Watch your Back: Week November 20 to 26

Two thirds of the ST crew are currently bedridden. I have Covid, JW has a bad case of the flu. Crowdfunding news don't wait for us to recover, however, so forgive me while I cough and sneeze my way through them...

***

Let's start with Cube Monster: a 1-4 player engine building game in which you are racing to the top of a mountain trying to appease the monster that lives there by feeding it cubes.

You will be drawing cubes from a bag, activating buildings on your player board and sacrificing cubes to climb up the mountain. The monster needs to be fed cubes as well: if you complete a line of cubes on the monster tableau, it wakes up and either grants you rewards or destroys your buildings. The game is launching on Kickstarter on November 21.

Image source: BGG

Personal opinion: It seems better multiplayer.

***

Then we have Elden Ring: The Board Game. This is a 1-4 player cooperative deck building adventure game inspired by the video game by the same name.

The game uses hex tiles which the heroes explore and interact with NPCs on, as well as quest books on which battles take place. As you progress, you will read the accompanying story bits which may also give you side quests to carry out. When heroes descend in a dungeon, their quest books are joined together so they can help each other out. It is launching on Kickstarter on November 22.

Image source: Steamforged Games website

Personal opinion: I am one of the few (?) people who strongly dislike spiral notebooks in games. I prefer map tiles instead. This game has both which means it takes up a lot of table space. I really like the artwork and the enemies though. I'll take a look when it launches.

***

The 1-2 player card game Clash of Decks returns to Kickstarter on November 22 with Season 3 which includes 4 standalone expansions and a mobile app game.

This is a card-driven duel in which you form an army of units and face the army of your opponent. In the solo mode, you draw cards from the AI opponent's deck and attack them as you would in a 2 player game.

Image source: BGG

Personal opinion: Even though Clash of Deck was dirt cheap when it first launched, somehow it didn't convince me it was a good solo game. The AI seemed too random. Maybe Zerbique can tell us more but I don't see me backing.

***

Moving on to Tiny Epic Crimes: a 1-4 player deduction game in which you are trying to crack murder cases. It can be played competitively, cooperatively, or solo.

You will be going around the city trying to gather evidence and eliminate suspects. Before time runs out, you have to make a guess at who the murderer is to win. It is launching on Kickstarter on November 22.

Image source: Gamelyn Games Facebook

Personal opinion: So far, clever as they may be, Scott Almes' games have never been fun enough for me. This one sounds promising though, I'll take a look at a playthrough video.

***

World Stitchers is a 1-4 player competitive tile laying game in which animal spirits are stitching together parts of land to form a new world.

Each player places down a tile from their hand, and then adds energy tokens on the tile and the land tiles that connect with it and match the same type of land. Each player also places a spirit meeple on their land which they can move across the tiles, as long as they can spend tiles from their hand as stamina. The game can be played solo against an AI with its own deck of cards. It is launching on Kickstarter on November 22.

Image source: BGG

Personal opinion: Nothing for me here. Perhaps Zerbique will be interested, since this is by Pepijn van Loon (the designer of Heroes of Tenefyr).

***

Last announcement for today is for two solo expansions launching in the same Gamefound campaign on November 23: the solo mode expansion for Icaion and the solo mode expansion for Mysthea. Both feature the signature of David Turczi.