Watch your Back: Week January 22 - 28
From Cthulhu to aquarium maintainance, it's a diverse week again in crowdfunding land. It's still January, so you'll have to put up with me taking care of the "Watch your Back" post again, but then, I might be getting the hang of reading rulebooks and preview pages. Let's try.
In the coop Doom Guard (1-5 players) heroes and villains must to work together in order to protect Earth from total annihilation by the minions of Cthulhu. City spaces can become corrupted, Guardians can become crazed and the infamous octopusface might pop up near the end as well.
Scenarios can be played in an hour, individually or as part of a campaign. For solo you'll control (at least) two characters. Doom Guard will launch on Gamefound on 23 January.
Personal opinion:Â The characters seem heavily inspired by Sentinels of the Multiverse, and the game breaks no new grounds with its Ctulhu theme (or with its gameplay, really). And yet, I find myself weirdly attracted to this. I'm going to watch videos once it's live. If it looks decent, I'll drop some other pledge to free money. I sure love me some pulp.
Storm Raiders (1-4 players) is the second game by Shem Phillips (after Shelfie Stacker) that will be published by Arkus Games. I guess that's where he publishes the games that are a bit outside of his normal genre.
In this post-apocalyptic game you'll be drafting dice to salvage wreck sites, fulfill contracts, acquire crew, upgrade vehicles, and earn medals. The player with the most prestige points wins - for solo you'll compete with an opponent that you'll have to play as yourself, following an 8-step list during each turn. You'll find Storm Raiders on Kickstarter on 24 January.
Personal opinion:Â I like the setting, I don't like the solo mode (you can find it in the rulebook on BoardGameGeek to see if it's something you'd enjoy). Perhaps I'll be able to play it multiplayer one day. His games are popular enough to surface around me.
Roll and write game Aquaris (1-10 players) you try to make a beautiful aquarium. Filling it with fish and plants and stuff, then keeping the filters clean. Character cards will give you special abilities, goal cards provide the ways to score points. Launching on Kickstarter on 25 January.
Personal opinion:Â I am not really gripped by the theme. It's just a few euro, but I'm not sure I'm going to spend them on this. I've got enough roll and writes for now I think.
In push-your-luck game Focus!: Last Roll for the Hangul (1-5 players) you are a wildlife photographer, visiting the Kashmir Valley. You use your actions for moving, taking pictures and fulfilling contracts. Succesful actions may be repeated, but failed actions can make noise and scare the animals away.
For solo you'll use an event deck and at the end check your score to find out how well you performed.
Personal opinion:Â I had a difficult time reading the rulebook, and even though I enjoy playing push-your-luck games, I'll skip.
Then it's time for the second printing of the coop adventure card game Earthborne Rangers (1-4 players). Everything from the first crowdfunding campaign will be available again, including the not-yet-printed expansion Legacy of the Ancestors, the lore book and deluxe components etc.
There will also be a new expansion, Stewards of the Valley, which adds a Ranger background and a specialty set, and other cards like Roles and Objectives providing more options for character creation. For owners of the first edition a small errata pack containing 10 cards will be available. All this on Gamefound on 23 January.
Personal opinion:Â I like the game and I like trying different characters, so I am looking forward to the Stewards of the Valley expansion.
Speaking of expansions, High Frontier 4 All: Module 5 – Economy is launching on Gamefound on 23 January. It will add the buying and selling of shares in aerospace companies to High Frontier 4 All. The solo mode is still in the experimental stages.
Personal opinion:Â Really sounds more like something to add to your multiplayer sessions.