o/` Dance your cares away,
Worry’s for another day.
Let the music play,
Down at Fraggle Rock. o/`

King Down

by Saar Shai

Saar Shai, the creator of The Agents, is bringing what he describes as the ‘prequel to Chess’ to Kickstarter. For two to four players, King Down is a small-scale strategic miniatures game based around the concepts of chess, but with a deck of cards from which units may be summoned and spells cast, along with an action-point system overlaid on top.

Multi-player Chess, especially on what seems to be a very crowded board, has never been to my taste, but for what it’s worth the miniatures (especially the larger-scale ‘collectable’ versions) look rather interesting and I might consider picking up one or two for myself!

From the four corners of the land come four pretenders to the throne, each claiming to be the rightful heir. As the four would-be Kings march towards the capitol, they gather their armies, preparing for battle.

One comes for Glory.
One comes for Greed.
One comes for Blood.
One comes for Honor.

Yashima: Legend Of The Kami Masters

by Greenbrier Games

From Greenbrier Games comes this card-based tactical fighting game. Select a Kami-Master with their own special skills and abilities, combine them with one of the four types of Kami spirits, and clash with up to three other opponents on a hex-based map! Yashima is built to be both scalable and expandable, so if you want a crazy 4-on-4 matchup or a large free-for-all brawl, just add a second copy of the character and style decks to the mix.

Additional Kami-Masters (and their unique decks) will be available as both expansions and stretch goals, but the difference between the Bronze ($35) and the Silver ($100) level where they start to show up is a bit steep.

Yashima: Legend of the Kami Masters is a fast-paced combat game that combines the speed and complexity of card games with the tactical movement and terrain found in miniature games. With various styles of play, you can compete in a two-player duel, team-based combat, or a free-for-all showdown!

You are a Kami Master. Trained in the art of channeling the spirit energy of the Kami, unrivaled in expertise of your chosen fighting style, you are sworn to uphold the honor of your House.

Orcs Orcs Orcs

by Queen Games

*checks watch* Yep. It’s that time again, so lets have a look at what Queen Games is bringing to Kickstarter this week.

Orcs Orcs Orcs (Really? That’s the title they’re going with?) is a combination Tower Defense and Deckbuilding game for two to four players, where the wizards you control are competing amongst themselves to score the most kills during this yearly culling of the orcs. Collect grisly orcish trophies to gain special abilities! Research new spells to add to your deck, collecting matching symbol sets to add power to the ones that you cast!

Why [age] 13 & up? One of the orcs is unhappy that he is part of the Orc Squash tournament and is making a gesture that may be offensive to some people.

13th Age in Glorantha

by Rob Heinsoo Games

By itself, 13th Age is a tabletop fantasy roleplaying game put together by the lead designers of both 3rd and 4th Edition D&D, and I’ve heard nothing but good things about the system. The manager at my local gaming shop simply can’t stop telling people about it. Oddly, this system has very little in the way of concrete background to it; one of the major rules is that it requires the players to come up with ‘one unique thing‘ about their characters, which in turn finds itself woven into the campaign setting.

Glorantha, on the other hand, is a setting with a long and storied history behind it; first published by Chaosium in 1974’s White Bear and Red Moon. Others, like myself, might know it more from the 1999 computer game King of Dragon Pass where my Orlanth-worshipping clan ring continually finds itself eaten by beasts of chaos. Sigh.

13th Age in Glorantha is a hardbound full-color 196+ page roleplaying supplement that brings the award-winning 13th Age rules to Greg Stafford’s mythic world of Glorantha. 13th Age in Glorantha teams up the original designers of 13th Age, Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet, with the designer at the heart of the new Gloranthan renaissance, Jeff Richard . . . not to mention the marvelous Gloranthan artists who follow Jeff’s art direction!