Watch your Back: Week April 9 to 15
Crowdfunding was dormant at the beginning of April, probably because of Easter, but is now getting more busy: we have four releases this week, let's take a look.
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Portal Games is launching Thorgal: The Board Game on Gamefound on April 11. This is a 1-4 player cooperative storytelling adventure game starring Thorgal, his wife and son, and a female warrior called Kriss.
The game comes with seven scenarios which are standalone, meaning, not linked in a campaign. Gameplay is based on action selection through the use of action cards, and combat is performed by rolling custom dice and placing polyomino tiles on the enemy card with the aim of covering up the damage spots.
Personal opinion: I may want to purchase this game when it goes to retail. I like the illustrations although I would much prefer if 'board games that tell stories' didn't tell them through the storybook.
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Fractured Sky is a 1-5 player deduction and area control game in which players compete for shards from a fallen star that will grant them their wishes.
The regions where the shards fall each round are determined randomly, and players will try to guess where these are by watching their opponents' actions. The solo mode will be developed by David Turczi, Nick Shaw and David Digby. The game is launching on Kickstarter on April 11.
Personal opinion: Deduction, bidding and bluffing are not mechanisms I associate with solo play, and I don't want to try to outbid a bot.
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Roll-With-It is a series of solitaire fantasy roll 'n' write games that consists of Fortress of Terror, Temple of Despair, Maze of the Minotaur, Lake of the Dragon, Pyramid of the Mummy, and Mines of Darkness.
Each module is a variation of the base game found in Fortress of Terror. In classic r'n'w style, you roll a number of dice and then trace your movement on the map, drawing a relic card if you happen to land on a relic space. It is launching on Kickstarter on April 11.
Personal opinion: It seems interesting for fans of the genre. The artwork could have been more enticing.
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The 2-4 player abstract strategy game Santorini will receive a cooperative expansion called The Riddle of the Sphinx. This is a set of puzzles that you have to solve by being given a limited number of buildings and using the powers of god cards. It is launching on Kickstarter on April 11 along with the Pantheon edition of Santorini.
Personal opinion: I would back this if I had someone to play the base game with.
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I will end this overview with a game that launched last week but, since there was no post published, it may have gone unnoticed. It is a solitaire 18-card game called Thrashed in which a group of friends are trying to avoid getting killed by a lunatic who's chasing them inside a building.
In each round you reveal a lunatic card that shows which room he is moving into. If there is a character there, they either attack or receive damage. Then you decide if you want to move the characters elsewhere and continue with another round. Here is the link to the Kickstarter.
Personal opinion: I wanted the printed edition which is 10 dollars but, if you live outside the US, shipping is $12 plus customs and VAT which kills the deal. So we are basically left with the PnP option.