Watch your Back: Week February 5 to 11
As we progress into February, crowdfunding is picking up speed. There are several releases planned for next week, so let's see what they are.
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Stonesaga is a 1-4 player cooperative survival game in which you are hunting, foraging, crafting items, and building structures in a glacial valley.
You will spend action points to explore the map tiles, and, depending on the type of terrain you move onto, you may decide to go fishing, or mining, or building. The resources you gather can often be combined to make tools and weapons. Encounters are resolved by rolling dice and doing skill checks. It is launching on Kickstarter on February 7.
Personal opinion: I'm very intrigued by this game. I really like the visuals and the survival aspect but detected some fiddliness in the way you perform the actions (lots of little bits and cards your have to put together). It has piqued my interest though, so I'll take a look when it goes live.
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Moving on to Statera: a 1-4 player wargame in which you play as either a faction leader of Statera or as their god. All leaders and gods play differently, and you can choose to play the game competitively or against an in-built enemy.
In the middle of the board you will place a set of scales which is used to count and weigh meeples. Not much is known about the gameplay except that it is scenario-based. It is launching on February 7, and you may check the Gamefound preview.
Personal opinion: When asked if the game is better as a PvP or as a PvE, one of the designers said that it is mainly intended as player versus player.
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Blueprints of Mad King Ludwig is a 1-5 player flip and write game in which you draw architectural designs for the King's castle.
On your turn, you reveal a card that shows the blueprint of a room or feature, and you place it underneath your transparent player sheet to decide where you can sketch it. Depending on the rooms you add and their placement, you will be scoring points and bonuses. It is launching on Kickstarter on February 7.
Personal opinion: Not my style.
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If you long for more roll-and-write, Mind Space is a 1-5 player game in which you add polyomino-shaped emotions to your brain board with the aim of achieving serenity.
In each round, five emotions will be available, and you will be rolling dice to see which colours can be used in order to add shapes to your board. Your goal is to fill your brain sections as much as possible. The game is launching on Kickstarter on February 7 along with the non-solo games Sail, Chomp, and Couture.
Personal opinion: Nice theme but I'm not really into roll 'n' writes.
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Pulp Invasion returns to Kickstarter on February 7 with a third expansion called Space Ship.
In the 1-2 player bag building base game, you play as a space trader and secret agent, visiting planets to stop hostile aliens from invading the Intergalactic Alliance. The expansion adds new space ship cards, crew cards, a dice board and captain tokens. You may check the Kickstarter preview.
Personal opinion: I appreciate the retro art but don't like bag building.
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And, finally, we have the Forsaken Isles standalone expansion for Set a Watch. In this 1-4 player cooperative card- and- dice game, a band of adventurers on a tropical island defend their campfire from monsters and foes.
As in the base game, one character stays behind to watch the fire and purchase items, while the rest of the team fight the enemies with cards and dice. It is launching on Kickstarter on February 7 along with the Doomed Run campaign expansion. You may check the preview page.
Personal opinion: I never paid this game much attention, to be honest. It's probably good but it doesn't excite me enough to give it a second thought.