June Kickstarter Retrospective – Ancient Gods and Medieval Drama

Summer trips and holidays have started in many areas around the globe, and we can really see it on Kickstarter. Plenty of creators took a break from releasing new projects and focused on rereleases, new editions and expansions. Among all top pledged tabletop campaigns, there were only 3 or 4 completely new games. That didn’t make the month any less exciting.

Let’s have a look at June, check out who made the most dollars and what games gained the biggest attention.

Brick by Brick, Tent After Tent

June gave us two big board game campaigns with focus on settlement building and manufacturing. Both collected quite huge sums of money and achieved plenty of stretch goals.

Villagers, new project from Sinister Fish Games, collected over 634 000 dollars. Low price surely had a huge effect on its popularity, but so did the gameplay.

By drafting cards you invite new villagers and specialists to your little town. Using them properly results in creating production chains and making your village prosper. Minimalistic visuals add an unique flair to this medieval building game.

villagers card game from kickstarter
Picture from the campaign at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sinisterfish/villagers-card-drafting-and-village-building-for-1

Neta-Tanka is a theme heavy game. It invites players to take part in a traditional contest held in a fictional native american village. Winner will gain the proud role of a new tribe leader. To win participants will have to build tents, cook food, make totem poles and craft useful items. Neta-Tanka belongs to the worker placement genre with some unique mechanics. Placing your people so that they connect with others brings additional bonuses and is the key to victory. Turn order also plays a big role and switches during the game to spice things up.

Neta Tanka tabletop board game from Kickstarter
Picture from the campaign at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/laboitedejeu/neta-tanka

Making Good Games Better

Summer is great for low risk projects, so releasing your successful games again sounds like a neat idea. Usually they get some improvements and expansions to motivate the backers.

Trickerion is a worker placement game about illusionists, set in victorian times. The project debuted in 2015 and had a really great campaign with over 250 000 USD pledged. This year’s new release achieved double that amount. New edition includes everything from the base game (for people who have missed it) and a big new expansion. In “Dahlgaard’s Academy” players will be able to play as 4 new magicians, establish an illusionist school, get their own protege and try their strength at solo mode.

trickerion board game with expansion from Kickstarter
Picture from the campaign at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/438141406/trickerion-dahlgaards-academy-and-collectors-editi

Vast: The Mysterious Manor is a sequel to Vast: The Crystal Caverns from 2016. Both games reached over 400 000 dollars. The action takes place in a haunted mansion and the idea is really unique. Each player picks a faction. These include: a single adventuring paladin, band of skeletons, giant spider, an enchanter and… the house itself. Each of them plays differently, has separate mechanics and goals. All elements are modular and can be mixed with ones from the previous game.

vast mysterious manor board game from Kickstarter
Picture from the campaign at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2074786394/vast-the-mysterious-manor

Escape the Dark Castle includes not just one but two new expansions. The game belongs to the adventure genre and is known mostly for its storytelling.

The goal is simple: escape the place where you are being imprisoned. You begin by randomly creating an adventure deck with a boss at the end. Players choose their characters and have to avoid all sorts of dangers to reach the exit. Gameplay itself is simplistic and based on six sided dice. Visuals are a nod to 80s and 90s fantasy illustrations.

escape the dark castle with expansions - Kickstarter project
Picture from the campaign at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1998318065/escape-the-dark-castle-the-legend-grows

Heroes of Land, Air & Sea had its third campaign in June. This one included a second expansion with the ability to order all older installments. Newest addition raises the amount of factions to ten and adds even more creative cardboard constructions to the game. We wrote about it a few weeks ago. Check out the article here.

Grand Strategy Goes Cardboard

Crusader Kings is Paradox Interactive’s attempt at joining the board game market. Their PC productions are known for their historical accuracy and insane complexity. Crusader Kings is also famous for its focus on medieval drama and complicated royal marriages. Board game version comes filled with event cards and miniatures ready to be placed on the map of Europe. Players build castles, wage wars, plan marriages and raise heirs to become the strongest royal family in the region. Sessions will be shorter than in the PC version and last up to 3 hours. 3-5 players will be able to play at once.

crusader kings the board game on kickstarter
Picture from the campaign at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/crusader-kings-the-board-game-lead-your-dynasty-to

Most funded in June

8. Neta-Tanka – $389 070

7. Vast: The Mysterious Manor – $416 186

6. Escape the Dark Castle – $494 834

5. Crusader Kings The Board Game – $527 677

4. Trickerion – $574 367

3. Villagers – $634 627

2. Heroes of Land, Air & Sea$656 054

1. Mythic Battles: Pantheon 1.5 –  $1 121 130

mythic battles pantheon 1.5 kickstarter campaign figurine
Picture from the campaign at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/806316071/mythic-battles-pantheon-15

Monolith Board Games gets the crown for their Mythic Battles: Pantheon 1.5. That’s right: the game is yet another rerelease this month. It didn’t manage to top the original campaign from 2016 but still did amazing and collected $1,121,130. The original game was a card and miniature based strategy set in the world of greek mythology. New campaign adds expansions including Ymir, Dionysus and a set of frozen battle dice. Monolith is also hinting at a norse mythology sequel planned for 2019.

June is finally behind us but don’t expect July to be the same. We’ve already had bigger and more surprising campaigns and we’re only halfway through the month. Expect our next retrospective in about 2 weeks.

What do you think?

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