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 and Gamefound to find projects that interest us.

Natera: New Beginning

Everdell Duo

Natera: New Beginning

Our first game this week is Natera: New Beginning from Horizon Games on Kickstarter.

Natera: New Beginning is a 1 to 4 player worker placement and resource management game set in a post-human future where intelligent animal tribes explore the land and develop new technologies.

A game of Natera takes place over 4 seasons; you will take actions to score Venture Points as you expand your influence over locations you explore. You’ll start the game with an animal tribe card such as the Beaver Corporation or the Racoon Association and your tribe will grant you a unique special ability.

With your Tribe Leader or one of your animal Explorers, you can explore new locations in five different areas on the game board where you can discover the things that humanity has left behind. For example you might explore the Farm area to gather food so you can hire useful animal specialists into your tribe, or you might explore the City area to scavenge for supplies that are used to build settlements.

As you explore you will also gain access to special Exploration cards that represent unique technologies like engineering, geoponics and brewing, or special facilities like a restaurant or a shipyard. Exploration cards will grant you either one time rewards or ongoing abilities that you can activate.

New abilities can also be gained by hiring animal specialists such as an Electrician Kitten. To activate your specialist you will need to use power cells which can often be found in the Military area of the game board.

You’ll also be improving your tribe’s technological abilities by advancing on the Science Board gaining different rewards and resources as you progress. Another key action is establishing settlements at locations on the game board which importantly earn you Venture Points but also allow players to use the settlement bonus when they activate the settled location.

At the end of the 4 seasons, you’ll total the Venture Points gained from achievements you’ve claimed, your settlements, the science board, cards you’ve played and points for having more authority in each board area than other players. 

Natera: New Beginning is in a single “Pre-stretched” pledge level (no FOMO to worry about here!). The Pre-Stretched Deluxe pledge is $89 and includes:

  • Dual layered main game board and player boards
  • Screen printed wooden resource tokens
  • Wooden animal and player tokens
  • Premium card stock
  • The “Nuclear Discovery” micro expansion with 10 new exploration cards

If you are ready to start a new society with a tribe of cute animals head over to the Nater: New Beginning Kickstarter page to make your pledge before September 26, 2024.

Everdell Duo

Next up this week we have Everdell Duo from Starling Games on Kickstarter.

We here at WiscoDice are big fans of Everdell and I am excited to see the world of Everdell continue to expand. Everdell Duo is a new 1-2 player version of Everdell that can be played competitively or cooperatively and also features a dedicated Campaign mode.

Everdell Duo has much of what you would expect from an Everdell game but with some new twists. First while you and your competitor/coop partner each have your own hand of cards and resources, you will be building the city together. Another significant difference is that the meadow of cards you can select from holds 12 cards but each turn you will move either a Sun or Moon marker to touch 4 of the cards in the meadow and only these cards can be taken or played. This seems like it could lead to some interesting timing and strategic decisions.

There are also now 32 different event tiles that will change what strategy you take and what combinations you look for each game. Everdell duo also features 80 new critter and construction cards all of course featuring the excellent artwork of Andrew Bosley.

This campaign also features a new item for owners of the existing Everdell games – new oversized Tarot card replacements. Everdell cards are somewhat infamous for some very small text and these new larger cards also feature larger print. One set is available to replace all of the cards in the Everdell Collector’s Edition and a second set contains oversized replacement cards for all of the main Everdell Expansions.

Beyond that the campaign is offering discounted versions of tons of other Everdell products and merchandise – Including the Everdell Complete Collection for $199 if you missed that in the previous campaign.

Here are some key pledge levels for Everdell duo and the oversize card upgrades:

  • Everdell Duo – $19 – One copy of the base game
  • Everdell Oversize Cards (Base Game) – $20
  • All Oversize Cards (Base & Expansions) – $40
  • Everdell Duo and all Oversized Cards – $59

To see every available option I recommend you make your way to the Everdell Duo Kickstarter campaign page before September 12, 2024, to get your pledge in.

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.

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