Okay…..something has to give!  Kickstarter is not slowing down, and I am not rich!  One of the other writers on The Players’ Aid needs to step up……I’m looking at you Grant!  This month seems to be the Co-op month on Kickstarter since there are quite a few of them.  Let’s have a look at this month’s Kickstarters….

Backing

The Pursuit of Happiness: Community Expansion

Publisher:  Artipia Games

Designer:  David Chircop and Adrian Abela

I really like The Pursuit of Happiness.  It is a great implementation of The Game of Life for modern Euro board games.  You can do all sorts of stuff in the game during your life.  Have a job, be in a relationship (multiple if that’s your thing), have pets, do activities or just gain as many materialistic things as possible.  There are tracks that show your stress level and short term happiness.  Community adds new cards that allow you to progress in popularity within the community.  The activities that you complete in the community allow you to move up the track and, I’m guessing, give victory points at the end of the game for where you are on that track.  There are already tons of choices to be made in The Pursuit of Happiness so I am a bit worried that this will be too much but is there such a thing? Looking forward to making my voice heard in the Community!

 

The City of Kings

Publisher:  The City of Games

Designer:  Frank West

I was on the fence with this expansive Co-op with Gloomhaven coming out to Kickstarter in a couple of weeks I wondered if both these games are necessary.  With this not coming out until 2018, I had to pull the trigger.  I am also looking into getting 7th Continent later this year, but The City of Kings looks like a better version of than that I believe.  This is a very unique co-op that really focuses on individualizing each character and how they are used.  The other great thing I like about this game is you have your main character that goes out and does the dirty work, but then you also have workers that you can send out and do the mundane things….but you also level up your workers as well as your main character.  The skill tree involved also reminds me of RPG video games.  I may still get Gloomhaven, but The City of Kings seems like it might be another great co-op that may replace my Pathfinder the Card Game.

 

Watching

Beast Master: The Dice Placement Game

Publisher:  ????

Designer:  ????

This game isn’t even on BGG yet, but it had me at Dice Placement!  I love me some dice placement, it is one of my favorite mechanisms that I feel is widely underused!  This has my attention. Plus, your a Beast Master!  The game involves you gaining and managing your beasts on your farm in order to train and adventure out to gain the most Fame.  It just sounds really cool, I am just worried about it following through since little is known about the publisher or designer.  It is one of those games that could go really flat or could be a hidden gem.  I also think it would be a big hit with my 8 and 6 year olds.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/peach04/beast-masters-the-dice-placement-game-0?ref=category_newest

 

Pioneers of Mars

Publisher:  Neoclassical Games Co.

Designer:  Josh Rottman??

Mars is all the rage right now and why not take a look at Pioneers of Mars??  You are one of the first colonists on Mars and now you all need to come together and decide who will be the first President of Mars by, you guessed it, who has the most victory points!  You each take the role of building up your base and then influence certain areas in government.  It looks like a tile placement game but your telling me we could have a city building mechanism using Mars as a base…..sounds unique.  Did I also mention there are Dust Storms that make things interesting!  There seems to be a communal area to send your workers but also spots can be built in your base to use as well.  This might be just your average worker placement game, and lets be honest we don’t really need many more of those, but it could also have something different to bring.  This is a huge….maybe!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1594988817/pioneers-of-mars?ref=profile_starred

 

Dungeon Digger

Publisher:  Tin Hat Games

Designer:  ???

I am a sucker for unique games….to the point that when I get an obscure game that Grant hasn’t heard of…..he is very skittish to play it…..have I let you down yet Grant?  Dungeon Diggers seems right up my unique alley!  You take the role of Hideous Lords that have been shunned and hunted by society.  You will send out Stooges to build tunnels and mess with other Lord’s ability to dig.  The Lord who is able to use their Stooges to create the best dungeon under Mount Peril will reign supreme as Master of the Dungeons.  My family is a big fan of Eruption that is a take that game that has replaced Sorry in our house.  Dungeon Digger looks like the next game a step up from Eruption.  The one thing that I worry about is the scale-ability with different player counts.  It looks like an area control game but with only one board.  That usually doesn’t work well, but they seem to have a unique set up for it.  This is an almost Backing!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tinhatgames/dungeon-digger?ref=profile_starred

We will see you in May and hopefully my bank account can take a breather!

-Tim