Tabletop Games Crowdfunding Roundup - April 13th, 2022

Does your inbox fill up every Tuesday with Kickstarter emails? Well, mine does - so I decided to start writing my thoughts on new tabletop gaming Kickstarters every Wednesday. Keep in mind, most of these are based on initial impressions and looking at the Kickstarter video.

It was really only a matter of time before I had to change the title to replace "Kickstarter" with "Crowdfunding". I really should have thought better and used Crowdfunding from the beginning. This week, we have our first Gamefound campaign to talk about, birds flocking together, a horde of the rings, and a reference to a Cards Against Humanity box. Let's get started!

Last Light

I've known Roy Cannaday for years (he was actually one of the first guests I had on the podcast). He's been a big fan of 4X style games and I knew that he had been working on his own for a while. It's finally available over on Gamefound, as it looks pretty sweet. Video does a good job giving you that thematic feel and giving an overview of the game (and within the first 30 secs too - Good job Grey Fox Games!). I haven't played a lot of 4X style games, but I really enjoy the ones that I have. The idea of playing one in under an hour is really appealing to me.

Also appealing to me is the design of this game. Looks soooo pretty. The video states that "every copy of the game is unique", but doesn't really go into why that is the case. My first thought is something like Keyforge or Discover: Lands Unknown, but again I have nothing to back up those thoughts. I like the idea of a randomized board without having to swap out tiles - each ring of the board rotates to shake things up. And apparently does this during the game as well. I want to support Roy, but I'm running up against the "hard to pledge over $100 for a game I haven't played" wall I've talked about in the past. Sure, I could get the basic game for $80, but this seems like the type of game I would want deluxe components for. But $169 for a deluxe version and expansion for up to 8 players is a bit of a no go. Luckily, there's a "basic" deluxe (that's a weird thought) that's only $109. That's more of my speed. Now I just need to spend the next few weeks selling fluids….

Paradox Initiative

This is another game that got me to click on it due to graphic design alone. Very weird that it's an Elf Creek Game, as I just found out about them this weekend when I was up the road and saw one of their other Kickstarters Merchants of the Dark Road at a game store (again, based on the design/artwork). Another game where the trailer does well of transitioning from theme to game within the first 30 secs, and even starts to provide an overview of the game.

The game appears to be a competitive puzzle game where you manipulate tokens in order to collect cards that you will need to win the game. Yet, when you get those cards, it causes ripples that affect everyone else. When watching the video, the puzzle nature of the game made me feel like it would be a good solo/co-op game, and sure enough it plays at the 1 player count. Not a bad price at $39 either. Really hoping Elf Creek is at Gen Con this year, as they have a couple of games now that I'd like to try out.

Birds of a Feather: Western North America

Even though there's an IP game later in this list, this game gets the title of "Biggest Campaign of the week" just from the number of emails I got yesterday in my inbox about it. Immediately without looking at anything else but the cover I'm getting the feeling that this is trying to move in on the Wingspan hype. Video does everything that I want it to in 30 seconds, so that's a plus. Game looks to be a very basic set collection-style game where you want to try and "spot" the most birds before your opponents.

With the price point of the game at $20, it's easy to see why this game is so popular. Also, there are a lot of steps taken by the campaign to promote sustainability that are nice to see. For instance, no plastic is used in any of the game components. There's also an app that you can use to play the game solo without having to waste score sheets. If you back at higher tiers (like $36), you can even send an additional copy of the game to a library or school. If you liked the nature theme of Wingspan, but wanting something more family friendly, this game seems like one to try out.

Snap & Stack Adaptable Miniature Base System

It's kind of easy to succeed at my 30 second video rule when your video is only 22 seconds long. Snap Stack is a series of bases that you can add to minis for any* game. This could be RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons or board games like Mansions of Madness. The goal is to use the bases to keep track of various conditions of your characters/minis. If one character is asleep/wounded/bloodied/etc, you can just put a colored base on the mini and note what that color means. As you can see in the picture, the bases stack so if you get multiple conditions you can keep track of all of them.

I use the * beside the word any because as you can see, these bases are not adjustable. I think that a cooler design would have been if you could make it so you could pull the base out and it would grip onto the base of different sizes of miniatures. The snap stack, however, only works on 1 inch/25mm bases. They mention a lot of popular board games in their campaign, but I'm not sure how "standard" that size truly is. But you can get 1 pack of 6 for $6, so that's a pretty sweet deal. They haven't funded yet, but that could be due to how small the average pledge is since this is a very inexpensive product.

DC Deck-Building Game 10th Anniversary

Honestly, this one didn't even need a video. Chances are you know whether or not you are backing this just from the title. I doubt this campaign is going to draw in people who have never played the DC Deckbuilding game (DBG) before. Regardless, it's been apparently 10 years since the first DC DBG and Cryptozoic is taking advantage of that to do some special edition stuff through a Kickstarter campaign. This includes an exclusive cover to the latest version of the game, Injustice & Rivals: Flash & Reverse Flash. Plus there's 2 new "multiverse boxes" to store all your DC DBG stuff in, one hero cover, one villain cover.

I'm sure the "official" reason this is a Kickstarter is to be able to do all the custom/exclusive stuff for fans, but a part of me wonders if this campaign is also to see how many people are still buying the game. Which apparently is a lot, since this game has over-funded. I have liked the DC game over the years, although I was not a fan of the "Rebirth" box they came out with. However, last year when I trimmed down my collection the DC DBG was one of the games out the door as there are other deckbuilding games I'd rather play. Also, this shows the problem with putting out a "collector's box" before you finish the game - now they had to make another one! I bought the first "multiverse box" to store all my cards in, and now people are having to get a bigger, hero-er box. Either way, chances are if you are going to back this game, you probably already have by now.

That's all for this week - have you ever had to buy a "bigger" collector's box for a game? Let me know below.

Note: I generally assume I know nothing. So if I've missed something, let me know in the comments. Or let me know on Twitter or Facebook. If you like these types of posts, consider subscribing to our patreon.