Why Talk About Future Crowdfunding?

Well, because the hype is real. Not only that, while I think there are good sources for what’s coming up on Kickstarter, I don’t think it hurts to have some extras in there. This is me weighing in on a fairly crowded space, in all fairness, and talking about games that I’m interested in, but also that might be missed by everyone in the hype of some of the big games coming out.

It is also to help me budget what I’m going to get. I’m putting down 10 games that I know some about but not a ton. And these games aren’t all going to be games that I back, because, well, it’s expensive. But this will give you an idea of what is coming out to help plan out what games you might want, and of course, this is only quarter one, so don’t blow all your budget here.

This might become a monthly thing, though, unless I can find good ways to keep track of this long term. Like I said, there are people covering things weekly or bi-weekly, and that’s great. But it does mean that I’ll need to spend more time tracking down games in the future. And BoardGameCo, I hope he does a quarterly video, but he’s doing this one right now since Kickstarter/Gamefound are very slow.

Top 10 Quarter One Crowdfunding

So what games are making my list for the first quarter.

10. Tidal Blades: Rise of the Unfolders

I expect this one to be a lot higher on a lot of people’s lists. It isn’t for me just because, while the first Tidal Blades game looked amazing, I felt like it wasn’t a game for me. And while it isn’t a series in terms of you need the first to play the second, I might feel that I’m missing out on something. But the world of Tidal Blades is cool. A land covered in water, monsters coming up from the deep or through that you need to fight. A tournament to decide the next heroes of the land. That is all cool.

And this takes it from a dice upgrading game into a dungeon crawler. And oddly enough, not one that really uses those dice. We all know that I’m a sucker for dungeon crawl games. That is the reason this is on the list. It is a cool world, and Druid City Games/Skybound Games always makes high quality games. So, if nothing else the production is going to be amazing. I can see this one tempting me.

9. Jurassic World: The Legacy Of Isla Nublar

This game from Funko would only kind of be on my radar if it weren’t for the fact it’s a legacy game. It is this low because of the price point. The legacy game is played over 12 game sessions, and the game costs $120 on Kickstarter plus shipping. That is expensive. Now, doing the math, let’s say I play three player and twelve sessions and each game takes an hour and a half. That is about $2.22 of fun per person per hour.

But a legacy game set in the Jurassic World world, I’m interested in that. I need to know more how the game plays. Because, it’s a theme that interests me, who doesn’t like dinosaurs, but also I don’t have as much nostalgia/attachment to the original movies or the new ones. Even with that, I still like dinosaurs, so I’m still tempted by this game.

8. Seas of Havoc

Another one lower on my list that I’m generally interested in. This is a deck building, sea fighting game. That is a concept that sounds interesting to me. And while it might not be pirates completely for this game, I can see it having that feel. I need to play my newest pirate game, Forgotten Waters, but generally I’m looking for good pirate themed games.

Seas of Havoc is higher on the list than Jurassic World for the theme. It is very close though, because a legacy game is always interesting to me. But as much as I love the legacy mechanic, I also love the deck building mechanic, maybe even more so. And doing that with the high seas and adventure, I’m curious to see how that goes.

7. The Dark Quarter

This game could be higher on the list as I learn more about it. What I know is that this is set in New Orleans and has almost a gothic style horror feel to it. And I’m here for gothic horror. Plus it’s a collaboration between Lucky Duck Games and Van Ryder Games. While I haven’t played much from either, their stuff always interests me. Mainly because they both focus on story first games.

This one, like I said, I don’t know too much about. It seems like an interesting setting though, and I suspect we’ll be seeing vampires show up. And I’m expecting with Lucky Duck Games being involved that there is going to be some sort of app driven component. I don’t need apps in all my games, but when there is a lot of story, I like it so that they can hide information better.

6. Astro Knights

From Indie Board and Cards, this is kind of a successor to Aeon’s End. If you watched my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2021 Edition, you’ll know that I really like Aeon’s End. It’s a good challenging game with a lot of variability. Plus, like I mentioned with Seas of Havoc, I like deck builders. And Aeon’s End is a very good deck builder.

Astro Knights seems to have changed up some things, like not having a fixed market. And while I don’t mind the fixed market in Aeon’s End, I really like more random markets. Granted, in a cooperative game it matters less to me. But I’m curious about this one, and I like the artwork on it. I didn’t start backing Aeon’s End games until this most recent one, so I might wait for this to come to retail.

5. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition Expansion

Another one that I’m really excited about is just an expansion from Stronghold Games. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition was one of, if not, my top game from 2021. It just works in that it’s fast to set-up, fast-ish to play, and even though the game might take a bit to play it doesn’t seem long because you do stuff every turn.

I just want more cards in this expansion and maybe something small extra. But more development cards and more research cards, that’d be great. Even a few more corporations, that’d be good. Or maybe a separate track to manage some way in the game. I suspect that we’ll be getting a sixth action, and that is fine, but I don’t really need that. What works well with Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition is that you can make decisions pretty quickly for what you want to do. I hope they don’t bog that down.

4. Final Girl

Now the first of two games, in a row, that are already out. They are just coming back to Kickstarter. From Van Ryder games, second time on the list, this one is about being the final girl in a horror movie. It’s a trope of basically that one person left and will they or won’t they defeat the murderer who is out to get them.

This is a purely solo game and a theme that I really love. Have I said that I like horror before? But this isn’t just horror, this is campy horror, at least what is what I liken it to. So I’m really curious about this game, and it is getting amazing reviews thus far. So when Season 2 comes to Kickstarter, we’ll have to see how much of it I end up backing.

3. Unsettled

The next one is a theme that I maybe like a little bit less than horror, but it’s up there, and that’s sci-fi. Unsettled is a planetary exploration game from Orange Nebula. This one also is out already, they are just coming back for more. The game reminds me of the exploration/planetary phase from ISS Vanguard, what I’ve seen of it. Combined with a plug and play system that is reminiscent of how cool it was for T.I.M.E Stories, but this time in space.

The production on this looks really good. And, like I said, the reviews are very strong as well. it can be played solo, but sounds like a better game multiplayer. What I like about Unsettled and Finale Girl, compared to my normal crowdfunding, is that these are one off games. So I don’t need to plan a whole campaign/players around it.

2. Rogue Angels

But now we are back to a campaign game. And Rogue Angels is a game that I’ve even had the chance to play and mess around with. You can see some of my thoughts here. But the game mechanics were smooth, and what I really liked about the game is the card play.

Just to touch on that a bit. All cards have a cooldown cost. So if I use a card that costs three, I’ll get it back in three turns. And you play with a limited hand of cards. But you also have cards that cost zero. They aren’t great actions, but they’ll do in a pinch. Plus they come back right away. So when you use certain cards that are more powerful but will take longer to come back, that is a great question.

Plus this is a replayable legacy game. And by that I don’t mean that it has a free play mode at the end, the other legacy game, Jurassic World does, but instead it means that this game comes with a lot of characters. And there are a lot of scenarios and branching decisions that you can make. Depending on how you match up with a faction will limit your options as well. So even once you’ve played the story through, there is still more story to find.

1. Marvel Zombies

This is easily my most anticipated game in the first quarter. And I think they’ve officially said it’s in Q1, but there isn’t an official date yet. I haven’t played a Zombicide game before. Undead or Alive isn’t going to make it here in time for before this campaign, most likely. I’m guessing mid summer for that game. So will I back this? It’s Marvel, most likely. And reviewers who have been critical of other Zombicide games have been enjoying previewing this one.

This is going to have so much Marvel to it, and it’s taking a storyline that people liked from the comics and creating a game around it. Plus getting to play as the zombies sounds different than normal Zombicide. I’m not sure why that makes it more interesting, but it does. And a 2.5″ tall Galactus that you actually play with, well you get the idea.

What Crowdfunding Games Are You Looking Forward To?

Let me know that in the comments below. I definitely picked a lot of bigger games for my list. But in all fairness a lot of those bigger games advertise more. If you want to see a massive list of games BoardGameCo covers a whole lot more, though not Rogue Angels. I’ll leave the video below for your viewing pleasure, and it is a fun watch.

But let me know what Kickstarter or Gamefound you are looking forward to in the start of 2022. There are a lot that I didn’t mention that I’ll be keeping an eye on as well like LastLight and The Dice Tower campaign. And if I knew for sure when Sea of Legends was coming out, that might have made the list as well.

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Games Coming to Crowdfunding in 2022

Slay the Spire

This one I’ve been waiting on for a long time. In fact, the first two are ones that were supposed to come out in 2021 and then didn’t for some reason or another. Might be supply chain wanting them to hold back, but Slay the Spire, I believe that this one is because of development on the game. They weren’t completely happy where it was, so they wanted to refine it more. I give them credit for delaying for that reason.

But if you aren’t familiar, Slay the Spire is a video game that uses deck building to go through a rogue-like game. You start out as a character, fight monsters, get cards as rewards, as well as relics, potions and more. Sometimes curses even get added to your deck and you want to avoid those. I am really curious to see how this translates to a board game, because the deck building will obviously work. But will the game play as smoothly as the video game?

Iron Forest

Iron Forest is the other one, from the makers of Ice Cool. This game does some of the same things as Ice Cool with flicking. But it does some different things. Mainly that there are two levels. So you launch up from the bottom and go to the top. I got to mess around with this a little at GenCon in 2019, and it was fun. And that only was launching penguins.

This is a bigger game than Ice Cool. While Ice Cool is great silly fun, it doesn’t have many rules. Iron Forest looks like it will be more of a game. And it looks like it is team versus team. That is different and intriguing as to how it will work. But I hope it won’t end up being too complex. What I love about dexterity games is when they are easy to get to the table and play.

Unsettled

We went from two that were delayed to two that are reprints of games. Unsettled by Orange Nebula is a big space game. But it is different from something like ISS Vanguard which is a massive campaign. Unsettled is maybe more like TIME Stories, not with an over arching story that doesn’t matter too much. But because it plugs and plays a lot of different planets into the main system.

This is a game about exploring those planets and trying to complete objectives. But each time you play it’s its own separate game. And each planet has it’s own puzzle to work with as you try and do your job and leave before time runs out.

I almost backed this when it was on Kickstarter before. But I didn’t and now with reviews coming out, I wish that I had backed it. The new Kickstarter I’m sure will give me an option to get the base game, which might be all I need. But because of the plug and play nature, it is going to add in even more planets.

Sea of Legends

The other game that is coming back is Sea of Legends. This is a pirate game that changes up every time that you play it. If you watch the Top 10 of the year over on the Dice Tower with Chris, Camilla, Wendy and Roy, Camilla talks about how it works. But the app gives you a different story depending on who your lover and nemesis are. Plus gives you a lot of ways you can win.

This is another game that I almost backed. It was fairly expensive, and with a poor deployment of the app initially, I’m okay that I didn’t. But the concept of the game seems great. I like the variability that the app can provide as well for the story. If it had been cheaper used, I might have picked it up already from my FLGS.

Dark Quarter

This might be the one I know the least about, or close to it. And this one I think is coming to crowdfunding, but I don’t know for sure. But Dark Quarter is a game from Lucky Duck Games and Van Ryder Games. Van Ryder is known for their graphic novel adventure books and more. Lucky Duck Games for Chronicles of Crime and Destinies.

They are working together to create a darker version of something like Destinies. Destinies is a competitive adventure game where you are trying to complete your destiny. It’s kind of that Time of Legends: Joan of Arc type of setting. Dark Quarter is going to be set in French Quarter of New Orleans with monsters around in the summer of ’81.

This one is really interesting but I’ll know more after I play Destinies, which is coming to me soon. Now, this won’t be a 1 to 1 comparison between the two games, but I think it will help me decide. The theme is definitely right up my alley though.

Marvel Zombies – A Zombicide Game

Of course Marvel Zombies is on the list. I’ve talked about this one a bunch already. But basically you are superheroes who have been turned into zombies. But maybe you can play as the heroes as well fighting off zombies? I need more details on it eventually, but it’s Marvel and Zombicide so I’m interested.

Plus it’s from CMON so the sculpts are amazing. Including the giant 2.5′ or so tall Galactus that actually can be used in the games. That is just crazy. I did just back Zombicide: Undead or Alive, but this one, when it comes in, might replace that because I don’t know if I need two Zombicide Games.

Jurassic World: The Legacy of Isla Nublar

I haven’t gotten many of the dinosaurs games that have come out. Or at least many of the bigger ones. I have Draftosaurus which is great, plus Welcome to Dinoworld and Dinosaur Island Rawr ‘n’ Write. But this might be the first big box one I get because of one word, legacy. I love legacy games and dinosaurs.

I don’t know much about this game, it is probably the one I know the least about, that or Dark Quarter. But coming from Funko, yes, they make board games, I’m very curious. And it’s interesting that Funko is taking this to Kickstarter because they could just make it. I think they want to gauge the level of interest. And if it does well, then what I’m expecting will be a big box will go to retail.

But I really like the aesthetic of this. And I hope that it’s an interesting legacy game. Funko has been putting out good games, and not that complex games. If this is on the complexity level of legacy games like Aeon’s End Legacy and Pandemic Legacy that’d be perfect. I also imagine this will have more story than something like My City or Charterstone.

Catapult Feud: Hydra

This wouldn’t be on my list, except I’m getting the base set and the siege expansion on Saturday. This is a game, or activity, where you are launching attacks with catapults or other weaponry at your opponents castle. And you literally are launching them.

You build up your castle, put your guys on it. Then you take turns firing your projectiles at the other persons castle until their soldiers are knocked down. It’s a silly idea, and I have no idea what the Hydra is going to add. Maybe another way to attack? But I’m going to check it out. I don’t know how much of this game I need, but if I like it a lot before the Kickstarter comes out, then I might back it.

Rogue Angels

I wrote on Rogue Angels, as a preview, not too long ago. You can read my preview of it here. I am not putting it on the list because I previewed it. It was genuinely a really fun time. The story is solid, not the best, not the worst. The game play is really slick. I love the card cool down system.

This is another space campaign game, though. And I know I want to back Unsettled and have ISS Vanguard coming. With that said, this feels different. ISS Vanguard feels like a grand space odyssey. Unsettled is smaller planet missions. Rogue Angels is more story driven than either of them. So I do think Rogue Angels feels and seems different than other space games I have or have coming or want to buy.

Astro Knights

This is another one that I’m assuming is going to come to Kickstarter, why because Aeon’s End always has. And this is the successor to Aeon’s End. I believe that Aeon’s End is completely done now, maybe they’ll do a big box but the game is. Astro Knights looks like it will have some similarities but also build upon it.

I really am curious about this one because I love Aeon’s End. And I doubt that this will replace it for me. But I could also see wanting to have both to try them both out. And if this starts to grow on me, who knows. I really like the art for the game, though, so that’s always a good thing. I think the art is better than early Aeon’s End art.

What Crowdfunding Are You Excited For?

I did some quick research, not a ton for this list. I know some because I am part of a lot of board game groups and go to BGG (Board Game Geek) but still, I know more people will know a whole lot more than I do. If there is a different one you’re interested in, let me know. I want to look into more games always. But what from my list is the most interesting to you?

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.