In Episode 116 we go through our 2023 gift guide for the tabletop gamer in your life. We also discuss a couple new games the hosts have enjoyed.
In Episode 115 the hosts give overviews of their top 5 Spooky games, the hobby projects they’ve been working on, and games they have been playing.
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Read on for links to the games discussed and pictures.
Welcome to Kickstart Monday! This is our weekly series featuring 2 or more crowdfunding projects that have caught our eye. We scour over platforms like Kickstarter, Gamefound, and Indigogo to find projects that interest us.
There are certainly some exciting projects out in crowdfunding land. Let’s take a look at a couple of games that we think you should check out.
Firefighters: On Duty
First up this week we have Firefighters: On Duty from Artipia Games on Kickstarter.
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Firefighters: On Duty is a real-time cooperative strategy game for 1 to 4 players. To start the game you’ll choose a scenario and use double- sided city tiles to layout the city for the chosen scenario. Over six rounds players will roll dice in real time having 2 minutes to take as many actions as they can based on the die rolls.
Players will use vehicle movement actions to move their fire trucks around the city to get to the location of fires or injured citizens. Water actions will let players extinguish fires and increase their water reserve if their supply is low. Rolling a firefighter symbol lets you move your firefighter and also move civilians or injured people to safety. Lastly, gear actions allow you to use special equipment cards such as a fire axe which lets you remove debris tokens from a location or an electrical shut off which lets you remove electrical hazards from the board.
Fires will grow and spread through the city potentially injuring civilians and interacting with hazards like explosive substances and gas tanks. Each scenario will also introduce different event cards adding hazards and increasing the challenge to the players. If players are able to complete the objective of their scenario without gaining too many negative points they will be victorious but can also lose the game by letting injured citizens become casualties.
Firefighters: On Duty will be available for $65 USD and includes a number of stretch goals that have already been unlocked including new city tiles, new events, new hazards and a few small expansion modules. The campaign for Firefighter: On Duty ends on December 7, 2023, so rush over to make your pledge before then!
Shards of the Aegis
Our second game this week is Shards of the Aegis from Typhon Games on Kickstarter.
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Shards of the Aegis is a simple card game for 2 to 4 players that features Gods, Goddesses and Creatures from Greek mythology. Shards of the Aegis is a quick playing and quick to learn game with light strategy making it great for playing with non-gamers or if you are just looking for a nice filler-game.
In the game you are competing with other players to gather shards to restore the Aegis – the legendary shield of Zeus. Each turn you will draw one card and play one card and use the unique ability of the god or creature you’ve played. Some cards will give you the opportunity to claim a sought after shard like Zeus who lets you search the discard pile for a shard and claim it. Other cards are disruptive or used to attack other players such as Typhon who lets you steal two cards from another player or Medusa who causes all other players to discard a card to the bottom of the deck. Other effects include exchanging cards, rearranging cards and peeking at the cards upcoming in the deck.
You will have to find the right combinations of cards and the right timing to collect the needed shards in order to be the first player to play an Aegis card and ultimately win the game. Shards of the Aegis features beautiful hand-drawn illustrations on large colorful tarot sized cards. The game is available for only $25 USD with additional discounts per copy if you buy 2 or 3 copies. The campaign for Shards of the Aegis is set to end on December 7, 2023, so if this is of interest make sure to make your pledge by then.
Did we miss your favorite project?
Thank you for checking out this week’s Kickstart Monday! If you find these interesting or want some attention on a Kickstarter or other crowdfunded projects that you would like to read more about please share your thoughts with us via our social media or email.
Stay informed when new Kickstart Monday projects come out by following us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and following the #KickstartMonday hashtag.
Also checkout the latest articles from WiscoDice:
Welcome to Kickstart Monday! This is our weekly series featuring 2 or more crowdfunding projects that have caught our eye. We scour over platforms like Kickstarter, Gamefound, and Indigogo to find projects that interest us.
There are certainly some exciting projects out in crowdfunding land. Let’s take a look at a couple of games that we think you should check out.
The Old King’s Crown
Our first game this week is The Old King’s Crown a Kickstarter campaign from Eerie Idol games.
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The Old King’s Crown is a strategy game for 1 to 4 players set in a once grand kingdom, now crumbling where players will plot and scheme to be the one that claims the crown. Each player will take control of one of four asymmetrical factions with unique tactics and play style. Playing as the Nobles will allow the player to use their great wealth to control areas of the kingdom and defend their holdings. Play as The Uprising and you will gather a large following of supporters and build a network of spies that work to take out your opponents leaders. The Clans faction are excellent combatants that send out boats of raiders to pillage the land and establish their presence. Finally, the Gathering faction uses magic rituals to gain power and drain their rivals’ followers and influence. Each faction has a unique deck of cards that represents the strength and abilities of that faction. Players will use these cards in various ways to participate in clashes to control the different regions of the kingdom,
To bid on valuable kingdom cards that can grant additional actions and to deploy to regions for future rounds. Players will be able to bolster and refine their factions deck during the game by gaining powerful contested neutral cards, culling unused cards and working to cycle their most powerful cards more often. Players will plot and clash over the regions of the kingdom and the court itself until one player has amassed enough influence to claim the crown and win the game.
The Kickstarter for The Old King’s Crown is somewhat unique in that there are no stretch goals. The designers have stated that they wish to bring the best version of the game forward for everyone and so the base version of the game is essentially the deluxe version you might expect from other Kickstarters. High quality components including screen printed wooden pieces are available in all available pledge tiers. The base tier pledge will run about $65. There is also an $107 pledge which includes The Wild Kingdom expansion and a $125 all-in pledge which will get you the expansion plus exclusive art prints. The campaign for The Old King’s Crown ends on November 23, 2023, so make sure to get your pledge in before then!
Kelp: Shark vs Octopus
Our second game this week is the Kickstarter for Kelp: Shark vs Octopus from Wonderbow games.
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Kelp is a unique 2 player asymmetrical game with high player interaction that is inspired by the actual behavior of sharks and octopuses in the wild. One player will take on the role of the shark and will use dice bag building mechanics to hunt and attack the octopus. As the shark you will roll dice each turn determining which actions you can take. Blue dice let you place currents on the board allowing you to move more quickly potentially building chains of currents to swim across the board. Yellow dice let you search for the octopus in its hiding places while red dice allow you to strike out at where you think the octopus might be.
The shark must be careful though each time it strikes it uses energy and grows hungrier. If the shark grows too hungry it becomes exhausted and the octopus will win! For the shark to win they must attack and defeat the octopus in a final confrontation.
The octopus uses deck building mechanics and must move stealthily across the board hiding from the shark and also looking for its own food. The octopus manipulates blocks on the board which represent places where the octopus might be hiding, food for the octopus or neutral shells. One of the nine blocks on the board is the octopus so the octopus must make sure the shark doesn’t locate that one! The octopus’s cards let it move blocks around by swapping adjacent locations or shuffling a group of blocks and replacing them. If blocks have been revealed by the shark the octopus has ways to hide those blocks again to continue evading the shark. The octopus is also able to learn to improve its skills and add better cards to its deck and gain new blocks including traps! The octopus will win if the shark becomes exhausted or if the octopus manages to eat all of its food blocks. The beautiful art and unique theme are what drew me to this game and I definitely think it’s worth a look if you are into 2 player head to head games.
The Kelp Standard Edition is available for $50 USD but if you dive a little deeper into your wallet, $66 USD will net you the deluxe edition which includes upgraded dice, and octopus miniature, embroidered bags and a deluxe embossed box. The campaign for Kelp: Shark vs Octopus will run until December 5, 2023, so you have until then you make a pledge.
Did we miss your favorite project?
Thank you for checking out this week’s Kickstart Monday! If you find these interesting or want some attention on a Kickstarter or other crowdfunded projects that you would like to read more about please share your thoughts with us via our social media or email.
Stay informed when new Kickstart Monday projects come out by following us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and following the #KickstartMonday hashtag.
Also checkout the latest articles from WiscoDice:
Welcome to Kickstart Monday! This is our weekly series featuring 2 or more crowdfunding projects that have caught our eye. We scour over platforms like Kickstarter, Gamefound, and Indigogo to find projects that interest us.
There are certainly some exciting projects out in crowdfunding land. Let’s take a look at a couple of games that we think you should check out.
Elyse’s Guide to Magic
Our first project this week is the Kickstarter for Elyse’s Guide to Magic from Draco Studios.
Elyse’s Guide to Magic is a 300 page Dungeons and Dragons 5E supplement in the Dragonbond setting. You will be able to explore a whole new spellcasting system in your game that features mechanics like spontaneous spellcrafting. Players will be able to create spells on the fly by creating them out of combos of primary and secondary effects. This kind of spell casting can potentially be accessed by any character using what are called Vaala points – the ability to access a new raw form of magic. Crafted spells can include environmental and stacking effects to make combos even more powerful. But beware! If the raw magic this system is used in too complicated a fashion it can backlash against its user with negative effects. There is also a new summoning system focusing on communing with magical spirits and a built in level of unpredictability that can work in your favor sometimes and against you at others.
Elyse’s guide introduces four new classes from the Dragonbond setting: the Vaala Witch, the Scion, the Summoner and the Arcanologist each of which has at least 3 subclasses to choose from. There are also new subclasses for traditional 5e classes like the Enthraller Clerics who beguile and hypnotize others and the Mindwalker Sorcerers that haunt the dreams of their foes.
Beyond all that there are 150 new spells, a magical bestiary, new potions, poisons and magical items, powerful arch-villains and introductory adventure and much more to discover in this jam-packed magical tome. There are of course a number of different pledge levels starting at $25 USD for a PDF copy of Elyse’s Guide to Magic. A printed copy of the core book is available for $60 USD or you can go for the Game Ready pledge which includes the core book, introductory one shot, character sheets and a dry erase spell tracker. For those looking to go all in there is the Core Box at $150 USD and the Deluxe Box at $250 USD which include additional physical and digital components like liquid core dice and spells cards. The campaign for Elyse’s Guide to Magic will end on November 30, 2023 so be sure to visit the Kickstarter page before then!
A Short Rest
To go along with the role playing theme this week our second project is A Short Rest, a dice collection Kickstarter from Lindorm Dice.
A short rest is a collection of dice sets inspired by rest relaxation and nature. The collection will feature up to 11 different dice sets. Here are some of the current available sets
- Star Gaze – Lilac with gold swirls
- Ancient Glade – Grass green with gold
- Gone Fishing – Deep blue with gold and white swirls
- Fellowship – Bright yellow with gold and silver
- Leather Bound – Mahogany with black and white swirls
The descriptions won’t do them full justice though so you should definitely head to the Kickstarter page to check out each beautiful set. There are even more sets still locked behind stretch goals so the collection may still expand as the campaign progresses.
In addition to the beautiful dice sets there are quite a few accessories and add-ones that are available. There is a 35mm raised metal coin featuring a fox on one side and a lovely cornflower design on the other. For those curling up with a book on their short rest there is a leather bookmark depicting a gold design of campfire in the forest. If taking notes is more your style you can add a traveler’s notebook bound in faux leather with a gold print of the fox and cornflower designs. There are two dice storage options, a brown faux leather case for a single dice set with a gold cornflower print, and a larger “Traveller’s Findings” that holds up to 5 sets of dice and features the campfire in a forest design in gold print. And once you are ready to pack up your things and continue your adventure you can load everything into a custom printed canvas backpack with the “A Short Rest” logo. All of the add-ons are ala carte and can be added to any pledge level.
The pledge levels are very open ended starting with 1, 2 or 3 dice set for $14, $25 and $37 USD respectively. The “A Short Rest” core set is available for $59 and comes with 5 sets of dice and collector’s case. On the upper end is the “Forager” pledge for $146 which includes 11 dice sets, a dice case, the traveler’s journal, a bookmark, a fox amulet, 3 coins and a cornflower dice box. You should really see these beautiful offerings in person so take A Short Rest now and head over to the Kickstarter page. The campaign will end on December 7, 2023 so you will need to finish your rest before then!
Did we miss your favorite project?
Thank you for checking out this week’s Kickstart Monday! If you find these interesting or want some attention on a Kickstarter or other crowdfunded projects that you would like to read more about please share your thoughts with us via our social media or email.
Stay informed when new Kickstart Monday projects come out by following us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and following the #KickstartMonday hashtag.
Also checkout the latest articles from WiscoDice: