Gamefound Spring Feast

Andromeda’s Edge: Genesis

It’s back with an expansion and reprint. If you want to get the game and you missed it the first time, this is going to be more. This is going to add in three more factions and new ways of scoring. This is really going to be one of those games where you feel like you missed out the first time, you can get all the stuff plus the new here.

Follow Andromeda’s Edge: Genesis here.

Puppet Masters: Return to Bodega Bay Inn

This is based off of the movies. And you want to survive against some puppets. This is going to be a cooperative game which is great. I love the horror theme. And it won’t be the last horror game on the list. But this one doesn’t have a ton of information. For me it’s one that I’d love to see more about it before I decide if it’s for me or not.

Follow Puppet Masters here.

Terrorscape 2

This is a hidden movement game with great 3D elements. The location is different and the killers are different. There are going to be some mechanical updates. You can fight back as one of the options for winning the game. I like the idea of Terrorscape, but hidden movement is often harder to get to the table. And if you are the person who knows the game, you are often the one who is doing the hiding. But if you want more of the game, this is going to be a standalone and add more for you to play.

Follow Terroscape 2.

Dawn of Madness Complete Collection

I want to back this one. But what I need to do is play Deep Madness first. But Dawn of Madness sounds amazing as well with a lot of narrative. I hope maybe by the time this comes to Gamefound I’ll be ready to back for it. It should be quick to production as well. But this is going to be a cooperative horror survival game which is a style and setting that I like.

Follow Dawn of Madness.

Borderlands: Mister Torgue’s Arena of Badassery 2

This is still going to be an arena boss battler sort of thing. I know it was on crowdfunding before. I’m not super interested in this one. I did love the video games, but this to me feels a bit more like just a big fighting system. And while conflict isn’t bad in a game, it’s not something that I just gravitate towards. The new boss battler element does make the game interesting for sure though.

Follow Borderlands 2 here.

S.H.E.O.L. Midnight Odyssey

Another game that I already own, though this is the 2.0 version. I need to get my copy played. This is a campaign style game where there is a ton of darkness and you need to keep connected. And the game is a puzzle for how you play everything out to create paths through the darkness to your objectives. I won’t be backing this one, but it’ll be tempting. Really, what it makes me want to play the game.

Follow S.H.E.O.L. Midnight Odyssey.

The Dark Carnival

This is a D&D campaign. I like the sounds of it, but it’s an RPG campaign so it’s going to be a pass for me. But this is supposed to be a mid-level story that you can drop into your campaign which is great. I think there is more need for that and it’s something that can help Dungeon Masters.

Follow The Dark Carnival here.

Vampire The Masquerade – Palermo Conspiracies

This is another game on the Teberu system. I really like the sound of this and the Milan Uprising one that has already been backed and might be out already or coming out. I wish that it was out already if they are doing a new one. But this is going to give you that RPG feeling with the game maintaining a living world for you.

Follow Vampire the Masquerade – Palermo Conspiracies here.

Sniper Elite – Operation Kraken

This is another hidden movement. I know that people love the first printing. They are adding in expansions as well for it. I think it’s a game that sounds like a lot of fun, but again a hidden role game and that’s harder to get to the table. It doesn’t seem like it’s a super hard for the game to get played.

Sniper Elite – Operation Kraken on Gamefound here.

Neuroshima Hex

This is a board game, but this is going to be a video game of the board game. I believe that an app version has existed for a while, but this is going to bring it to more systems and possibly bring it back. I’m assuming that it’ll be updated to a more modern look as well. I thought that Neuroshima Hex is an interesting game but I didn’t love it.

Follow Neuroshima Hex here.

Trismegistus 2nd Edition

I never played the original. This is a complex game. It is suppose to be slightly more accessible. But there is a ton going on for it. It’s not one that still really interests me that much. But if someone were to have it I’d love to play it, either the new or old version of it.

Follow Trismegistus on Gamefound.

HiveMind Modular Hex Trays

These are modular movement trays. This is for miniature games which is not something that I do. So it’s going to be interesting to me. But if you like miniatures games, this might be something that is nice for you.

Follow HiveMind here.

The Isofarian Guard – Veilward

I knew about this one a week or so ago. This is going to give you a new campaign set in the world of The Isofarian Guard. What happens after you finish the base game, that’s the question. And it’s going to provide some new mechanisms for it as well. I like the sounds of it and it’s one that I hope I’ll be able to back as I enjoyed what I played of The Isofarian Guard.

Follow Veilward here on Gamefound.

Dale of Merchants: 10th Anniversary

This is going to be a preprint of Snowdale Design competitive deck-building game. It is going to be new content, it’ll be old content, and a new solo mode. If you like this game, this version might be an update to get it back to the table. Or if you haven’t gotten into the game, this might be a chance to jump into the game.

Follow Dale of Merchants 10th Anniversary here.

Ronin’s Revenge

This is from Dragori Games who made Taneres Adventures. This is going to be a boss battler game with no dice or luck. They say that it’s going to be Souls-like game, which I think means expect to die often. This could be a cool change. I won’t lie, this is a game that I’d love to back but also a company that I might worry about based off of tariffs and how big their games are. It’s going to be more than just a boss battler though, there is going to be elements as well that campaign feeling as well.

Follow Ronin’s Revenge here.

Punica: Rome vs Carthage

This is a two player strategy game. I don’t love the looks of this game, not in terms of the art, that looks great, but it doesn’t look too exciting to me. It’s going to be that war game feel but it should play very quickly in that it’s a twenty minute game.

Follow Punica on Gamefound here.

Conquest of Paradise

Like the last game this one is from Phalanx Games. This again is going to be a war type of game, though this one is going to be more than that. This one gives you a fight over the seas to see how can reign supreme in the end. I don’t feel like this is the type of game that I’m going to jump into, but it is more interesting than Punica.

Follow Conquest of Paradise here.

Hood

Play as different factions in England with Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham. This is going to be a very asymmetric game. It sounds fun, but it is asymmetric and that means it might be harder to teach. I hope that it’s not to the point of Root, but I’m worried that it might be. And it’s a 90 to 120 minute game, so with a teach, does that means that it’s three hours?

Follow Hood from Phalanx games here.

Mesopotamia

This seems like a civilization game. And that sounds cool, kind of back in the history of the world. It’s going to be a 4x game as well. And it’s going to have a lot of different events that happen in the world and it’s going to change the landscape as well. This sounds fun, but as a 4x game, it’s going to be one that I pass on as I can’t see getting it played.

Follow Mesopotamia on Gamefound.

Black Rose Wars – Revised Edition

This is a game that needs a 2nd edition. And I hope that it’s one that sounds interesting to me again. I think the theme has always worked for me. But as a game it was always just a lot to understand what was going on. So if they cleaned up the rule book this might be a chance to jump back into it. As I like the sound of being a mage and slinging spells to be the last one standing or the head of the lodge. If it is better, I’ll be looking at this one after the campaign.

Follow Black Rose Wars Revised Edition here.

Paperback Adventures Vol 2

This is going to be more for Paperback Adventures. I own the original stuff and I need to play it. But I haven’t played it yet, so I am not going to do it. This is going to be a solo game but now adding in multiplayer. Should this be one that I play on Malts and Meeples, yes it should be, so time to start learning another game. And I think it being a word game is really interesting as well. Multiplayer is fully cooperative as well.

Follow Paperback Adventures Vol 2 on Gamefound.

Final Thoughts

There are a ton of things. Though right now, like I said, I’m going to be a bit more hesitant to back some of these. The ones that excite me the most are Dawn of Madness. This is gone that I really believe that I’d love and I’ve been keeping an eye on it on eBay as well. But now this might be a smarter way to pick it up at hopefully a better price point.

Other than that one, I think that Paperback Adventures is going to be a game that I enjoy And if I enjoy this as well as one that I could play and enjoy with my wife. And the final one that I want to back is Veilward. I think that one is obvious. I played some of The Isofarian Guard and I really enjoyed it. So coming back and getting more makes sense for me. Especially because it’s more that doesn’t make the base game harder to get to the table.

Which one interests you the most?

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Top 17 Campaign Games Coming From Crowdfunding

17. God of War

I don’t really know why this one is lowest on the list of campaign games. It’s a video game that I haven’t played much of so there is probably that. And I do need to get back to playing it because I had fun with it, it just was that I’m bad at playing video games for a long time.

But from CMON it’s going to have minis and solid game play, I’m very confident in that. So I hope that it’s a good experience and I believe that it’s only two players or solo (if I remember correctly) so there is that. I suspect that some of why it is so low is because of how poor the other God of War game was, but this is very different.

16. Regicide Legacy

I know why this one is low on the list. I don’t know a ton about Regicide. But it’s a mini campaign game in some ways. It’s not going to be a huge one where you have to set up a massive board with minis. So there is that going for it. But it really comes down to that I don’t know a ton about it. It’s solo or multiplayer cooperative which is fun. And it is only 12 missions. I’ll be curious to see what I unlock throughout this game, and it’s one that I can probably stream the whole thing of it.

15. Once Upon a Line

This one is lower on the list, but I’m still really intrigued by it. This is a scratch off legacy game. But it’s been there for a while in terms of ones that I’ve funded. So my interest isn’t waning, perse, it’s more that I just kind of forgot about it in some ways. But when it is comes in, I know I’ll be excited for that unique experience. I hope that it’s going to be a good short game as well that I can play and maybe share the experience with my wife because of the novelty of the game. It is also lower, though, because as a scratch off, it is one and done.

14. Spirit Fire

Spirit Fire is a solo only campaign from Orange Nebula. And it sounds like it should be quite unique with maybe some elements that feel like a collectible card game. Though, as I say that, it is worth pointing out, there is no collectible element to the game. That is just kind of how I remember thinking about it. So I’m very curious as to how that is going to work for the game. And I know with Orange Nebula making it, it is going to be a very well produced game. I need to try another of their games which I have, Unsettled, still.

13. The Dark Quarter

Then we have The Dark Quarter. This one is like Once Upon a Line when it comes to campaign games, that means that I’ve been waiting on this one for a long time. It’s a collaboration between Lucky Duck Games using their Destinies style system, I believe, and app integration for the story, and then the darker themes that I feel like you get from Van Ryder Games. That said, this game is taking forever to come. When it does, I’ll be excited for a darker game that’s cooperative using that Destinies system.

12. Flash Point Legacy

I expect that this is going to be the next game I have on this list to come in. Flash Point Fire Rescue is a cooperative game where you put out fires and rescue people. This is going to be a legacy version of the game. And I am a sucker for legacy games. So this is one that is exciting to me. I want to know how you make a game about putting out fires into a legacy game. I suspect there is going to be an arsonist going around. But it is a game that I’ve intentionally not looked into too much, other than that I know the system.

11. RoboMon

Speaking of games that are taking a while to come, I have two back to back here. RoboMon I maybe should be more worried about. But I like the theme so it’s higher on the list than some where it’s been a while. But RoboMon is going to be a robot battling game, solo one with maybe two player support, and it’s basically a Pokemon game, but obviously not with Pokemon. We’re seeing a number of games that feel like they draw a bit from that. But it’s going to be a game with story progression as well, which is why I’m so interested.

10. Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Retaliation

The other one with a very long wait for it. This one though I’m way more forgiving on than most. That’s because I am playing Vampire the Masquerade – Chapters and really enjoying the game. There is a lot of fun choose your own adventure with some tactical game play as well. The system isn’t going to be the same, but I hope that it’s still strong. And I knew going into the campaign that it was going to be slow. But I kind of like Werewolves better than Vampires, so I’m maybe more excited for this one than I was with Chapters.

9. Storyfold: Wildwoods

Two Games from Open Owl Studios are making the list. This is the first one with Storyfold. A solo game where it’s played out through a book. I watched some of a game play for it and I only kind of remember how it works. But It looks like a nice compact campaign game, and the theme of the story drew me in. It kind of felt a bit more peaceful in some ways, though I don’t know that is the case, but not your typical fantasy sort of setting for it while still being fantastical.

8. Horizon Forbidden West: Seeds of Rebellion

So from a small one to a huge one with a lot of minis and a lot going on we have Horizon Forbidden West. I know it’s from Steamforge Games and they have a hit and miss track record. But I think for their games you often just get minis and an okay game in the first one. Then they use the second game to create a better game. That kind of seems to be the case here, though they are adding in campaign this time, hence it’s on the list, which didn’t exist in the first. However, I really like the world of the Horizon games, so I’m hopeful this will be a fun game.

7. Enormity

Next up is the most recent campaign game that I’ve backed, at least I’m 99% sure on that. Enormity is high on the list because it isn’t fantasy. And while I like fantasy setting a lot, it’s fun to have something that feels more sci-fi and horror. Do I expect anything groundbreaking with this game, no I do not, but I really hope that it’s going to be a fun game with good sci-fi and horror elements for sure. Plus it gives me what I want, branching character progression and more.

6. Rove

Rove is another one that it feels like I’ve been waiting a while for, but I don’t think it’s been as long as some of them. This game is from the person who did the Crimson Scales Gloomhaven expansion. So that immediately drew me in to this game. But this one is their own game in their own setting and I want to play it. It sounds like a fun game and setting and I am assuming they took what they learned from doing a Gloomhaven expansion and built upon that. So that means that I have high hopes for the game because I love Gloomhaven and Frosthaven.

5. Witchbound

Now another game that is definitely late, but I knew it would be. Sorry designer when we spoke and you gave me your timeline (plus it being the first project for them) I knew it would probably be double or triple that. And some of it is that they want to release with with multiple languages and language parterns.

This is a point and click style adventure game. You play through chapters (kind of) and explore the world. So while it’s a campaign game and will likely have some campaign type moments for it, it’s also more open world than some with missions giving you specific directions on what to do and where to go, but not always locking you into doing one thing.

4. Dante: Inferno

Dante: Inferno is a big game from the people who made Chronicles of Drunagor. And I like Chronicles of Drunagor, and I keep on saying I need to restart it and tackle it better on streaming. I really do need to do that. This one looks like a potentially shorter campaign with elements that it borrowed from things like Oathsworn. By that I mean that there is kind of an adventure phase that you can go through and then a big boss battle.

I mainly know about the boss battle having watched a couple of times where people have taken on the first scenario. These videos were done during or before the campaign to build up hype. And I think that it works. The battles look big and dynamic and that’s something that I want from a boss battler.

3. Stonesaga

Now we have a game that I’ve played already. It’s one of two on the list. And I’ve played this one with a prototype and on TTS (TableTop Simulator). This is kind of a campaign game. It is in that you play through missions but less than some because there is less story or specific missions to it. Instead it’s a very open world exploring, gathering resources, and completing goals sort of game, often times using dice.

And it’s a campaign game where you might have a character who is there for a big and then grows old and retires. Plus, while it is a fantastical setting with giant guardians that are wandering about, it’s a game where you are more in the Stone Age than a classical Medieval setting. So I like that as well.

2. Lands of Evershade

Now we’re going to possibly the biggest game on the list. Though, I haven’t gone all in on it yet. I did back a good amount of it, but in the pledge manager I’ll likely add in more. From Awaken Realms this is supposed to give you that open world RPG feel that a lot of campaign games don’t. I don’t know how it’s going to do that exactly or how truly open world it can be, but I hope that it will be pretty open world.

I expect that this game is going to give me a lot of story elements to it. And if it is RPG like, then I hope that it’s going to be a good game when it comes to leveling up your character. That is one thing that I really like from a campaign game, a character that goes from feeling like some things are a challenge to looking back at it and where your character is at and thinking it’s so powerful now.

1. Rogue Angels

No surprise this is at the top of the list. I love this game and I’m very hopeful it’ll show up this year. And yes this is on the campaign games list for games that I need to get back to as well. I know I have more in the prototype box that I can play. But I’m also waiting to get this game in. The cool thing about the game is that for a campaign game it isn’t a big game. That is going to make it a whole lot easier to get to the table. That said, there is a lot of game in there.

I mean that in two ways. Firstly, there are quite the number of chapters to this story. I think it’s something like 6 chapters which is going to offer a lot of game to play. But also there is a very strong system under the story as well. And I really like everything that it does. It’s great with the card play, but also the decisions you make impact elements of the story as well, which is something I love in a campaign game.

Final Thoughts

It’s so many campaign games. And I know that when I did my list of ones that I need to play I even skipped over some legacy games or campaign games that I already own. So between these three lists that’s probably 45-50 games that I own that are campaigns. I need to play more campaign games and maybe get some out the door before some of these come in.

Once I wrap up the Button Shy solo games, which I still have a few weeks of that left, what campaign games should I start tackling? I at least want to get some plays under my belt. And I know that for sure when Witchbound, from this list, comes in, I’m going to want to be playing that one. What campaign games do you have backed on Crowdfunding that you’re still waiting to get?

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Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition – 20 through 11

20. Heat: Pedal to the Metal

• Published by Days of Wonder in 2022
• Fly around the track and manage your engine so it doesn’t over heat to win the race

This is a great racing game. It is a nice blend of simplicity. You play cards equal to the gear that you are in for your movement. But also some complexity as you need to be smart with how you handle the curves, straightaways, how much you push your engine and when you cool it down. That cooling down part of the game is great as it really makes a difference in how you play and when you push it. Plus there are modules you use, like drafting some cards for your deck, that make the game even more fun, or you can do a series of races which is also great.

Buy Heat: Pedal to the Metal

19. Planet Unknown

• Published by Adam’s Apple Games in 2022
• Terraform your planet and increase your technology better than your opponents can

Planet Unknown is a polyomino game where you are terraforming a planet. You can play it in the basic mode where everyone is doing the same planet and same tech track, or you can do unique planets and tech tracks. I love the unique ones and I think that’s the way to go after the first game. But Planet Unknown has more than just laying out tiles, how you decide which tile is picked for you is amazing. Whomever is the leader that round turns a lazy susan full of tiles and whatever one is pointing to where you pick from, those are your options. So you can stick someone with something or sometimes get the perfect thing.

Buy Planet Unknown

18. Clank! In! Space!

• Published by Dire Wolf in 2017
• Race through a spaceship but don’t try and make too much noise as you grab a treasure and get out

This is a push your luck deckbuilding game, and I enjoy both of those elements to the game. I find that pure push your luck doesn’t always work for me, but add in deckbuilding a mechanism I love, it’s great. You build up your deck to move and grab a treasure, fight monsters, and buy more cards that are worth points. But you also need to be aware of how noisy you are. If you’re too noisy the villain, Lord Eradikus will start drawing out your cubes, if you clank, and dealing damage to you. And you might not make it out before you die.

Buy Clank! In! Space!

17. ISS Vanguard

• Published by Awaken Realms in 2022
• Explore a new solar system while you manage your crew and your ship

ISS Vanguard is a big campaign game and one that I’ve played on Malts and Meeples. Not the whole way through, but far enough to give you an idea of how it plays. The game is interesting because it plays over two parts. Part of the game is exploring planets and discovering why humanity was called out to this location in the stars. The other part is managing your ship. I was worried that managing your ship wouldn’t feel important, but it’s a great element to the game and makes it feel even more thematic.

Buy ISS Vanguard

16. Vampire the Masquerade: CHAPTERS

• Published by Flyos Games in 2023
• Enter a world of vampires and darkness as you play across missions and try and figure out what is happening in Montreal

Chapters is choose your own adventure RPG in a box. I love how it gives you this great story filled with depth and grit. And it also gives you tactical combat and dice chucking. It feels like a great blend of things that I love in board games and in RPG’s. The story is well written and while there are definitely issues with it there is an app that should be helping fix that and an upgrade pack for it. But even without that, the game is fun, and the app is free so the few spots it’s really busted should be fixed. Plus, I want to play a dark vampire game, and this gives me that in spades.

Buy Vampire: the Masquerade – CHAPTERS

15. Metal Gear Solid

• Published by CMON in 2024/2025
• Sneak around the base and battle only when you need to complete missions

Yes, there is a game on my list that isn’t out yet. Spoilers, there might be another one as well coming up in my Top 10. But that is because I’ve gotten to play the final version of the game and I feel like I’ve had enough time with it. I love this game as it’s a tactical minis game where you can fight. But fighting generally is going to be noisy and messy and you’ll be swarmed. When that happens, well, it’s probably game over for you. So instead you need to be smart, sneak around, and try and avoid the guards the best you can or lose them. All while being a pretty simple game to play.

Coming Soon

14. Lost Ruins of Arnak

• Published by Czech Games Edition in 2020
• Explore the lands, find treasure, fight monsters and discover what adventure awaits you

Lost Ruins of Arnak is a deckbuilding game. It is a worker placement game, and it’s a exploring adventure game. For me all of those elements come through. And I love the puzzle of trying to manage your two workers you get place, knowing when and where to place them, buying cards, and risking fighting monsters. Because you need to do it all, and the game isn’t that long in terms of how many rounds it is. But if you’re smart, you can stretch it out for a lot of points and a lot of chaining actions. The Expedition Leaders even adds more fun to the game and more variability as well which I love.

Buy Lost Ruins of Arnak

13. XenoShyft Onslaught

• Published by CMON in 2015
• The base is under attack by bugs, you need to build up your defenses and work together to defeat them

I think I’m the champion of XenoShyft, but I really like the game. It’s another deckbuilding game, but it’s a cooperative one. And I think that cooperative element and how incredibly interactive the cooperation is, that is what makes the game stand out to me. Plus it does a clever thing where you’re never drawing dead with money, so you can always buy cards and bolster up your defenses. Because everyone needs to be able to defend their side of the base so the bugs don’t overrun it.

Out of Print, but you can find it on eBay

12. Marvel Champions

• Published by Fantasy Flight Games in 2019
• Heroes battle villains in this Marvel Superhero game

I love Marvel, we all know that. And Marvel Champions is one of my favorite, if not my favorite Marvel themed game. What I love about this one is that you feel like you are the hero. And not only that, you need to think about being the hero but balancing that with the alter ego. If you stay in hero form the bad guy will beat you up and probably take you out. But if you are in the alter ego side, they don’t know who you are, so they’ll go back to completing their scheme. And that’s not great as well because you can’t blow your cover in alter ego form.

Buy Marvel Champions

11. Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

• Published by Portal Games in 2018
• Take on the role of detectives and work together, take the notes, and try and solve the cases

Detective for me is my favorite deduction game. I like deduction a lot, but Detective just makes it really immersive. In the box I’m showing it has five cases that all connect into something big and impressive. And you use information that you took notes on from one case and use it in another. I think by the end of all five cases I had between 12 and 15 pages of notes that we’d look back at. And it uses a computer system as well to let you do things like compare DNA, interview witnesses, and more. The game is just this great thematic detective game for me.

Buy Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

Upcoming Streams

Just a reminder on my streaming schedule. It’s not just all my Top 100 Games (of all time).

• Monday night, time varies, I play different small solo games, though I might be looking to start up a campaign again. And generally the streams do start between 8 and 8:30 PM central time.
• Wednesday at 9 PM central is going to continue my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition. There is one week left, which is going to be two Wednesdays out. After that I’m planning on doing some look back and look ahead videos and smaller solo games or things like Balatro and Slay the Spire.
• Friday at 9 PM central my wife and I are streaming a playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3. Join us for the adventure of Nina and Kaerok and see what choices we make.

The best way to know when we go live, though is to subscribe and click that notification bell. I can’t promise, and in fact it’s pretty unlikely, that I’ll have events to click on ahead of time. Though I do want to get better at it. I hope that you can join a stream and hop into the chat. And let me know what games in this list are your favorite or that you want to try.

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5 Crowdfunding Games Coming Soon

5. Vampire the Masquerade Chapters

This one is already out, not that it’s already on crowdfunding, but the game is already out. I am already playing this game and loving it. But there are some issues, mainly there is a lot more errata than you’d like to see for a big campaign game. Some things don’t lead where they should, and the story books work well, but they are creating a better solution.

So if you want an improved upon version of this Vampire story adventure RPG in a box game. It is coming back at the end of the month. That said, I’m going to have to see if they have an errata pack and what the timeline is for that. I’ll probably get it, but I expect it’ll show up after I’m done with the campaign.

4. Dragonbond Quest

Next up is Dragonbond Quest. This is from the Sadler brothers who made a Warhammer version of this as well as a Terrinoth version for Fantasy Flight. They’ve since branched out and done their own thing. Now they are working with Draco Studios to make another game in their Dragonbond setting. They are working with Logan Giannini who has worked with Chip Theory Games.

I’m definitely curious about this one. The Terrinoth and Warhammer versions are fun. But I want to see what they add to the game and how they build upon it. I’m hoping with Giannini helping on it, it’ll be developed into something a bit bigger. But one that I’ll want to track down some game plays.

3. Guns of the Old West

Until I looked today I didn’t know Guns of the Old West was a thing, not it should arguably be the top one on the list. This list just isn’t really in much of an order. At least when it comes to the Top 3.

Guns of the Old West looks like a big old west campaign adventure game. I don’t know a ton beyond that, I see cards, I see dice, and I see what looks like is going to be a very big game. So it’s definitely my type of game. The thing that is holding it down is that it’s a 2-8 player game. That’s a very high high end player count. And it doesn’t have solo, which is how I play so many games.

2. Wandering Galaxy

Next up is Wandering Galaxy. This uses a system that is finally getting more use. Freelancers last year, Wandering Galaxy coming to crowdfunding this year, Plaid Hat Games is putting out another game using their crossroads system. The original was Dead of Winter which is a fun game, but one that is not in my collection aymore.

Wandering Galaxy feels like it’s going to be a wacky fun adventure which is what I’m looking for. I get a bit of Space Dandy feel to it, maybe some Cowboy Bebop, but if you’ve watched Space Dandy, you know how goofy that can be. So I am very excited for Wandering Galaxy to hit crowdfunding.

1. Dante: Inferno

Finally is Dante: Inferno. This is from the same company that did Chronicles of Drunagor, a game that I want to come back to at some point in time. This looks like it’s going to be a big game again and there are some game plays out there now that I need to check out.

The question, as always, is do I need another big game in my collection. The answer is most asuredly not, but I still want it. So if the videos look fun on it, or with Guns of the West, I’m going to have to spend some time considering.

Which to Back?

I’ll have to end up seeing if I back any of these. But the last three in particular are really interesting to me. If I hadn’t already gotten a copy of Vampire The Masquerade Chapters that would be really high for me as well. That’s the one, because I’ve played it, that I recommend people look into, I really like the simplicity of the system and the fun of the story that we’ve played thus far.

From the top three, right now Wandering Galaxy is probably my top one. Guns of the West would be if it had solo play. Now it might be that it kind of does have solo play. If the game is cooperative, well, then you can control multiple characters and make it solo, but because they don’t say that, now I need to dig into it more to know for sure.

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Top 3 Magic the Gathering Universe Beyond I Want?

3. Vampire the Masquerade

This is a license that I think has a chance, but also doesn’t. Vampire the Masquerade Rivals exists which is supposed to kind of be in a Magic the Gathering spot. That said, I’d love a set of this, and I think it’d drop into the Magic the Gathering system amazingly well.

Mainly, we already have Innistrad, we already have vampires in Magic the Gathering. Compared to the others, it’s something that already exists. Now, this is a more modern setting than Innistrad, so that might be a concern, but you’d be able to use some of the same mechanics for Vampire the Masquerade.

But one thing, that I think people might call out, is the masquerade, how do you make it so it isn’t just vampires fighting vampires. The whole point, or part of it, is that vampires run things from the shadows and want to stay hidden. So, how do you make that work in Magic the Gathering? I think there is a template for that with the ring tempting the ring bearer in Lord of the Rings set. It’s a tracker to see if you break the masquerade. So you can improve it, get it further from breaking, but as you attack it might get closer. So it’d be a balancing act which I think would be fun.

While Vampire the Masquerade is my #3, I think out of the three it’d be the easiest to do in Magic the Gathering.

2. Wheel of Time

With a lot of these, it’s hard to come up with an in game reason why they would be fighting each other. That’s the issue with a lot of IP’s, they are built around stories. But we just saw a massively successful one where it doesn’t make sense in Lorcana. Even Lord of the Rings or Doctor Who it won’t always make sense. So I just need to assume that logic is out the windows.

The nice thing with Wheel of Time is that you have different groups throughout that you can play around with. The Aes Sedai, Rand’s group, some of the bad guy groups, Aiel, and more. What does is it builds out a systems where you can create synergies between certain groups and work better with each other versus with other groups. So from that perspective I think it could work. And if it’s just a straight up battle, that would make sense for at times in the story with almost any group fighting the others. Or you could have them going up against dark friends and dark ones to do better than the other team.

But in the world of Magic the Gathering, I think it’d work. Plenty of groups to build commander decks around. And there are plenty of interesting characters to draw from.

1. Sword Art Online

Now, I think there are other anime that would get done first. With the success of the live action One Piece show, that’s the one I could have scene. But anime’s are generally pretty stingy on giving out their licensing for stuff, especially for something that isn’t just their thing. And One Piece technically has a TCG out, but not one that’s even close to the name recognition of Magic the Gathering.

But Sword Art Online, on of my favorite anime, I think could work as a trading card game. Possibly a player versus the game set-up game. Or there is dueling within the first season and the world of Aincrad. So let you take on heroes and characters from Aincrad and face off against one another, build up decks with abilities to augment what your characters can do. And let you switch heroes out, if you meet a condition they can jump in and take over the attack, like in the show.

In terms of Universes Beyond, I think switching would just be a flip card that you could have as a commander. And it’d likely break the game in some way that Magic hasn’t done before. But that’s what Magic the Gathering does regularly anyways, add in something new that changes up how the game works. And Universes Beyond are actually a decent testing ground for that.

What Set Would You Want?

I know that some of the upcoming ones might interest people that are already coming. There is Final Fantasy, Doctor Who releasing today, and Assassin’s Creed, all worlds and IP’s that people enjoy. But is there one that they haven’t announced you’d be interested in.

More generically, probably not in Universes Beyond, I’d like a set where they lean into Gundam. Giant powered machines doing the combat and being able to play around with that and piloting them, adding on mods to them, things like that. It’d feel different, but in the mechanics of Magic the Gathering, I feel like it’d work quite well.

Let me know your thoughts or favorite one.

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Vampire the Masquerade – CHAPTERS – Crowdfunding Campaign

So is there is a reason that I didn’t back it originally? And honestly there wasn’t much of one. If I remember correctly it is a newer company. So fewer games under the belt, which shows in how long the development took, meant that there is higher risk. Now that the game is delivering to backers, the risk seems to have been worth it.

But Vampire the Masquerade – CHAPTERS offered an interesting game play loop. You play with story and then get down to a tactical map. And a decision you make in the first one might influence things in the second part. Plus there are elements of the story tied to which faction of vampire that you are. And that is what drew me into the story and intrigue of the game.

Early Coverage

The Setting

So it is interesting, for a lot of people the intriguing part of this is that it is based off of the Vampire the Masquerade RPG. Maybe not mechanically but the setting. So it is a setting that I didn’t know that much about. It was through the GloryHoundd YouTube channel (currently on hiatus) that I really got to learn about that world through the conversations they had on the setting.

So I come at it from an angle where I don’t know as much about it. But there are elements that I really appreciate about what I do know. This isn’t a chomp a random persons neck in front of everyone and then fight sort of game. The setting is one of working in the shadows, protecting vampire kind by not letting people find out the influence that different factions are putting on society. And then chomping on a neck when needed in a way that won’t expose everything.

And I think those different factions are what really sold me on the game. It offers replayability as you play with the different characters. But also it allows you role play the character that you want to in the game.

Story Driven

When this was on Kickstarter it was also early in me getting in a lot of board games. Campaign or story heavy ones really. So that is another thing to know about Vampire the Masquerade – CHAPTERS is that it’s heavy on story. A lot of books of story that all tie into different scenarios and paths through your campaign. I’m not sure how linear it is, but I like it when games have a lot of story. I know there are some, Middara that have a ton of story, but I do want it.

This is also one of the negatives that I’ve heard. Basically that the proof-reading wasn’t where it needed to be. There are typos throughout the books and you need to use your RPG playing lens to interpret some of the game and story because of that. Things might not be as clear as they should be. I give the company some grace, playtesting the past few years to catch all of that has been harder. But also not that much grace, because proof-reading stuff can be done by a good copy editor no matter the circumstances.

Final Hype on Vampire the Masquerade – CHAPTERS

I can’t wait for this one to come in. That said, even if when does, I know that I will wait to play it. That comes down to the other games I am playing right now versus anything making me hesitant to play the game.

What the game promises sounds really cool. And I want to checkout some of the playthroughs that are out there. I wish that GloryHoundd had one up, but since they don’t, I’ll recommend Meet Me At the Table and their playthrough. It’s always fun to watch them, so I am excited to see what will happen in it. And I am excited to get it to my table. It’s one that might jump towards the top of the list of games to stream after playing The Isofarian Guard.

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Top 10 Crowdfunding Project To Be Delivered

10 – Mythwind

This one is such a weird one. I can see myself not liking this game. It’s Stardew Valley the board game, which is not something that I thought I’d want. More so than the actual Stardew Valley game which gives you and end game condition. But Mythwind from Open Own Studios (formerly OOMM Games) promises that, a game where you can just build everything. Like I said, this might not be for me, but I am very curious and want to try.

9 – Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin

On the flip side of Mythwind, Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin is a game for me. I already know that I like the system. And Kings of Ruin tries to take the things that people didn’t like, the grind, the keeping the Menhir lit, and make the game more streamlined for the story.

My little soapbox time. People are complaining about the grind and how hard it is to survive. The Story Mode takes care of most of that, extra house rules put in place show that people didn’t pay attention to what they were backing. Tainted Grail promised a hard campaign with attrition and grinding from day one. To complain about a game delivering on what it promised feels like a miss on the players behalf not the companies or the game as the complaints seem to say.

But back to Kings of Ruin. It’s more of a game and a system that I really love. I’m wrapping up the third campaign soon, and I want to know what story the are going to come with. Because story in this game is always so good.

8 – Agemonia

Agemonia is one that I late pledged. I couldn’t quite bring myself to pull the trigger when it was on Kickstarter (I believe), but late pledge got me. This is an adventure game with a lot of story and a campaign to it. Alex Radcliffe from BoardGameCo has a good video showing it off.

There are a couple of things that drew me towards it. Firstly it doesn’t seem to be as heavy as a lot of campaign games. As you might know from watching Malts and Meeples, I appreciate that. But also, I like the card system. It’s a nice system that in these specific scenarios changes up the board. So the world is dynamic as you spend time doing things.

7 – Stonesaga

The most recent one on the list and yes I am a bit biased knowing one of the people who worked on this game. But I’m still excited for it. It’s a nice system as you build out your stone age civilization. And the game does some fun things. There are a lot of mini games, they are fun. And there are some good decision making points which work nicely as well. Stonesaga is a legacy game, so know that about it, some elements will get used, but it’s not a single use legacy game.

6 – Robomon

Robot Pokemon is what Robomon showed off. A solo or two player adventure game, you go around capture and upgrade your Robomon. Sound a lot like Pokemon, it should. But there is never going to be a Pokemon game like this, I think, due to licensing. So Robomon looks like it will offer a lot of story and adventure in an interesting world. I like the idea that this is a very open world system.

5 – Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies

Sleeping Gods is a game that I know a lot about. And I had a few minor issues (as well as a mistake in how I played it) that I thought would make the game more fun. Now, I’m not sure my mistake got changed, but my minor issue did in Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies. It is like Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin in that it took what players knew and used the feedback to improve it. So I’m excited to get this one in and see what new adventure awaits.

4 – Witchbound

Witchbound is the second newest on the list, from this year. And it might be one of the earlier to come in from these games if the creator can keep up their frenetic pace on turning out new story and artwork. But Witchbound is a point and click adventure of a board game with RPG elements. It’s what I would call a relaxing solo story game. You don’t need to hold a ton of rules in your head, so I am excited to dive into the whole thing.

3 – Primal: The Awakening

From one of the shortest to one of the longest, we have Primal: The Awakening. A monster hunting board game that can be played in a one off or as a campaign. I can’t wait to get this one in, and while it has been outstanding for a long time, they do provide updates. I am very interested in the deck construction and combat mechanics of the game. How they created such a small grid and still gave an interesting game and game play.

2 – Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread

Arydia is another late pledged board game. This is one where I couldn’t get it out of my mind, so I decided I wanted to get in on it still. Arydia is an interesting game in how it works on three levels. And I mean three types of maps. Firstly, you play on a world map traveling around. Then you have local maps, general areas that you explore and interact with people and points of interest there. Finally you get down to the tactical battle map.

That three levels of game play is just unique. And while a lot of games do these things separately, or at least two of them separately, Arydia more seamlessly moves between them. That is really interesting. Plus the game itself is just a big epic adventure game.

1 – Vampire: The Masquerade – Chapter

And finally at number one, we have a big epic adventure game. One that I saw game play of ages ago, and it is still so high on my list. I don’t know much about the World of Darkness RPG stuff that has Vampire The Masquerade in it, but I know I’m excited for this game. You can see some game play below.

That is just the prototype and there is a lot game and story in there. There’s even more with the game that is coming through Kickstarter. I like the different levels, again, how you get your main story through just story elements and a few decision points. But then you get to that tactical map, there is still more story and you can pick how to interact. But it’s really well done and it looks like a lot of vampire intrigue in the final box.

Final Thoughts

There are so many games that I am waiting on that just missed. The Chip Theory Elder Scrolls game, Tidal Blades 2 the dungeon crawler. Slay the Spire is up there, HEL: The Last Saga which I still hope to get. The Dark Quarter, a vampire mystery game. Divinius a legacy game or Arkeis an Egyptian themed legacy adventure game.

Like I said there are a ton of games. And I am going through my collection to get rid of games to make room for them. But all of these I want to see what they are like, and so many of them I hope are great solo games. So over the next two to three years, look forward with me for these games to come in and get a chance to explore them.

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Top 10 Board Games I’m Excited To Get in 2023

10. Fliptown

Now this one is kind of outside the type of game that I tend to back on crowdfunding, but it is one that I’m anticipating. It’s a small roll and write game, or flip and write, where it’s set in the wild west and you are flipping cards and using them in different ways. And that’s what intrigues me so much about it. It’s like Welcome To… in some ways where you use multiple cards each turn. But it offers, what appears to be more options and very interesting options in the game. Plus it looks pretty from what I saw on Kickstarter.

9. HEL: The Last Saga

I’m not sure where I want to place this one on the list. Mythic Games is going through some rough times financially. And I do believe their commitment to getting this game out, but it’s also late. In terms of the game, though, it’s a cooperative campaign game and a Viking saga. So two things that I like. And I’m confident that I’ll enjoy it when it does come, I just hope that the extra time and struggle turn out a great game and get Mythic Games going strong again. Because I really enjoy the games that Mythic has made.

8. Mythwind

This is one that I have no idea how it will be. But it’s from OOMM Games and I own Stars of Akarios which I love from them. Mythwind is supposed to just be a game that you can keep playing and playing and playing. There is no end, like a Stardew Valley. There might be new stuff that come up and stuff that you can build up, but there’s no hard stop win condition. Will I like a game like that? I don’t know. Will a game like that even work? I don’t know. But I’m hoping it’s a relaxing game to play that I can set-up and just enjoy.

7. RoboMon

I went back and forth on backing this one for a long time before I decided to late pledge it. It’s a solo game that sounds like it should be like Pokemon, but with robots. I never was into Pokemon all that much, came about just a little bit too late for me, and my money was going to baseball cards at that time. RoboMon looks like a nice cooperative game though, and I enjoy the artwork. I hope that it’s a simple campaign game that I can mess around with and show off. And if it’s that, and I can get some good fun out of it, I’ll be excited for that, because I want more smaller solo games.

6. Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread

I late pledged this one as well, and this is not a small game. But it is a game that does something that I find really intriguing. It has you play the game at a few different levels. Oh, I should say, epic, big campaign game. But you do one level that’s a country, let’s say, then dive down into moving around in a city, and then dive down into street tactical combat.

All of that in the same game, and I’m excited to see how that works and how easy it is to play it. I’m worried it might end up like Chronicles of Drunagor, a game I love, but that is harder to table. But Arydia seems to have a ton of cool ideas.

5. 20 Strong

A solo game from Chip Theory Games, I’m interested. I’ve enjoyed the Chip Theory stuff I’ve played a lot. And 20 Strong is a whole new setting, so I’m curious about what that will look like. Plus it’s a whole new game system, it uses dice and has a chip, but it’s not like Too Many Bones. And it is only meant to be played solo as well as meant to be a much smaller game and easier to get to the table than a lot of their big ones. Plus they’ve done games in a new setting, space setting, plus versions with two of their existing settings as well.

4. The Isofarian Guard

Another solo campaign game. You might see a theme that a lot of these games can be played solo and are campaigns. Isofarian Guard is one that’s been on my radar for a long time since I watched a Rolling Solo preview for it and I didn’t back it then. I did late pledge it as BoardGameCo and Quackalope did some coverage. I saw that it was still what had intrigued me, this story element and bag building, all at a price that is insanely low for everything in there now.

That price point got me, plus it’s so much story and in a world that looks like it has so much development. It was so cheap to buy and late pledge that I wouldn’t even complain if they came back asking for more. I hope they don’t, but it’d be reasonable. I’m excited to see what the game is in the end.

3. Vampire the Masquerade: CHAPTERS

Another one that I can blame Quackalope for. This is a massive choose your own adventure game set in a world where there are vampires and they try and influence from the shadows. There are a ton of chapters and story to this game. The whole setting sounds great to me, and I like that it’s not just vampires sucking blood and violence. Instead, this game has combat that you can get down to, but also has a lot of interactions and story behind it.

Is it another big campaign game that I can play solo, yes it is, but I hope it’s one that stands out from the crowd, and everything I’ve seen says that it should. And I hope that all the work they’ve put into the story, as there is a lot of story, turns out an amazing game.

2. Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies

I love Sleeping Gods. I get rules wrong in my playthrough, but I still just love the game. In fact, I’d play it the way that I did, it makes it easier, but you get to experience so much story in the game. And Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies takes that system an iterates on it. I’m curious to see how the combat changes up in it.

And I know it fixes or not really fixes, but matches one thing that I did. You keep cards when you hit those big story points, it didn’t thematically make sense to lose them, so I’m glad that has changed. Another solo adventure game, or multiplayer, but this time without that big campaign element to it.

1. Frosthaven

Finally, yes, it’s probably coming in a month or less, I have Frosthaven. The big sequel to Gloomhaven that adds a little bit, a town phase, and then it’s just Gloomhaven combat. From what I’ve heard and know about it, it’s even bigger, the story sounds better, and there are more elements to the game. Will it be too much, probably and probably not, and I’ll enjoy every minute of it. So yes, I’m very excited to wrap up my current campaign game and then get to Frosthaven.

But What About…

There are a number of games that I wanted to put on this list. Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin, Primal: The Awakening, Unsettled, The Witcher: Old World, Divinus, 7^th Citadel, and Astro Knights just to name a few. If I’ve got it pre-ordered or backed right now, I expect almost all of them to show up in 2023. And, well, I could have just ranked them all, but it was fun to pick out 10 that I’m very excited for, for various reasons. And I’m sure when a lot of them come in, you’ll see them on Malts and Meeples.

What backed game do you have, or pre-ordered, that you can’t wait to have come in?

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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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Slay the Spire – The Watcher

So I played the fourth character, who is unlockable in the game, the Watcher. The Watcher is my least favorite of the Slay the Spire characters, though, still can be fun to play. Their main mechanic is messing around with stances, going from a calm stance which gives you energy when you exit out of it to the wrath stance which lets you deal extra damage and take more damage.

What gets me about the character is figuring out the rhythm of what you are doing. Mainly when to swap stances and how that can really influence what you do on a turn. Those cards both cost two energy, so it’s hard to stack them up really well. And I think without some of the unlocked cards, it makes it even trickier. So my climb went pretty well, I could hit for a very high amount of damage. But I went completely away from defense which got me in the end.

I think that is really it for the Watcher. I tend to be an aggressive player in these games. I don’t lean too much into the defense until I get some offense out of it as well. For the Watcher it tends to be either a more sedate play style or all out but you need to get a lot of healing. And I go all out but the Watcher doesn’t have a ton of healing to play around with.

Upcoming Streams

So, next Monday at 8:30 PM Central time, it’s the top 20 through 11 of my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2022 Edition. All the games on my list are good, but we’re definitely getting to the top of them.

And then next Wednesday, I’m not sure what my plan is. Probably a smaller solo game but we’ll see. I did just install Heroes of Might & Magic III, a game that has a board game version on Kickstarter right now, but it’s a video game that I enjoy a lot. So if I have time I might refresh myself on that game possibly as well and could stream that. But otherwise, a smaller solo game is likely.

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