WiscoDice

Your source for board gaming, miniature gaming, hobby tips and more! Welcome to WiscoDice!!!!

Tag: Board Games Page 2 of 46

Kickstart Monday: Chaos Cove and Reforest

By

On November 6, 2023

In Kickstart Mondays

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.

Chaos Cove

Our first game this week is the Gamefound project for Chaos Cove from APE Games and designer Martin Wallace.

Chaos Cove is a semi-cooperative worker placement game for 2 to 4 players with a high degree of interactivity. Chaos Cove is famous for is rum and its rum parties and has drawn the attention of invading pirates and barbarians. To be victorious Players must utilize 16 unique heroes to defend the cove by battling pirates and barbarians, building forts and ships and throwing the occasional rum party for good measure. Each round players will be able to use 4 different heroes during the worker placement phase triggering the benefits of the main board locations to gain resources and other benefits and also use their heroes’ unique power. Players may need to stockpile cannons and sabers for upcoming battles against the invaders or instead gather wood, food and rum to be able to construct new buildings and ships. Players can also play cards from their hand of hero cards to trigger the powers of heroes that other players have played to the board.

Forts and Ships that players have constructed will provide additional resources and trade opportunities after the worker placement phase. Ships and Forts are also critical to defending against pirates and barbarians respectively. In the combat phase players can attack an invader where they have a ship or fort built. Cannon tokens are used against invading pirates while sabers are used to fight the barbarians. Players may also spend hero cards to improve their combat strength to defeat enemies. Players need to be careful as the pirates and barbarians can break through into the cove if they have not been defended against. If too many invaders break through the players can lose the game collectively. Ultimately the player who has done the best job defending the cove (and thrown the best rum parties) will win the game.

Chaos Cove features cartoony, humorous artwork and a cast of colorful heroes like a swashbuckling cat, a rum guzzling walrus, a gorilla in a tuxedo and a goblin buccaneer. Each hero has their own illustrated hero tile and also a high quality screen printed meeple token. The tone of the game definitely feels lighthearted and it looks like it could be a good mid-weight family game. Chaos Cove will be hitting Gamefound on October 7, 2023 and you can view the campaign preview right now. For more details on pledge levels and rewards make sure to visit the Chaos Cove campaign page on Gamefound starting on October 7th.

Reforest

Our second game this week is Reforest from Firestarter Games on Kickstarter.

Reforest is a card game for 1 to 4 players where players build a thriving ecosystem from a tableau of beautifully illustrated plant cards representing real plant species from the pacific northwest. Players will gather plants like Salmonberry, Licorice fern to great trees like Yellow-cedar and Douglas-Fir. To play plants to their tableau players must pay the plant nutrient cost by discarding cards or by playing the cards such that it grows over other plants. Some sun loving plants may die if planted over but plants that tolerate the shade will stay in the player’s play area. Players will also have to make sure their plants are place in suitable elevations for their growth and manage the space of their limited growing region to maximize their points.

If they have tended their region well, players may attract special animal visitor cards which grant additional endgame points. The game features 90 different plant cards and 10 animal visitors all with realistic hand drawn illustrations. Reforest seems like the kind of calm nature themed game that would be right at home on the shelf alongside games like Cascadia and Wingspan but it is also small and packable and could be an excellent companion on a camping trip to the pacific northwest. Reforest is available for CA$ 27 or about $20 USD and the campaign will run through November 16, 2023 so make your pledge 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:

Kickstart Monday: Wondrous Creatures and Escape Room Tycoon

By

On October 30, 2023

In Kickstart Mondays

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.

Wondrous Creatures

First up this week we have Wondrous Creatures from Bad Comet on Kickstarter.

Wondrous Creatures is a worker placement game for 1 to 4 players that takes place on a mysterious island filled with strange creatures. Players take on the role of a Captain who as a great animal enthusiast is competing to create the best reserve for the wonderful animals of the island. Each Captain has a crew of 3 fantastical creatures that act as workers. Players place their workers out onto the island hex map to interact with the 4 natural habitats on the island: the fruit habitat, coral habitat, flower habitat, and mushroom habitat. Each crew token takes up two hexes on the map and can interact with all adjacent habitats. Players can choose to gain resources from the habitats or gain creature cards. Gathering new creature cards is key to building the best reserve but you will need to have the resources the creature needs to play the card into your reserve. Players will also be collecting unhatched creature eggs, upgrading their crew to gain special abilities and competing for achievements to earn end game points.

Thematically Wondrous Creatures looks light hearted and peaceful. If you are looking for a pretty game this is it. The art and component design are beautiful and colorful Creature cards have lovely illustrations that remind me a little of Pokémon in a more realistic painterly style. The screen printed crew and captain tokens look especially nice. I also like the combination of worker placement with tableau building through creature collection and resource management.

The base game is available for $55 USD but you can also go for the Captains Tier pledge and get upgraded components and the Gargantuan Beasts expansion. If all of this seems as wonderful to you as it does to me, consider making a pledge for Wondrous Creatures before the campaign ends on November 15, 2023.

Escape Room Tycoon

Next up this week we have the Kickstarter for  Escape Room Tycoon from Creative Jam Games.

Escape Room Tycoon is a mid-weight euro-style game with a unique theme where players build and manage their own escape room. Players will compete to build the most popular escape room by attracting customers, marketing their venue, researching and improving their escape rooms, and renting out rooms for parties. Each round represents a season of business where players can attract customers, take actions to invest in their business and book groups of customers to their escape rooms.

Each customer has their own preferences and will solve a room that matches their favorite genre more quickly making the room available again sooner for another group. As customers visit and complete escape rooms players will earn popularity which counts as end game points as well as money to reinvest in upgrades to their rooms or developing new rooms to expand their venue. The player who manages their business the best and has the most popularity wins the game!

I think the unique theme is definitely a draw for this game and the mechanics seem well suited to simulating managing your own escape room. The base game is available for about $52 USD but you can also grab a copy with 3 expansions for $90 or go all out and get the game, expansions and deluxe components for about $122 USD. The campaign for Escape Room Tycoon ends on November 14, 2023 so get your pledges in 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:

Kickstart Monday: The Gilded Realms and Villagers of the Oak Dell

By

On October 26, 2023

In Kickstart Mondays

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 Gilded Realms

First up this week is The Gilded Realms from Sandtime Games on Kickstarter.

The Gilded Realms is a euro kingdom building game for 2-4 players. Players will take on the role of a powerful faction competing to develop the greatest kingdom in the land. Players will develop and improve 5 distinct provinces on their personal player board with multiple levels of upgrades available for their military, township, resources, agriculture, and influence. 

Each player faction has a unique mechanic and a personal set of cards that guides their play style, such as the Apex Pyre faction that has a specialized military that gives them access to unique flexible military units not available to other factions. In addition to developing their kingdom, players may engage in trade or send military units to campaign in the disputed hinterlands expanding the borders of their kingdom. Players take game actions simultaneously to feed their people, fortify their buildings against invaders, buy useful knowledge abilities and send out trade caravans. At the end of a round Gilded Realms also has a unique action selection mechanism with what they call a “stance totem”. The totem is a 3d tower shaped token that allows players to secretly choose one of 3 stances: worker stance which allows their province to produce more resources, defense stance which lets the player bolster their forces against upcoming attacks and attack stance which lets the player resolve military campaigns in the hinterlands.

All of this comes together in a nicely designed package with great looking art and what looks to be high quality components. The Gilded Realms is available with a base pledge for $64 USD and as a deluxe version for $84 USD which includes all stretch goals and an expansion that includes a solo mode. The Gilded Realms campaign ends on November 16, 2023 so get your pledge in before then.

Villagers of the Oak Dell

Our second game this week is Villagers of the Oak Dell from Two Acorn Games on Kickstarter.

This is a slight departure from the types of games I typically suggest but this project caught my eye and I think it is worth a look. Villagers of the Oak Dell is a Print and Play roll and write game for 1-100 players (provided you’ve printed sheets for all of them). I will note up front that because this is a print and play game, backers receive the game as a set of digital files so it is up to them to print the sheets and components needed to play the game. Villagers of the Oak Dell is a mid-weight euro-style game where players will be developing a medieval village by gathering resources, connecting the village with roads, constructing different buildings and completing for public objectives.

Each round four dice are rolled and placed on a 3 tiered wheel which determines what resources that die provides. Players choose which dice to use by playing their player pawn on the space of the first tier of the wheel. The first tier provides basic actions like mining, lumber, building roads and using citizens. You will then use the action on the second tier and on the third tiers of the wheel you deliver resources to the warehouse to make progress toward end game points. Each action has the chance of triggering bonuses which lead to further actions.

If you are clever you will be able to take advantage of dynamic actions chains where taking one action will trigger a cascade of other actions. This roll-and-write mechanic is one of my favorites and I am glad to see that there is a focus on it here. Of course one of the benefits of being a print and play is that the game is offered at a very affordable price. The base game pledge  will run about $6 USD while the full game pledge is about  $11 USD. The full game includes everything in the base game as well as additional maps to be released in December and January all of which add new mechanics to the game. If print and play and roll-and-write games are your thing I think Villagers of the Oak Dell is worth considering. Make a pledge before the Kickstarter campaign ends on November 1, 2023.

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:

Kickstart Monday: Board Butler and Gamefold Gaming Tables

By

On October 16, 2023

In Kickstart Mondays

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.

Board Butler

First up this week is the Kickstarter project for the Board Butler.

You’ve just bought a new board game. You excitedly unbox it and unfold the brand new game board. But oh no what’s this? The board simply won’t lay flat! All board gamers know the annoyance of playing on a game board that isn’t flat on the table. That’s where the Board Butler comes in. The Board Butler is a unique product to help stubborn game boards lay flat on the table during play like they are supposed to. Board Butler transparent clips attach to the seams and folds of your game board making it lay flat. It is intended to function with most standard sized game boards (with thicknesses from about 1.85 to 2.75 mm). The designers contrast their product with other solutions like binder clips which can damage the game board and 3d printed options which can potentially scratch the surface of your game. Board Butler is designed to be 100% smooth with every edge rounded to prevent any damage to the game board. The project even demonstrates that Board Butler is sturdy and stable enough so that you can pick up and move a game board with all the pieces on it.

I think the Board Butler is a pretty innovative product and is exactly the kind of thing I look for to enhance my gaming experience. I’ve played enough games on boards that won’t lay flat to know how frustrating it can be. The Kickstarter is offering pledges for a set of 6 for $15 USD and a set of 12 for $25 USD which honestly seems very reasonable. Board Butler will retail for slightly more than the Kickstarter price so you should definitely save some money as a backer.  If you are tired of dealing with game boards that refuse to lay flat, consider backing Board Butler on Kickstarter before October 27, 2023, when the campaign ends.

Gamefold

Our next project this week is the Kickstarter campaign for Gamefold the foldable gaming table.

There are tons of options for gaming tables these days but much of the market seems focused on luxury custom game tables. Gamefold is aiming to fill a different niche and is looking to do so on a budget. Gamefold is a portable premium folding table designed specifically for gaming. It measures 3ft by 6ft (playable area 5.75ft by 2.75ft) providing ample space for most board games and seating for 6 players. The table features a built in aluminum edge rail which allows for easy dice rolling and doubles as a means to easily attach addons and accessories. When folded the table measures 3ft by 3ft by 6 inches deep, making it quite portable and easily stored.

The base table itself is going for only $250 USD and there are a host of other accessories that can be purchased in addition. Add-on options include additional shelves that attach to the table edges, cup holders, fixed and sliding trays and even “game saver” table toppers to cover the entire table. There is also a table connector addon that allows 2 Gamefold tables to be attached together for a larger 6×6 table suitable for tabletop war games. It’s also worth noting that Kickstarter backers will also receive a neoprene mat for the table play area.

Ultimately Gamefold seems like a great option if you are looking for a game table that isn’t in the $1000 plus category and especially if portability is important to you as there are very few options for gamers looking to travel with their game table. If this seems like the perfect game table for your needs check out the Gamefold campaign before it ends on October 30, 2023.

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:

Kickstart Monday: Final Days on Final Girl and The Night Cage is Back

By

On October 9, 2023

In Kickstart Mondays

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 interesting projects.

On this week’s Kickstart Monday it’s only proper that we fully embrace the spooky season with two games that will surely get their fright on at your table. First, we’ll look at Fingal Girl: Series 3. Of course, we want to make sure we share the terror with our friends so we are looking at The Night Cage’s new expansion, Shrieking Hollow.

Final Girl: Series 3

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is d4d4ec8c1be500672d9d103f865d8c87_original.jpg

Final Girl: Series 3 from Van Ryder Games will be sure to put a scare in you, or at least a really great solo experience with new villains and heroines. One of our favorite solo play game experiences is bringing new sci-fi and horror-inspired themed killer characters and locations to terrorize your game experience.

In Final Girl, you select your Heroine, Location, and Killer from your collection and set up the appropriate decks of cards. This gives you a plethora of additional combinations beyond the “Feature Film” experiences included in each box. Of course, all of the Feature Films do require you to own the Core Box in your collection. Of course, there are opportunities for you in this project to pick up the core box, any of the big all-in-season collections, or all of the new collections.

If you like sitting in the dark being hunted by your favorite killers in a solo game experience then you definitely should check out this project as it is set to end in just a few days!

The Night Cage: Shrieking Hollow

The Night Cage: Shrieking Hollow from Smirk and Dagger Games has rapidly become a hit game for this time of year! This is the biggest expansion yet for the Night Cage, adding a new board that features the pit. Now when you fall into a hole, you fall into the pit and must climb your way out. Of course, The Other awaits you there and when it arises from the pit it will create havoc on the main board.

In The Night Cage, you and your friends are trapped in a labyrinth with the light of a candle. There are various monsters that lurk in the halls. Each turn you normally must move to a new tile, if that tile isn’t on the map you draw a new tile from the stack. From there, all of the tiles no longer lit by your calendar fall off the map and any new locations that don’t have a tile will have one added. This means the map is constantly changing as you explore to find a key and a gate to make your way out of this horror.

If you want a great cooperative game with your friends that is sure to ramp up the adrenaline while you play by candlelight then you should definitely check out this project.

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:

Page 2 of 46

Previous

Next

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén