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.
Tag: Awaken Realms
Welcome to Kickstart Monday!!!! This is our weekly series featuring 2 or more crowdfunding projects in the tabletop gaming industry. I scour over platforms like Kickstarter, Gamefound, and Indigogo to find projects that interest me. People would ask me what I think is worth backing since I was providing these recommendations already. So why not share my thoughts with a weekly blog about projects that interest me?
Stay informed when new Kickstart Monday projects come out by following us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and following the #KickstartMonday hashtag.
For this week’s Kickstart Monday I am bringing another preview Kickstarter that I am extremely excited for. In addition, I have been tempted by every project Awaken Realms has done, but I haven’t quite taken the plunge yet on this title. Let’s dive into these projects with a bit closer look.
The Stifling Dark
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The Stifling Dark from Sophisticated Cerberus Games adds a new element to the hidden movement horror board game. After we interviewed the designers as part of Episode 97 and featured this as a game to check out at Gen Con 2022 in Episode 95, I am excited about this game.
The Stifling Dark is a board game for 2-5 players. One player takes on the role of the “Adversary”. The Adversary must stop the other players known as investigators from escaping. Using hidden movement, the adversary player moves about the board, taking action in silence and allowing the suspense to build. Pretty standard stuff for a hidden movement game.
This game is different from other hidden movement games because the investigators have flashlight templates. These templates control the investigator’s line of site mechanics. As the game progresses, the investigators may uncover clues as to where the adversary has been as well as discover the way to escape.
If hidden movement games with a great horror theme get you excited then you should definitely check out this project!
Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin
Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin from Awaken Realms is the next installment in this hit series of board games. This is a stand-alone game in this series. This game will bring more exploration into the Tainted Grail universe and is quite similar to the original game. You will play as a character, explore locations, gain in ability and equipment, and uncover the story of the game.
Where Kings of Ruin differs from other Tainted grail games is that each location has two sides. The new “wyrdness-covered” side represents the same land under the control of a chaotic power giving you new secrets to delve into. Additionally, three unique guardian creatures wander the realm. These Kings of Ruin offer new boss-level encounters that you can explore with combat and diplomatic encounters.
Of course, this new game streamlines card mechanics, enhances exploration rules, and adds even more secrets. All of this hopes to make the player experience improved. Overall, this game appears to really have learned from its predecessors and is focused on delivering the best possible game experience for an immersive, story-rich campaign.
If you love great fantasy figures, immersive campaign storytelling, and Arthurian legend then you should definitely give this project a try!
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.
2022 is far from over, but there have been a plethora of board game releases in 2022. If one thing is clear, it’s that board game publishers are still going strong by releasing new board game titles. With so many to choose from WiscoDice wanted to drill into five of the best board games of 2022 (so far…).
We did put a few selection criteria in place to help create this list. For our selection we are only selecting complete board games, so no expansions. We gave preference to games we have actually had a chance to play. WiscoDice was not sponsored or received any review copies of the games in this list so any games that we have actually played it is because we played at friends or conventions, bought a copy ourselves, or were able to play them online.
That said, let’s take a look at the best board games of 2022!
In Episode 82 of the WiscoDice Tabletop Gaming Podcast, we meet another WiscoDice team member, Suzanne. Later in the show, Ben interviews the creators of Distilled. and the team discusses strategies to stay engaged in a game you are losing.
Join Ben (The Conesy with the Most), Brian (The Stark Raving Mad One), Justin (The Meeple’s Champion), Matt (The Ghostwalker), and Suzanne in this month’s episode.
For our final Kickstart Monday of 2020 we have explored the known galaxy of crowdfunding engines to bring you these two amazing projects. New to Kickstart Monday, not only do we feature a project on Kickstarter, but we also delve into Gamefound which is another popular crowdfunding engine focused on tabletop games.
ISS Vanguard
Image from the Gamefound Project Page
ISS Vangaurd has some serious credentials behind it. With Awaken Realms as the publisher behind this, the same guys that did Nemesis and Tainted Grail, there is real promise for another hit title.
The game itself is a coop for 1-4 players that plays out as a campaign. That’s right, it’s a campaign game and not a legacy game. What’s the difference? Well, in Legacy games you typically play out a story but also remove, damage, or modify components of the game during the course. In campaign games, you typically evolve your character with additional items, equipment, and experience by unlocking components and add ons.
The narrative of the game has been worked out by the lead writer from Tainted Grail, Polish authors Krzysztof Piskorski. This should lead to a very immersive and deep story arc for this sci-fi game.
In addition, this game has an option to upgrade the cardboard standees to plastic miniatures. For those you want or have the space for that level of immersive experience or want the extra plastic you can add them, yet aren’t forced to have those as a requirement.
Winter Queen
Image from the Kickstarter Project Page
Winter Queen from CrowD Games looks to be a brilliant abstract crystal drafting and placement game. On a turn you basically draft crystals and then place them on Queendom Map board. Alternatively, you can take a crystal on the map and place it on spell books that are in your inventory. Finally, you can match patterns on your spell book tiles to score victory points. Score the most and win the game in this quick 20-30 minute promised play time.
This game feels like it takes some of the best mechanics from Azul with the crystal drafting mechanis, Tiny Towns (but with a single shared board to place crystals on), and other pattern matching games.
Did we miss your favorite project?
If you find these interesting, or think I missed a Kickstarter that you would like to hear more about please share your thoughts with us via the Facebook group or at our email.