Error in game play on the above video.

Corrected game play video of Tranquility: The Ascent.

Tranquility: The Ascent

This is a solid solo game with a big footprint. I think it’s a footprint for a small, simple game that I’d associate more with a bigger game and definitely not with a light solo game. Mainly because it is that table hog for what it is. All at the same time, it doesn’t actually feel big enough, physically as you need to shuffle up cards. And that’s a tricky situation with that for I think anyone, but especially people with large hands.

The game play is easy to learn and play. I think when I saw it at Gen Con, I got most of the rules and understanding there. But it was trickier to keep track of than it needed to be. The game itself is really easy to show it works just by demonstrating a couple of turns. I appreciate that for games because it means that I don’t need to just tell but I can show as well.

For me, I suspect I want to play this game more as a multiplayer game, though probably not with too high a player count. Too many people it would get very lucky. But with solo, the game is good but not great. And for a game that I can sit down and play quickly, I don’t want much set-up, there isn’t there, but there is some. And I want it to be a game where I can play in a small space. Tranquility: The Ascent is not that game.

Streaming Schedule

So just a quick reminder of the streaming schedule:

• Monday around 8-8:30 PM Central Time a small solo game, that’s the current plan. This is also when I mix in things like Balatro and Slay the Spire as well.
• Wednesday at 9 PM Central is going to be for my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition right now. And I want to get back to campaign games, though TBD how that will be working or the day for sure. Might swap Monday and Wednesday streams when that happens.
• Friday at 9 PM Central my wife, Kristen, and I play Baldur’s Gate 3. So join us as we play a couple of hours each Friday night and tackle that big adventure.

Best way to know when I go live is just to subscribe and click that notification bell. Which you can do that here.

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Paper App Dungeon – The Good and the Bad

I talk about this at the end of the second video. Mainly because the first video just ends. But Paper App Dungeon is not great, it’s also not horrible. But I feel like it is lacking in what it could be. So let’s talk about what I like and dislike about it.

What I Like

Firstly, I like how small Paper App Dungeon is. That might not sound like that major a bonus, but it is. It’s a game that would be easy to take on an airplane. It’s just a notepad and a pencil. There isn’t much too it. And while I used a D6 in my game, it’s easy enough to use the P6 that they have with their special pencil.

I also like how the rules are light for the game. What I’m doing might not change map to map, we’ll get to that later, but when I need to know is pretty simple to follow along with it. So once I’m into the game it isn’t adding in a ton of extra information for me to guess on with the different maps. Everything is simple with movement and with interacting with coins and monsters.

Finally, I like, in concept the buying items. There are some cool ones in there. Doubling the coins on the next map, that was awesome. Or I saved my teleport that one time, it is cool things that let you break the rules. To me that is a highlight of the game that lasted for two rounds.

What Was Missing

I think there is one element to me that is missing in Paper App Dungeon. While a lot of it works, the simplicity gets in the way for the number of maps in the game. I played eight maps and one shopping in my hour or slightly less of streaming. It’s fast, but the maps are repetitive.

The designer tries to do the best that they can by tweaking ratios of some things on the maps. But it goes, there is less healing, there is a room with treasures and a key, the monsters have more hit points and deal you more damage. But after a few maps, that is just all the same. I don’t feel like I’m doing something different, it just feels like more of the same.

And the same with the shopping. Obviously, I only hit one shopping trip. But the items repeat. How is that going to be fun when it’s a shopping trip of all items that I’ve seen. There is opportunity for cool items on the maps or in the shops, but that wasn’t leaned into, so the game, after a bunch of maps feels the same.

Upcoming Streams

On Monday I play small solo game plays. The schedule is, right now, going to look like gaming every other Monday. A chance to see people in person came up for Monday and as much as I like streaming, it’s good to socialize as well. And I might do more deck construction with Star Wars Unlimited on Mondays as well or pack openings.

On Wednesdays, I play solo campaign games. I plan on playing a campaign game coming up. Right now I’m torn between two games. Well, more than that if you watched through the end of the video. The next game is the one that I just unboxed, 7th Citadel. So I plan to start playing it next week or at least do character building and then dive into the game.

And if you want to know when I go live, the best way is to subscribe. When you subscribe, click that notification bell and you’ll get an alert whenever I’m going to go live. Follow the link – here – to subscribe.

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Catch up on my Top 100 Games (of all Time) 2023 Edition:

100 through 91

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition – 90 through 81

90. Galaxy Trucker

Galaxy Trucker is a fun fast paced game that you can’t take too seriously. It’s about building what you hope is a good space truck and getting across the galaxy, picking up goods, and well, hoping that your ship isn’t blown up by asteroids or pirates. Which, you can do, you can build a great ship. But the ship building is done in real time. So it is easy to mess up your ship and have half of it blown away because of a misplaced asteroid.

Normally I don’t love real time games. But Galaxy Trucker is not against a clock. Instead, you build as fast as you want, and the fastest player determines the speed. And, to add to it, that is only part of the game, the rest is seeing if your ship gets blown up. So the game gives you a breather between the real time elements which I think works well.

Buy Galaxy Trucker

89. Final Girl

Now we’re onto a horror film of a game with Final Girl. Final Girl is a solo only game about what it says it is, the final girl of a horror film. If you’re not familiar with this trope, most horror films end up with a final girl standing at the end of the film after all their friends have been killed. The question is, are they able to kill the bad guy (or deal with them) or will the get killed?

That is what Final Girl is all about. Can you manage your cards, rescue the characters that are not the final girl, and then deal with the bad guy at the end. Van Ryder Games has done a great job of giving you all sorts of films. There is a Hans the killer at a summer camp or you might be at a circus or dealing with a ghost. And they are adding even more with a third crowdfunding campaign going on now.

Buy Final Girl

88. Doodle Dash

Now we’re onto a party game, and I don’t have too many party games on the list. But Doodle Dash is one that I really like because it’s the type of party game I want for drawing. One where it doesn’t matter how good you are because, as the name suggests, sometimes speed matters more.

In Doodle Dash one person is the guesser. They want to guess the image as fast as possible or with as few clues as possible. Everyone else is drawers. And they draw as fast as they can. The first person grabs the first person marker, the second fastest starts rolling a die, and when that die hits stop, everyone else stops. And then in order, fastest, second, and everyone else, the pictures are revealed. More points the earlier on the guesser guesses it, but that is also the worst picture, possibly. So it’s a blast and one good for a lot of laughs.

Pre-order Doodle Dash

87. Calico

Going from something silly, we now have Calico, a game with a calico quilt on the front, not a calico cat, which is an abstract game about making quilts. Your goal is to get the most points by completing goals, matching colors to get buttons, and matching patterns (since cats are color blind or a number are) to get cats on your quilt.

This game looks all peaceful, but it’s a pretty intense game. You need to strategize well to complete the objectives. Because the objectives give you more points if you get both the color and the pattern to meet those objectives. It might be surround a spot with three of one type and three of another. But if you get three of one color and three of another, plus three of one pattern and three of another, that is how you get the most points. A tense game, but a fun one, and it’s pretty.

Buy Calico

86. The Night Cage

Another tense game, The Night Cage is a perfect Halloween game. You, and everyone else, wake up in a labyrinth with just a candle next to you. You know enough that you need to find keys and then all find a portal to get out. But the labyrinth is ever changing and there are monsters and your candle runs lower.

This is a game where as you move around the labyrinth you reveal new tiles, they might have keys, portals, just pathways, or monsters. And As you leave other locations your candle only lights up a space around you, so you lose the tiles before. You need to work together to get everyone a candle. But if you’re too close, the monsters might pop up and blow out someone’s candle, then they are moving blindly around until another player can relight their candle.

All of this is being done while the stack of tiles is getting shorter. There is no way to get tiles back, they represent your candles. And your candles are getting shorter and shorter. So as you watch that happen will you be able to escape The Night Cage?

Pre-order The Night Cage

85. Destinies

Another game that has some spooky elements is Destinies. A game where all the players are working against each other, but not getting in each others ways too much, to complete their destiny. Each of you know what you need to find, so can you figure out on the map where that might be.

Lucky Duck makes Destinies, and they have a great app for it which leads you through the story. And the story has some spooky elements and offers you conversations and challenges to do. And doing the challenges are simple. It’s rolling dice to see how many successes you get. But you can improve your stats as you succeed on checks and get XP to spend. So you can increase your odds. Plus you have extra dice you can roll, but they only come back so often. When do you want to push for that success or do you need to hold them back. An easy but fun story game.

Buy Destinies

84. Ascension: Deck Building Game

My favorite pure deck building game is Ascension. I know for most people it’ll be Dominion. But I like a few things better about Ascension. I like that you have a changing market, that means that I need to adapt to how I play. I can’t pick out a perfect strategy from the start.

Plus, I think that the combos in Ascension are better. You play with four different factions and all of them synergize a lot amongst themselves. So can you build up an engine that allows you to play a ton of cards and have epic turns. I think that is what stands out so much to me, when I get an epic turn, I can buy a lot and fight a lot of monsters which is why I like Ascension better.

Buy Ascension Deck Building Game

83. Canvas

Now we’re onto a game about making art. In Canvas you take art cards, that are clear, and layer them to create masterpieces. Really Canvas is a game about getting the right symbols at the bottom to score a lot of points, or get lot of ribbons that score you points. However, it does this with great artwork and fun pieces of art that you create. I almost like to see what cool art I can make more than get the points. But when you make a piece of art almost no matter what it is cool. Canvas is a fast and fun game for everyone.

Buy Canvas

82. Ecosystem

Next up we have Ecosystem the drafting game on the list. In Ecosystem you are building out, well, an ecosystem with animals and terrain types. Each of them scores differently. Wolves like to be in a pack, so the person with the most gets the most points on them. Rabbits teleport other tiles around, just like real life. But bear want honey and trout, trout want to be by the river.

And the game is fast. You draft a card and you add it to a 4 by 5 grid. That is all the area you have, so how can you pick cards that will optimize your scoring. But it’s also so simple that it’s not a stressful game. Once you have an idea of the scoring, and each player has a cheat sheet, the game goes quickly.

Buy Ecosystem

81. Star Wars: Unlimited

Finally, Star Wars: Unlimited, this game isn’t even out yet. But I got to play it twice at Gen Con and I really like this game. The Star Wars theme certainly helps. But for me, when I compare it and Lorcana to Magic the Gathering, this is the one that gave me more of a feel of being full of combos as you build out what you’re doing. The base decks only had some, but as they’ve revealed more cards, I see more possibilities.

However, like Lorcana it is built to be a whole lot faster. You play out a card or attack with a card on your turn. There aren’t really other options. It’s not do everything on a turn, and your opponent can’t really respond at all. So the game is straight forward and keeps moving fast. It’s something that I don’t always love about Magic, it takes a long time on the turn. Star Wars: Unlimited it’s a whole lot faster.

Coming in Q1 2024

Upcoming Streams

So, 8 PM Central next Wednesday the plan is continue with the Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition. It’ll be games 80 through 71. I don’t even remember what is on the list, so I can’t really tease it. Join me and see what makes it on the list, will there be new games? Will there be roll and write games? Is the first campaign game going to be part of that section?

And then the other time I stream during the week is Monday at 9 PM Central. Join me then as I play a solo game. I’m not sure what game I’ll be playing. Maybe more Trailblazers as I seek to break 50 points. Or it might be Number Drop. A roll and write game that I can play solo that I haven’t gotten to yet.

But the best way, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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The Gen Con Haul

I know that people don’t always have time to watch the videos, so I’m going to do a quick write up as well for the games that I picked up. This is not the list of everything I played, expect that tomorrow. But it is everything I bought and stuff that has come in as well.

Kingdom Rush – Not from Gen Con

This actually came in a bit ago. Kingdom Rush is going to be a tower defense game where you cast spells and try and stop waves of enemies from reaching the end. Classic tower defense, and based off of an app, I believe, that I should maybe checkout. This one I got because I got a code from Lucky Duck Games for 20% off, and it’s one I’ve wanted to try, but wouldn’t have without a discount.

City Chase – Not from Gen Con

Korea Board Games sent me City Chase to cover. I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, but this is going to be a family weight hidden movement or deduction game as you take helicopters around trying catch a car, from my understanding. And the car can hide under buildings, so a bit of a deduction and trying to narrow down and trap where the car can go.

Arcadia Quest – Not from Gen Con

This is another game that I maybe wouldn’t have picked up except that it was used. Arcadia Quest is basically a go into a dungeon, complete objectives, knock out your opponents sort of game. Tons of minis and expansions for it, I only got the base game, but I figure I can add more later if I want to it. Seems like a solid light game with some good tactics and fun minis.

Oathsworn – Not from Gen Con

And then we have a big game from Shadowborne Games. I backed this one on Kickstarter quite a while ago and it came in the day before I left for Gen Con. I am excited to get this campaign to the table. Two cool things for me about this game is the cool down track for abilities. You need to play cards out to cycle abilities back, down this track to your hand. So there is a puzzle with that.

Plus then you can roll as many dice as you want or draw as many cards as you want. But if you get two blanks, you fail. So there is a push your luck element to it. But, there is a less luck in the cards. The cards don’t reshuffle until all of them have been drawn. So the deck remembers and players know, you might have a hot deck with the blanks already out, or it might be cold with blanks left and just a few cards to draw.

Batman: Everybody Lies

I talked about this one yesterday, and Paint the Roses in my Highlights from Gen Con. As I said in that, I split the cost of the game with some friends, so I’ll probably be playing it tonight again. This is based off of Portal Games Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game series and system. But it has a Batman theme to it, it was a lot of fun. And it’s cool that we got the designer, Ignacy, to sign the cover for us.

Burncycle + Expansions

Burncycle is a post post apocalyptic cyperpunk world where corporations have taken over, granted this is after humanity took back over from the robots. You play as robots trying to hack into the system as well as complete objectives on the physical map. The game play seems like a lot of fun, and the production quality, as it is a Chip Theory Games is amazing. Probably one I’ll at least learn solo, if not play that way mostly.

Long Shot The Dice Game

This is a roll and write horse racing game. It’s one that I got to play the last day, and because it was the Kickstarter copy they were selling, decided I should pick it up. In this game, you are trying to buy horses, put bets on horses, and end up with the most money at the end of the game. It’s a good time, I like the artwork, and I like that there is a board, which is dry erase so you can mark it up with one of the expansions. I think it’ll be one that gets to the table pretty often in my sea of roll and write games.

Hero Realms + Expansions

Hero Realms is another one I got to demo, in fact I demoed it and got stomped. But I really liked what it was doing. And I decided to go in on it to the point where I could play it solo as well. Wise Wizard Games had a bundle you could buy to get the coop game play that allows for solo. Normally this is a head to head deck building and battling game that plays fast and you feel like you ramp up quickly.

Cartographers Expansions

No surprise here with new expansions for Cartographers that I’d grab them. This is three new map packs as well as then a bonus little hero pack for Cartographers heroes. I’m excited to see what different the maps do. And I need to play with all of the maps that I have now, because, well, there are six map packs, plus the base map which is double sided, so 8 different map options.

Paint the Roses

The other one I talked about in the highlights. Paint the Roses is a deduction game as you try and figure out what card a player has in front of them currently. You do that by putting down a tile, and then all players put down cubes on that tile if it creates a match. So if I put down a rose and my card is rose rose on it, if I put down that rose tile so it touches two other rose tiles, I’d put two cubes on it. Then everyone else would try and figure out what is my combo on my card. Simple but a ton of fun and pretty thinky.

Marvel Remix

Marvel Remix is a retheme and reskin of Fantasy Realms. In Fantasy Realms, from what I know, you are building out your best hand of cards to score points. It did it with a fantasy theme first and now with a Marvel theme. I believe that there are slight changes to the rules, but not sure what they are, and won’t really know as I haven’t played Fantasy Realms.

Lost Ruins of Arnak Expedition Leaders

Another game I got to play was Lost Ruins of Arnak. I even played it twice. Expedition Leaders is the expansion for it. It adds in some new items and relics. But the big thing that it does is it gives you, as the name would suggest, an expedition leader. They have unique powers and you start out the game with just that little bit of variability. I like that in a game, so seemed like an easy expansion to add.

NFL Five

Free game for demoing it. It’s basically a little football themed game. Not much going on it. I describe it in the video as rock, paper, scissors but harder. There is no tie and try again. It is just put down a play and hope that you match. But or something that’s football themed and from a football card company, it’s basically what I expected. And I don’t think it’s that bad, it’s just very basic.

Pocket Paragons

Finally, another game that I got handed, a little duel set demo of Pocket Paragons. I know nothing about this game, I’m assuming it’s a head to head battler, probably deck crafting, though maybe more like Dice Throne (just cards only) where you have stuff already set. I’ll have to learn it and give it a whirl, see what it is like.

Upcoming Streams

So, Wednesday, the plan is to play Stars of Akarios. I was hoping to get to rules read in the evenings at Gen Con and while I had some evening time free, I didn’t get to it. So it might get pushed back a week, depends on how well I can learn the rules today. If it does, I’ll be playing some other game solo on the stream.

Next Monday I think I’ll be doing a Top 10 list. Not sure what the list will be on. But I think that’ll be the plan. I of course, do have some games, like Long Shot the Dice Game, Cartographers, Hero Realms or Lost Ruins of Arnak that I could set-up and play solo as well. We’ll have to see what I end up wanting to do.

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Pros

• Price
• Theme
• Pedigree of Companies
• Campaign Game

Cons

• Shipping Discrepancies
• Campaign Game
• Mature Themes

The Page

This is a flashy page and it doesn’t even rely on minis to be flashy. It instead just puts you into the theme. That is what I expect when it comes to Lucky Duck Games and Van Ryder Games. They both create a lot of thematic games like Destinies, Chronicles of Crime, and Final Girl. So the page really gives you all of that theme and shows you the setting you are going to be in.

But I do want to talk about this leaning into it being a game with mature themes. That really feels to be coming from the Van Ryder Games side of things, though I am sure that both agreed to it. Van Ryder Games puts out more serious story games like their Graphic Novel Adventures. The question is, do you want a game with mature themes or not? And is it needed in this game? I do think it matches the theme quite well, but I also get that it is not for everyone. They at least advertise it so people know.

The Game

The game itself, I will go into some detail on it, because I know a bit more about it. With Lucky Duck Games, you know there is likely going to be an app. And with this game using systems that can be found in Chronicles of Crime, an app assisted game, and Destinies, another app assisted game, this is going to use an app. For some people that might be enough to keep them from backing, but for me, I’m intrigued by it.

The app is going to be used to let you know what skill checks you can do, and to interact with points of interest that you find during your investigation. This is very much a combination of both Lucky Duck Games that I mentioned. The advantage to a system like this is no single person needs to run a game. The story runs itself and everyone plays the same game.

The skill checks in the game are the same as what is found in Destinies. Basically, you look to roll high enough to pass certain thresholds or markers on your player board. The more markers you pass, the more success you end up with.

That’s it mechanically, but I want to touch on story as well here. Not to go back to it being mature. But in the previews or first impressions that I’ve seen, the story while cooperative, seems like it will vary between different characters. Certain characters excel at certain elements. Some might investigate better, others might be more apt to intimidate or fight. So while replay might be somewhat limited, it does seem like different characters provide different paths.

Back or Brick

For me, this is a Back. I generally like what both companies are doing, and their games tend to be thematic. I’m looking at games of theirs that I need to get to the table soon. I like the setting. I have heard it compared to Anne Rice, though that seems to be more for vampires in New Orleans. A better comparison might be LA Noir, the video game, in the sort of dark detective feel that you get from the game.

Now, with a mature theme, I think this game isn’t one for everyone. It might be too macabre for some people, too much blood or difficult story situations. But for me, that intrigues me. And if it isn’t one for me, I know that there was a period of time where Destinies was hard to find, so might be one that I can sell if need be. But I really suspect it’s going to be one that I play through, and then trade so someone else can have fun with it.

How about for you, is The Dark Quarter by Van Ryder Games and Lucky Duck Games a Back or a Brick?

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Anticipated Crowdfunding for April

Now, I say that it’s less likely that I don’t back anything, but I only have four games on the list for this month. I could have added back in Far Cry Beyond, but I talked about that last month. So what four games made the list for games that I’m interested in?

For Northwood

This is a very small game, so not the normal thing that I look at. But it is also one that I don’t know will see a lot of retail. For Northwood is a solo trick-taking game. I like trick-taking, but I don’t know of many which can be played solo. So just for that, For Northwood sounds different and interesting. Plus, the aesthetic is cute with woodland creatures.

Aldarra

Aldarra is back on Kickstarter, this time in a smaller package with smaller minis and a smaller price point. The game play hasn’t changed, which is great. The smaller size, I think it’ll make the game feel less epic, but I get it. The price was very high for what is a lighter fighting and area control game. There is a lot to like about the game, though, in particular, leveling up buildings, getting objectives, things like that. And it has a nice flow to the game, so even though it’s longer, it feels like it deserves it.

Sleeping Gods Distant Skies

I’d put money on me backing this one, though, I’ll have to see all the details when it comes to Gamefound. I really like Sleeping Gods. You can see my whole play of it over on Malts and Meeples. This is a fun narrative driven game, but also a great sandbox game. Ryan Laukat and crew, do an amazing job of creating a narrative without it being chapters of a story. And I didn’t really have any negatives about the game, but I can see ways in which it can be improved.

The Dark Quarter

Finally, we have The Dark Quarter. This one immediately got on my radar at the start of the year. It is a collaboration between two companies that I like. Van Ryder Games and Lucky Duck Games. Both of them do innovative things. The Dark Quarter looks to take Lucky Duck Games Destinies system and then builds with Van Ryder Games darker storytelling to create an interesting game. I really want to know more about the story. I hear rumors of vampires and cultists and that sounds like something I’m interested in.

Most To Least Interested

Now, let’s be very clear, I am quite interested in all the games. If I anticipate it, I am going to be checking it out. Plus, I am sure that there will be some more coming up that aren’t known about at this point.

4: Aldarra – I really like the game, it is one that I might not back, though, because it is still more expensive for an area control game. I own a few area control games, I don’t need a ton because we don’t get them played often.

3: For Northwood – Solo trick-taking game, I think there is a good chance that I back this one. Mainly because it is so different. I need to see price point on it, though, because if it’s more than $20 before shipping, I’ll have to think about it.

2: The Dark Quarter – Story focused game is always great for me. Plus Lucky Duck puts out such good apps with the story. Plus, I think that the darker and more mature theme sounds intriguing. The combo ticks all the boxes for me.

1: Sleeping Gods Distant Skies – More Sleeping Gods is a good thing. And this is a streamlined smoother experience of the other one, I am very intrigued. It is almost an instant back for me. I regret not backing the first, now, no plans to make that mistake again.

What is your most anticipated game coming to crowdfunding in April? Is there a game I need to checkout that I missed?

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Wish List Board Games

41: Pyramid of the Pengqueen

Low on the list, but let’s be fair, I do still want all of these games. This one just seems like an interesting idea, and it’s penguins. But the basic concept is what one person is playing as the Pengqueen who is going around her Pyramid, but no one can see where she is going. Everyone else is trying to get treasures. It’s kind of a hidden movement with a board that is vertical and magnets on both sides. So if you get to close, the magnets attract. Cool simple looking game for the holidays and with the toddler eventually. That’s why I want it.

40: Stella: Dixit Universe

A twist on Dixit where it keeps the great artwork. But players are trying to associate words with pictures and match up those words. And to me that sounds more interesting, and overall just a good looking party game. It also doesn’t have the thing that I don’t love of find the right answer in a bunch of them or tailor your answer to whomever is picking the best that so many also have. This one there isn’t a “right” answer, but you’re playing everyone.

39: Thunderstone Quest!

Thunderstone Quest! is a deck building game, so you might think it’d be higher on my list. For me, I think that I’d like the game a lot, but I’m not sure how much I’d play it over the other deck building games that I love. Thunderstone Quest with it’s fantasy theme and dungeon delving looks cool. But compared to something like Xenoshyft: Onslaught, Aeon’s End, or Clank!, I’m not sure that it’ll do enough for me. It looks like it’s basically just a deck building game.

38: Mice and Mystics

Mice and Mystics is one of the older games on the list. And one of the first storybook games from Plaid Hat Games. These are the ones where there is a book with maps and those are the boards that you play on. I like the feel of this where you play as the mice fighting other things. It’s lower because I really wanted to like Stuffed Fables and I thought it was a bit much for what it did. And that was building off of the Mice and Mystics system, slightly. So I’m worried this will feel like there are too many extra rules with the different pages as well.

37: Coconuts

Now for something very silly. Coconuts is a game where you are tossing coconuts with a monkey trying to get them to land in cups. As they land in cups, you get them and you are trying to complete a collection up to a certain number. But people can steal your cups. A fast paced dexterity game that is meant for that fifteen minute palette cleansing game.

36: Blank Slate

Another party game, in Blank Slate. Blank Slate is a matching game, where you put own a word to complete a phrase, [blank] Run for example. And they are trying to match with another player’s word. If they match up with one person, you get two points each. If you match up with more, well, you still get points but not as many. Simple concept of a game, but one that I could see working in almost any situation.

35: Qwirkle

One that I’ve played before. Qwirkle is an abstract game where you try and complete rows of six either of the same color or of the same symbol to get a lot of points. It’s kind of a cross between Scrabble and Rummikub. Both of them are classic games which I still enjoy. This one is definitely in that classic vein, but very easy to learn and play. So good one to pull out and have some fun with.

34: MicroMacro: Crime City

A combination of Where is Waldo and a who done it, MicroMacro: Crime City gives you a big map that you’re looking to follow a crime that has happened. The artwork is pretty cute and done all in black and white. What is cool about this one is that while it’s just a single map for all the cases, the cases are still dynamic. You can follow a blood trail and still see the same character as if they are moving. So the world is in motion which is really clever.

33: SET

Another classic game, and one that I mainly want to have in my collection because I’m good at it, or I was. It would kind of be one of those party trick games where I could dominate and impress. Kind of like Mastermind and always getting it in five rounds. So it’s more nostalgia than I think this is a great game. But I am curious to see if I’d still be as good at it.

32: Unmatched

Unmatched, and in particular I want the Marvel stuff that was announced a while ago and still isn’t out yet. But I do want to play this game system. It’s pretty clever how you spend cards to do actions, including to draw cards, and you’re looking to keep that balance of attack, move, and defend cards to play around with. Plus, when can you fight Bruce Lee vs some Raptors? Or Buffy the Vampire Hunter against Little Red Riding Hood?

31: Ramen! Ramen!

This one I mainly want because I think it’s going to be a small and cute set collection game. And because the artwork really makes me want ramen. So maybe that’s what I really need is to order or make some ramen soon. But the game looks like simple fun in that weight of something like Sushi Go. And with cute artwork like Sushi Go, that generally means that it’ll get played fairly often.

30: Risk: Shadow Forces

This is a new version of Risk Legacy. Now, there does seem to be fewer legacy elements to it than Risk Legacy, but you’ll see a number of legacy games on this list. I really like legacy games, and Risk is a fine game. I thought that Risk Legacy really improved upon it. So I’m hoping that this will just be another fun version of Risk.

29: Transhumanity

This isn’t a legacy game but more of a campaign game. Earth has leapt to somewhere else gone is the sun, next to us now, a scarlet dwarf star. Or maybe Earth stayed and they switched the other way. But the theme is cool and it’s a cooperative campaign where you are trying to influence what happens on Earth or the other Earths that have shown up as well as improve your deck of cards through card drafting. I’m mainly digging this one for the story, but I suspect it’s going to be right up my alley.

28: Gloom of Killforth

I own Shadows of Killforth that I need to play. But this is going to be a fantasy survival game where the world is very shrinking as the gloom takes it over. And you as a hero are building up your cards so that by the end of the game you’ll be able to defeat the big bad. And you can go to spots where gloom has taken over, but it’ll be harder to do anything there. Good concept and good artwork. I mainly want this because of completionist tendencies and I should just play Shadows of Killforth

27: Ghost Stories

Ghost Stories is supposed to be a very hard cooperative game. Players are trying to drive back ghosts and take them out in this game. And I like the horror them. Plus I really like the very hard cooperative nature. I know that sometimes cooperative games can be too hard, and I don’t want them all to be too hard, but this one, I want to bang my head against it’s difficulty and see if I can win.

26: Aqualin

Aqualin is a two player game from Kosmos. It doesn’t seem like too difficult a game but looks fun. One player is trying to group sea creatures by color. The other is trying to do it by fish type. It almost reminds me a bit of Qwirkle, but each player has a specific goal. I like little simple games like this that shouldn’t take too long to play but offer lots of very good choices.

25: Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Scrawler – Heroes of the Undermountains

There are a few roll and write games on this list, I don’t own all of them. But this one is on the list for two reasons. Firstly, I like the Dungeons and Dragons theme. And I know it isn’t the first and hasn’t been the last, but I like the idea of a dungeon crawler roll and write. I’m worried that it might be a cash grab of a game, considering the IP and popularity of roll and write games, but I still want to give it a try.

24: Machi Koro Legacy

Another legacy game, this is basically just Machi Koro, a game that I like. But it’s a short legacy campaign and then you can play Machi Koro. So, I want to get the game to just be able to play through the campaign and then have a copy of the game back in my collection. This is a legacy game that I can sit down and play with anyone, or probably even play over a weekend if I really wanted.

23: Menara

Menara is a dexterity stacking game. But a cooperative one, so no one is pulling for someone else to knock over the tower. To me that’s more interesting than something like Jenga. It changes the game from “haha, you knocked down to the tower” to “oh no, the tower fell down”. And that just feels better as a game when something game ending happens and it’s not about it being one person who is losing.

22: The Librarians: Adventure Card Game

This is another one that I’ve played. Granted, it was in prototype form on TableTop Simulator. The game was a good time and I really like the show. And the game has you playing through season one of the show. It’s a good cooperative game with solid mechanics. And I’d be more excited for this if I could play a real copy of it. And even with that less than ideal play, I am still ready to pick it up if I get a chance.

21: Star Wars: Rebellion

And another game that I’ve played. Star Wars: Rebellion is the original trilogy in a box, but your version of the original trilogy. It’s a lot of fun and a great two player game with one side being the Rebels and the other being the Empire. It has been on sale a few times, the only reason I haven’t picked it up is I know someone who owns it.

20: Adventure Ink: Five Factions of Filigree

I don’t know when this one will be hitting Kickstarter or published, I’m not sure which it’ll do, I’m guessing Kickstarter. And for that reason it is pretty low on this list because I am very excited for it. It’s a big story game but also a roll and write type game where things that you roll will get drawn onto things, I believe dry erase. The whole concept sounds very ambitious and very different. So like most games and projects that I enjoy.

19: Star Trek: Super-Skill Pinball

So, I was talking about roll and writes, here’s another one. And one that I know that I like. Super-Skill Pinball is maybe the most thematic roll and write game that I’ve played. And this basically slaps a Star Trek theme onto it, I’m curious I want to know what the tables will do. Because if it’s basically just taking existing tables and making them Star Trek, then this would drop off the list. But I’m guessing it’ll be all new tables.

18: Floor Plan: The Winchester Mystery Mansion

I got rid of Floor Plan, but I’m excited for this. My issue with Floor Plan, while fun, was that I didn’t feel too much like I was making a floor plan. The houses that were made were just too crazy. You could build a room with zero doors, and as long as it met criteria, it would give you points. But the Winchester Mystery Mansion is crazy in real life, so a crazy floor plan will make more sense.

17: Dungeon Party

This could also be called Dungeon Quarters. And that’s why I want the game, it looks like one of those games that would be simple enough to pull out almost anywhere. But also be a silly good time when you play it. It’s, like I said, basically quarters, bouncing a coin onto a monster to deal them damage. Plus then with the dungeon crawl theme on it and powers for your characters. I’d bring this one out to a brewery and have a great time.

16: The King’s Dilemma

More legacy with The King’s Dilemma. This is one that’s kind of a story telling game as you all are making decisions about what to do and opening lots of envelopes with story and more choices. And the choices, you might not agree in real life with what you decide, but it’s to get points, so it gives a chance to role play your character hoping to get your way on this thing that’ll help you. I’m really intrigued by it and another one I want to play but I won’t buy until I know who I’m playing it with.

15: Divinus

Yet more legacy with Divinus. Divinus, from Lucky Duck Games, pits the Greek Pantheon against the Norse Pantheon. And you are working to become a demi-god as you support one of the two sides, or both, throughout the game. It’s intriguing because you are placing dice to get tiles to build out lands in front of you. And then it uses Lucky Duck Games technology to scan locations and tell story. I feel like it might be a bit mechanical from watching some game play, but how will the story develop, I want to know.

14: Hadrian’s Wall

I think this is the final roll and write on the list. Hadrian’s Wall is a hefty roll and write. Two big sheets of stuff as you build up defenses along the wall to keep the invaders from being able to get through. I don’t know a ton about the game, but it’s a heavy roll and write, so I’m interested. And everyone who I’ve talked to about the game who has played it really likes it.

13: Die of the Dead

I wish that I had backed this one on Kickstarter. Then I wish that I had picked up the copy someone traded in at my FLGS. From what I know about this game, you are trying to manipulate dice to get them rolled and played onto this 3D stairs and make it to the top. The concept seems interesting and the game is just amazing to look at.

12: Strike

Now to a much simpler dice game. In Strike, you are rolling dice into a bowl and trying to get matches to build up your die pool and avoid getting a strike which will end your turn. It’s a last person standing with dice sort of game. This is one that just seems like a silly good time and one that would be great to pull out to end a board game night with some good laughs.

11: Tsukuyumi: Full Moon Down

Now we’re into mainly big games, there are a couple of smaller ones left, but Tsukujumi: Full Moon Down is not one of them. This is an area control sort of game where different factions are battling over areas. And what drew me to this game is that Sam Healey, formerly of the Dice Tower liked it, and I tend to like games that he likes. It is one that I think I’ll really dig, but also one with the price tag that I might want to try before I would buy it.

10: Maximum Apocalypse

Survive the zombie apocalypse, or alien, or dinosaur, or kaiju, or well, you get the picture. What is cool about this game is that it’s very much a survival game but feels like on the lighter ends of things. I maybe even want the latest version more so that offers a campaign to the game, but also, without a campaign it might be easier to play. Because who doesn’t want to play a scenario were a kaiju is stomping across the land to get you? And I like that the map is set-up as well.

9: Doodle Dash

Now one of the few smaller games left. This is basically just racing to draw something as fast as possible so that your clue is given first. Though, if you go too fast and draw too poorly, they might not get it. So it’s a balance of how fast you doodle, probably very fast though. Seems like a good party game that is similar to some, but I don’t have many drawing party games.

8: Townsfolk Tussle

This is one that I looked at on Kickstarter as a boss battler game but I didn’t back. I know it’s coming back to Kickstarter, but I’m not sure I’ll back it that time either, even though I definitely want it. But Townsfolk Tussle is a lighter game where you fight against different mustache twirling villains. I like the artwork on the game, which is Cuphead or old cartoon/comic like. And it is kind of a campaign, but not a massive campaign game. I just have Oathsworn and Primal coming as boss battlers.

7: Monumental

Monumental is a game that I wish wasn’t available only on Kickstarter and probably one that had standees. This is a deck building game where you fight, get more cards, and move and explore on a big map. What draws me to this game is how you activate. It isn’t a normal deck builder in that you don’t play a hand of cards. Instead you have a 3×3 grid and you activate a row or a column for the cards. That feels very unique in what it does.

6: Kingdom Death: Monster

Now the grandfather or all boss battlers? Well, maybe it isn’t that, but it’s the biggest one that really put them on the map. I’d love to get my hands on Kingdom Death: Monster. But I really don’t want to spend an arm and a leg like it costs. And I really don’t want to but together all the minis. This is one that I’d love to have, but I’d need to find it for the right price, which I doubt I ever well.

5: Iron Forest

Iron Forest is another one that I could get right now on Kickstarter. But I am not backing it, mainly because $80 for a flicking game, plus shipping, is more than I want to pay. I can probably find it cheaper used later. But I love Icecool from this company, and Iron Forest is two layer Icecool with some extra rules. If there was a game where I wanted to have it in front of me and play it tonight, this might be the one.

4: Arkeis

Arkeis is another legacy style game. I’m not sure if it is truly legacy, it’s been a while since it was on Kickstarter. But this is a game where you are exploring tombs in Egypt, I believe. And that theme is really cool. Plus it’s a campaign game, so I always like those. Just the Egypt theme has me really excited for this one. And it is a game where the box creates rooms for you to go into. It just feels like it’s going to be epic.

3: So Clover!

Now a small game again, So Clover! is a party game from the makers of Just One. In this game you have a clover leaf that you has four cards on it with four words on each card, one per side. So each leaf has two words on it. You put down a word that connects those two for all the leaves you have. And then you shuffle in a fifth card. Everyone else is doing the same thing. Then one player at a time, everyone who didn’t write on the board tries to unscramble it. It seems like it will work with almost anyone and be just a bit harder than Just One.

2: Vampire: The Masquerade – Chapters

Now a really big game, Vampire: The Masquerade – Chapters is going to be playing a story driven dungeon crawl maybe boss battler game. And of course it’s a campaign as well. So really it is everything that I love. I didn’t back it when it was on Kickstarter because I thought it was too expensive, and do I really need another campaign game? I probably don’t, but I love the mystery and intrigue that Vampire: The Masquerade Chapters promises. So I really want to try and track this one down when it finally delivers.

1: Rogue Angels: Legacy of the Burning Suns

Finally Rogue Angels. I don’t need to say much about this one. You can watch me play it here. It’s not even on Kickstarter yet, or back on Kickstarter anyways. And from what I know about the changes coming to the game, all cosmetic, it’s going to be amazing. Plus, the game play itself is great. I can’t wait for this to come back to Kickstarter and then sometime in the future to be delivered.

Final Thoughts

Rogue Angels is easily my top game on my wish list. Though, there are others, So Clover! for sure, that I’ll be getting before it. I’m waiting for that one to come back into stock because when it does, it’ll get played right away. It’s going to be a great game night and holiday option for me. And some of the other ones, they might never get picked up. I mean, Kingdom Death: Monster, I’m never going to buy that. But some others, Vampire The Masquerade – Chapters, I definitely want to track down.

What game is #1 on your wish list?

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And let’s not forget that is one of my goals. I think I own 130 or so games that I haven’t played yet. That is more than I like. Now, some of them are campaign games, they are trickier to get to the table. But by the end of 2022, my resolution, which you can find here, was to be down to 100 games I own and haven’t played. I’d love for it to be even lower than that, but 100 is the target. But let’s get to the list.

10 Games I Want To Play

10. Catapult Feud

I know, I keep on talking about this game. But I really am excited to play it. Like I said, I am even thinking about just building a castle and shooting stuff at it. And this one, even though it’s a two player game, is going to get set-up at game night and we can play as teams.

I don’t know that I need to talk about this one much. It is just building a castle and knocking it down. I can imagine setting it up and playing it multiple times during the evening. Or just having fun building a massive castle (though I can’t get too massive yet) and then knocking that down.

9. Res Arcana

This is one that’s been on my shelf for a little bit. I think I haven’t played it because the rules make it seem a bit challenging to learn. It might be a game where I need to set it up and play a hand to figure out what is going on. But it is an engine building game and a race to 10 points, I believe, So the idea is interesting to me. I like a good, fast, engine building game.

8. The Crew: Deep Sea Adventures

Another game that I really should have played. I actually just gave away the first version of the game as a Christmas gift because I really don’t need two of them. But The Crew is a cooperative trick taking game. That is an interesting concept in and of itself. And for me, trick taking is a genre that I like, but not one that I have a lot of.

How it works is that there are challenges put forth. It might be something like, I can’t take a trick that has a 1 in it. You need to get get the red three, and so on. Then, with limited communication, we have to make it work so th at we can get all of the cards to the right people. It’s a bit like The Mind, but with more of a game to it.

7. Mechs vs Minions

Now we get into a bigger game, Mechs vs Minions has been on my kind of grail game list. By that I mean a game that is harder to find but you really want to find it. Well, I got it with Mechs vs Minions. It might not be the top game on that list, that is still Battlestar Galactica, but it is on there.

This is a cooperative game where you program out what your robots do. You are mainly trying to kill waves upon waves of minions. But beyond that, each scenario has objectives as well. I think in the end you fight a giant boss, but I really don’t know. This is just a massive game that looks fun, and it isn’t a campaign game.

6. Lost Ruins of Arnak

Another game that I probably should have played sooner is Lost Ruins of Arnak. Now I am even debating about waiting until I can get an expansion for it. The expansion makes it so that you start out differently than any other person. You have a special power and I believe special cards in this deck building worker placement game. All of that sounds amazing to me, hence maybe waiting.

But like I said, this is a deck building worker placement game where you have a theme of exploring the lost ruins of Arnak. You improve your deck, gain resources, and fight guardians along the way. But like most Euro style games, this is all about getting as many points as you can by the end of the game. The theme looks to be there, and the aesthetic on the game is amazing.

5. Dwellings of Eldervale

Speaking of another amazing looking game, we have Dwellings of Eldervale. This is another worker placement game that is dripping with theme. You are exploring the lands, building out dwellings, and everything just gives you this big world that you are in. Plus, you are grabbing spells, unlocking new meeples, and getting cards that give you improved powers.

It looks really interesting. I don’t always love worker placement, but worker placement with giant monsters you can fight, I’m there for that. Plus then the engine building aspect interests me a lot. I enjoy engine building as mechanic. I like trying to make something work so I can be more efficient than you can be.

4. Under Falling Skies

This is a solo only game, well, maybe two player but really a solo game. It reminds me of the old video game Space Invaders. In that you try and blast alien ships out of the sky. Here you are doing that too, but you are doing it with dice placement. And the better a die you use, the faster the aliens are going to advance upon you. It’s really a question of when you can time out that perfect hit.

And there is a campaign in this game as well. It’s one that I might play on the Malts and Meeples YouTube channel because it’d be decent to stream. And it is a shorter campaign. That means that I can get through it quickly. Of course, though, I’m streaming Sleeping Gods first, starting tonight.

3. Destinies

Another game that I’d consider streaming is Destinies from Lucky Duck Games. This is an app assisted game where you are trying to fulfill your destiny. Originally called Time of Legends: Destinies, this game has similar minis to those in Time of Legends: Joan of Arc, it was just a legal dispute that messed up that naming.

This looks like a really thematic story driven game. You are trying to get your own destiny taken care of before the other players do. So that is a cool thing as well. Most story driven games like Destinies are going to be cooperative. But in Destinies you are trying to beat your opponent to getting your destiny first.

2. Deep Madness

Another one that I’ve considered streaming. Now, thinking about it, I think this might be one that I just get to the table solo for fun. It is kind of campaign game, but more so it’s a scenario driven game. And it is a horror themed game, which I really like. Honestly, every time I think about it I want to watch The Sphere which it reminds me of, I don’t know why I haven’t.

But to me, this game has a lot of cool things about it. You are fighting monsters. Each scenario has more of an objective to it then that as well. You might need to kill the monsters, but killing all the monsters won’t be your end objective. That is one knock I have on Gloomhaven, too many of the scenarios are just “kill all the monsters”. I like it when games can ratchet up the tension by having it be more than just fighting waves of monsters.

1. Terraforming Mars

Finally we have Terraforming Mars. And now, I could have put other games on the list for sure. I wanted to do a variety of games. And every time that I see Terraforming Mars, I want to try it out. This is a massive, and pretty ugly looking, engine building game. You are Terraforming Mars and trying to do the best job at it.

The reason, also, this one is at my top spot is because I really like Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition. I know it is the more streamlined simpler card version. But I want to see what the big brother is like of it. And I suspect that I’m going to like it a lot as well. It just seems cool with what it is and how it’ll work. And I can see myself going down a dangerous rabbit hole if I like it and getting the giant box that makes the game look better.

Which of the Games To Play First?

That’s the question as always, and let’s face it, this list, I tried to change it up some. I could have done a big box list and a smaller box list. I have games like Nemesis, Solomon Kane, Middara, Roll Player Adventures, and Heroes of Land, Air, & Sea that I want to play. I also hae small games like Blank, Matcha, 6 Nimmt, and No Tanks I want to play. So it’s not like I’m at a shortage of games. I can see some like Catapult Feud, or Res Arcana getting to the table potentially faster,. Or in the case of Catapult Feud, to the floor.

And of course, something like Under Falling Skies, Destinies, Deep Madness, or Dwellings of Eldervale could get played sooner. Why, because I can play them solo. So that makes them easier to get to the table as well. I think that I might try and learn Under Falling Skies soon here, have it be a game that I can play while putting on a football game in the background.

Which one would you want to get to the table first?

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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.

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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?

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