The Gamefound Feast

Gothic: A Shadow’s Quest by THQ Nordic

This one is based off of a video game. And THQ Nordic is actually the company who is the creator of the video game, so they are doing their own game. It’s interesting to see them doing it themselves. The only other thing I know like this is when Riot Games made Mechs vs Minions. So I find it cool. I don’t know a ton about Gothic or really anything. But this looks like my type of games, a lot of minis, standees, monsters, and it looks fun. I like a dark gothic setting for a game.

The video game is an adventure RPG, so the board game is going to be like that as well. And that sounds like a lot of fun to me. I like that you play on three different levels in this game, explore the world, get missions and level up in camp, and then if it’s a combat quest, you are going to be doing more tactical combat. It’s extremely interesting to me because this is really my type of game.

Follow the Gothic: A Shadow’s Quest here.

Sword & Sorcery on Teburu

This isn’t a new game, it’s Sword & Sorcery a campaign game that I like. However, Teburu is a digital board for your game. That means that with the app and Teburu you are going to be play it without all the book keeping that was part of Sword & Sorcery. However, I will say, this one isn’t that much for me. I thought that Sword & Sorcery was fine, but I didn’t love it. Maybe it would make it easier, but you’d still have so much stuff to pull out and set-up. But if you’re up for it, it’s going to be good for a lot of people.

And while I’m not going to get it because there is the cost of the Teburu system. But the enemy AI definitely was a bit annoying. So maybe it would make it smoother and make it simpler to get to the table. But like I said, it’s rebuying a game that I sold and it’s buying technology which I’m interested in, for the Vampire the Masquerade game, but less so for this.

Follow the Sword & Sorcery Teburu Campaign here.

The Megan 2.0 Gaming Table from Geeknson

Not a board game, but Geeknson is one of the big board game table company out there. I don’t need a board game table, I have a Jasper from AllPlay/BoardGameTables, and it’s great. So I will just say this, I like board game tables. And I think as long as you get one from a good company, Geeknson, AllPlay, Wyrmwood and others, you are going to get something that’s great and that’ll help.

Follow the Geeknson The Megan 2.0 campaign here.

Empress Deck and Companion Book for 5th Edition D&D by Weird Works

This is going to be an addition for D&D. It’s just going to be a way to mess with things like initiative, and more as well. This sounds like an interesting addition but not something that I feel like I need. It’s basically a custom tarot deck that is going to be able to help with “problems” but it’s something that could be a bit of fun to do. Like I said, though, not going to be for me. The companion book sounds slightly more interesting, but not that much more interesting. It’s going to be some more content with probably how to use the deck.

Follow The Empress Deck & Companion Book here.

Ascendency: Underworld from OneMoreTurnGames

This is an expansion to Ascendancy. This game looks like it has a lot going on with it. Ascendancy is an area control 4x style of game. And it is a game that can play solo. For me, it’s one that I looked at when the first campaign came out. I’m not super sold that it’s going to be a game for me, but there are elements that are really interesting about it. But do I need a huge game like this, maybe? It’s so tough because I want to play games like this, but there is so much.

Follow Ascendancy Underworld here.

Nanty Narking: Rise of Cthulhu from Phalanx

This is bringing back the game Nanty Narking. I know really nothing about this game. It was originally Discworld, then it became Nanty Narking. I don’t know much of anything about the game which is interesting. Mainly because I feel like I know about so many different games. From what it looks like, this is still a competitive game, now the players can lose together with Cthulhu driving madness. I’m not feeling this game too much though.

Follow Nanty Narking: Rise of Cthulhu here.

Dark Rituals Malleus Maleficarum from Maki Games

I am not familiar with Dark Ritual. This is a reprint of the game. It’s a one versus all game and it’s not super interesting to me. Yes, the game is cool and dark looking, but if you like one versus all games then it might be for you. But it’s an easy pass for me.

Follow Dark Rituals Malleus Malefacarum here.

Grimdark Future: Broken Truth by One Page Rules

This is going to be a miniatures game. I know nothing about this setting or system of the Grimdark Future universe. This is the first time that they are doing minis. It’s a miniatures war game which is not my cup of tea. So sure, it’s probably interesting and the minis look very solid. But it’s not for me. If you want a one page rules to get into the game, it’s going to be an easy one to get into as the rules are free online.

Follow Grimdark Future: Broken Truth here.

Starside: Promethean Crusade from Archon Studio

This is another miniatures sure. If I wanted to jump into a miniatures game, there are a lot of options. This is going to be a fleet command game, so that’s different. I do like the idea of a space game I think more as a miniatures game. That said, I’m not diving into playing miniatures game. But with Starside and Grimdark Future there are two solid options for people who want to jump in.

Follow Starside: Promethean Crusade here.

Dare the Unknown: A NASA Board Game from Space Delirium

This one is interesting, this is one that is based on reality. The crazy part is that is truly NASA licensed. You want to bring back your rockets to earth, be the first one to get them back. It is their first board game, though they have done other crowdfunding campaigns. I like that it’s licensed by NASA but it’s not going to be game that I’m super excited for. I do think it’s going to be a nice family weight game potentially or at least that is going to be the target, which is great for a theme like NASA.

Follow Dare the Unknown: A NASA Board Game here.

Fear Itself – Shattered Veil Edition from Pelgrane Press

This is another table top RPG game. I think this is going to be a chance for people to play in their favorite horror films. They say that it’s great for a one shot game. I know it’s not going to be one that I want to back. I like my D&D and I want to keep it at that. And really, I don’t have much time to dive into more when it comes to RPG, D&D keeps me plenty busy. But if you want to play a horror film as an RPG, Fear Itself is going to be great, from the sounds of it, for that.

Follow Fear Itself – Shattered Veil Edition here.

Lying Pirate – Cities of Greed Expansion from Nordic Pirate Games

Okay, first off, isn’t that company name mainly Vikings? I am not familiar with the original game, though it had about 5,000 backers. This is going to add more to the game. The aesthetic looks great to me. The game is going to be party weight game with some deduction to it, which I’m guessing is going to be like a Liar’s Dice elements to the game. The one thing that concerns a little bit about the game, which does have a good BGG ranking, is that the game, as a lighter/party/Liar’s Dice style game is that it’s an hour in length.

Follow Lying Pirates – Cities of Greed here.

Star Realms Conquest from Wise Wizard Game

This is going to be one that you know if you want or not. This is a deck building game. It’s going to be a core set. This is going to be a game that you can jump into at this point if you want. Or you can mix it in if you are already familiar with the game. That’s fun that they keep on giving new launch in points. I need to play more Star Realms before I’d consider backing this one. The nice thing is that this is a pretty small box and that means that it’s easy to get and keep adding to the game that I already have.

Follow Star Realms Conquest here.

Which Excites Me Most?

I think it’s the first one. Gothic looks like my type of game a lot. There are some other fun ones, but with more of a mix of RPG, the table, and then miniatures games, this is one where there were fewer that I was interested in. Ascendancy is probably the next highest for me, or even Sword & Sorcery Teburu, though, like I said, I thought that Sword & Sorcery was just fine. It’s more, I want to get a Teburu game sometime. The Vampire the Masquerade one is probably the spot that I’d jump in at though.

Let me know which one interests you the most.

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Top 5 2023 Gamefound Campaigns

5. Vampire: The Masquerade – Milan Uprising

I want to be more excited about this one and I am excited about a lot of it. The part that I’m less excited about is that it uses the Teburu system. Now that technology I think is interesting and I likely will get it, eventually. But it’s not out yet and my rule of thumb is don’t buy the first generation of a tech project. This is the second campaign for a game for it, and I’m excited to see them adding more games. But while the game, a cooperative 1-4 player game set in the World of Darkness setting, the technology, I want to see an iteration or two of it first.

4. DANTE: The Invasion of Hell

What puts this one on my radar is that it’s from the same company as Chronicles of Drunagor. A game that I want to play more of, but I think it’s a group campaign game. I want to know if DANTE: The Invasion of Hell works better solo? And it does have a solo mode, plus, I like their other game, so this is going to be really interesting. And my guess is that this is going to be another big game. Campaign games are a weakness of mine, so DANTE also hit on that, if it looks like a good game to play on Malts and Meeples it is going to make it even more tempting to play.

3. Thorgal: The Board Game

Based off of a video game that I don’t really know, this is a cooperative storybook adventure game, much like my #4. This one looks much smaller which I appreciate. And I’m curious to know more about it. It’s from Portal games. I don’t always gravitate towards everything Portal does, but I’m also interested to see what they are going to try next. And Thorgal, this one is interesting me. Again it’s that cooperative adventure game that can be played solo, and we know I like games like that.

2. Witchbound

I really didn’t know anything about Witchbound going in, and now it is towards the top of my list overall. I’m going to do a list like that at the end of this post for Top 5-7 games. But it’s a solo story driven game about becoming the first witch in over 100 years. That is exactly my sort of game. I like the theme of the game, I love the artwork that I’m seeing, and overall, I think I’d really enjoy it.

Plus it seems like a shorter play time which if it’s a bunch of little bites of game play over several sessions, that’s great and what I’m looking for often versus the two hours of some of the bigger campaign games that can be played solo.

1. Elder Scrolls

This one is pretty easy to pick because it’s based off of a system that I like, Too Many Bones, with a theme that I find interesting, and a company I really like. This is going to be a premium game with an IP so I expect a big price tag for it, but I’m going to likely back it, just to see if it’s for me. Chip Theory really doesn’t disappoint and they always have a strong fan base, so I’m excited for this game.

And I’m excited to see how they can bring as big a world as Elder Scrolls into a board game. It seems like it’ll be a campaign game, but one where you can mix and match different campaign elements together or go through different shorter stories, so not a massive campaign.

I find it interesting that with the five games from Gamefound all of them are cooperative games that have caught my eye. Really, it shouldn’t be a surprise, I love cooperative story driven games that can be played solo. All of these fall into that category, some of them are very big, and others less so, but at least I’m consistent.

Top 3 2023 Backerkit Campaigns

3. Leder Games Project

So like I said, it’s a bit thin on Backerkit. That means that we get from them. And one of them is this Leder Games project. It’s on the list because when Leder Games puts out a game, I am interested in it. Even if it isn’t going to be for me. I’m not that interested in trying Vast, but the game itself sounds interesting. And that means that I’m going to check out what this is when they announce it officially.

I think I’ve heard rumors, and I might be off on this, but an easier to get to the table Oath style game was in the works. But honestly, I might be making that up, there’s a lot of news and I’m just doing it off of memory. If it is, it’s maybe one that I’d pass on, but it could also catch my fancy if it’s easier to table.

2. Wild Gardens

One of the few out there that has any information on it. I’d probably have the Leder Games project above this one if I knew more about it. But Wild Gardens looks like a pretty game of resource collection and completing goals. I’m not sure what else is going on in it. But looking at the cover, it’s a pretty game, and the artwork throughout the game looks great as well. I hope that the game play matches the artwork and is a nice relaxing game to play.

1. Gloomhaven Minis and RPG

Easily my Top 1 over there. You know that I love Gloomhaven and I will say right now, I am not backing the minis. You can hold me to that, but I do not need the minis nor would I really  have use for a lot of them. It’d just make Gloomhaven and Frosthaven harder to play. But I want to know more about the RPG.

I haven’t looked into it too much yet. I know that it is built around card play, or can be, like you have in Gloomhaven. And I’m hoping that they give you tactical opportunities for combat and then a lot of theater of the mind and opportunities to role play as well. If it’s just mainly combat focused with a bit of role playing thrown on top, I’m less interested. But I’ll definitely be looking into this one more.

Top 5 2023 Kickstarter Campaigns

5. Crown of Ash

This is one that I keep on seeing advertisements for on Facebook and is one that definitely interests me. Crown of Ash is an area control and worker placement game. But it isn’t a game that is stuffed full of big minis or things like that, it looks like a more reasonably sized game. I’m not sure it’s one for me, but I want to learn more about it. The cover is striking and overall, if it’s a good area control game and the worker placement makes sense, it might be one that I want to play. Area control and in your face isn’t my normal style, but I am curious about it.

4. Rove

So there was a fan expansion that I want to get for Gloomhaven, The Crimson Scales. It’s something that was created, with the blessing of Isaac Childres to work with his system. And it sounds really cool. Rove is from that designer who is now branching out and making his own game. It’s a big box 1-4 player cooperative fantasy RPG in a box. I’m interested in that. No shock to anyone there.

And I want to know what someone who has done work related to Gloomhaven can come up with. Because I fully expect this isn’t going to be a dice chucking giant campaign like Sword & Sorcery, so how are the lessons learned from The Crimson Scales going to build into this new game?

3. Stonesaga

It helps to put this on the list having played it. And I believe the beta playtesting is going on right now, if people want to check it out. But this is a cooperative game where you are playing as cave dwellers who are advancing their society, building up, and well, dealing with giant monsters that are a threat to the board.

This is a legacy game, which is fun, and one that has story and campaign on it, but it reminds me more of the level of story of a My City or Charterstone. The story matters, and they integrate missions better and story challenges better, but it only matters so much. Plus the artwork on this one is just great and when OOMM Games puts something out I’m interested.

2. Marvel United Multiverse

Should this be number one? I don’t know. I don’t need more of the game. But Marvel United is such an easy game to get to the table that I definitely want more of the game. I love the IP with Marvel, it works well for the type of game it is. And it’s a good cooperative game that I can pull out and play with almost anyone. It isn’t too light for gamers because the game is fast. And it isn’t too heavy for non-gamers.

Plus it doesn’t matter if Groot is your favorite character, Wolverine, Iron Man, or whomever, you can sit down and play as your favorite Marvel character. And I think that’s great about it, this is just going to be even more. Like I said, I don ‘t need more, but it doesn’t make the game harder to table, which is great.

1. Rogue Angels

Again, this one hopefully will be coming back to Kickstarter or some crowdfunding platform in 2023. I put it here, I just got to play another scenario and I still love the game. The characters are so much fun, and while similar, different in what they can handle. We lost part of the scenario I played on Sunday but were able to be the overall mission. You fail forward into the story versus redoing a scenario over and over and over again.

And the game play, every time that I sit down and play it, I can pick it back up again, which is great. All of that while having a lot of story, being cooperative, you know I’m in. I think it’s one that would work well for Malts and Meeples as well. It’s a big campaign, but it isn’t a sprawling table hog like some big campaigns.

Top 5 Upcoming Crowdfunding Campaigns

Let’s face it, these are mainly going to be cooperative adventure driven games. But out of the 13 that I have, sorry Backerkit we couldn’t get to 5. Which ones are the ones that I am most interested in.

1. Rogue Angels
2. Elder Scrolls
3. Marvel United Multiverse
4. Stonesaga
5. Witchbound

What Crowdfunding Campaigns Are You Most Interested In?

Let me know which ones interest you the most? Are there any crossover, do you want to get all the minis for Gloomhaven, it would be awesome, or is that just too much? Are there any that I missed. I was trying to find everything that I could, but I won’t lie, it’s tricky.

And even some of them, like Crown of Ash is one that was supposed, I believe, to come out in 2022. Rogue Angels did, but then needed to relaunch. So it’ll be interesting to see what comes up and where everything lands. Checkout other creators, like BoardGameCo I think does a quarterly list of things, though might be doing a yearly list of Top 10 he’s most excited for across everything. So let me know what I missed that you think I might like.

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What Is the Teburu System?

So, this I originally saw, through a window, at GenCon 2019. Basically it is a gaming system where the bases of characters, dice, possibly even cards, though The Bad Karmas and The Curse of the Zodiac, the first game, uses digital cards. I will talk about the game in a little bit.

The board is a pad that you can overlay other boards on, I’m guessing chipped so it knows which board it is. Then when you move pieces around, it knows where you moved and lets you know if it’s a legal move or not. When you roll dice, it knows what you roll and automatically applies damage. Basically, it is a system meant to take away from the house keeping of what the game needs to know or you normally tell the game.

What Interests Me?

So, I know for some of you, you heard technology and were immediately out. That is fine, this article is meant more for the people who are interested in how technology can assist your game. There are a few things about this that interest me for sure. Mainly games that are heavy on house keeping, how this might improve the experience with them. I don’t know that a Gloomhaven would be feasible, but something like Zombicide, I could see it helping.

The first thing I want to know is how consistent the software is. I am always hesitant to back something that is technology because, the consistency of new technology is suspect. The company was planning on launching I believe in 2019 or 2020 and held off until now. Some of that might be because of COVID for sure, but late 2019 was before that, so they clearly wanted the technology right. And how much of a drain the technology is. Will I need to plug in my phone for my character, how fast does it burn the charge?

I also want to know what other games are coming to the system. I know that Sword & Sorcery is being developed by the company and Ares Games. And they have their own game, The Bad Karmas and The Curse of the Zodiac. And I know Sword & Sorcery has a fair amount of bookkeeping that you need to do as you play. So I think it could help with that, but the sprawling map, I wonder how that would work, I have some questions. And I want to know what else might be coming.

I do like that they have an SDK. For non-programmers, that basically means that people will be able to develop for it. It isn’t something that only Xplored will develop for. They might have their own team that does a lot of it to start, but more developers will come over time. And more companies can do it themselves for a launch of a game. Or offering two versions, a Teburu version of the game that comes with fewer components but requires you have the system.

What Concerns Me?

It’s new technology and new technology needs to be adopted to be useful. The stuff that interests me, the whole idea of less bookkeeping, games maybe with fewer components, that’s great. But will there be games for it? I am glad to see them working with Ares Games on Sword & Sorcery, but I wish they had 10 or 15 games right now that they could say would be coming to the system. Maybe as the campaign goes they will announce more.

I am also always very wary of new technology. It’s great that it is coming out. I think that it’s a way that companies could possibly save on number of components and maybe even cost of components. But will the technology be able to handle a wide variety of games. Or is this something that is meant only for a few games. And how long will it last. If I buy a Teburu I want to know it’ll last for 10 years, minimum. But will it travel well? Will it charge well and hold that charge in two years? It’s things that can only be tested so much.

Is Teburu A Back or Brick?

It is a brick for me, and I am excited about the system. I do not buy first editions of new technology. I haven’t with video gaming systems, phones, anything, it’s not worth spending to be on the cutting edge. Plus I want to see that the technology works like they say it will in the wild. Game plays by content creators are great, they help me know what it is, but that is still less than in the wild.

If they are still running fine after a year and they do another crowdfunding campaign, I might be interested in it then. Plus, by then I hope to know more games that they might have on the system. Because The Bad Karmas and The Curse of the Zodiac looks like a fun game, but one game, and not that complex a game isn’t enough for me to buy it right now. And Vampire: The Masquerade and Sword & Sorcery, I am less than excited right now with what’s been announced. Not to knock those games, but it won’t get me to back it.

How about for you, is Teburu and The Bad Karmas and The Curse of the Zodiac something you’ll be backing? Does the system interest you if it had other games on it?

You can find out more on the system here.

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So, is there a point where a board game isn’t a board game? And do you qualify something like Onirim, Onitama, Ascension, and other games that can be played fully digitally to be board games in that form?

This is a question that a lot of board gamers have been grappling with. There are those who really enjoy breadth of what can be added to gaming. There are those who like there fact that it helps with book keeping. There are those who don’t like it, because they don’t want technology around when they game. There are those who don’t like it because they want their board games to be only board, cards, and dice.

I think that I can see both sides of the argument with this. Now, I will say, personally I enjoy when games have apps integrated into them. But I can also understand not having technology at the table. It’s nice, when playing Gloomhaven, to be able to sit down and just play without checking a phone much or at all for a couple of hours. Just because some games have an app doesn’t mean that all of them do, so there’s always going to be the option to play games without an app.

Now, I can understand that with a game like Journeys in Middle Earth, where the app helps out a lot with the game play and making things run smoother. In some ways, you don’t really need to set it up on the table because of how much of the heavy lifting the app does. So, that leans into the app a lot, and it doesn’t offer a way to play without the app. Games like Descent 2nd Edition and Star Wars: Imperial Assault both can be played with an app, almost to the level that you could Journeys in Middle Earth, but they also allow for options where there doesn’t need to be an app. So is that pushing it too far away form a board game, or is, because Lord of the Rings is a theme that a lot of people enjoy, something that bugs the people who want board games without apps, because they can’t get that game with that theme like they’d want?

In some ways, I think because you can’t get a handful of games, with whatever themes they might have on them, per year, that’s not that much of a reason to be up on arms about it. There are thousands of games that come out each year, and the vast majority of them don’t have an app with them. Now, a number of the ones that are talked about a ton, do end up having an app with them or something along those lines, because they are something new and different. But being new and different doesn’t make them the only games that are worth it out there, as we’ve seen with some of the hottest games this year being Wingspan and Tapestry, in terms of hype, which don’t have an app with them.

So, I personally think, whether you fall on the side of app or no technology, you are going to have plenty of games to play. For that reason, I don’t think there’s much of a reason to complain when game does come out with an app.

That brings me to the second part, though, does playing game like Onitama or Onirim on your phone count as playing a board game? Or a larger game like Small World or Scythe, are those board games still or when you are playing them on your tablet or phone, does that change it up so that it’s not a true board game experience.

Here, I actually am going to go with saying that they aren’t playing the board game. Though, it is close. Onirim is the one that makes this tricky. The reason it’s tricky is that Onirim is a solo game experience, when I think about the others, you lose the face to face, sitting around the same table aspect of the board game experience. With Onirim, you never have that experience. So, I’m going to say, my reason for saying they aren’t truly a board game experience is because you aren’t getting the tactile experience that you do with a board game. You aren’t flipping the cards and shuffling in Onirim, which for a lot is really nice, but you lose that tactile experience.

This really then does take us into Teburu. I got to barely see it through a window at GenCon, but it was interesting to see live as well as see the video for it. It’s an interesting thing, because while most games with apps still have you do most things, Teburu is going to allow the games to track even more things. In Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition, you track where the monsters and you are on the board, the same with fire, the game only cares that there are still monsters, investigators, and fire on the board. So you’re still involved with that, and you still track when hit a monster or number of successes for a given roll. In Teburu, whatever game you are playing on the system, you’ll be able to roll the dice and it’ll automatically calculate your successes or possibly prompt you to see if you want to reroll something or use an item or something along those lines to improve your roll.

So, does that take it away from being a board game? If we’re going by my tactile board gaming experience, it seems like it wouldn’t because you are still rolling dice and moving pieces on the board. But it does feel a whole lot closer to being a video game when it’s doing all the house keeping. Journeys in Middle Earth definitely falls into the same issue, while you still have to enter successes, there are definitely things that feel like you don’t need to set-up the board, you can just play the game in the system, or if not fully doing that, be able to almost do that. In think that Teburu is going to be an interesting enhancement to board gaming. It makes we wonder what they’ll be able to use it for, and if I were to ever get it, if it would still feel like a board game experience.

Overall, I think that technology in board games is interesting. I don’t think that it’s needed for a great gaming experience, though. And there are so many games out there, that I’m always going to have the option to play a board game without the use of an app. I’m excited and curious to see how technology will be used in the future, with story driven games like Time of Legends: Destinies or Chronicles or Crime where they are offering content creation tools since the story is contained in an app, to Star Wars: Imperial Assault that allows you to do a cooperative dungeon crawl without as much busy work. There are a lot of fun things out there, and even playing games like Onirim and Onitama as an app can be fun, because it gives you a chance to try it before you buy it.

What do you think about board games having apps or needing apps to play them? Do you want them to only be cardboard, dice, and cards? What is your favorite game that integrates an app?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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