Kickstarter and Gamefound Board Game Monthly Round Up - June 2021 Part 2

Kickstarter and Gamefound Board Game Monthly Round Up - June 2021 Part 2

Meeple Design are starting our board game crowdfunding monthly round up with the June 2021 game releases. We will be summarising all the relevant and known tabletop gaming information in one place from release dates, Kickstarter links and most importantly the game information. There are a large number of June releases so we have split the article into 2 parts. Part one started with games with a confirmed release date of 1st June up to 15th June, dates could still be subject to change. 

This is Part 2 which covers games with confirmed release dates from 16th June u to games that may launch their campaign in June.

Each month we also pick out the games that, based on our preferences, stick out to us. Based on our preferences, in the second half of June the 2 games that we will be paying most attention to are (with further information about each one below):

  • The Millennium War
  • Start Them Up

 

2 Minutes to Midnight
 

    An asymmetrical game for 1 to 2 players focussed on the Cold War from 1941 to 1991. It’s aiming to be a sandbox style game with a historical focus that can take up to 7 hours, if you play the full campaign. There are definite Twilight Struggle vibes here, from the board layout, Cold War focus and chits, so it could be for fans of that style of game.

     

    Coalitions

    Set during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, Coalitions provides a historical recreation while also allowing you to create alternative histories throughout the game. In the game, you control one of 6 factions, taking 1 of 6 actions with the aim of reaching the top of the political ladder or controlling Paris using a combination of your military might and diplomacy skills.

     

    Ro Sham Bo

    Back for a second attempt at funding, Ro Sham Bo is an abstract 2 player game inspired by Chess. In the game, you are trying to defeat your opponent by either; initiating a direct attack using rock, paper, scissors rules, with the playing pieces being instantly recognisable as the relevant hand gesture, or  stalling your opponent to collect artefacts, which grant you abilities to use during the game giving you an advantage over your opponent.

     

    BattleFish

    Battlefish is a capture the flag game for 2 to 6 players with an interesting combination of secret unit deployment, deck construction and card driven combat. Based on the BGG page the game is aiming to be strategic and also humorous. As a bonus, the artwork definitely has an Earthworm Jim vibe.

     

    Arkosa

    • Release Date: 22nd June 2021
    • Publisher: Toon Hammer 
    • Designer: Angela Dickens
    • Website
     

    A science fiction game in which all players are aiming to build the best bunker, trying to attract the best colonists keeping them happy and fed. The game is played over 3 rounds with a playtime of around 25 minutes per player. There isn’t much information about the gameplay, although there does seem to be events sprinkled throughout the 3 rounds that introduce effects that players have to contend with. It has a unique art style and the concept reminds me of Fallout Shelter or Dungeon Keeper so it could be one for fans of that style of game to keep their eye on.

     

    Winterhaven Woods

      • Release Date: 22nd June 2021
      • Publisher: Featherstone Games
      • Designer: Joel Bodkin
      • Website

    There isn’t much information about Winterhaven Woods but Featherstone Games previously published a family game called Open Oceans which has some really adorable artwork that appears to be carried across to their new game. The campaign starts soon and preview copies have been sent out so there should be more information about it soon.

     

    6: Siege The Board Game 

    6: Siege The Board Game is a 2-4player, asymmetrical tabletop game with miniatures, based on Ubisoft’s acclaimed tactical shooter video game, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege. Gameplay is fast and frenetic, allowing players to feel the tension of a cinematic assault with simulated real-time gameplay. Players control a team of 5 operators (all attackers or all defenders), with each Operator boasting different gadgets and abilities. Building your team of 5 is a very rewarding step of the game, offering endless possibilities and strategic choices. As the attacker, you will use your explosive arsenal to tear down walls and obstacles to reach your objective! As the defender, you will shape the battleground to your advantage and seek to thwart your opponent’s plans by denying them chances to attack.

     

    Big Game Night
     

      By backing this Kickstarter, you will get two unreleased AEG games, Ten and Whirling Witchcraft, plus a special bonus. This Kickstarter is only open to US backers.

       

      Graphic Novel Adventure Season 4
        • Release Date: 22nd June 2021
        • Publisher: Van Ryder Games
        • Website
       

        Season 4 of the wildly popular graphic novel adventures from Van Ryder. Each graphic novel contains puzzles and challenges set around different themes. Past ones have included; pirates, theme parks, cowboys and Sherlock Holmes. It should be exciting to see what they come up with next.

         

        The Zorro Dice Game: Stunts and Allies

          In this game, you are trying to prove your worth to become the next Zorro. It uses Yahtzee style dice rolling, which you use to collect sets of heroic feats. The Kickstart is for the second expansion in the series which adds allies which level up throughout the course of the game. 

           

          Kroma
            • Release Date: 22nd June 2021
            • Publisher: Breaking Games
            • Designer: Francesca Carletto-Leon, Kai Karhu, Carol Mertz and Temitope Olujobi 
            • Pre Launch Kickstarter Page
            • Website

            Kroma is a colour-blending strategy game for 2-3 players. Gameplay takes place on a triangular playing board, with a light behind it, so that you can better see the colours created by the game pieces during play. On your turn, you draw a playing piece from the bag —you may feel for a desired shape, but will not know the colour of the piece — then place that piece in any legal location on the board. Pieces come in yellow, cyan, and magenta, and initially you must play these pieces on the lowest level of the game board. If you can play a piece so that it's entirely supported by other pieces, then you can play on the second level of the board; by doing this, you can create the secondary colours green, orange, and purple — and this is what you'll need to do to win.

             

            Start Them Up
              • Release Date: 22nd June 2021
              • Publisher: Rose Noire Edition
              • Designer: Nathan Dehez and Nicolas Raymond
              • Website

            Play as one of our talented entrepreneurs and go on an adventure! Alone or in a team, carry out your wildest projects and create the most beautiful community. But be careful, you will experience a whirlwind of emotions to reveal the entrepreneur within… or not!

             

            Valor and Villainy: Lludwiks Labyrinth

            Valor & Villainy: Lludwik's Labyrinth is a 1-6 player co-op adventure game, where a band of noble heroes from The Order Without Borders must pursue the Mad Imp Lludwik into his terrible Labyrinth to quell the threat of a demonic invasion. Lludwik's Labyrinth is both a stand alone full co-op game, and a fully cross compatible sequel to Valor & Villainy: Minions of Mordak.

             

            The Great Race
              • Release Date: 22nd June 2021
              • Publisher: Platypus Game
              • Designer: Maxence Vaché
              • Website

            Place yourself in the 1930s, at the wheel of your halftrack, where you will experience the most incredible human adventure. The Great Race will take you across continents, to face countless dangers and difficulties. You may have to take reckless risks to finally cross the finish line to the cheers of the crowd. Your crew consists of mechanics, scouts and an escort that you will have to mobilize to accomplish the impossible. The Kickstarter is for an upgraded reprint of the game.


            Ryder: The Card Game

            A game where luck is cast aside in honour of memory, strategy and, after some time, skill. Set in the time of knights & wizards. Battle your friends to earn the most gold for your treasury before the reserve runs out. Each player has 4 cards dealt to them, face down and takes it in turns to combat their foes around the table. You may look at your cards but cannot move the position of them. You select your cards to attack other players face down cards and then begin the process of endeavouring to remember where all the cards are, who to attack and what skills to play on opponents to mess with their game plan. Designed to remove the "Luck" element of card games and instead grant the winner victory via superior memory or strategic skills.

             

            The Millennium War

            First point is that there definitely seems to be some Kingdom Death Monster influence from the box cover, the layout of the rule book, to the board art style however, in general the gameplay is completely different and the art style is much more colourful & nowhere near as dark. This is a MOBA style board game and for those of you who haven’t heard of MOBA, they are a genre of video game in which two teams compete against each other aiming to destroy each other's main structure. It isn’t the only MOBA style board game but this does seem to be the most ambitious implementation of it. There are 35 different characters to choose from and various epic monsters that you can fight throughout the battlefield. As expected each hero has unique skills & stats which introduce a hybrid chess mechanic, whereby you have to pay attention to the movement and range rules specific to the hero. Also the base game is a standee version with some miniatures such as the structures, and additional acrylic standees will be provided as a Kickstarter exclusive with unique chibi style artwork for the characters. The miniatures are available as an all in pledge which have interchangeable parts and smart dials to track the hero stats. Altogether this seems like a very interesting package but it is a first time project so I will be reading the rules in depth, checking shipping rates and looking at the timeline before considering backing this project.

             

            Villagers: Shifting Seasons
             

              Shifting seasons is an expansion for Villagers which was also funded through Kickstarter. It adds new modules to the card drafting base game allowing events to be added with new villager cards and a new villager type. The expansion also adds solo rules for all those that love a solo play option. 

               

              Battle Peak

              In Battle Peak, 2 to 4 players take control of wizards and duel each other with the aim of being the last wizard standing. It is played over a hexagon grid with an action point system used to play 1 of 20 different spells against each other.

               

              Thunder Rolls
                • Release Date: 29th June 2021
                • Publisher: Mr B Games
                • Designer: Jack Hoyle
               

                Thunder Roll is a stock car racing game using dice placement. At the start of each phase players roll their dice and place them to gain track actions & Thunder cards. In the following phase each player programs their Thunder cards to give their car movement and drivers unique actions. The game plays with 1 to 8 players and there are several tracks which also determine the length of the race. A game can either be played as a one off race or as part of a race season, which is 10 to 14 races.

                 

                Wild Assent: Lavon Rising

                  A Gamefound project which is for a reprint of the base game and the Shadow of the Silvestrem expansion. It’s a miniatures game for 1 to 4 players which contains rules for several different game modes; co-op, competitive and a story driven campaign. It includes a mixture of card driven combat, dice rolling and card drafting. The miniatures look detailed and unique, complemented by stunning artwork.

                   

                  Storm Chasers

                  Storm Chasers is a hand management, tile manipulation game for 2-4 players. In Storm Chasers, players manipulate the weather across region tiles to maximize their film footage of Thunderstorms and Tornadoes, as they sweep through regions. In a turn, a player can use cards, in their hand, to benefit themselves or to affect other players. They can move from one region tile to another to increase the number of regions they will view when a storm is activated. They can flip/rotate tiles to create longer storm fronts, maximizing their potential income, and change the type of storm to strategically meet their goals. Players can clear rubble left from previous Tornadoes, and complete special assignments to earn additional income. A player's turn ends by activating a storm using a card from their hand. Income or loss of income due to damage are subsequently dealt to each player who is affected by the activated storm. But players should be careful not to get to sure of themselves. The competition is fierce, you never know when a competing storm chaser might surprise you by adding an unanticipated challenge.

                   

                  The Paradox Initiative

                    • Release Date: June 2021 tbc
                    • Publisher: Elf Creek Games
                    • Designer: Brian Suhre

                    Paradox is a well regarded game that came out in 2016 that features mechanics such as card drafting, set collection, and resource management, then adds a Bejewelled-like grid of colourful disks for each player to manipulate. I’m sure the new version will expand on the originals gameplay but, in my opinion, the most appealing aspect is the list of 18 artists that are working on the game which include; Andrew Bosley (Everdell), Ian O’Toole (On Mars) and Kwanchai Moriya (Dinosaur Island). It will be interesting to see how the artwork is incorporated in the game that keeps it cohesive.

                     

                    Skyrim - The Board Game

                      There isn’t much information about this game at the moment and although it was announced to launch in June on Gamefound I believe it will be delayed. Since the announcement of the Skyrim game, Chip Theory, have also teased that they are working with Bethesda on an Elder Scrolls game.

                       

                      Hollywood Racers

                        I believe June is the month in which Cosmo Duck will announce the launch date of Hollywood Racers. It appears to be a fun looking 'take that' style racing game in which each turn a player can either move, repair or use their vehicle's ability. There are multiple tracks with different rules and the winner is the first player who crosses the finish line with both of their vehicles. On the official forum thread on the BGG page they have announced that a deluxe edition (Directors Cut) will be available that includes metal miniatures for all the vehicles in the game.

                          

                        Floating Floors

                          The first dexterity game on the list. You have to create a path way to the target for your ninja by balancing floor tiles while at the same time trying to sabotage your rival ninja's path. The draft Kickstarter page is already live, if you wanted to find out more information about the game

                             

                          Iron Forest

                           

                            Another dexterity game from the creators of Ice Cool. It uses the same box in a box system to create the playing board and also features a second level that you have to launch your piece to. It is a team vs team game between the forest defence system vs the animal mechs. The playing pieces that you flick are actual mech miniatures and it appears to build on everything that makes Ice Cool one of our favourite dexterity games. We are looking forward to seeing more about this Kickstarter.

                             

                             

                            *** Please note that we are not affiliated with any of the companies listed above or received payment in any form and this article represents our own personal opinion & research. All the information and dates may be subject to change *** 

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