Kickstarter Collision: September 2013

It seems that summer is finally coming to an end. August is over, the kids are back at school and they’re already advertising Christmas crap on the telly (unfortunately I’m not joking). Summer may be ending but Kickstarter never stops as we come to another round-up of gaming projects for you to pledge your hard earned cash and ill-gotten gains upon.

But before we jump into the exciting new projects, let us recap on last month:

• We may have a new Kickstarter record here as The Agents nets over a $270,000! That may be the biggest board game project that didn't include miniatures. All of the original stretch goals where achieved and even those added later to compensate the over eager pledgers where gobbled up.
• Casual Game Insider is guaranteed a second season raising $26,410 of their $15,000 goal.
• IncrediBrawl achieved a very respectable $23,267 of its $15,000 goal.
• Carmarace managed to get over the finishing line by the seat of its pants, exceeding its goal by only $130. For most of the project it looked like Carmarace wasn't going to meet its goal but a last minute push put it through, in fact you may say a very big jump?!

Back it for a Buck (B4B) Campaign

Before we start exploring the new projects it’s worth pointing out the Back it for a Buck challenge. The aim is to find ten projects you want to succeed but maybe can’t afford to take the plunge on a full pledge and back a $1 (or £1). Well we’ve got a few projects here alone to start you off.

404: Law Not Found

For once I can speak with some authority when talking about Kickstarter projects as I have played this game! Not only that but it is actually quite good and we've got a review. 404 is a game about programming robots to do rather bizarre logic directives while the spaceship you're in is being attacked, oh and there's a monkey loose.

404 is looking for £10,000 and looks like it will easily meet the goal.

Burning Suns

Do you fancy conquering the galaxy? Of course you do, and now you can with Burning Suns. If you've played video games like Master of Orion then you'll get the picture, you'll take on the role of a galactic empire as you explore, destroy and generally expand your domain.

There's no doubt this game looks complex but hoperfully with tha complexity comes a great depth of gameplay.

Burning Suns is looking for £40,000 and has already met it's goal.

Ashes-Dark Side of the Moon

This game immediately caught my eye; modular laser cut mecha, a huge hex board and what looks like the a cross between a television aerial and the Eiffel Tower.

“In the Ashes, you will play as a battlefield commander. You can follow your own style to organize troop according to the score rule and conduct a fair contest with your opponent. A standard configuration 1 VS 1 battle will bring you 1-2 hours of intense battle. By adding more players or more troops, the battle will be more thrilling and long lasting.”

As interesting a proposition as this game is, I think this is going to struggle to find its funding. The basic set costs a wopping £125 (if you don't catch the early bird) and it’s quite an ambitious target at that price.

Septikon Uranium Wars

Hobby World is Russia’s largest board game publisher, no I didn’t know that either. Well they’re hoping to break it to the big time with a Kiscstarter for Uranium Wars, a tower defence influenced game about mining raw materials in deep space.

“The two players each take the role of owner and leader of an orbital mining battle station. They are hunting for uranium deposits in an asteroid belt far away from civilization.
There is not enough uranium for everyone, so the players fight brutal battles with other explorers over every asteroid. By using diverse offensive and defensive measures and the a loyal crew of clones, a player has to try everything to put his opponent out of action first.”

It’s a very bright and colourful game, and although the rules look complicated, we’re reassured that they are in fact simple and only cover 4 pages of a rule book.

Uranium Wars is looking for $15,000 and is well on its way to achieving that goal.

Wrath of Kings

I don't really need to advertise this project because Wrath of Kings is a CoolMiniOrNot product which means the backing will go berserk and will get 1000% of its goal anyway so you don't need to back it, but dammit those painted mini's look loevly and the artwork is amazing.

Of course the artwork is brilliant and the mini’s look really cool but there’s very little on the Kickstarter covering the actual gameplay, apart from a quick youtube

“With a unique one roll resolution system and an active chain of command, you'll feel like you're actually in charge of an army without being bogged down in tedious tracking.  Combat is fast, fluid, furious and tactical - your decisions will matter on the battlefield!”

Wrath of Kings is already well past its initial target and no doubt will be another massive success.