Upcoming Campaigns For May - Terraforming Mars, Let's Go To France, Parks Europe & More!!!

0:01 Hey, I'm Alex Radcliffe from Board Game Co and this is the upcoming crowdfunding campaigns for the month of May. I list that I missed I list I missed last month unfortunately, but we are back. Oh, wait, you have something stuck in your neck. What do you have in your neck? Wait, wait, wait. No, no, no, no, I got you. I got you. I give me a second here. I got a cat with something in his neck and I can't tell if it's just a fur clot or No, I think it's just a fur clot. Okay, I'll deal with it later. I'll deal with it later. Anyways, uh we'll be diving into a bunch of upcoming crowdfunding campaigns for the month of May. As usual, these are not going to be every single crowdfunding campaign, but these are a bunch of upcoming crowdfunding campaigns and also as usual, these things change throughout the month. Uh games are added, games are taken away, crowdfunding campaigns are pushed off, crowdfunding campaigns are canceled unfortunately. That's another thing. Let me go ahead and just adjust the camera. We start with a cat in my lap and I have the camera down because of that, but now I need to reset it so you get to stare at my face for a second there. Anyways, now it's too high. Now it's too high.

0:51 This is the most chaotic opening. I probably should just restart, but it's too late now. We're here. Anyways, let's go ahead and dive into this. Before we do though, a note from my channel sponsor. AllPlay is our channel sponsor and normally I say if you go to allplay.com, but instead they have an active crowdfunding campaign. This is not technically eligible for the upcoming crowdfunding campaigns cuz it's an active one, but they're a channel sponsor. So this is the sponsor shoutout. Uh if you go and check out River Valley Jewelcraft, you can check out this campaign, but more importantly, you can also check out Things on Strings. I think that's what it's called. Things on Strings over here. They have a Some Assembly Required and Things on Strings, which is the one that I'm easily most excited for as a huge fan of Things and Rings. You can check that out at uh well, not allplay.com at kickstarter.com/projects/boardgametables/river-valley-jewelcraft?#

1:34 No, no, this is the Jewelcraft and the Jewelcraft. The rest is the reference that I particularly have on the screen. Anyways, let's go ahead and dive into this. I have these sorted in alphabetical order. As usual, I'll be going through through these upcoming crowdfunding campaigns as well as at the end I'll be telling you the ones that I am the most interested in, my personal three picks of the month. Let's go ahead and start with uh A Life from Skybound Games. A Life is a game of playing through a lifetime. You're trying to go through birth to old age, choosing which experiences the characters will have. If you play games like um what was it? It was a QE, I think QE is one of them. Obviously, A Pursuit of Happiness is another. There's a Adulthood recently from Brotherwise Games. There's a bunch of these games that give you these stories you're crafting as you figure out your life's journey. And A Life is going to be one of those. You can check that out. I'd say launching when, but I don't have the dates for all of these. Uh some of them will have countdown timers, dates attached, but also things move around. We have Archvillain Encounters: Death and Beyond. This is basically a collection of uh D&D encounter boxes. I'm not an RPG person.

2:26 I can tell you the miniatures look cool, and that's all. Miniatures look cool. Check out the campaign page to see more if you are interested. If you are the target audience for this kind of thing. By the way, speaking of which, some of these campaigns I'll have more information on, some I'll have less information on. Depends on how much I know and or how much I researched. Bronze Island from Off-Axis Games Design. Grow your bronze civilization and struggle for limited resources. The thing that seemed most intriguing to me is you're basically trying to like build your own uh you're not build. You're you're discovering these like asymmetric advantages, but you can lose them as you take control of areas of the board, which gives you like interlocking resources you control, powering your growth. So, you're constantly uh adjusting to the board state based on the various uh technological advances you have, which seems like a very cool concept. Past that, don't know a ton. The art is very like low-fi as far as you know, not high-detailed artwork, which I do prefer more. This, by the way, I assume this picture is prototype.

3:12 I could be wrong. But even so, it does seem to be very low-res on the art. Low-res might be the wrong terminology. I think low-fi is the right terminology, but I could be mistaken. If you are a graphic designer, let me know when something is like, you know, not super graphic heavy. What's the right terminology for that? Um if that's the vibe they're going for. Then we have Die in the Dungeon the Board Game, based on the video game. There's a video game called Die in the Dungeon. There's also a board game called Die in the Dungeon that isn't this board game that's called Die in the Dungeon the Board Game, based on the video game, not based on the board game, which also is not based on the video game. That might have been confusing unless you are familiar with the fact that there's a video game and a board game called Die in the Dungeon. This is based on the video game. The other board game has nothing to do with any of these things. But with that said, from Room 17 Games, they recently did Oh my gosh, they did another game. I just covered it. I can't remember the name of it. They just did another game that was based on a video game that I did enjoy. Uh but Dying in the Dungeon the board game it it's based on the video game, chain abilities, survive, explore the dungeon, all of that. It's kind of like, you know, rogue-like esk uh but it is far as the video game, but this is me special puzzle combat, positioning your dice and all that as you craft your dice in cooperative play. That's basically Dying in the Dungeon the video game. Then we have Dwarf Ember Forge from Mythic Ember, a game about uh card crafting power card card craft card powered board game where you're going to be using your dwarf smiths to use embers on power zones to forge legendary weapons racing to become the master smith. Art looks fine. Gameplay I don't get a good sense of what's actually going on here, but you know, hey, maybe it's interesting, maybe not. We'll find out. Then we have Fall Down over here. Fall Down a competitive dungeon crawler. This is like a small smaller game. Like it's like the the the art the image kind of makes it look like it's a larger box.

4:41 It's actually a much smaller box. There is a larger box you can go and get your hands on, but a character building card crafting is very not really card crafting. It's a it's based on a deck of cards, a strategic dice speed dungeon crawler game where alliances are temporary and survival is never shared. Become a knight, equip yourself with remains in the camp, band together, and just go through dungeon crawler, which is primarily through this deck of card system. There's a pocket edition over here just giving you everything you need in a tiny little box if you want the most accessible. My cat's down here. What do you want? You were just on my lap. You ran away. You you can't have it now. I'll come back to you later. I'm going to be done with this video in like 10 minutes, okay? In 10 minutes we can we can chill, hang out, play games, whatever. And by play games I mean I'll set it up and you come jump on the board and mess up with the cards. Is that Yes, I hear. I know. I'll be with you soon, buddy. Anyways, uh we have Flockers over here. Flockers from Oddbird. Uh this one is a game about trying to uh fly your flock of geese south. You are placing cards in a V formation as you would with a flock of geese, and then you're activating the abilities on these cards as you chain them in different ways. You're trying to chain the cards together. Like uh uh you're you're you're activating the ability of the card and then possibly flying your flight of geese as you try to place cards into display to try to go ahead and uh you know, move along south for the winter or north for the winter.

5:49 South South for the winter. Uh there's going to be cool metal standees, a bunch of expansions. You can check it out from Odd Bird Games who brought you Who What did they do? They did that big box game. They did the big one. That's very uh Feudum. Feudum. They're the people did Feudum and now they're doing a significantly less complicated game. We have Jason and the Argonauts. Jason and the Argonauts coming to you from Envoy Born Games. This is the spiritual successor to Hercules and the 12 Labors. Uh some degrees of changes to it. Uh looks interesting. Oh, there's not even pictures here. There were pictures on the um I guess Facebook page, I don't know. But it looks interesting as far as you're building your roster of heroes. A little bit different than the original game. Leaning into the same kind of things that made the original game good while hopefully addressing some things that make the original game uh make the new game better. I liked Hercules and the 12 Labors, very solid solo game. I definitely had some complaints. Some of those complaints were shared by others and I know he's already taking that into account as he builds out Jason and the Argonauts. We have Let's Go to Japan. Uh from from from AEG. From from from uh Josh Wood over here. This is going to be a spiritual successor to Let's Go Dice Let's Go to Japan. Let's Go to France.

6:45 Let's Go to France. A spiritual successor to Let's Go to Japan. Basically taking the same general structure of gameplay in which you as players are planning out your trip across the uh six days basically placing various events and activities into your trip and then at the end of it all going through and seeing what the process uh was as far as how you're going to score and combo your cards. Uh this does have some changes from the original. If you like the original, um you probably will like this more. I can I'll have review content and gameplay content and all kinds of content for you. Uh but I will say I like this significantly more than Let's Go to Japan even though they are very much built on the same system. The changes here just make it a much better game for me personally. That doesn't mean it'll be a better game for you. It is definitely a better game for me. Then we have over here Journeys of the Grand the First Vampire. A folklore driven cooperative game of quiet dread and difficult choices for one to four players. It's about the first vampire.

7:31 It's mythological. There's miniatures. There's thing. There's gameplay. Pick your character. Do you know, try to like destroy things or things like that. I actually know what you're doing in the game. But this is a Journeys of the Grand the First Vampire. We have Ludicrous from Iconic Studios. A fast-paced chariot board racing game that's going to be Push Your Luck Chariot Racing from Iconic Studios over here. It's Push Your Luck. That's That's the game is. It's Push Your Luck Racing as you try to uh roll dice and move around the board based on the symbols rolled with a degree of trying to figure out just how much you want to push because that's the decision base as far as, you know, after moving, do you lock in your progress or do you push your luck and roll again? As you keep going and, you know, if you roll and can't move, the gods will laugh and you'll be hurled back to your last checkpoint. So, uh see how far you can go. Think uh you know, Can't Stop but with a whole different game. I guess think Can't Stop in the sense that it's Push Your Luck and this is a Push Your Luck game. Uh that's what we have for Ludicrous from Iconic Studios. We have Pack and Paddle from Kids Table Board Games. Pack and Paddle is a game from uh the designers of Oh my gosh, from designers of something. Uh Ben Ben Rossum and Matthew O'Malley over here. Uh designers of Fromage and Search for Planet X. But this is a game of gathering various choosing your activities, basically.

8:30 You're trying to choose your activities, gather various tokens as you go through Pack and Paddle, navigating the weather, becoming better at things as you get the your kind of like not only scout badges but scout badges. Jason D'or here. I had a chance to play this one at Gamma, I think. I had a chance to play this one at Gamma. Thought it was fun and charming, but I just played like, you know, a round or two of the game. Then we have Parks Europe from Keymaster Games. Parks is a very, very well-beloved game and Parks Europe is bringing you different things to Parks. I don't know what different things, but it's a new standalone game featuring Scandinavian-inspired components and the original park art by eight European illustrators and differences to the gameplay in some capacity that I am intrigued by but I don't know enough about yet. But I do love Parks, so I'm definitely interested in this one. Then we have Pastels and Conservas Exotic Ties. an expansion to Conservas but also it's a base solo game and Pastels. Designed by Scott Almes over here giving you scenario-based gameplay, 12 unique scenarios as you try to manage your your your bakery over here. Run your own pastry business with polyomino tiles. If you are playing a solo-based scenario-driven game in which you have polyomino tiles and you have to run your own bakery, I am all here for Pastels.

9:29 No guarantee I'll like it. You never really know which games land, which ones don't, but I am very intrigued by it. Scott Almes is one of those designers that some of his games have really worked for me a lot and some of his games a little less so. It's It's case by case. But, he has enough um reputation as a designer that I trust that what he's doing is good, whether it's for me or not is a different story, but I trust that his stuff is refined and put together. Obviously, from Salt and Pepper Games as well, they also put out some fantastic things. Uh combine all that with scenario-based uh 12 scenarios, a solo gameplay, and polyomino bakery stuff, and I'm all here for the pastries. Uh so so so I'm here for this. Pasteles. Less so for Conservas because I haven't played the base game, so I don't I don't have as much interest in that yet. Intrigued, but I haven't played the base game, but very much here for Pasteles. Then we have over here Porkus: A Dungeon Adventure. Porkus: A Dungeon Adventure is where you take control of a group of pigs. They're pigs. They're pigs in adventure form, which I think, by the way, they did a great job with this.

10:17 Like, pigs are not the most noble and refined of creatures. Usually, when you're taking control of anthropomorphic animals, they're things like, "Ooh, it's a mouse. It's a cat." It's all these cute animals as opposed to, "Hey, you're going to be a host of pigs." But, they did a great job with the card art that kind of makes them fun little pig adventures. Heck, we even have Kung Fu Panda and all that. Pigs are not your go-to adventurers. Uh but, they look cool. I like the art style. This is a game which uh cooperation, teamwork is optional, and betrayal is uh essential. Something like that. There was a tagline something along those lines. Where was it? Uh teamwork is optional and betrayal is rewarded. That's what it was. But, you're basically going to pick your your deck over here, go through the game, and there's different modes you can play. You can level up, advance, you upgrade your cards. I like the card art. I like the general idea. It does seem like it probably would be on the lighter side relative to what's typically in my cup of tea, but hey, I wouldn't say no to a game. Then we have Ronin's Revenge from Grey Games. Uh a boss battler game where which your actions influence the boss and how they're going to activate. This did, from reading the rules I haven't played this yet, so so bear with me, but from reading the rules, it did seem like this is one that kind of leans similar to Primal in the sense that you have a lot of control over what the boss is going to be doing and how it's going to be doing. So, the boss is going to do bad things, but you have a lot of agency to control how bad the things are and when and how to mitigate against the boss. There's also like uh you know, a story mode then followed by the boss encounters you're going through. So, if you've played anything from DVG, they often have that tie-in of a, you know, story combined with a adventure, uh the single shot, this campaign mode, all those things. I will have a review for you on this one at some point, but I have to play it first, and I have another week and a half to do so, I think, or 2 weeks, ish, 2 weeks, ish, something like that. I don't know. A

11:47 week and a half to do so. But, either way, this is Ronin's Revenge over here. Uh you know, yeah, I'll have content for you, but I am intrigued for it because of the fact that you have control over that boss aspect. Then we have over here Sally Face: Strange Nightmares. Uh this is coming to you from My Story Media, the people who brought, oh, I always forget the name of this game, uh The Binding of Isaac. The Binding of Isaac, a very well-loved, uh very well-received uh video game and then board game as well. Uh Sally Face is bringing you more content in this this world, I guess. I think Sally Face is adjacent, it's not like a Binding Binding of Isaac per se. But, either way, this is uh you know, I I I I don't know a lot not I don't know a lot about the game. If you are a fan of Sally Face, this campaign is here if you are interested in it. Then we have Syndicate. Syndicate Foundations reprint and expansion. This is another one that I don't know a ton about over here, but this is a original Kickstarter campaign. They already I believe they already delivered. This is the expansion for it, Crimson Protocol, bringing you more content for this game, the ultimate strategy and conspiracy game with fast-paced backstabbing, being all you got to take over, all of that. They'll be coming to you a game found in, I guess, you know, 10 hours or so, something like that. Not not not very long. Then we have Terraforming Mars: Legacy of Mars from Stronghold Games.

12:47 This was originally going to launch last year, but then it got pushed off. It is launching very shortly over here, uh bringing you a two-part game system. This is the Legacy of Mars structured across two parts. Yes, I have the same uh as a fan of Terraforming Mars, I have the same uh question mark to that as like, "Okay, am I supposed to get the Legacy game now, or when the second campaign goes live?" I'm not entirely sure the rules around this. It is interesting for a Legacy game, but I also believe it's like resettable to an extent, so you could play the first four games and then come back to it. We'll cover it more at some point in some capacity. I am I'm still very interested in the game, make no mistake. I I have questions around splitting up a Legacy game into two campaigns. That's where my biggest question comes into play. I do know people who have played this game and said it was like I think if I recall correctly, the I don't want to say the exact quote, but I big fan of Terraforming Mars said this is the best Terraforming Mars experience they have ever had, period, full stop. And that is that has me interested. That has That's high praise. That has me compelled. Like what what is happening here? They do have a little thing over here as far as where was it on the page? They had a thing about you know, planet one is going to be the campaign begins where it all started, competing corporations terraforming Mars. Mission two, after Mars the campaign moves outwards into the solar system. And then three and four, what's happening here? So there's some degree of progression. What is the story? How does it all tie together? I am a fan of Terraforming Mars. I am This is This is an easy game to back no matter what.

14:05 It doesn't matter what they do. I I Terraforming Mars is one of my favorite games of all time, one of the best experiences I ever have. Each new world is revealed only when the campaign reaches it. Comes with its own board, rules, strategic challenges. Expands the Terraforming Mars means in surprising ways. Expands the Terraforming ways in surprising ways. Introduces droves of new cards and further develops your corporation. I am very intrigued by this one. They say it's not really a legacy game. This is one of those things where they call it the Legacy of Mars. They teased a Terraforming Mars legacy game for a long time. So there's definitely a marketing problem here. But this is supposedly a sequential campaign-ish, but not really legacy game, but it's still called the Legacy of Mars. They cover some of that stuff. I think they had updates if I recall correctly. They had updates? No, I think they did um they did BGG posts. They did the designer diaries on BoardGameGeek. Again, I'm interested no matter what they do. Then we have the Big Squeeze, a lemonade apocalypse game. That's what it is. The Big Squeeze is a game about uh basically putting together a lemonade stand. But then eventually the apocalypse hits and you have to deal with the fallout of you know, of dealing with that. You have to deal with the the the I'm saying this wrong. You're running a lemonade stand. The apocalypse hits and now you have to continue to sell your lemonade, but now actually go for the point scoring of it. Uh there's two phases of the game and a board that flips and it's a lightweight and yet charming all at the same time. Uh check out the campaign page for more. And then lastly we have Vanya. Vanya Guards the the Tree. This one will be launching in a week. This is basically a uh you know, a a tower defense game. Although there are multiple Is it tower defense? It's tower defense-ish. You're basically playing as guardians defending the Elder Tree. There's many modes to play the game. There's There's cooperative, there's solo, there's competitive, all different kinds of ways to play as you

15:36 try to level up your guardians and take down the increasing hordes that are trying to slowly get to the Elder Tree and tear it apart. And you have to try to stop them. That's Vanya Guards the Elder Tree. Again, lots of components, miniatures, artwork, modes of play, uh difficulty adjustments, all of that. Uh I already had a preview on the channel, but there'll be a gameplay as well going through the game. And that is basically everything we have for the month of May, or at least the big things happening in May. If I missed anything, by all means let me know in the comments down below because it doesn't hurt to have a pinned comment with things that I missed that way. And generally for context, I don't cover everything. If a campaign has 200 followers, I There's too many campaigns that are lower that I don't have the level of interest that I can't fit everything into this video. I usually try to cover the bigger things that have more general interest, but hey, if you post anything down below because making of crowdfunding campaigns that they might be interested in is certainly not a bad thing to do. Well, I guess it's not good for their wallet, but other than that, it's not a bad thing to do.

16:28 Anyways, until next time. I'm Alex Radcliffe from Board Game Co. I hope you enjoyed this video. I hope you found it helpful in some way. And as always, I hope you have a good one.

16:44 [snorts]

16:52 An AI walks into a bar, and the bartender says, "What can I get you?" And the AI says, "I'll have whatever everyone else is having."