All artwork is taken/adapted from the respective projects’ Kickstarter page.
It’s time to take a look at Kickstarter!
Before we start, I just want to say congratulations to The Dice Tower for hitting their funding goal on day one! Not that there was any doubt that they would hit their goal, but still, whether you agree or disagree with their reviewers, The Dice Tower is the most important content creator network in board gaming. And from what little interaction we’ve had with them at Origins, they all seem like great folks!
And with that, let’s Kick It!
CoraQuest
Speaking of The Dice Tower, if you watch their Board Game Breakfact, you’ve probably seen Cora Hughes and her father, Dan, reviewing games. It’s been interesting watching Cora, who is 8 years old, become a more sophisticated gamer over the course of the few years they’ve been at it.
Well, now she’s designed her own game. CoraQuest is a light dungeon crawler that is designed so that a child could understand it. It’s colorful; the characters were drawn by Cora herself, as well as by other children, which gives it a kind of whimsical aesthetic. There are six characters in the game, BUT there’s also an app that lets you make your own characters!
Even though it’s made for kids, it looks like it would be fun for adults. It reminds me of Masmorra, but with more customization. And because it doesn’t have plastic minis, it’s much cheaper than other dungeon crawlers.
Maquis (2nd Edition)
And we more to another inexpensive game. Maquis is a solo worker-placement game where you play as members of the French Resistance, gathering resources, recruiting freedom fighters, and evading Nazi patrols.
I’ve heard good things about the 1st edition, but missed it when it was available. The problem with a solo game is that if you don’t get your own copy, well, it’s not like people bring it to game night, you know?
But yeah…the game looks fun, the graphic design is great, and It looks like there is a surprising amount of game in such a tiny package. The only thing that might prevent me from pulling the trigger on tis one is that Em doesn’t play solo games, and it’s hard to justify buying a game that only I would play. I’m still working on a justification…
Kingdoms of the Deep
Kingdoms of the Deep is a 1-6 player game where players try to rule the sea, upgrading their player abilities and avoiding escalating shark attacks along the way. Players accomplish this by playing actions simultaneously and moving their cubes to other sections of the modular board. They score points via a variable set of goal cards, meaning that every game will take a different strategy to outmaneuver your opponents.
Also, as an add-on, there are CUSTOM ANIMEEPLES!
Sorry. If you’ve watched our appearance on Favorite Game Friday, you know that we love custom meeples, and one of Galactic Raptor’s previous games, Animal Kingdoms, has some of Em’s favorite meeples. The meeples for Kingdoms of the Deep are, appropriately, undersea creatures like octopi, stingrays, narwhals, and the like.
I’m a sucker for games with variable player powers, so this one’s definitely on our watch list.
Zodiac War
Lastly, we have Zodiac War. In Zodiac War, players play as the signs of the zodiac, fighting to move the hearts of followers, as well as the planets themselves, for supremacy. The game uses a three-tiered wheel, in which the planets, the signs of the zodiac, and the elements move into different configurations. Players vie to move these features into alignments that allow them to gain faith, which can be spent to perform other actions.
Of all the games on this list, this is the one I know the least about. I do know that this is the second time it’s been on Kickstarter, and that the creator, Paul Starr, pulled it last time to work out some technical and mechanical issues with the game. I’m still not sure how the wheel system will hold up, but if it works, it looks great.
In fact, from a purely aesthetic approach, this game is amazing. The board looks more like a new age/occult tool than a game board, and the tarot cards that players play to perform actions feature gorgeous art by Katerina Poliakova and Conor Smith. I love tarot cards (as I’ve mentioned before), so hopefully, if the stars are right, I’ll get my hands on a copy of this one.
And that’s it for this installment of Kick it. Are there any crowdfunding games that you’re excited about? Let us know in the comments, or find us all over the internet!