Crowdfunding Round-up: Galactic, Guilds, Gears, and Gaiman! (also Fable, but that screws up the "G" thing I was going for... stupid "F")

Galactic Strike Force is a fully cooperative game for 2 to 6 players. Each player begins the game with a Strike Force ship panel and a unique, eight-card deck which represents his ship and its crew.

Arrayed against the Strike Force is one of five Opposition fleets, spread across a number of different sectors. Rather than players having individual turns, the game rounds proceed through five phases, in which the players act simultaneously. They Travel from sector to sector, Requisition cards from various stations, and Install their Tech cards in hand to upgrade their ships. Then, the Strike Force may engage the Opposition in Battle across every sector; however, while the Strike Force has been preparing their assault, the Opposition has grown ever more powerful.

Finally, in the Aftermath, the Opposition forces gain resources when unopposed and add strength and numbers to their fleet. Ultimately, the Strike Force must work together to drive the Opposition from their systems and to final defeat.

Hunter's Guild: The Vampire Forest is a card game in which each player takes on the role of a Hunter seeking out fame, fortune and adventure. A powerful Vampire Lord has awoken from the undead realm, and it's up to you and your Guild to banish him back to his eternal sleep. Battle hordes of evil creatures, discover rare weapons and armors, even risk being infected by the Vampire in search of ancient relics to repel this evil threat. Be the first to collect all four Vampire Slaying Item Cards and track down the Vampire Lord to win the game!

This fast-paced adventure game uses only cards and a single 20-sided die. Damage, health and inventory are all calculated with cards so there is no need for hit markers, multiple dice, paper or pens. This makes for a fast-paced adventure game that never pulls you away from the action!

Hunter's Guild: The Vampire Forest introduces a unique way to track damage. Each Hunter, Creature, Armor and Shield card has Health Gems that represent the amount of damage they can sustain. When damage is inflicted, the cards are turned counter-clockwise to represent remaining Health Gems.

In Gear & Piston each player builds an automobile prototype. Each turn the players plan their actions by taking turns to place their tokens and thus reserve actions in the various locations.

When the locations are resolved, the players take new or junk parts in their hand. They can also steal parts, ply the black market for stolen blueprints, and use unions to muscle each other out of the way. At the end of every turn, the players build a number of parts according to how quick they were to get back to their workshops.

Players need to balance how quickly they build their automobile with how reliable it is. One can quickly cobble some junk parts together, or spend time on developing valuable new patents. In the end, two investors judge the prototypes and announce their decision on the winning design.

The game can be set up and explained in less than ten minutes. A game for two players takes 20-30 minutes to play, with the duration increasing by ten minutes per additional player.

Upon a Fable is a Euro-style strategy board game for 1-6 players (recommended age 10+) with a fairy tale theme. Players assume the role of a grand ruler in the fairy tale lands and start the game with one Small Realm (the Home Realm) overseen by a loyal Fable subject. Over nine game rounds, each ruler seeks to expand her fortunes through a variety of methods, including:

• Adding more realms to gain the support of additional Fables (which in turn, grant additional game actions each round);
• Upgrading the size and influence of their realms, from Small to Large to Epic;
• Playing "Ever After" cards that influence the flow of the game; and
• Gathering the valuable fairy tale resources of Magic, Love, Honour, Followers, and Castles.

None of these paths to greatness can be ignored, for only the most well-rounded ruler shall be granted victory over the others and awarded the title of High Emperor or Empress. At the end of the game, the player with the highest total Point value — accumulated through the variety of different methods outlined above — is crowned the winner.

At the beginning of A Study in Emerald you are assigned a secret identity, which will be that of either a Restorationist or a Loyalist. Your identity matters as it determines what you need to do to achieve victory.

There is a deck-building component to the game. You start with a deck of ten cards and you add to this set as the game goes on. There are twelve decks of cards on the board, one in each city. You can gain these cards through the use of influence cubes, in what is in effect a bidding system. As an action you can place influence cubes on a card that you would like to draft. If at the beginning of your next turn you have the most influence on that card, then you can choose to claim it and place it on your discard pile. You can also use influence to gain control of cities, which will earn your victory points as well as the benefits on the City card.

Many of the cards that are available to draft are agents. When you draft one of these cards you also take control of the agent counter, which remains on the board. Agents have a range of uses, from acting as additional influence to allowing you to assassinate "royal" persons or other agents.