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Crowdfunding Round-up: There's a New Grim Reaper in Town

Crowdfunding Round-up: There's a New Grim Reaper in Town
Board Game: Scythe
(Editor's note: My apologies to Dustin, but I've been on the road since Spiel 2015, so I wasn't able to publish this post on Sunday, Oct. 18 as scheduled. I've updated some of the listings to account for this delay. —WEM)

• The elephant in the Kickstarter room right now is Jamey Stegmaier's animal companion, and its name is Scythe. Jamey and his publishing outfit, Stonemaier Games, is back on KS for a fourth standalone game. It's billed as 4x, but comes dressed in Eastern European dieselpunk rather than the genre's usual galactic conquest trappings. The game's been building momentum during nearly a year of art reveals and extensive playtesting. Given that Jamey literally wrote the book on how to crowdfund successfully, it's little wonder that the project is going to easily end up north of a million dollars. (KS link)

• Innovation has been published several times already and it's about to receive another facelift as Asmadi Games is putting out a new edition of the award-winning card game from designer Carl Chudyk. The game has been tweaked for balance, and the graphic design retouched and made more colorblind-friendly. The KS campaign also offers a deluxe version that packages the base game with both of the previously released expansions and two new expansions: Cities of Destiny and Artifacts of History. (KS link — expired, but with a preorder link at the top of the page)

Board Game: World's Fair 1893
• Historical themes are often derided as dry or unimaginative, but such cannot be said about World's Fair 1893 from designer J. Alex Kevern. The game immerses players in the planning of the World's Columbian Exposition, a testament to progress and imagination during the waning years of an age of optimism. The theme hits that same indefinable note of nostalgia that pulls me through the doors of museums. Foxtrot Games and Renegade Game Studios will co-publish this light game of area control and set collection. The White City glistens and the Ferris wheel beckons... (KS link)

• If there were an award for Most Aesthetically Pleasing Way to Arrange 20 Card Stacks (somebody get on that), Nick Sauer's Looting Atlantis would win, hands down. Shoot Again Games plans for this title to join the ranks of nearly one hundred other Unpub alumni that have gone on to successful publication. In the game, an erupting volcano serves as a countdown timer, and players have to decide when to stop stealing tech and head for the neighboring kingdoms. Them Atlanteans were a slick lot. (KS link — expired, but a preorder is available on the page)

Board Game: Morocco
• Ben Pinchback and Matt Riddle continue to defy categorization with their latest design. Morocco, for which they're collaborating again with Eagle-Gryphon Games, looks and feels like a classic euro — not necessarily surprising since Knizia's tile-laying trilogy served as an inspiration for the game. Despite what the Ridback boys might tell you about the game's genesis, I like to think that the "jockeying for the best stalls" mechanism was born out of the madness of attending Gen Con. (KS link — expired)

• It's been three years since designer Brent Povis published Morels through Two Lanterns Games, but now he's back with Agility, his long-awaited sophomore effort. Brent's unique approach to design is to focus on games you could play "the old way, ideally on a thick wooden table by the hearth in a tavern, frost gathering on the windows with cold ale balancing a warm fire". If two-player games with handcrafted wooden bits are your thing, it's time for you to go see a man about a dog. (KS link)

Board Game: Sword & Sorcery
• Stegmaier isn't the only one with a big, sprawling minis-and-combat game on the funding block right now; Ares Games is going gangbusters with Sword & Sorcery from the design team of Simone Romano and Nunzio Surace, the folks behind 2014's Galaxy Defenders. If board games were movies, this would be a total genre flick. Perhaps S&S will provide some competition for the D&D board games — especially for folks who struggle on a QWERTY keyboard. (KS link)

• Despite their combined 100+ design credits, superstar designers Bruno Faidutti and Serge Laget have only had one game apiece that was published via KS instead of traditional channels. Their last collaboration, Ad Astra, was a sci-fi production, and they’re returning to that same milieu for Argo from Flatlined Games. The gameplay features intriguing co-opetition elements. In a surprising move, the publisher opted for cardboard standees instead of miniatures, before reversing course mid-campaign. (KS link — cancelled, possibly relaunching in Dec. 2015)

• One of the champions of the print-on-demand movement is designer Daniel Solis. His late 2014 release Kigi, published via DriveThruCards, quickly attracted international attention and several licensing deals. Action Phase Games was one of those interested parties and is now publishing that game's spiritual successor, Kodama: The Tree Spirits. Artist Kwanchai Moriya's distinctive visual style gives the game an appropriate sense of magic. (KS link)

• Last but not least is Prospectus, published by Mr. B Games and designed by BGG's own Chad Krizan, a.k.a. "Chaddyboy". Kwanchai Moriya lent his brushes to this project, too, but the real show-stopper is a clear plastic crystal ball that functions much like Amerigo's cube tower. Somebody has been studying the market as unique toy-like components and the potion-crafting theme are both hot right now. Folks, it's only a matter of time before someone figures out how to bring back the ol' Pop-O-Matic bubble in a modern design. (KS link)

From gallery of archit3uthis


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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