Every so often, I like to look back on the incredible number of games, usually tabletop games, that I back on Kickstarter (and GameFound, and BackerKit). We do eventually play them, but I think we have to admit we’re not really ever going to give most of these games the time they deserve. We are still working our way through Nemesis, the “aliens invaded your starship while you were in hypersleep” game, because I am insisting that once a game does come to the table, we play it enough times that we really feel we understand the game.
So when I back things, it’s with that in mind. I warn people — this game is coming at some point in time, it will be brought to the table, we’re gonna get our money’s worth. This is especially important for those board games for which I have paid A LOT OF MONEY.
Let’s get started.
I wrote about this a couple weeks back, while the campaign was still in progress. At that time, my spending on the game was somewhat reasonable; the core set, a couple of expansions.
Just to recap, DC United is a new continuation from CMON of their United games, of which there have been several set in the Marvel comic universe. All the lessons learned from the Marvel games have been put into the DC version, and all the reviewers say the DC United games are as good or better than the best Marvel United games.
Gameplay is fairly simple; you deal a number of locations to the center of the table (or just choose them if you like). You choose a villain, who comes with a Master Plan deck that chronicles their evil deeds. The players choose heroes (they can even be Marvel heroes, since they are compatible), takes the deck for that hero and any equipment, and then play cards in a circle around the locations, moving their minis and taking actions according to what’s on the card. The “United” part comes in in that you can also take actions based on the card the previous hero played, leading to combos as you build off the previous hero and set things up for the next one.
Through the campaign, CMON just kept adding more and more heroes, villains, folks that could be either (like Captain Cold or Bizarro), and expansion after expansion. I noped out pretty early, just getting the core set and a couple expansions of characters I really liked. But then… then came Starro. A HUGE mini, kinda not a mini anymore. And then they announced a CAMPAIGN mode that would take you through several major comic book arcs, with heroes and villains changing up as you went through it, hero deaths having a permanent effect on the campaign — just like the Jurassic World campaign we did last winter. But of course that would mean buying all the expansions. And then they offered a new reward, an “all-in” reward, for all the expansions, easily fifty hero and villain minis, the campaign mode, everything. Well, I bought it. When it comes, we will be doing the campaign.
20 Strong: Tanglewoods by Chip Theory Games
The game is named after all my EverQuest characters. Of course I was going to back it.
Tanglewoods are three card games that retell the stories of Snow White, Red Riding Hood and Cinderella. Not super interesting on that basis, but the gameplay reminds me of Slay the Spire, with branching plot paths that let you change up the story. It sounds fun, it didn’t cost that much, really.
It is a solo game, which is a problem because I really rather enjoy playing board games with other people. Video games are more single player for me these days. But we’ll see.
Caverns of Thracia by Goodman Games
I wrote awhile back about the Dungeon Crawl Classics core book I bought at Origins. It while I was writing about that that I did some googling about it and found out that they were crowdfunding a reissue of a classic DCC/D&D module, the Caverns of Thracia! Well, I know what fate looks like when it’s yelling in my face, so I backed it with just minutes to spare.
I’m hoping the family feels like playing a years-long DCC campaign. But, if they don’t…
The Exorcist Awaits by Gaming Honors
“The Exorcist Awaits” is a level 3-5 adventure for characters who have survived the previous adventure, “The Exodus of Wolfbane”, an adventure for level 0-3 characters.
Level 0 characters are special for Dungeon Crawl Classics. Every player starts with a bunch of level 0, randomly-rolled characters. The very first adventure is called a “funnel”, because a dozen or more characters go in, very few survive. And those that do survive have a backstory and a shared experience bringing them into level 1, class selection, and the true start to their adventures.
I didn’t have “The Exodus of Wolfbane”, so I pledged for the level that would get them both.
I just love how fuggin’ RETRO the game system is! We’re gonna play this one at least a little bit, I hope.
Mystery Dice — the Trilogy by Gatekeeper Games
If you follow me on Mastodon, you’ve probably heard way too much about these dice. They’re good dice, but what really excited me about the campaign is their “Weirdest Stuff” dice, which are vaguely dice-adjacent art projects. You never know what you’re going to get. I gave most of the last few I got from the previous Kickstarter away, but I kept some special ones, just for me.
DragonStrike by Clash of Spears
Back in the old Amiga/Atari ST days, I was absolutely head over heels in love with SSI’s “DragonStrike“, a dragon dogfighting game (well, dragon-fighting game, I guess), set in TSR’s Dragonlance universe, where you and your succession of every-more-powerful dragons win the War of the Lance by hunting down enemies on wyverns and dragons as powerful as your own, and killing them with lance and fire.
Missions also included strafing runs on ground targets, and in general it was just a lot of fun. Can’t really look at the game these days as this was from before the age of graphics cards, but they did the best 3D they could without much hardware help.
Well, DragonStrike is back, in board game form. The idea is similar to the Macross dogfighting (um, VersaFighter-fighting?) game I backed a couple years ago. You and your opponent start with one or two dragons, and you fight until someone wins. The gameplay is similar to Ace of Aces in that each player chooses a maneuver, then they move simultaneously and take a shot if they can.
I can’t wait to play these games! And I can’t wait to write about them. Stay tuned! That DragonStrike game is supposed to be coming out in a few months. And, there’s a comic!
Such cool Kickstarter stuff!! (Mystery Dice is right up my alley . . . I’m going to forget I looked because money.)
I really need to do less looking at, too.