This is just a round up of some of the wargames and game stuff on Kickstarter which caught my attention this week.
Spartan Games: Universal Modular Wargames Terrain
On the wargames front there is a new terrain system from Spartan Games (of Dystopian Wars fame). This is a modular scenery system using plastic bases and up-rights which have printed card inserts slotted in to make the floors and walls (and doorways etc.) The designs cover a variety of themes including medieval, sci-fi, modern, and a ‘woodeny’ western/mine theme. Prices don’t looks like they will break the bank. Coupled with resin and acrylic upgrades as well as the ability to stack these units into multi-level features looks like this will offer a wide modular system. My reservations were the look of the modular up-rights but Spartan seem to be responding to this feedback and the final solutions will be a lot more discrete and aesthetically pleasing. My other concern was the amount of time it would take to set up the terrain for an evening club game. If you have appropriate storage I suppose most of the set-up could be prepared in advance. Worth a look with basic sets really starting at £50 for 3′ by 3′ and £70 for 4′ by 4′.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/921886974/spartan-games-universal-modular-wargames-terrain
Space Cadets Away Missions
This is a miniature heavy retro sci-fi game with the players taking on the role of ships crew exploring space. The game has a starting entry of $60 which also seems to cover worldwide shipping as well.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/strongholdgames/space-cadets-away-missions?ref=category_popular
From the Kickstarter page;
‘Space Cadets: Away Missions is a cooperative, scenario-based, tactical action game set in the Golden Age of science fiction. In this game, the third standalone title in the Space Cadets franchise of cooperative/team space-themed games from Stronghold Games, players take on the roles of adventurous human spacemen (“Rocketeers”) who explore UFOs, acquire alien technology and fight hordes of hostile extraterrestrials.’
Don’t Turn Your Back
This is a worker placement/deck building card game based in the Don’t Rest Your Head roleplaying game world. Anticipate a cost of $70 ($40 for the game and $30 postage!) there is also an ink-intensive Pn’P for $10.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/evilhat/dont-turn-your-back?ref=category_popular
This looks to be a very intriguing game and the Print and Play may be worth a look if you live outside the USA.
Among the Stars: Revival
This is an expansion game for the previously successful ‘Among the Stars’ game. Whilst the funding arrangements do allow you to get the original game for $140 (along with a host of expansions and stretch goals) you can play the Revival expansion as a stand-alone game and only need to find $40. Being European the postage is already included which is always a pleasant surprise given the horrific uplift which the US projects usually apply to their postage to the UK.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/241478362/among-the-stars-revival?ref=category_popular
From the Kickstarter page
“Players use a card drafting mechanism, select location cards, place them on their station, and score victory points according to where in the station they place them. Construction lasts 4 rounds and the player with the most points in the end wins the game.
The rules can be taught in less than 5 minutes and each game lasts approximately 30 minutes.”
The Great War
This is a a new venture by The Plastic Soldier Company along with Richard Borg to produce a World War One boardgame based upon the Memoir’44 game engine (also see Battle Cry – ACW, Commands and Colors Ancients, Command and Colors Napoleonics, and possibly Battle Lore). The game should be sound as it’s been tried and tested in multiple formats already, and the figures will be coming from The Plastic Soldier Company so the components should be of a high standard.
Funding really starts at around £60 for the game (you can fund a host of T-Shirts and miniatures for less). The stretch goals don’t look particularly sexy and I’m unsure how the £60 fares against what the final commercial price will be but worth a look all the same.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1992455033/the-great-war-0?ref=category_popular