Tabletop Crowdfunding Round-Up: March 6th
The Dark Knight, ancient cults, and dueling necromancers. Come check out this week’s batch of tabletop Kickstarter highlights!
Batman: Gotham City Chronicles by Monolith Board Games
Let’s kick the week off with a major board game Kickstarter that I managed to completely forget about last time. Batman: Gotham City Chronicles is the latest game by the creators of the Conan adventure game and Mythic Battles, and at the time of writing it’s already past the $2.6 million mark. This miniatures-based board game uses a modified version of the same system used in Conan, and revolves around modular character dash boards. Three players control Batman or one of his many allies, while a fourth player controls infamous villains and their hired thugs in over 20 possible scenarios. Characters spend energy cubes to take actions, which also double as their health pools. Spent energy cubes go to the Fatigue Zone, which represents how exhausted characters get as the battle drags on. Taking damages sends cubes to the Wounds Zone, which will restrict your actions in future turns. The core game is so massive it requires two boxes, and that’s before you get to all the expansion packs. The standard pledge is $140, and if you want everything it’ll cost you $320.
City of Gears by Grey Fox Games
The creators of Deception and Champions of Midgard are back with their next worker placement and area control game, City of Gears. Up to four players control asymmetrical corporations competing to restore an abandoned steam-powered city of mechanical wonders. Players will send their automatons around the board to gather resources, capture zones, research new buildings, and chain together structures to increase their bonuses and access to actions. Sabotage the efforts of your rivals to hoard all the fame and prestige for yourself. The standard version of City of Gears is $49, while the Founder version for $59 features upgraded components like wooden tokens and plastic miniatures.
Cult by Cryptozoic Games
Cult is another worker placement board game currently on Kickstarter, but this time your workers are fanatical cultists helping you resurrect forgotten deities with questionable motives. Play as one of eight cults with vastly different play styles and race against your rivals to be the first to awaken an otherworldly abomination bent on the total enslavement or destruction of human civilization. Send your priests around the city to gather resources, corrupt officials so they’ll turn a blind eye to your activities, perform arcane rituals, and incite violent mobs. You can win by either building five Altars, stirring up four fanatical mobs, or performing both summoning rituals needed to bring your dark god to the physical realm. You can buy a copy for $50.
Ancient Grudges: Bonefields by Macrocosm
Finally we come to Ancient Grudges, a new skirmish game by Macrocosm. The game uses a mix of previously existing and brand new undead miniatures as rival necromancers battle for control of the ancient catacombs of Grimgard. The starter set includes two warbands and everything you need to start playing right away. The current undead warbands are undead dwarves led by a dwarven necromancer, and skeletal goblins led by a goblin vampire. Most of the current miniatures are some variation of skeleton, but the stretch goals include things like “ghoulblins,” dwarf mummies, and mange-riddled goblin werewolves. The £65/$90 pledge includes the deluxe starter box, which contains two warbands, dice, tokens, a rulebook, some objective markers, and basic terrain. Most miniatures are made in resin unless stated otherwise in the campaign.
~Which of these campaigns caught your attention?
