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.

Odalin: Dungeons of Doom

Our first game this week is Odalin: Dungeons of Doom from Dragori Games on Gamefound.

Odalin: Dungeons of Doom is a 1 to 4 player dungeon crawler set in a desert realm of demons and monsters. There are many great options for dungeon crawl board games out there but Odalin has some unique aspects that made it stand out for me. First off, it has some nice built in flexibility in terms of how you can play the game. You can choose between an ongoing campaign or instead play single one-off scenarios. It offers the option to immerse yourself in the lore and make choices that affect the game or just get right into the action and start fighting your way through the dungeon. Of course it also provides a cooperative mode for up to 4 players and a dedicated solo mode.

As many dungeon crawlers do Odalin comes with miniatures for the heroes, monsters and bosses and the design of some of these minis impressed me. One of the hero characters is a heavily armored humanoid elephant with a giant warhammer, which is just too cool. The desert setting lends itself to some uniquely designed miniatures you might not see in a more typical fantasy world. There are humanoid snake enemies, a massive djinn with a flaming sword, giant scarab beetles and a four-armed demonic centaur. 

Another aspect that stood out to me is a card crafting mechanic that lets you customize your heroes unique deck of attack cards. If you manage to subdue one of the dreaded demon lords you gain the power to transform into a demonic form and you can combine a demon’s special attack cards with your hero cards in a sleeve to make a custom attack card for your hero.

Harnessing demonic power is not without its costs though, you will need to manage the corruption that this power brings or risk losing control. Defeating a demon lord is surely not an easy task though as each demon lord has its own unique mechanics making each fight a different and challenging experience.

And as you would expect of a good dungeon crawler the game also provides many options to upgrade your hero to prepare them for these challenges. It features a host of unique items to equip your heroes, including magic items, legendary items and even a set collection mechanic. And who knows what else awaits you in the dungeon? Odalin includes a number of mystery boxes with new and unexpected components for you to discover during your adventures!

Odalin: Dungeons of Doom is available with 3 core pledge levels starting with the Core Box at $129. This pledge gets you the core game (Act I) with 40 miniatures including 4 demon lords, 8 heroes and 28 miniatures for villains and monsters as well as digital rewards. The Expanded Campaign pledge is $219 and adds on an expansion box (Act II)  with 31 additional minis including one huge manticore figure. Finally the Full Immersion pledge comes in at $299 and on top of the expansion adds the Lust and Wrath demon pack (2 large minis), a Scenario pack with 25 miniatures and deluxe dice and player boards. If you feel ready to face the demon lords of Odalin: Dungeons of Doom head over to Gamefound before July 11, 2024, to make a pledge.

Yield

Our second game this week is Yield on Kickstarter from BFF Games.

Yield is a quick playing area control and battle game for 2 to 5 players. The emperor of Oshra has gone mad and 5 powerful families are struggling for dominance in this crisis. Your goal is to strategically guide your family’s army over the land of Oshra to outwit your enemies and conquer fortresses to secure your dynasty. You will play 4 strategy cards in each of 4 seasons to move your armies, set ambushes and conquer and upgrade fortresses. If you find yourself in battle as the result of an ambush or your army positioning, you will reveal your secret army value. The weaker player then has the option to play battle cards that match the territory you are in a bid to increase their strength or yield and retreat with their army to fight another day.

The battle and bidding continues until one player yields! Battles can even happen between multiple players at once! To prevail as the most powerful family you will ultimately need to conquer fortresses which interestingly increase in value each time a fortress is conquered by a new player. At the end three years (rounds) of play the value of all fortresses is counted and the player controlling the most points from fortresses is victorious.

Pledge levels for Yield start with the Yield Kickstarter Edition for $70. This will get you the deluxe kickstarter version of the game and all stretch goals. For $96 you can opt for the Yield Kickstarter Edition + Expansion pledge which adds the “Cousins, Curses and Catapults” expansion. Finally the Yield – All in pledge for $124 gets you the game, the expansion, the Oshra Almanac art and storybook and upgraded tarot size strategy cards. Claim your territory in the land of Oshra by pledging for Yield before July 19, 2024, when the campaign ends.