Kickstarter Corner

[Bix Conners]

Well I caved and backed Tokaido and the Tuscany/Viticulture bundle.
I am weak, weak I tells ya.

Tokaido looks like it will be amazing, even if they have been going through some changes in their Kickstarter. I'm looking forward to the prepainted minis in the Samurai pledge. The examples they've shown so far look pretty good.

And Viticulture/Tuscany... that's quite the deal. Did you go for the wooden box with the metal Lira coins, or just the two games? I'm still deciding whether I'm going to jump into that or not. I wonder if anyone in the group has the game to try before I pledge.

Wooden box version

[NeikeDjour]

Demigods Rising has been cancelled.

Right now there are some big names in board game industry on Kickstarter, and however confident we are about our game, we still can't generate the hype that those names come with. Many of the backers that canceled told us that they left just because there were so many great campaigns at the moment that they simply couldn't afford to support everyone. Even though you can't see that, we lost over a hundred backers in the last 7 days. That's why we have decided to give a bit more time to our project. We will work really hard to improve our game and we hope you will help us with your suggestions that were great so far.

Although pledging will no longer be possible, that doesn't mean we are going to stop working on Demigods Rising. On the contrary, we are going to use all the great feedback we got from you to improve our game. Those improvements will include but won't be limited to:

• Additional game modes (different modes will have different levels of difficulty so even playing with kids will be possible)
• Different HP tracking method (no more pen and paper)
• Filming a set of how to play videos (short and to the point). Here is the new concept of making "How to play Demigods Rising"

Thank you so much for believing in our dream - Demigods Rising! We will be back in a few months and we hope that you will join us again.

[NeikeDjour]

I brought out Machine of Death yesterday to the Chewsday Challenge, and we had a blast.
This game was originally funded from a Kickstarter campaign [Project Page HERE]. They've just finished the kickstarter copy fullfillment, and are moving into online and retail distribution. I got an update yesterday from the kickstarter:

Shhh...This is a SECRET UPDATE. You know how I JUST SAID that the web store is open for business??

It is, but...during this interim time before we get the game set up on Amazon and our other long-term retail outlets...just for this magic moment...here's a discount code for you: Use KICK14 to take 15% off everything in the webstore.

If your friend or any other non-backer wants a copy of the game, feel free to share the code with them too. It's just a little thank-you for being my close personal pal during this whole amazing process.

I don't know how long it'll be before the Amazon thing is sorted out and the games go up for sale there, but the code will only be valid until that time. Might be a week, might be two? But it won't last long, and then the discount will expire.

[ MACHINE OF DEATH PROCUREMENT STATION ]

So... Go get some games!

[Jolo]

Well I caved and backed Tokaido and the Tuscany/Viticulture bundle.
I am weak, weak I tells ya.

Tokaido looks like it will be amazing, even if they have been going through some changes in their Kickstarter. I'm looking forward to the prepainted minis in the Samurai pledge. The examples they've shown so far look pretty good.

And Viticulture/Tuscany... that's quite the deal. Did you go for the wooden box with the metal Lira coins, or just the two games? I'm still deciding whether I'm going to jump into that or not. I wonder if anyone in the group has the game to try before I pledge.

I have Viticulture, it is pretty light worker placement with an element of screwage. I bought it for the theme initially, but it seems to be good enough, as a WP game, for me to back the expansion. We are playing it next week. You are welcome to come (to Saskatoon).

[NeikeDjour]

I guess I forgot to post this one...

Enhance, elevate, and expand Viticulture: The Strategic Game of Winemaking in this expansion pack from Stonemaier Games.
The creators of Euphoria bring you Tuscany, a pack of 10 expansions to Viticulture that unlock ("uncork") every few games as determined by the previous game's winner. What story will you tell as you create the most successful vineyard in Tuscany?

Viticulture is a 2-6 player game in which you create a vineyard by planting vines, harvesting grapes, making & selling wine, building structures, and hosting visitors. Tuscany adds asymmetric starting resources, new visitor cards, an extended board, special workers, Arboriculture, and more (see unformatted rules and playtest PnP). Tuscany cannot be played without Viticulture, which is available in several reward levels and as a $49 add-on.

Tier 1

    Mamas and Papas: These cards give each player different combinations of starting resources to create varied priorities in the early game.
    Patronage: These cards give each player an incentive to make wine and a secret goal to accomplish, encouraging a diversity of strategies from game to game and a grand reveal at the end of each game.
    Advanced Visitors: These cards offer players a variety of abilities that are good at all times of the game (most of these cards are in the format "Choose 1: A or B," where A is good early in the game and B is good late in the game).
    Property: These tiles overlay the fields on all vineyard mats and feature different maximum vine values and the ability to sell unused fields for money.

Tier 2

    Extended Game Board: This is a full game board with a new wake-up chart that creates a continuous flow from season to season and year to year, an influence map that lets players grab resources early and points late, and full worker-placement options in all four seasons, including several new actions.
    Special Workers: Similar to the grande workers, the special worker meeples are regular workers with one special ability each. This gives players the ability to not only choose where they place workers, but also which worker they will place.
    New Visitors: Many of these cards let players break the rules of the game or generate interactions and tough choices for opponents to make.
    Structures: Flip over the extended board to side 2 and you'll find a number of orange card icons on it. They represent a new set of 36 structures that you can build on your vineyard and your new construction mat. They're drawn from a deck of cards (just like visitors or vines), and you build them with the build action. Every structure offers special ongoing bonuses and new action spaces, forming your strategy in a different way each game.

Tier 3

    Arboriculture: This expansion gives players the ability to plant and harvest tomato vines, apple trees, and olive trees, create refined goods, and sell those goods with wine orders for points. Due to the extra strain on your workers, you have to keep an eye on their morale, which can either benefit or hinder you.
    Formaggio: The cheese expansion give players access to cows and four types of cheese to age in a cheese cellar. Several types of cheese experts are available on each player mat to impact the value of your cheese.

[NeikeDjour]

Choose your apex dinosaur, hunt prey, evolve your genetics, grow stronger, fight bosses, and dominate your friends.

Apex is a dinosaur deck-building game where you play as one of nine apex predators competing for territory. Each playable apex predator has their own style deck that you must master to succeed with that dinosaur. Apex is a very brutal environment and the game will try and kill you throughout. The goal is not only to survive but to dominate the competition, literally. You must fight off other competing predators to control territories and win. The game will feature 60+ dinosaurs and 12 territories with each territory having it's own territorial boss that you must defeat to dominate the territory. There is also Final Bosses in the game. The game supports 1-8 players which means it is designed to play by yourself or with up to seven friends. The game is huge and requires large play space to play up to five players. The game is also very complex but easy to pick up on and keep track of everyone's move.

*This is a really interesting deckbuilding game and I go into much more detail about it in the newsletter, but in the meantime while waiting for it to come out and before you miss out on the Kickstarter - go check out the project page!

[Lori]

So, is anyone thinking of backing Pay Dirt?

[Lareina]

It's a short Kickstarter but I'm backing the expansion for Coup: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2012515236/coup-reformation-kickstarter-edition I'm going for the base game as well since I want the extra cards that didn't come in the retail version.

[Bix Conners]

So, is anyone thinking of backing Pay Dirt?

Was not on my radar Lori, anything in particular call to you about this game?

[NeikeDjour]

In the not too distant future, the government is run for profit by a new "royal class" of multi-national CEOs.Their greed and absolute control of the economy has reduced all but a privileged few to lives of poverty and desperation.Out of the oppressed masses rose The Resistance, an underground organization focused on overthrowing these powerful rulers. The valiant efforts of The Resistance have created discord, intrigue and weakness in the political courts of the noveau royal, bringing the government to brink of collapse.  But for you, a powerful government official, this is your opportunity to manipulate, bribe and bluff your way into absolute power.
To be successful, you must destroy the influence of your rivals and drive them into exile.  In these turbulent times there is only room for one to survive.

A special edition of the upcoming Coup expansion. Bluff, bribe and manipulate to be the last one standing. Coup gets even bigger with a special edition expansion.

Reformation adds Allegiances – players are either in support of the government (Loyalists) or the resistance (Reformists).Reformation also includes the Inquisitor variant, and additional role cards to expand play up to 10 players.

*Image of Coup, the base game.