Today we’ll preview 3 games coming to Kickstarter in August and September. This time some big names and unexpected projects: a remake, an expansion, and a completely new game. Let’s go!
Sleeping Gods – August 6th
Near and Far, Above and Below – if you’re into board games, there’s a high chance you’ve heard these titles already. Games by Ryan Laukat often feel innovative. They tend to merge euro mechanics with great storytelling and concepts straight from the adventure genre.
Sleeping Gods tells a story about a crew, that got trapped in a mysterious disaster, and popped up in a completely unknown world – Wizard of Oz style. The game itself is campaign driven and like its predecessors, relies heavily on storytelling. There’s a saving system included (“the journey log”), so players can leave whenever they want and come back when they feel like playing again.
With your crew, you’ll traverse the world looking for mysterious totems that can revive deities. Sleeping Gods belongs to the “atlas game” genre, as it heavily relies on a beautifully illustrated set of maps, bound together into a book (which replaces a classic board). The game also has over 400 cards included. It can be played solo or with up to 4 players.
Geeknson Board Game Table | QUESTOWER Ads Sytsem
Struggle of Empires – August 15th
Another preview and another great designer. Struggle of Empires, a game by Martin Wallace was released in 2004 and is about to come back in style. Newest edition will feature many tweaks and a heavy visual overhaul. New illustrations were drawn by João Tereso. This deluxe release will be published by Eagle-Gryphon Games.
Struggle of Empires is a classic strategy game set in 18th century. Each player chooses a famous power of that era and wages wars with opponents while fighting for colonies. The game is especially known for encouraging players to form permanent alliances, that cannot be broken until the very end.
The new version of Struggle of Empires has large improvements in component quality including turning some cardboard tokens into more durable wooden ones. There’s also a new board with numerous icons to remind players about available actions and mechanics. The rules and the manual were also reworked quite a bit. Same with tokens, iconography and other components that became much more intuitive. Interested? Ready your wallets for August 15th.
Detective: Smoke and Mirrors – September 16th
2017’s Detective: City of Angels is a murder mystery board game with elements of asymmetrical gameplay. As the team of detectives attempts to solve a case, one player tries to undermine their efforts. Instead of pointing a gun at them, he or she spreads misinformation, gives fake hints and tries to make everything more difficult. The role is different from what you’d expect in an asymmetrical game and feels more like a corrupted game master than a real traitor.
The game is based around actions. Each detective can perform 4 of them per turn: from movement to various investigations.
Original core box included 9 separate cases and the first expansion added 4 more. The new expansion called Smoke and Mirrors will also increase the number and introduce new cards and handbooks.
The September campaign will include the 2017 game as well, so everyone who had missed it, and is looking for some good detective action, can get their fill.
