What KICKSTARTER(S) are you BACKING and WHY?

I haven't backed a game in years but I'm hoping and praying that Claustrophobia 1643 gets another kickstarter. The deal is, they made 10,000 copies - they sold almost 8000 in the kickstarter last year and they mayyyy do another kickstarter to get rid of the remaining 2000. Please happen. I started to follow a couple of geeklists on bgg to keep me up to date with projects but so far nothing has caught my fancy.

Legomancer wrote: Finally, a DARK MINIATURES game about DARK HEROES who NEED TO PEE

FYI, not that anyone really cares, that miniature is a sculptor's take on what he thinks is a Wudang or Tai Chi sword cross-stance which is common in these types of Chinese martial arts. The feet, body mechanics, position of the arms, the type of swords used, and the hand positions of this miniature are all wrong though. The swords used in this style of fighting requires a cross-stance in order to generate and absorb enough circular energy to deflect an opponent's coming weapon strike in order to setup a counter-strike. The swords are spring steel, flexible, and can't withstand a direct strike from a heavier sword so they deflect strikes along the flat of the blade and absorb and redirect the energy.

Here's what the fighting style looks like.

stoic wrote: FYI, not that anyone really cares, ... The swords are spring steel, flexible, and can't withstand a direct strike from a heavier sword so they deflect strikes along the flat of the blade and absorb and redirect the energy.

I really care, because you're right. Having practiced iaido for a number of years, in addition to weapons practice in aikido, it makes me cringe every time I see two people fighting with katana and getting into the typical European edge-to-edge block because both of those idiots have either just broken their blades or locked them together such that neither of them are usable. You block with the flat to redirect and to not break your sword. That means you have to turn your wrists. It's far closer to a proper golf swing, but everyone in Western movies is shown wielding one like a baseball bat.

Two Kickstarters that launched today that are worthy of some attention (that, full disclosure, I'm backing):

Sandy Petersen launched his sorta 4x asymmetric space game Hyperspace . Why I think it's notable from a KS point of view is this is their first project where they ditched the "Stretch Goal" nonsense, even noting on the page that it's a "bit of a sham." I also appreciate their approach to shipping, passing on most of the cost transparently. They do have some "exclusives" in 8 alien sculpts (to replace 8 tokens), but those are in the $70 pledge. You also need to spend close to $350 (with shipping) to get the best deal, so not saying everyone should be jumping on in. But I appreciate more transparency in campaigns, and they nailed it for me with this one.

The one I hadn't expected and kind of blind-sided me was 1001 Odysseys . It's basically a Narrative/Choose-Your-Own Adventure game with space travel with a cool watercolor aesthetic. But really why I am, at least for the moment, backing it is that the creative team for it is made up of 7 women. It's also being published by Asmadi Games, who already did a very good thing with One Deck Dungeon having a full female cast with realistic proportions. Need to spend some more time researching it, but I'm happy to see some more diversity in projects and their creators out there...

Hyperspace looks really cool. What doesn't look cool is launching with upwards of 22 alien races for a total of $340 shipped. I find it hard to believe that all of those races will be balanced and functional.

I'd rather see it be a smaller launch, with other races coming out after the game was well established. But I know that is not the Kickstarter way.

I'll be keeping my money.

The 10 dollars per expansion w/20 extra factions model is fucking wild. And, if it's anything like Cthulu Wars, it's going to be hard to get those expansions outside of some big Kickstarter pledges.

It looks alright, if a bit less exciting than the likes of Cthulhu Wars. Nothing about it has really wowed me so far. I'm honestly kind of surprised it's funding as well as it is given that we're in the thick of KS season.

Good news is it'll easily make, so you'll get a chance at a second KS shortly after the first if it's any good.

I pledged for the final Millennium Blades expansion. Seems like a good deal, just getting the expansion plus extras for $60, free shipping.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/level99game...ref_tag=thanks_tweet

Millennium Blades is one of those games I will never ever play but seems super cool.

I've played it twice, and hope to play it much, much more. It is super cool.

decided to go in on Tom Lehmann's 'The City'.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/167427101/t...lish-for-the-first-t

I like Jump Drive, which this is a differently themed version of (with other differences).

After the great reviews of Western Legends I checked it out and it was my type of game, so once I found a copy I've gone for the expansion I went for the expansion to build the variety in the game:

www.kickstarter.com/projects/kolossalgam...tern-legends-ante-up


And then, after saying that's probably enough KSers arriving at the end of the year, I spotted something that looked like a pretty good post-apocalytic adventure game using the 'story book' mechanic that has become pretty popular in the last few years and that hooks me in (plus it's based on our 'cuzzies across the pond's island). Anyway if it sounds interesting to anyone it's called Waste Knights (oh, and I managed to have my FB entry for a card picked for the game - using my antipodean insider knowledge - so have to buy it now)

www.kickstarter.com/projects/galakta/was...ights-second-edition

I really enjoyed the first edition of Waste Knights. It had a very difficult, poorly translated rulebook and it was a very heavy game, but it had tons of charm and felt unique.

This is...different. I think it still looks solid and I'm interested in the inclusion of more narrative elements. I'm backing as well.

Yeah, I see in some forum posts at BGG that there is a mixed reaction from 1E owners. I thought it was a reasonable price for the game and hopeful replayability, plus now their annoucement about providing an app to provide more variety in the stories and even changes is a good a move (I'm a fan with what FFG did with the Descent and IA apps).