If you want to checkout some more detailed lists, Liege of Games has a list, I know Tantrum House normally does one, though they do half a month at a time, and BoardGameCo all on YouTube have lists. I’m mainly using that BoardGameCo list because, well, there are 41 different games on the list. And that is enough to keep me busy talking about it for a while.

Anticipated March Crowdfunding

Far Cry: Beyond

This one is interesting to me because I don’t know a ton about it. And honestly there isn’t that much available for information on Board Game Geek and it’s just a Kickstarter notify page. But I expect that this one is going to be big. A popular IP and a long running IP. And I know that some of the channels, Quackalope and Dice Breakers are already doing some coverage on it. So it’s coming up fast and there will be more information as time goes on.

Obviously what draws me to this, from what I can see, is that there is going to be a campaign to the game. This is one that I’m most definitely going to checkout but have more tempered interest in because I don’t know the IP all that well.

The FOG: Escape from Paradise

The FOG got onto my radar because of their advertisements on Facebook. The game seems like one that I’d be interested in. There is fog rolling in and you are trying to get all of your people off of an island. I like a game with a good horror theme to it. And I find it interesting how you control as a guardian to help your survivors navigate off of the island.

On the downside for me, I think the art looks just okay. It looks a little bit inconsistent or more so, the graphic design and text of The FOG looks inconsistent with the rest of the game. Plus, the game itself looks very abstract, not that it’s a bad thing, but it’s one that I want to know more about.

Maul Peak

Maul Peak is the follow-up to Skulk Hollow. And I really like Skulk Hollow. I enjoy Skulk Hollow a lot where it’s two different asymmetric competing factions. One person plays as the guardian who has their objective to win. And the other as the Foxen who are trying to take down the guardian. It’s a simple game but very tactical which I really enjoy.

I don’t think that Skulk Hollow has hit retail. I know that Pencil First, not everything will get that wide a release being they are a smaller company. So Maul Peak which should be more goodness like Skulk Hollow is very interesting. And for a spot to pick-up the game, it’ll be great for a lot of people. For me, I want to see what it adds, if anything, because I have Skulk Hollow which I still need to explore more.

The Bad Karmas

The Bad Karmas is an interesting one because I am curious about the game. But I am more interested about the Teburu system. I saw this demoed, through a window, at GenCon in 2019. It’s basically a gaming platform that can tell what you rolled, have chip enabled cards and characters and that takes care of a lot of housekeeping that bigger board games can have. Plus then sounds an handling story elements.

I am worried about the tech on this one. They clearly have spent a lot of time refining things and making sure they had a game to go at the launch of the system. I want to know how fast other games will start to adopt and use this system. And if you need the system to be able to play it. I expect the price tag to be high on this, but hopefully it’ll lead to some interesting board game improvements and expand the development space. But also, I don’t need every game to add it in.

Tidal Blades: Rise of the Unfolders

Finally, the game I am most interested in, Tidal Blades: Rise of the Unfolders. I almost backed the first Tidal Blades, and I’m glad that I didn’t. I watched the Dice Tower play with the prototype and that looked amazing, but the game play didn’t quite seem like it matched my style. Now they are doing a dungeon crawler for the second one, and I love dungeon crawlers.

That really interests me in this game is how it plays around with cards. It sounds like you are building up columns (or rows) of cards and then you activate them. But so you end up with a rising and falling action with your cards and building up those sets of actions. Plus then it is a dungeon crawl and the world of Tidal Blades, even the first game, extremely interesting.

What Are You Looking Forward To?

Let me know if there are any that I missed that you’re really excited for. I’m sure as I dig into more of the games as they hit crowdfunding I’ll find more that I’m interested in. Right now, though, I do think there’s a decent chance I don’t back anything big in March. Granted, Unsettled will wrap up in March, and that might be one of the biggest campaigns, after Marvel Zombies that I back this year.

Let me know what interests you in the comments below.

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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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Artisans of Splendent Vale

This is a game from Renegade games that is coming up on Kickstarter in September of 2021. This is a cooperative story driven game with a diverse cast of characters. There was a lot of attention placed on characters that you might not see in a normal fantasy setting.

The Designer, Nikki Valens, has worked on a lot of different games that I like. They have led the designs on Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition and Legacy of Dragonholt, both which are very good games. And this looks like they have taken some of both of those and created a cool and unique world. Not much on game play in the video, but one, because of Nikki Valens pedigree as a designer that I’ll checkout on Kickstarter.

Skybound Announcements

Tidal Blades 2

Tidal Blades 2 coming to Kickstarter this fall. It is going to be more of a dungeon crawl. It takes the characters from Tidal Blades and then now they are coming on a dungeon crawl adventure. It’s the same designers but not the dice building, dice progression system. More of a deck building style of game. Tidal Blades didn’t interest me too much, but a cooperative dungeon crawl set in that world, I’m very interested. The universe is really interesting for sure.

Kim-Joy’s Magic Bakery

And then a game Kim-Joy’s Magic Bakery. It’s an interesting thing because Kim-Joy is a baker who was on the Great British Bake-off. She definitely has a nerdy flare to herself and her life, so Skybound and James Hudson have met her and are working to create a game with her. It is a cooperative game, a bit of The Crew but also a bit of Kitchen Rush without a timer to rush you.

Boruto: Naruto The Next Generations The Board Game

So this is based off an anime, Boruto which is the sequel to Naruto from Blacklist games. Another cooperative game, and this one is a boss battling game. You get to play as characters who are senior ninjas and the junior ninjas so you can have a wide variety of combos to play with. And you are spending energy, shakra, and the cards you play give you as a group more shakra to spend to play more cards and stronger cards.

Unmatched Battle of Legends Vol 2

This is a continuation of what is showing up in Unmatched. This game has been put out by Restoration games. They are known for taking old games and modernizing them, and Unmatched has been massively successful for them. This is a tactical battling game where you are playing out cards to move, attack, and defend against another player. It’s a game that I haven’t played yet, and I think it looks solid, but I do want to try the game before I buy it. This includes Bloody Mary, The Monkey King, and more. Coming out later in 2021.

Flamecraft

Card Board Alchemy is announced a new game about dragons who are baking bread. This is a dragon placement game as they placing dragons around town. It’s small dragons who are making food, at the forge, or brewing potions, it could be a lot of different places. The artwork on this game is amazing. I feel like I know it from where, but I would need to look it up. This looks like a super cute game and it’s coming to Kickstarter in August, definitely looks like a cute game. I hope that it’s easy to play because that aesthetic is amazing.

Galaxy Trucker

This is getting a new version. They are putting out a free expansion, Rough Roads that was out before. But they are making it for the new version as well. They have been putting out small and free mini expansions that can be downloaded for a lot of their games throughout 2020 and 2021 to give more small content to their games. This seems like a nice refresh.

Portal Games Announcements

Million Dollar Script

This one is a party game from Portal games. I am not super interested in this one. While the theme is interesting, I just don’t know about making movies. You are trying to come up with scripts for movies, which I like, but I’m not sure how well it’ll work. I think that it could be funny sometimes, but it feels pretty standard. But you are creating the movie really well. I think that it looks like one which will be great sometimes and bad others, which is the type of party game I pass on.

Dune: House Secrets

This one I am super excited for. It is a Dune game that uses the Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game. I love that system because it can offer so much. And it means that they can tell a really interesting story. Dune is an interesting theme for me, because I like the book pretty well. I think that the world of Dune is very fascinating. This is one that I’m pretty sure I’m going to pick up. I’m waiting for Portal Games to do their pre-order. I could order it from a store, but Portal tends to do pre-order bonuses. July 12th is when the pre-order opens up.

Queen’s Dilemma

Horrible Guild is announcing something super generic, but they are teasing the Queen’s Dilemma. They came out with The King’s Dilemma, a legacy game that I really need to play. It is a fascinating sounding game where you are making decisions trying to influence the king and it’s highly story driven. You play around the table discussing and making deals and trying to pitch things. This is one that I really need to play, like I said, so that when the Queen’s Dilemma comes out I’ll be able to play that one as well. It looks like they are building upon what they’ve already done. Also, I love Horrible Guild’s stuff that I’ve played thus far.

Paint the Roses

Another Wonderland based game. This is a theme that has been done a lot because, well, it’s free for public use. This is a cooperative game all about building the perfect garden from North Star Games. The art doesn’t look too bad. It sounds generic to me. But of course with the Queen of Hearts as your employer, she is going to be executing you. So she’s only handing out pieces of the puzzle to how to build the garden out.

So there is an element of cooperative deduction which is interesting. This seems like a try before you buy for me. You can’t discuss what your secret card is. But it is fun because you can discuss what you think other people’s whims, the secrets, are openly. And the whims might change throughout the game. The Queen of Hearts is very fickle.

Detective Rummy

This is a game from WizKids. It is a successor of sorts to Mystery Rummy. This is not a game that I know anything about. But it is a series of cases that you can play, so I am interested. I like games where you are trying to solve something. But the word rummy just throws me off as to what it is. I’ll need to look into Mystery Rummy to see how that plays and keep an eye out for more information on this one.

Machi Koro 2

I like Machi Koro pretty well. However, I got rid of my version of the game because I want to play the legacy version. It seems like a simple game that I and my wife could play as a legacy game for a little bit. Machi Koro 2 is interesting, however, I have Space Base, a game that uses similar mechanics that I need to play. This will likely be one that I want to try before I buy. Though, if you haven’t played Machi Koro, it is a great gateway and family game. This is coming out from Pandasaurus.

They are saying that this should be a bit more challenging for people who want to find a little bit more. The big change is that they have added in a wide variety of landmarks to build in the game. That means that you will have a different set than I will. I really like that because in Machi Koro you might be building too much that is just the same. The variety wasn’t there for me. This seems to be a simple change that just adds in more variety. And they will be in the market versus in front of a player.

Power Plants

This game comes from Kids Table Board Games (KTBG from here on out). I actually haven’t played anything before from KTBG but people tend to like their games a lot. And I am interested in their game Creature Comforts. This game isn’t about power plants producing electricity, but powerful plants. The style looks pretty nice and coming to Kickstarter this fall. Not much more about it in the video, just a visual tease.

Pegasus Spiele

Fire & Stone

This game is from the creator of Carcassonne, which is a great gateway style game. If you haven’t tried it, I definitely recommend it. This game has you trade resources and expanding across the globe. This doesn’t seem like my type of game completely, but I am interested because of the designer, Klaus-Jurgen Werde. I am thinking this will be a try before I buy.

Carnegie

They are bring this game to retail. It originally was on Kickstarter. Another Euro style game that isn’t high on my list of games to play. This one, though, being more available will make people who missed out on the Kickstarter happy. I’d play this one but I doubt it’d ever make it into my collection because it is a heavy weight Euro game.

Bonfire: Trees and Creatures

This is a modular expansion to Pegasus Spiele’s game Bonfire. In fact, there are three modules in there. Yet again another Euro game, this is one where if you already like the game, it’ll give you more to play with. Another that I’d play but it’s not up the alley for me as a gamer. It also lets you play a 5th player which is always a worry to me for a bigger Euro game because they can sometimes take way to long between turns depending on players.

Arcane Wonders

Onitama – Light and Shadow

This is an expansion for Onitama. It adds in a ninja. The ninja can move in secret which is a big change. I kind of still want to get Onitama as a simple abstract game, but I also know that I don’t play abstract games all that often. For fans of the game, though, this is going to be cool for you. The shadow play version has the ninja, and the light play version gives you an asymmetrical starting position.

Viral – The Hive

This is an expansion as well for Viral. Viral is a game where you play as disease that are going throughout the body. It basically adds in more viruses that you can play and viruses that are asymmetrical and can grow as you go. Viral is one that was interesting for me to play, but it kind of fell off my radar. I’m not sure that this pushes it back onto the map for me, but if you want a silly themed area control type of game, Viral might be a good one to checkout.

ALS: Critters at War

A new version of the game is coming out of Air Land and Sea. Not one that is on my radar. War themed games aren’t all that interesting and adding in critters isn’t all that interesting to me. The artwork does look nice, but a two player push and pull on three battlefronts could be fun, but isn’t really for me. Another one that I’d probably enjoy if I played it but won’t be one that I pick-up.

Picture Perfect

You are trying to set-up the perfect photograph. It’s an interesting sounding game about trying to set-up the perfect picture where each character has three things they desire to have in that perfect picture. You are trying to figure out the information but events keep happening that might give you more information or mean that you need to share some of the information that you’ve found. In the end you snap an actual picture with your cellphone. The concept is interesting but a try before you buy just from the sounds of it for me.

Mortum

This has a lot of things that I like. It is a cooperative storytelling and deduction game. All three of those things are really cool for me. It’s a grim setting in medieval Europe. The base game has 3 scenarios that all tie together. I probably will end up getting this one because, like I said, it has three things I really like. I hope that the game works well, and with a lot of Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game left to play from expansions, I might wait for reviews on this one.

Leylines

This one is further out from Arcane Wonders. The artwork looks quite cute on this game. It sounds like a resource gathering game and then getting victory points. In terms of the look, this seems way better than most euro style games, but for me it probably won’t be one that I pick-up.

Dune Imperium: Rise of Ix

Dune Imperium from Direwolf was one of a few worker placement and deck building games to come out last year. I have Lost Ruins of Arnak on my shelf waiting to be played, and I didn’t get Dune Imperium just because aesthetically this didn’t look as interesting. Now, they are both getting expansions. But I’m talking about Rise of Ix here. This one should be an easy buy for Dune Imperium fans as well as some just Dune fans who I know. While Portal is putting out the Dune game for me, this is one that I want to try and maybe own.

Wild Tiled West

Another game from Direwolf. This one is just a little sneak peek. We can safely say it’s an old west themed game, a tile laying game. And well, that the artwork is cute with it’s animals in hats. Beyond that not too much information on the game as this was just a little bit of a tease. This one is coming sometime in 2022.

What Am I Looking Forward To?

So what am I looking forward to most out of all of these? Dune: House Secrets has to be high on the list because it’s based off of a Top 10 game for me, or at least Top 20 game for me. Plus the Tidal Blades 2, the world is so cool in that game, and a dungeon crawl is more my speed. And then finally Queen’s Dilemma, yes, I do need to play King’s Dilemma first, but I love a good legacy game and I’ve heard nothing but great things about King’s Dilemma.

Which are you looking forward to most?

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