Tuesday, March 4, 2014

5 Games that Would Be Worth Backing!

Greetings!

I spent the better part of a few hours the other day scouring over Kickstarter wondering what kind of games where out there. I have only backed one project, Zpocalypse, and I found it to be quite rewarding. Knowing that your money is going to indie game developers is a pretty good feeling and it certainly does allow games that would not be deemed profitable enough by larger publishers to see the light of day.

During my search I managed to find 5 games that I am seriously considering backing. I tried to find games that used different types of mechanics as well as different themes but I still ended up with two minis games. Alas! The plight of a wargammer. I will list them below with a blurb about each. Directly underneath the name of the game, which will be linked to the actual Kickstarter page, will be the "vitals" i.e. the game type, the funds raised displayed as "x of x" and the number of days left until the project is funded or scrapped. Let me know what you think!

Counterblast

Science Fiction Miniature Wargame - 27,176 of 15,000 dollars - 18 Days to go.

Counterblast is a pulpy science fiction wargame. This is not the hard, gritty future of Warhammer 40k but something along the lines of Twilight Imperium and Buck Rogers. The forces are comprised of Cthulu looking aliens, crazy alien shark dudes, robots that are probably a result of Skynet, the trader race from Twilight Imperium and Marvin the Martian. The creators of the game have managed to pull most every iconic figure type into the game and while I have yet to read the free online rules they offer, having the opportunity to paint these models and put them on a gaming table to fire random laser blasts that turn people into insta-ash may override all rules concerns that could crop up.

Hello Twiarnet Sharkigulu.

Guild Ball 

Medieval Football (read Soccer in America) Game - 57,805 of 30,000 pounds - 19 Days to go.

Does anyone remember playing Blood Bowl back in the day? Having your Dwarf running team slam into an Orc line backer and jab him while he's down? When I read this, I thought of Blood Bowl, but with my figures playing soccer instead. Some key differences though are that the factions are all humans, no fantasy influence out in the open hear, they are playing soccer so no passed the ball with your hands and the minis look considerably better than Blood Bowl. In fact, this one may get actual attention unlike the beloved Bowl which is wasting away within the bowels of Games Workshops "specialist game" trash can. Pic of a figure is below.

This fisherman means business.

Also the factions are based on Guilds within the various Medieval towns so you have your everyday Fisherman, Brewers, Butchers, Morticians and Masons taking on each other it what promises to be a good ole sports themed head bashing game. Check it out!

Duelga

Martial Arts Themed Dueling Card Game - 2,786 of 10,000 dollars - 25 Days to go.

Ever wonder what Soul Calibur would look like as a card game? Look no further because I believe that I have found it. While the prototype cards don't look to be as lavish as Soul Calibur's graphics, the content seems to be similar. Each player gets a martial artist of their choice, a style and a weapon. Then you build a 20 card deck to act as your maneuvers. When play begins you begin moving your cards around your opponent, literally, trying to get to a weaker point to launch your offensive attacks. Each player does this with different styles and weapons having different effects. You can also play multi-player matches as well, something that isn't possible in Soul Calibur. Ready to face off in an epic melee like the Sharks and the Jets?! I am. Don't forget to snap.


Pics of 2 of the Martial Artists.

Cave Escape

Push Your Luck Dice Game - 1,588 of 1,000 dollars - 26 Days to go.

I always like the idea of PYLDG, the modern acronym, coined just now by me, for Push Your Luck Dice Games. In these style of games you roll dice choosing to keep certain things and continuing to roll knowing that at any moment the dice could turn against you and force you to lose everything. Zombie Dice is another game that uses this mechanic. These games are easy to learn and fun to play.

In this version of the PYLDG mechanic, you play a group of Archaeologists (I call Indiana Jones) who have descended into a tunnel in the ground to rob....er....catalog some ancient artifacts. There's only one problem though. The tunnel begins to collapse and the top is only big enough for a single person to fit through. Thus begins a mad, vertical dash up the shaft to get to the top. Oh, and don't forget to commit murder by making sure your friends don't make it out alive!

All of the components laid out.
Good looking components and neat dice.

King's Favor

Card Based Intrigue Game - 3,437 of 40,000 dollars - 25 Days to go.

The King is dying and he has no remaining air. In this power vacuum wait four noble houses and three powerful guilds. The players take on a personality with two conflicting loyalties, one to your house and the other to your guild. You must use both to attain victory and become the dying King's heir.

I brought this game forth because it can support up to 12 players which is pretty awesome considering that most games max a six or so. This game also seems to provide quite a lot of depth despite being a pretty simple looking game meaning that you can teach it to a bunch of friends fairly quickly and be off and playing in no time. That and I like games where you get to "cooperate" with other players and secretly scheme against them.

This is a prototype. Final components may change.
Game components in full color.

So, in short, I highly encourage all of you to go out and check out these games. In next week's installation of crowd funded games I will present 5 more as well as updates on these.

Thanks for reading!!

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