Crowdfunding Round-up: Shadows over the Empire, Battle Merchants, Codinca, King of Clubs & More

King of Clubs is a fast-paced card game of sweet-sweet dance moves for 2 or 4 players. In the basic two-player game, each player has a team of dancers valued 1-5. In each round, four of the nine nightclubs (valued 2-7) are revealed, with nightclubs of the same value being paired for a couple's dance. Each player assigns one dancer to each nightclub (two dancers for a couple's dance), then players reveal the values of the dancers with the highest-valued dancer(s) winning the prestige value of the nightclub; the back-up dancer held in hand breaks ties. Whoever wins the most prestige in the round earns a point, and the first player to win five points wins the game. In the four-player team version, each teammate sends a dancer to each nightclub (without consulting one another about who's being sent where), and the highest low-valued dancer in each nightclub wins the prestige; if the lower-valued dancers are tied, then the higher-valued dancers are compared.

In the advanced game, each player also has a hand of five "move" cards. After revealing dancers in a nightclub, whoever has the lower-valued dancer can play one or more moves on the dancer, as long as he can chain the icons shown on the bottom of the dancer card and the bottom of the move cards. After determining who wins a nightclub, the player draws move cards equal to the "move" number shown on the back-up dancer still in hand, discarding down to five move cards, if needed. In the team version, the symbol on the first move card must be present on both of the team's dancers.

The King is dead! Cardis has fallen...

After a long siege, the empire of Asmidan has conquered Cardis and the Conclave of Law has been sent by the Emperor to establish the new rule. The city is in disarray and several factions struggle for power behind the scenes. The former Queen is using her influence to gather allies in an effort to help her son claim the throne. The Order of the Coin — a group of wealthy individuals — wants to rise to power ensuring the gold keeps flowing. The Asmidan's Church desires to seize control of the newly conquered city by using the feared Inquisition to sway whoever opposes it.

In Shadows over the Empire, players take the role of leaders of four factions in a struggle for control of Cardis. They must influence various personalities and have them do their bidding. Loyalties are constantly changing and great allies become mortal enemies in a city filled with desire for dominion. Who will prevail?

In a faraway land, the Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and Hobgoblins stand on the brink of war. After years of failed peace negotiations, they have finally decided to take up arms and stand ready to fight – which is great news for you because you'll be selling them their weapons.

Battle Merchants is an economic game set in a fantasy land in which players manufacture four different weapons, then sell them to various warring races. Demand for each type of weapon differs throughout the game, but a well-crafted weapon will last longer.

On each turn, players can forge weapons, sell a weapon, upgrade craft (to build better weapons), or take a Kindom Card (for special powers); for players with a high-enough level of craft, a fifth action is available: forge and sell a weapon in the same turn. Players earn money by selling weapons, and it's permitted (nay, encouraged!) to sell your weapons to both sides of the same battle. The game takes place over four seasons in one game year. At the end of each season, the races fight with the weapons that the players sold. Weapons are at risk of being destroyed in battle, and surviving weapons earn money for surviving. After all, someone has to get paid to sharpen all of those weapons...

At the end of the game, the player with the most money wins.

Deep within the rain forests of the Yucatan, rival teams of treasure hunters have recently discovered the lost city of Codinca. In the center of the once great citadel stands a stone temple. Local legends tell of great treasures that lie buried beneath the temple, but despite many weeks of searching no doorway has been found.

On the top of the temple stands a square stone altar. A small totem stands in the center of this, surrounded by a pattern of sixteen carved tiles. Examining them closely you discover an intricate series of mechanisms which allow the tiles to switch places and turn over, which reveals that each tile has a stone side and a gold side. Carvings on each side of the pillar indicate that a sequence of four key patterns must be made with the tiles to open the temple. Can you be the first to unlock the secrets of Codinca?

In Codinca, each player has control of a set of four matching symbol tiles: Air, Water, Earth or Fire. Players take turns attempting to move their tiles into a series of four specific key patterns indicated on the key discs drawn at the beginning of the game; those patterns are a block of four, a line of four, four corners (can be four corners of any nine tiles as well as outside corners) and a diagonal line of four. On each turn a player must always switch and flip. In addition, players are allocated a number of luck tokens that give players bonus moves such as Line Push, Block Lock, Rotate Four, etc. Each player also has a secret Trap Card he can either use blindly or (if he spends a luck token) use strategically. Players can match their required patterns in any order, and the first player to match all patterns wins.