Spiel 2014.

Editor's note: 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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