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.

Kavango

First up this week we have Kavango a Kickstarter from Mazaza Games.

Kavango is a conservation themed card drafting game for 1-5 players. In  Kavango players take on the role of a conservation expert building a nature reserve to be a safe home for endangered animals. Players will compete to complete research projects, win conservation awards and ultimately build the highest scoring nature reserve to win the game. Each round hands of cards will be passed around and players will simultaneously draft cards to add to their nature reserve. Players will need to draft “producer” cards such as plants and food sources to provide the basic resources needed to support animals. If an animal’s needs for food and protection can be met they can move valuable animal cards like Ostriches, Painted Dogs or Aardvarks that they have drafted from their temporary sanctuary to their reserve. Each animal card is worth points but the more valuable animals have more complex needs. Players will need to manage their ecosystem’s resources strategically  to be able to draft the best animals and there are 160 different species cards with hand drawn illustrations to choose from. Kavango is available for about $60 USD for the base Kickstarter version, but you can also go for the Deluxe Edition for about $85 USD that will include upgraded wooden tokens, improved landscape boards, deluxe card trays and box organizers and fabric component bags. The Kavango campaign will end on October 19, 2023 so be sure to visit Kickstarter before then if you are looking to make a pledge.

Potions of Azerland

Our second game this week is Potions of Azerland a Kickstarter from Warped Reality Games.

Potions of Azerland is a potion brewing game for 1-4 players set in the magical world of Azerland. In Potions of Azerland players step into the shoes of a potion maker, brewing and selling potions to the visitors of the town’s Summer Solstice Festival. Each round players can forage for raw ingredients, study their craft, brew potions and sell their creations to visitors for prestige and rewards. The most prestigious potion maker at the end of six rounds will be the winner. At the start of the round players select a priority from 1 to 5 for each of the 5 actions (Forage, Brew, Study, Market, Fulfill) that they could perform in the round. The player with the lowest priority number for an action will be able to act first gaining the benefits of their action based on the priority they chose. Alternatively a player may wish to forgo and action and gain gold instead which they can spend in the market. Brewing a potion requires the player to have foraged or purchased the right ingredients for the potion and to have selected the Brew action with enough priority to brew the number of potions they desire. Once they have potions in hand, players can also drink their own potions to gain power full effects. For example at the novice level, a speed potion grants the player 2 gold from the supply and permanently gives them access to the Black Market ability for the game which gives them a private selection of cards to buy from the market. As players improve their level of knowledge of a potion with the Study action, more powerful potion effects become available. Players will mostly be using potions to compete to fulfill the requests of visitor cards by providing the right combination of potions to meet the visitor’s needs and gaining prestige points based on the difficulty of the order. It is also worth noting that the game features beautiful illustrations from Andrew Bosely, the artist behind Everdell. The base game version of Potions of Azerland will be available for $49 USD, but if deluxe versions are your thing you can get upgraded silkscreened resource tokens, metal coins and deluxe dual layer player boards in the deluxe game for $79 USD. If you are ready to brew up a pledge for Potions of Azerland head over to Kickstarter before the campaign ends on September 28, 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.

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