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Writer's pictureAthena

Watch your Back: Week September 17 to 23

Boy, do we have a lot on our crowdfunding plate today... Let's get started.


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Almost everyone's beloved designer Ryan Laukat has a new game coming out. Creature Caravan is a 1-6 player tableau building game in which you are trying to help the creatures you carry in your caravan escape to safer grounds.


You will be activating cards by placing dice, trading for goods in the market, and fighting zombies along the way. The Gamefound campaign on September 18 also includes the World of Arzium RPG and a new edition of Islebound.

Personal opinion: I have never played a Laukat game, and will wait to see how the solo mode works in this one.


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On the same day, September 18, on Kickstarter, we will see the launch of Bone Wars. This is a 1-4 player hand management and worker placement game in which paleontologists dig for dinosaur bones and compete for fame.


You will be discovering fossils, publishing papers, and trying to outdo your opponents. There is no info on the solo mode yet.

Personal opinion: It doesn't sound well-suited to solo play.


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Two small soloable games, Sirens and Defrag, are launching on September 19 on Kickstarter. Both support 1-2 players.


Sirens is a card drafting game in which you are playing against the Orpheus AI. You will choose cards to place in your tableau to form a song with matching symbols on the cards. In Defrag, you are trying to put together file fragments in your 1995 computer by arranging cards in a grid.

Personal opinion: I appreciate the compact nature and the solo mode but I can't say any of these appeals to me.


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The 1-4 player tableau building game Canopy returns to Kickstarter on September 19 with a standalone expansion called Evergreen.


Featuring stunning Vincent Dutrait art once again, Evergreen plays similarly to the original Canopy but this time you can place 3D trees and slot your animals on your board. You will be selecting piles of cards to add to your tableau and grow the most fertile rainforest. I assume that the solo mode is also similar to that of Canopy, in that you compete for points against an AI.

Personal opinion: I'm a sucker for this artwork and considering picking up the base game from the stores. There is high chance that I back this.


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Moving on to Awaken Realms and their latest storybooky game, Dragon Eclipse. This is a 1-2 player cooperative deck building campaign game in which you are a dragon tamer.


You will be training different dragons, each with its own deck of cards, and, as you go through the scenario book, you will be fighting enemies in the arena. It is launching on Gamefound on September 19.

Personal opinion: My experience with Awaken Realms games is that they are far from perfect. The two I have tried (Nemesis and Tainted Grail) were to some degree fiddly and could have used more playtesting. I'll take a look at this one but I'm not terribly excited about it.


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Transmissions returns to Kickstarter on September 19 with a second edition. This is a 1-4 player rondel game in which your robot workers gather energy from the board which is then used to improve them. In the solo mode, you are competing against an AI.

Personal opinion: The cutesy robots are the main draw here, although reviews say it is a good solo game too. I'm not sure I need it though.


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Final Girl fans are in for a (trick or) treat, as Season 3 is launching on Kickstarter on September 19.


It comes with 5 new feature films (inspired by movies such as Hellraiser) with artwork by various artists (including Dutrait). You need the core box to play this solo-only game, and the Kickstarter campaign will also offer alternative minis for Season 1. You can read more details in this Kickstarter update.

Personal opinion: I haven't jumped into this series because I didn't like Hostage Negotiator. A pity, as the setting here is enticing.


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Super Squad High is a 1-4 player cooperative game in which teen superheroes date their classmates and fight villains. Not much is known about gameplay except that includes dice rolling and worker placement. It is launching on September 20 and you may check out the preview on Backerkit.

Personal opinion: No angsty teenagers for me.


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And last, the Encore and Off the Rails expansions for the 2-4 player cooperative boss battler game Vagrantsong are launching on Kickstarter on September 19.

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Wouter Cordewiner
Wouter Cordewiner
Sep 18, 2023

I personally like Ryan Laukat's designs. They're (light/medium weight) euro designs with a heavy thematic theme. Now a 1-6 player game always gives me red flags unless it's a game like 7 Wonders. We'll see when the rulebook is available.


Wow season 3 of Final Girl. it's becoming a 💰 black hole. I've always bought it at my FLGS. Not sure if I want to go for another season.

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Zerbique
Zerbique
Sep 17, 2023
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@JW, I'm not sure Canopy: Evergreen is in any way an extension of Canopy. I believe the two games are largely independent. I don't know for sure but they look widely different to me at first glance. So, getting the "base game" would be just getting another game and you probably don't need it to back.


I always enjoy Vincent Dutrait's artwork. It's very much "board game style" but it's always colorful and you recognize the style instantly, which is fun. Once in the suburban system I saw an advertisement for a music hall about pirates (???), and I thought 'hey, that looks like Dutrait's artwork', so I watched closer at the advertisement, and indeed it was. I also realized…


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SnowDragonka
SnowDragonka
Sep 17, 2023
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Replying to

I figured out why this art isn't instantly drawing me in thanks to you. You mentioned it being colourful, but to my eye everything is oversaturated and almost neon, my eyes hurt looking at it. Never thought about that.

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Zerbique
Zerbique
Sep 17, 2023
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Creature Caravan is a game I thought I would get when I first heard about it... But then the more details I discovered, the less I wanted to get it, and now I'm pretty sure it's a pass. Ryan Laukat games are not for me, he doesn't design games suited for my tastes, and it's time I learn this lesson (although I always realized it early enough).


Dragon Eclipse, on the other hand, is a game I wasn't interested in at first: Awaken Realms, minis, Pokemon... But then the details of the game looked enticing, and the entry pledge (which is the one I would get if any) seems extremely worthwhile (a bit like The Witcher: Old World: the entry…


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Zerbique
Zerbique
Sep 17, 2023
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Replying to

Indeed, the Wild Hunt is only compatible with the Mages expansion (and the smaller ones of course), neither Legendary Hunt nor Skellige.


I haven't tried it, of course, because I still haven't tried anything.

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SnowDragonka
SnowDragonka
Sep 17, 2023
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Weird week for me. Only bits and pieces here and there that I like, but not the whole thing.


Sirens is a one that sounds like an ok game for solo, but the reason I've been looking into it is the little "gimmick" where you create the siren song and then use an app to play it. It's not a thing that would make me back it, but it's a fun twist.


Similarly there's just one piece of Dragon Eclipse that appeals to me. That's the art and the minis. Oh how I'd love to pain those. But the rest is a huge pass, so pass overall. Sooo pretty though.


I've been looking last time into Transmissions because of the…


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