Friday, June 8, 2018

Eye on Kickstarter #45

Welcome to my Eye on Kickstarter series!  This series will highlight Kickstarter campaigns I am following that have recently launched (or I've recently discovered) because they have caught my interest.  Usually they'll catch my interest because they look like great games that I have either backed or would like to back (unfortunately budget doesn't allow me to back everything I'd like to).  But occasionally the campaigns caught my attention for other reasons.  Twice a month, on the 2nd and 4th Fridays, I'll make a new post in this series, highlighting the campaigns that have caught my attention since the last post.  In each post I'll highlight one campaign that has really grabbed my attention, followed by other campaigns I've backed or am interested in.  I'll also include links to any reviews I've done.  Comments are welcome, as are suggestions for new campaigns to check out!

You can also see my full Kickstarter Profile to see what I've backed or my old Eye on Kickstarter page that was too unwieldy to maintain.  Also, check out the 2018 Kickstarter Boardgame Projects geeklist over on Board Game Geek for a list of all the tabletop games of the year.
So, without further ado, here are the projects I'm currently watching as of the second Friday of June, 2018:



HIGHLIGHTED CAMPAIGN
Knot Dice Squared
  • I received a set of Knot Dice to review a while back, and that review should be getting posted soon. Life has been busy and there are a ton of games and puzzles included with Knot Dice, so it's taken a while to play a good selection of them. I can tell you, however, that the dice are absolutely gorgeous, the games are fun, and the puzzles are challenging. Knot Dice Squared adds dice with new sides so you can make a bunch more patterns. It also includes more games and puzzles. If you like the original Knot Dice, or aren't familiar with them, but think you might, I highly recommend picking up a set. You'll love them!


An expansion and reprint for Knot Dice - Celtic knot games, puzzles, and art on large, beautiful dice.

26 more knot dice in three new designs for you to combine with the original for more inspiration. Create larger and more intricate Celtic knots while playing with these amazing dice! Add some new twists to your knot dice games...Include more friends...Design larger beautiful patterns...Play through an entirely new set of puzzles...Have more fun with Knot Dice Squared.

Knot Dice are big beautiful dice, a forest green pearlized acrylic with indented silver lines. The designs are continuous around the entire die. They don't have numbers on the sides, but placing them side-by-side forms amazing Celtic knot patterns. Some enjoy just making designs, but they also can be used to play a large number of games and puzzles. The original Knot Dice set includes 18 awesome dice and rules to 12 games and 7 types of puzzles, with dozens of individual puzzles. There are cooperative games, competitive games, speed games, puzzle games, storytelling games...





Heroes of Land, Air & Sea: Pestilence
  • People Behind the Meeples Interview
  • If I had unlimited budget for Kickstarter games there are still a ton of games that I would pass on backing, even some that have caught my interest. But one game just wows me every time I see it. I just wish it was in the budget, but $100+ for the entire set is too much for me, and I'd have to be a completionist with this. I'm talking about Heroes of Land, Air & Sea. I oggled over it's awesome minis, cool cardboard constructs, and interesting gameplay for quite a while, and now Gamelyn Games is printing another expansion. In Pestilence we get some new factions, plus a floating island, sunken island, and tons more. This looks incredible.


18Lilliput
  • I've never played an 18xx game before, but I've heard a lot of great things about the genre of train games. I've also heard that they're long and pretty complex. That doesn't bother me, but it does make the games difficult to get to the table. 18Lilliput aims to change that, and get a fast playing 18xx game to the table at a regular game night. That, combined with the GUlliver's Travels theme, really has me intrigued.


Goblivion
  • Goblivion is a solo or two player coop, tower defense style game that borrows a lot of elements from Friday, one of my favorite solo games. This adds a lot more interactions and decisions though, and it looks like a ton of fun.


Fantastic Factories
  • Fantastic Factories looks like a great, light engine building game that uses dice placement in some pretty interesting ways. It seems to me to be what Machi Koro could have been.


When Cutie Met Patootie
  • People Behind the Meeples Interview
  • When Cutie Met Patootie is quite the interesting campaign. It's a game designed by Daniel Zayas, a fellow media creator. Daniel also runs a Kickstarter consulting company where he helps others run successful campaigns. So it's interesting to me that his campaign for his personal game has gone against quite a bit of his usual advice. The game itself looks somewhat interesting, particularly as a solo game, the narrative aspect is mildly interesting, and a number of people from the board gaming community were involved in the project, but I'm mainly interested in the actual campaign and how it does.

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