A Year of Backing - Snow Pledges 2023

I’ve been saying at the beginning of the year that I won’t back much, mostly expansions. I also have a set of eight rules that I tend to stick to. Despite all that, I still find projects that make me excited. I wondered how to format this and came up with a simple solution, hope you like it.

1. Zero to hundred

Coincidentally first back this year, Hissy Fit. I heard about it late last year and thought the theme is not something I’d like to play. It’s a painful experience for both me and our cats whenever the carriage is brought up. Lots of painful cries and hurt in the eyes. However when I saw the game, the gameplay looked fun, the theme was done in a more lighthearted yet respectful way and it’s cooperative.

2. The strange

Strange as in not a theme I ever looked out for, I’m talking about Nevermind The Distraction. Meditation isn’t something I’m actively interested in or seek out, but I got curious. And after reading a rulebook, the push and pull gameplay as I call it combined with being a small box solo only game got me hooked.

3. Tiny

I wasn’t going to back Crystallo, because the footprint can get quite sprawling. They did offer a pocket version, but only as an add-on. I asked if they thought about making the pocket version available later with the expansions, but no plans yet, so I went for PnP to support them. Come PM, they offered the pocket version even for my PnP pledge. Guess what I did…

4. Solo drafting?

Pacific Ocean does exactly that. I’m not a fan of AI, the game has drafting, mindgames and bluffing in multiplayer. But the solo gameplay surprised me. You always pick a card to “hide” and a card to show for the AI. You know their preferences, so you’re playing the odds on a die roll. It’s fascinating. Also small tin game and multiple AIs to go against.

5. Most unique

Loam is unique in multiple ways. It’s based heavily on the science of microorganisms in soil (so functions as an educative material). The art is entirely made out of clay and shows eighty four unique organisms. It’s competitive, but for the solo player it offers either BYOS with a score table, or four unique scenarios and three campaigns with unique twists to rules and goals that add win/loss conditions. It arrived this week.

6. Expansion

Keep the Heroes Out!: Boss Battles adds a twist to a game I fell in love with after delivery last year. The only issue is footprint. Basically the expansion replaces old difficulty scaling for a better system and adds “bosses”, turning it into boss battler or you can use the bosses as another faction.

7. Mystery

I keep trying to find the “story” adventure fit for me. But nothing fits. Last try ended in a sale. Will Spirit Fire be different? I don’t know, but I got intrigued by the gameplay and I’m willing to try for the last time. It’s also the biggest back in the whole year. I may regret it, I may be surprised. We’ll see.

To make the list complete, I also backed Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs, but refunded it for various reasons. Lack of research is probably the most glaring one. Now you know everything.

All images taken from BGG, except for Keep the Heroes out (Kickstarter page).