Everdell zählt seit dem Erscheinen 2018 bei Starling Games zu den bekanntesten und mehrfach ausgezeichneten Tableau-Bauspielen der Branche. Tycoon Games hat mit „Journeys: An Everdell Game“ nun einen Ableger mit eigener Mechanik am 8. September 2026 auf Kickstarter gestartet. Die Kampagne steht bei 609.738 US-Dollar von 35.000 US-Dollar Ziel, umgerechnet rund 1.742 Prozent, bei 4.924 Unterstützenden, Stand des Abrufs. Kickstarter führt das Projekt als „Staff Pick“.
Die Kampagne läuft noch bis zum 25. September 2026, 23 Uhr MESZ. Würfelreich hatte sie bereits kurz nach dem Start in der Crowdfunding-Wochenschau erwähnt. Die inzwischen erreichte Größenordnung rechtfertigt jetzt einen eigenen, ausführlicheren Artikel.
Was Journeys von Everdell unterscheidet
Statt Städte per Worker Placement aufzubauen, ziehen 2 bis 5 Spielende als reisende Tiere durch die Welt von Everdell und legen dabei einen eigenen Pfad aus Karten, und Card Drafting steht also im Zentrum. Aktivierte Karten liefern Ressourcen und Punkte für spätere Kombinationen, und ein persönliches Reisetagebuch hält besondere Ereignisse der Reise fest. Die Deluxe-Edition erweitert das Spiel auf 1 bis 10 Spielende und ergänzt Solo- sowie Kooperativ-Modi, die dem Grundspiel fehlen. Laut BGG dauert eine Partie 30 bis 60 Minuten, empfohlen ab 10 Jahren.
Ob sich der Kartenpool zwischen Partien unterscheidet und wie das Automa-System der Solo-Variante genau funktioniert, verrät das verfügbare Kampagnenmaterial nicht. Die meisten Pledge-Stufen enthalten zusätzlich „Gather: An Everdell Card Game“, ein eigenständiges Kartenlegespiel von 15 bis 20 Minuten im selben Universum.
Beim Design ist mit James A. Wilson der Schöpfer des Hauptspiels wieder dabei. Clarissa A. Wilson ist als Co-Designerin neu im Team. Die Illustration liegt komplett in neuen Händen bei Lukas Siegmon. Keiner der drei Illustratoren des Hauptspiels ist beteiligt.
Tycoon Games hat in der Vergangenheit bereits Lizenzen etablierter Titel wie Colt Express, Living Forest und Lewis & Clark übernommen und tritt damit erkennbar als Verlag für bestehende Marken auf, nicht nur als Erstverlag eigener Spiele. Im selben Everdell-Universum hat der Verlag zudem bereits eine eigene Kickstarter-Kampagne erfolgreich abgeschlossen: „Everdell Emerland“ erreichte im Dezember 2025 rund 3.421 Prozent des Ziels bei 7.980 Unterstützenden. Ob die Auslieferung pünktlich erfolgte oder inzwischen erfolgt ist, lässt sich daraus nicht ableiten. Dazu liegen keine belastbaren Angaben vor.
Pledge-Stufen und Auslieferung
Das Grundspiel „Journeys“ kostet 49 US-Dollar (umgerechnet rund 42 Euro, Kurs vom 17. September 2026), die Deluxe-Edition 75 US-Dollar (rund 65 Euro). Für 99 US-Dollar (rund 86 Euro) gibt es die Super-Deluxe-Stufe mit zwei exklusiven Miniaturen, für 159 US-Dollar die Stufe „Travel Guide“ mit zehn Neopren-Spielmatten für die ganze Tischrunde. Am oberen Ende steht „Globetrotter“ für 699 US-Dollar mit der kompletten Everdell-Sammlung inklusive der Erweiterungen Farshore, Silverfrost und Emerland. Die Auslieferung ist laut Kickstarter für August 2027 vorgesehen.
Das Hauptspiel Everdell erscheint in Deutschland regulär bei Pegasus Spiele. Für Everdell Journeys selbst nennt die Kampagnenseite bislang keine deutsche Version. Laut Kickstarter liefert Tycoon Games die Kampagne weltweit aus. Konkrete Versandkosten oder Zollhinweise für Deutschland nennt die Kampagnenseite aber nicht.
Skellig Games hat die Gamefound-Kampagne zu Steam & Cheese am 15. September 2026 um 17 Uhr MESZ gestartet. Sie läuft bis zum 8. Oktober 2026, 22 Uhr MESZ. Stand 17. September 2026 meldet Gamefound 47.226 Euro von 10.000 Euro Zielsumme, umgerechnet rund 472 Prozent, bei 384 Unterstützenden. Der deutsche Verlag hatte das Kenner-Euro Ende Juli erstmals vorgestellt, damals noch ohne Termin, Preis oder Pledge-Stufen.
Stretch-Goals und Pledge-Stufen
Von den bislang neun angekündigten Stretch-Goals sind acht freigeschaltet, von „Funded!“ über zusätzliche Auftrags- und Ereigniskarten bis zu einem metallisch schimmernden Schachtel-Finish bei 40.000 Euro. Offen ist noch das Ziel bei 50.000 Euro mit zwei weiteren individuellen Fähigkeitskarten.
Die Standard Edition kostet 49 Euro (UVP 70 Euro), die Deluxe Edition 69 Euro (UVP 120 Euro). Darüber liegen mehrere teurere Sammler-Bundles mit Metallkomponenten oder Miniaturen, die bis 479 Euro reichen. Diese oberen Stufen legen vor allem Sammler- und Optik-Komponenten obendrauf, ohne das Kernspiel zu verändern. Einen Liefertermin oder ein Auslieferungsfenster nennt die Kampagnenseite bislang nicht.
Mechanik und Solo-Modus
In Steam & Cheese bauen 1 bis 4 Spielende ab 12 Jahren Käsefabriken für erfinderische Mäuse in einer Steampunk-Welt auf. Würfel bestimmen zugleich die Ressource, über ihre Farbe, und die Aktionsstärke, über ihren Wert: Die Spielenden erweitern ihre Fabrik über eine Zahnrad- und Maschinen-Mechanik, importieren Gewürze per Zeppelin und erfüllen Aufträge für Punkte. Eine Partie dauert 90 bis 180 Minuten. Designer ist Alexander Rein, und die Illustration stammt von Roman Kucharski.
Wer allein spielt, tritt gegen ein Automa-System an, das laut Verlag über mehrere Schwierigkeitsstufen reicht, von „Zahnrad-Lehrling“ bis „Legende des Maschinenwerks“. Ob die Würfel neben der Farbe zusätzliche Symbole tragen, ob die Auftragskarten über Symbole oder Text laufen, wie groß die Metallkomponenten und Miniaturen in den teureren Bundles ausfallen und wie es um Schriftgröße und Kontrast auf Tableaus und Karten steht, lässt sich aus dem verfügbaren Kampagnenmaterial nicht klären. Ob es variable Module, einen wechselnden Auftragskarten-Pool oder ein echtes Entscheidungssystem im Automa gibt statt eines einfachen Kartendecks, geht aus dem Kampagnenmaterial ebenfalls nicht hervor.
Mehrere Kampagnen hat Skellig Games bereits erfolgreich finanziert, zuletzt A Life im Juni 2026 auf Gamefound mit rund 576 Prozent des Fördersziels. Ob das auch pünktliche Lieferung bedeutet, lässt sich daraus nicht ableiten. Dazu liegen keine belastbaren Angaben vor.
Tabletop game design pioneer Steve Jackson has ended a 17-month return running his namesake games company, with new CEO Sabrina Gonzalez taking charge of a business with years of falling revenue as well as a run of promising crowdfunding successes.
Jackson will remain president of the company he founded in 1980, but will refocus his attention on game design and development, with managing editor Allison Page promoted to COO.
He had previously stepped back from the day-to-day running of Steve Jackson Games in 2014, when long-time COO Phil Reed became CEO, allowing Jackson to devote more of his attention to game development.
Jackson’s return as CEO in 2024 was not presented as a permanent appointment, with him saying in the wake of her departure that her direct reports would report to him while he “figured out a plan”.
Gonzalez has been with SJ Games since 2013 as a production artist and production manager, apart from a brief period away from the company working for toy and game manufacturer Grand Prix International – and has been a member of the board of directors since 2021.
She said of her vision for the business, “As a general goal, I’d like us to continue to grow. We weathered the pandemic and pivoted project plans to address continually changing tariffs.
“The goal is always to make great games that people love. I want to continue developing new titles for future generations of gamers and also support (and sometimes update) the classics that our fans continue to request.”
New Steve Jackson Games COO Allison Page
New COO Page joined SJ Games as managing editor in 2023, having previously worked as executive artistic director of San Francisco comedy organisation Killing My Lobster. She also spent a year working as a narrative designer in the video game industry.
Page said, “I’m most excited to support Sabrina in her new role as CEO! We’ve always worked really well together and want the same things for SJ Games.
“I’m a problem solver, and I’m passionate about setting clear expectations. I’m excited to untangle whatever comes my way and ensure the team knows how to move forward and has what they need.”
He said on the company’s blog in May, “We made it through! But it’s not a story that fits well into the standard Stakeholder format. It took me a while to get up the nerve to start, and it has taken me longer to get it right. But I shall.”
Revenues have decline substantially since, however, falling about 2.5x from that peak to settle at around $3.5m across both 2023 and 2024 – the last years for which Steve Jackson has published the total – and bringing the annual total down to levels last seen back in 2010.
Annual revenue at Steve Jackson Games between 2003 and 2024. The asterisk(*) at 2022 indicates that the company overstated its revenue at $4.7m that year “due to confusion about BackerKit proceeds”, but it has not publicly provided an updated figure.
Jackson said in the executive summary in the 2023 report, “Cash flow was acceptable. It was not a profitable year, though. We have identified and dealt with some of the money-losing issues; others will be harder. We are working on it. (No fear; we have plenty of runway left. I just hate to use it.)”
He continued in the 2024 overview, “Cash flow was acceptable, but I don’t feel ‘prosperous’. This is not just us; individual game sales, industry-wide, were down at both the distribution and retail end, largely due to the glut of titles.”
Jackson added that year, “We are still working the problem, but we have less runway than we did last year! Cause for optimism: it was a rebuilding year and not expected to be good for cash, but thanks to your support for Munchkin Big Box it was better than we anticipated.”
Those challenges were exacerbated in 2025 by the impact of volatile US tariff policy, which included an unexpected “high five-figure” bill on its Munchkin Big Box after new tariffs were levied while the already-produced game was at sea.
The Munchkin Big Box || Photo Credit: Steve Jackson Games
The BackerKit campaign for the Munchkin Big Box had been one of the company’s bright spots over the past couple of years, bringing in more than $1.3m from over 9,000 backers – a situation Jackson credited with making 2024 financially better than expected.
SJ Games followed that with a $370,000 BackerKit campaign for Munchkin Second Edition this year to coincide with the game’s 25th anniversary, and in recent years has extended out the game with Munchkin Shadowrun, Munchkin Vox Machina and multiple Warhammer-based releases, as well as several other expansions.
It said at the time that the deal would allow Possum Creek, the publisher of Wanderhome and Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast, to retain full creative and editorial control over its titles, while “lending their talents to the SJ Games design and visual branding”.
Possum Creek editorial director Jay Dragon joined the SJ Games board of directors as part of the tie-up, and became its lead game designer, while Ruby Lavin became the company’s art director.
Seven-Part Pact, designed by Jay Dragon
Since then Dragon’s TTRPG design Seven-Part Pact has raised more than $1m through a Kickstarter campaign, while SJ Games has also raised almost $600,000 across a pairof Kickstarters for the venerable Fighting Fantasy line of adventure gamebooks, having agreed a deal in 2024 to bring the UK-created titles back to the US for the first time in more than two decades.
Steve Jackson’s game design career dates back to the late 1970s, with his 1977 debut Ogre helping popularise the emerging microgame format of small, inexpensive wargames.
Within five years he had designed Car Wars and Illuminati, founded his own games company and been inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame in 1982 – all while still in his 20s.
He followed that with the Generic Universal RolePlaying System (GURPS) in 1986, which was his attempt to create a single roleplaying system capable of working across different settings and genres.
While not the first RPG to experiment with universal rules, GURPS helped popularise the concept and grew into a huge publishing line for Steve Jackson Games. By 2004 the company had released about 200 GURPS titles, with more than one million copies in print in English alone.
Jackson’s most visible modern design is Munchkin, which became the company’s biggest commercial success following its release in 2001. The game was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame in 2013.
Corax Games bringt das Kartenspiel „Village Pillage“ (Tagline: „Dein Dorf. Deine Nachbarn. Deine Rüben!“) über die Spieleschmiede-Kampagnenfläche bei Spiele-Offensive als deutsche Version ins Crowdfunding. Die Kampagne richtet sich an 2 bis 6 Spielende ab 10 Jahren, und eine Partie dauert laut Kampagnenseite 20 bis 30 Minuten.
Was die Kampagnenseite zur Mechanik zeigt
Die Bildbeschriftungen auf der Kampagnenseite skizzieren einen festen Rundenablauf. Die Spielenden wählen zunächst Karten aus der eigenen Hand, spielen sie verdeckt gegeneinander aus und decken sie anschließend gemeinsam auf. Danach lösen sich die Karteneffekte der Reihe nach auf, bevor am Markt gehandelt und Relikte gekauft werden können. Nicht ausgespielte oder zurückerhaltene Karten wandern wieder auf die Hand, und dann beginnt die nächste Runde.
Mehr als diese Abfolge aus simultaner Kartenwahl und Marktelement lässt sich aus dem verfügbaren Kampagnenmaterial nicht ablesen. Einen Lead Designer nennt die Kampagnenseite nicht. Village Pillage ist für 2 bis 6 Spielende ausgelegt, und eine Solovariante gibt die Kampagne nicht an. Ob es dabei Take-That-Elemente oder ein Ausscheiden während der Partie gibt, geht aus dem Kampagnenmaterial ebenfalls nicht hervor.
Die angegebenen 20 bis 30 Minuten gelten für eingespielte Runden. Die erste Partie mit Regelerklärung dauert am Tisch erfahrungsgemäß länger. Wie Ressourcen oder Spielerzugehörigkeit bei 2 bis 6 Spielenden farblich unterschieden werden, ob die Karteneffekte über Symbole oder Text laufen und wie es um Schriftgröße, Kontrast sowie die Größe der Holzmarker steht, lässt sich aus dem verfügbaren Kampagnenmaterial ebenfalls nicht klären.
Pledge-Stufen und Zusatzkomponente
Die Stufe „Errungenschaft“ für 5 Euro bringt kein physisches Spielmaterial, sondern nur ein digitales Goodie: eine Spielernetzwerk-Errungenschaft. Wer das Grundspiel will, greift zur Stufe „Dorfrivalen“ für 20 Euro, die „Village Pillage“ in deutscher Version enthält. Die Stufe „Königsthron“ für 30 Euro legt zusätzlich eine Komponenten-Aufwertung obendrauf: Holzmarker anstelle der Standard-Rübenmarker sowie passende Kartenhüllen.
Wer nur die 65 Holzmarker samt Bankkarte nachrüsten will, kann sie separat für 10 Euro dazubuchen. Laut Kampagnenseite sind davon noch 25 Stück verfügbar, Stand des Abrufs. Eine Stretch-Goal-Leiter nennt die Kampagnenseite bisher nicht.
Als Ziel für die Auslieferung nennt die Kampagnenseite April 2027. Corax Games gibt auf der eigenen Website an, neue Titel grundsätzlich zuerst über die Spieleschmiede vorzufinanzieren und danach über die eigene Webseite, auf Messen sowie über den Partner Spiele-Offensive zu vertreiben. Zur Lieferzuverlässigkeit früherer Kampagnen liegen keine belastbaren Angaben vor.
Die Kampagne steht noch am Anfang: Bis zum 15. September 2026, 9:56 Uhr, kamen 140 von angestrebten 2.000 Euro zusammen, bei 5 Unterstützenden und noch 28 Tagen Laufzeit. Ob und wie sich das noch entwickelt, bleibt offen.
In den vergangenen sieben Tagen (7. bis 14. September 2026) sind gleich mehrere neue Kampagnen gestartet, vier davon erreichen die Auswahlkriterien dieser Redaktion. Den Auftakt macht ein Ableger eines in Deutschland etablierten Eurogames, dazu kommen ein Katzenabenteuer, eine Endzeit-Erweiterung und ein Arena-Kartenspiel.
Everdell Journeys
Das US-Studio Tycoon Games hat Everdell Journeys am 8. September 2026 auf Kickstarter gestartet, Stand 14. September 2026 bei rund 1509 Prozent des Ziels von 35.000 US-Dollar (528.284 US-Dollar, 4.230 Unterstützende). Design stammt von James A. Wilson und Clarissa A. Wilson, den Schöpferinnen und Schöpfern von Everdell, die Illustrationen wieder von Lukas Siegmon.
Zwei bis fünf Spielende legen in diesem Ableger keine Städte mehr an, sondern ziehen als reisende Tiere durch die Welt von Everdell und legen dabei einen Pfad aus Karten. Wer eine Karte auf dem eigenen Pfad aktiviert, sammelt Ressourcen und Punkte für spätere Kombinationen, ein persönliches Reisetagebuch hält besondere Erinnerungen fest. Statt Worker Placement steht damit Card Drafting im Zentrum des Spiels. Eine Partie dauert laut BGG rund 60 Minuten, ausgelegt für zwei bis fünf Spielende ab 10 Jahren, ein Solo-Modus ist erst in der Deluxe-Ausgabe mit erweiterten Regeln enthalten.
Die Kampagne läuft noch bis zum 25. September 2026, der Versand ist laut Kampagnenseite für August 2027 vorgesehen. Das Hauptspiel Everdell erscheint in Deutschland regulär bei Pegasus Spiele, eine deutsche Ausgabe von Everdell Journeys selbst nennt die Kampagne bislang nicht.
Catvale
Das polnische Studio FUdice hat Catvale am 8. September 2026 auf Kickstarter gestartet, Stand 14. September 2026 bei rund 1298 Prozent des Ziels von 20.000 Euro (259.596 Euro, 1.961 Unterstützende). Design stammt von Lukasz Berdowski.
Zwei bis sechs Spielende steuern ehrgeizige Katzen durch ein von Runde zu Runde neu zusammengesetztes Kachel-Tableau, sammeln Ressourcen und lösen Quests, um Prestige und Luxusgüter für ihren eigenen Rückzugsort zu erobern. Würfel legen zu Rundenbeginn die Stärke der verfügbaren Aktionen fest, wählbare Spielstile reichen vom Kämpfer über die Bauherrin bis zur Abenteurerin. Eine Partie dauert laut BGG bis zu 180 Minuten, ausgelegt für zwei bis sechs Spielende.
Die Kampagne läuft noch bis zum 8. Oktober 2026, der Versand ist laut Kampagnenseite für Dezember 2027 vorgesehen. Aktuell gibt es das Spiel nur auf Englisch und Polnisch, weitere Sprachen schaltet der Verlag laut eigener Ankündigung erst frei, sobald für sie jeweils 200 Unterstützende zusammenkommen. Eine deutsche Fassung ist damit nicht ausgeschlossen, aber auch nicht zugesagt.
Barbaric: Crown of the Frost
Der Verlag Hexa House hat Barbaric: Crown of the Frost am 8. September 2026 auf Gamefound gestartet, Stand 14. September 2026 bei rund 711 Prozent des Ziels von 20.000 US-Dollar (142.141 US-Dollar). Die Erweiterung ergänzt das postapokalyptische Duell- und Erkundungsspiel Barbaric: After the Apocalypse, das von Thitinan N. entworfen wurde.
Neu ist unter anderem die Riderin Yrsa mit zwei wählbaren Entwicklungspfaden, dazu kommen weitere Kämpferinnen und Kämpfer samt ihrer Gear-Fahrzeuge für das titelgebende Winter-Setting. Im Kern bleibt das Spiel dabei, was es im Grundspiel war: Ein bis vier Spielende steuern mutierte Tierkrieger, kämpfen um Ressourcen und versuchen, den namensgebenden Energiekern im Zentrum des Spielfelds zu erobern, bevor die Bedrohung durch das Grundspiel selbst zu stark wird. Eine Partie dauert laut Kampagnenseite rund 60 Minuten, ausgelegt für ein bis vier Spielende ab 14 Jahren, ein Solo-Modus ist durch das Grundspiel gegeben.
Die Kampagne läuft noch bis zum 30. September 2026. Eine deutsche Lokalisierung nennt die Kampagnenseite nicht.
Trials of Maya
Das Studio Department of Lore aus Goa, Indien, hat Trials of Maya am 8. September 2026 auf Gamefound gestartet, Stand 14. September 2026 bei rund 400 Prozent des Ziels von 50.000 US-Dollar (199.874 US-Dollar). Entwickelt wurde das Spiel unter der Leitung von Zain Memon im Fantasy-Universum MAYA.
Ein bis vier Spielende steuern Champions mit individuellem Kartendeck durch Arena-Duelle, verwalten dabei ihre Energie und verketten Kartenkombinationen, um im richtigen Moment zuzuschlagen. Vor jeder Partie lässt sich das eigene Deck aus den Karten des gewählten Champions neu zusammenstellen, fünf verschiedene Spielmodi mit eigenen Arenen und Regeln stehen zur Auswahl. Eine Partie dauert laut BGG bis zu 120 Minuten, ausgelegt für ein bis vier Spielende ab 14 Jahren. Das Basisspiel selbst bietet zwei kompetitive Modi, ein Solo- und Koop-Modus namens „Depths of Kaav“ ist als separates Zusatzmodul für 30 US-Dollar erhältlich, nicht Teil des Basisspiels.
Die Kampagne läuft noch bis zum 13. Oktober 2026. Eine deutsche Lokalisierung nennt die Kampagne nicht.
Korrektur vom 17.09.2026: Im Abschnitt zu Everdell Journeys hieß es zunächst, das Hauptspiel Everdell erscheine in Deutschland bei Frosted Games. Richtig ist: Der deutsche Verlag ist Pegasus Spiele.
Angekündigt: Neu: Updates: ANGEKÜNDIGT In der kommenden Woche ist einiges mehr los auf den Crowdfunding-Plattformen. Es sind verschiedene Projekte angekündigt. Hier der Überblick über die kommende Woche und den verschiedenen Plattformen und die „wichtigsten“ Projekte: Arcologies Arcologies ist ein Städtebauspiel mit ein bis vier Personen über eine Spielzeit von 60 bis 150 Minuten. Mit Arcologies veröffentlicht AVStudioGames ein […]
Maestro Media is opening up the publishing, licensing, manufacturing and retail infrastructure behind its own games to outside designers and publishers, including companies looking for a North American publishing partner.
Maestro founder and CEO Javon Frazier said, “The hardest part of this industry has never been the ideas. It is everything after them. Getting your design in front of a publisher, funding the development, entering distribution, landing it on a shelf.
“We built a machine to do that for our own titles alongside some of the largest licensors in the world. Overture by Maestro Media opens that machine to everybody else.”
Maestro says Overture will allow other companies to use its existing operations for areas including development and licensing, production, manufacturing, crowdfunding, direct-to-consumer sales and retail distribution.
The company has already struck several deals along those lines, including announcing in the summer that it would publish a new North American edition of Zoch Verlag’s Ghost Blitz from January 2027.
Frazier said of the Ghost Blitz deal ahead of unveiling the game at this year’s Gen Con, “Ghost Blitz has sold more than one million copies in 20-plus languages over 15 years. Most North American families have never seen it on a shelf. That’s not a demand problem. It’s a distribution problem.
“That’s the gap we built Maestro Media to close. Crowdfunding, direct-to-consumer, and retail working as one engine, with distribution partners already in place across North America.”
Peterson Rodrigues, CEO of D20 Culture, said, “We’re excited to work with Maestro because we see the same opportunity they do: great games shouldn’t be limited by borders.
“Bringing these titles to players around the world, in their own languages and through partners who understand their markets, is exactly the kind of collaboration we want to be part of.”
Game designers will get their first opportunity to pitch original tabletop games via the new operation through a month-long submission window running from January 1 to 30 next year.
The company says it has worked with more than 40 licensed properties to date, and shipped more than 400,000 products, while Frazier has raised more than $16m across 16 crowdfunding campaigns – although almost 60% of that total comprises the two Binding of Isaac projects.
The company added that Ryan Lumax has been promoted to vice president and head of games at the company, having joined last year after almost eight years at Canadian distributor Lion Rampant Imports.
Lion Rampant was acquired by Asmodee in 2019, when Lumax was working as head purchaser. He became a purchasing manager at the business in 2023.
Lumax said, “I spent eight years on the buying side, and the games that didn’t make it were almost never the bad ones.
“They were good games whose creators ran out of road somewhere between the prototype and the pallet. That is the gap Overture by Maestro Media closes.”
CMON has warned that its core business is suffering a “prolonged structural downturn” and is still consuming more cash than it generates, despite a drastic restructuring which has seen the board game crowdfunding major halve its workforce, sell off some of its biggest game IPs and halt new crowdfunding campaigns.
Those efforts have now dramatically reduced its losses, CMON’s newly-released H1 financial report shows – with the company reporting a loss of just over $2m for the first half of this year, compared to almost $7m for the same period in 2025.
CMON’s revenue also rose more than 7% year-on-year in H1, up to $3.68m from $3.43m in the first six months of 2025, while its selling and distribution expenses more than halved from $1.83m to $859,000, and its general and administrative expenses fell from $4.37m to $2.37m.
But that improvement has failed to make the underlying business self-sustaining. CMON’s cash reserves, which stood at $3.9m at the end of 2022, had fallen to $2.1m by the end of 2024, and slipped again to just over $900,000 by June 2025.
CMON revealed last month that it had about $368,000 in bank and cash balances as of August 4, which it described as enough to cover less than a month of its daily operating expenses.
Crowdfunding Commitments
Despite the sharp reduction in its losses, CMON’s balance sheet remained under pressure at the end of June – with $7.34m more in short-term liabilities than short-term assets, up from $6.89m at the end of 2025.
A significant part of CMON’s liabilities relates to eight crowdfunded games whose campaigns raised $14m from backers, but which the company has yet to deliver.
CMON has not completed fulfillment of a crowdfunding project since Zombicide: White Death in mid-2025, but has managed to deliver pre-orders for Cthulhu: Dark Providence, Marvel United: Witching Hour and Dune: Desert War in the first half of this year.
CMON said in its H1 report that the liabilities position had caused the company’s directors to give “careful consideration to the future liquidity and performance of the group and its available sources of financing in assessing whether the group will have sufficient financial resources to continue as a going concern”.
Those directors believe CMON will be able to continue operating – but central to that assessment is a major share sale designed to raise up to HK$150.5m – about $19m.
CMON first announced the rights issue fundraise in June, proposing to offer existing shareholders the opportunity to buy three new shares for every share they already owned in an attempt to raise the capital.
That leaves CMON looking to raise more than $17.5m from other investors through the rights issue – a figure approaching 2.5-times the valuation of the entire company implied by its last share sale in February this year.
CMON said it plans to use 40% of the money raised to fund its day-to-day operations for roughly the next year, including staff costs, royalties, shipping and distribution, professional fees and other administrative and operating expenses.
Another 20% is earmarked for repaying debts and other outstanding liabilities, including $2.46m owed to a CMON director and $385,000 of unsecured advances from employees, as well as outstanding production, shipping, royalty and other operating costs.
CMON has earmarked 25% for expansion in existing and new markets, including strengthening the company’s presence in Europe through marketing and potential attendance at events including Spiel Essen and Cannes, as well as targeting growth in Japan and the Philippines.
Digital Ambitions
The company added that it plans to put 15% of the new capital towards potential acquisitions as part of a push into digital gaming, although said it had not yet identified any targets.
CMON said it intends to look for between one and three businesses, primarily in Asia-Pacific, valued at between about $1.3m and $2.5m each, which could help it develop digital adaptations of its existing games, companion apps and other digitally-enabled features.
The publisher stressed that it intends to retain physical tabletop games as its core business, with the digital push designed to complement rather than replace them.
That plan had included transitioning the company’s titles such as Massive Darkness and Super Fantasy Brawl Reborn into “high-quality digital assets” – with CMON saying the group would “continue to supplement this digital transformation as physical games would still offer a ‘screen break’ for individuals as well as foster direct face to face interaction”.
The proposed investment would have valued Blissful Link at more than $95m. Blissful Link made a loss of about $197,000 in 2024, on revenues of just over $408,000, and had net liabilities of about $889,000, according to unaudited figures provided by CMON in April. It did not include finances for 2025.
CMON said in the rights issue offer, “Under prevailing high-interest lending conditions, traditional bank borrowings and debt financing carry heavy interest and securing such financing would severely strain the group’s remaining liquidity.
“Accordingly, equity financing via the rights Issue is the most viable strategic path to recapitalize the group’s capital base without increasing debt distress.”
The directors’ assessment that CMON can remain a going concern also takes into account continued financial support from some of its directors, progress fulfilling its outstanding contract liabilities and further restructuring aimed at reducing cash outflows.
Revenue Collapse
CMON’s latest figures also reveal the scale of the collapse in its North American and European revenues over the past five years, transforming the geographical make-up of what remains of its business.
North America alone generated more than $8.6m for CMON in the first half of 2021, making up 57% of its roughly $15.1m H1 revenue. By the first half of this year, however, revenue from North and South America combined had fallen to just $642,000.
Europe has undergone a similarly dramatic contraction, with revenue from the region falling from about $4.5m in the first half of 2021 to just $982,000 in the latest six-month period.
Asia has consequently become CMON’s largest market by a considerable margin, generating more than $2m in the first half of this year and accounting for about 55% of its total revenue, compared with less than 10% in the same period of 2021.
That reversal has not been driven by Asian growth, however. CMON generated $3.22m from Asia in the first half of 2022, marking a roughly 37% decline since – but a far more resilient performance than the steep falls recorded in North America and Europe over the same period.
The publisher said in its H1 2026 report, “The group intends to continue developing its distribution and market presence in Asia while supporting its established markets in Europe.
“The group will also continue to monitor trade and tariff conditions affecting the US market, and maintain a prudent approach to allocate resources to markets and projects.”
CMON said in March this year that it intended to resume crowdfunding in the second half of 2026, but its latest interim results stop short of repeating that commitment, saying instead that new titles will be developed and launched selectively depending on market conditions, available financial resources and project readiness.
The final result of the rights issue is due to be announced on September 15.
“Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, trusts two random dentists to make a fantastic board game.”
That was the problem facing Nick Murray and Kyle Spackman, two friends who fell down the board game rabbit hole while at dental school together, when they decided to launch publisher Bitewing Games in 2020.
Bitewing’s efforts to reach out to designers ultimately provided what might have seemed an ambitious solution to that credibility problem: work with one of the biggest names in board games, prolific German designer Reiner Knizia.
Knizia and his team presented the fledgling publisher with seven prototypes to choose from, three of which became its first publishing project: the Criminal Capers Collection.
It proved the start of a defining relationship. Bitewing has since published 16 Knizia games across more than five years, building a particular reputation for digging through the legendary German designer’s enormous back catalogue for overlooked titles it believes can be successfully reworked for today’s market.
Those successes have included Zoo Vadis, Cascadero, Cascadito, Iliad, Ichor, Silos, Ego and Orbit – with Bitewing’s campaigns featuring Knizia titles among games from other designers having raised more than $2.2m between them.
But after a run of six Knizia releases last year, Murray believes Bitewing has now found “most, if not all” of the hidden gems that suit the company’s catalogue – and is increasingly looking towards video games as another route to finding potentially long-lasting hits.
Bitewing Games co-founder Nick Murray
He told BoardGameWire, “There was a period of time where Bitewing was finding some phenomenal hidden gems in Knizia’s catalogue and inspiration struck for how to evolve them, and we were fortunate that Reiner was up for revisiting them with our development goals in mind. That all culminated in a truly wild run of 2024 and 2025 Knizia releases… an explosion that I don’t expect we’ll ever see again.
“Of course we are still finding a few here and there like Gold Country, Eureka, and Escar-GO, but after playing over 200 different Knizia games (and researching hundreds more) I’ve increasingly felt that we’ve found most (if not all) of the hidden gems that are a great fit for Bitewing.
“The other thing worth noting about re-implementing older games is that you are immediately fighting an uphill battle. You see it from gamers, critics, localization partners, and retailers, especially those who have been in the industry for enough years – if a game is perceived as “old”, even it is entirely new to them and dramatically updated, they lose interest.
“Even when we go to great lengths to show how the original designer has improved the gameplay and the art team has enhanced the presentation, helping a game evolve into something even more special and exciting (at least in my opinion), it’s sometimes not enough for certain folks.
“Entirely new games have a huge psychological advantage over reprints, rethemes, and reimplementations – unless that old game is considered a major classic like Ra or Cyclades.”
The publisher is now pushing further into video games with adaptations of two established indie releases – most notably acclaimed 2019 puzzle game Baba Is You, which picked up a string of major industry awards on its release and has sold hundreds of thousands of copies through digital PC distribution platform Steam alone.
Launching alongside it is Party House, one of the breakout games from highly regarded 2024 retro videogame collection UFO 50. Its creator Jon Perry is also designing Bitewing’s tabletop adaptation, adding to a board game CV that already includes Air, Land & Sea, Spots and multipleaward–winning 2025 release Hot Streak – Murray’s favourite board game of last year.
The shift forms part of a significant new phase for Bitewing, which also saw Murray step away from dentistry this year to work on the publisher full-time – making the commercial success and longevity of the games it chooses increasingly important.
Murray told BoardGameWire, “The most deliberate change we are making is shifting our focus from many small passion projects to more carefully selected heavy hitters. Especially now that I’ve stepped away from dentistry this year to go full-time on Bitewing, I want to make games that have the best potential to last more than one or two print runs.
“My family’s livelihood depends on me making smart decisions with the projects we take on. So we’re not only trying to reach new audiences (like the solo gaming community with our Table For One Series, Rolling Deep and Eureka), but we’re also trying to find and create the very best experiences in each genre.”
Murray told BoardGameWire that despite his long interest in video games – he says he has owned every major Nintendo console and handheld since the NES was released in the mid-1980s – making board game adaptations of digital titles “wasn’t really something we were actively seeking”.
He said, “Obtaining licensing rights for established IPs is a rather intimidating challenge. Plus that’s only half the battle – having a great IP to slap onto a game box doesn’t automatically make it a great board game. But we were lucky enough to have a huge opportunity land in our laps, and we’ve fully embraced it.
“The two projects that have really blown the doors open for us have been Rolling Deep and Baba Is You: The Board Game, which are both designed by Peter C Hayward. So if anyone deserves the credit for being a catalyst to Bitewing’s strategic evolution, it’s Peter.
“As a huge fan of Balatro and Baba Is You, and a very capable board game designer, Peter set out to pay homage to Balatro with a dice-crafting roguelike adventure and adapt Baba Is You to a 2-player strategy game, in collaboration with the developer of Baba Is You. When Peter pitched these designs to us, I was hooked. I’m already a huge fan of Balatro and Baba Is You, so those were an easy sell for me.
“With Rolling Deep, I realized that this was also a perfect opportunity to use a watercolor rubber hose animation style for the game – reinvigorated by Cuphead, which I’m also a huge fan of. So the first artist I reached out to was Caitlin Russell [the background artist of Cuphead], and we were extremely fortunate to have her join the project.
“From my perspective, we’re simply doing what we’ve always done… which is pouring all of our passion and excitement as fans of these types of games into the biggest opportunities we can find.
“Of course, despite Reiner Knizia being perhaps the world’s biggest board game designer, even he is eclipsed by so much of the video game industry. So I’m not blind to the fact that titles like Rolling Deep, Baba Is You, and Party House have a much bigger reach straight from day one.
“The longer I’m in the board games industry, the more I realize just how important it is to stand out. With over 5,000 new games releasing each year, it’s no wonder that so many great games are easily overlooked or quickly forgotten.
“While many publishers like Bitewing are fortunate to be sustained by an amazing fanbase, we’re all hunting for that next huge hit. Having one or more ‘evergreen’ titles in your catalogue allows for so much more security and growth.”
Finding Hits
Murray added that Rolling Deep’s success especially had affected how he thinks about selecting future releases.
He told BoardGameWire, “Rolling Deep has proven to me that for designers and publishers, you are much better off starting with something that is popular or widely loved and building a game or product on that.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to be an established IP or a direct homage to a specific game (like Balatro). Many huge hits have taken one or more popular ingredients and presented them in a thrilling new way: Dune Imperium combines deck building with worker placement (two very popular mechanisms). Magical Athlete takes wacky player asymmetry (another popular board game mechanism) and maximizes it in a highly approachable racing game. Wingspan takes bird watching (an immensely popular hobby) and turns it into the ultimate game for bird fans.
“In the case of Rolling Deep, the concept was ridiculously easy to get folks excited about with just one sentence: A Balatro-style roguelike solo adventure featuring dice crafting and artwork inspired by Cuphead.
“To me, Rolling Deep and other hits like the ones mentioned above have become the gold standard for how marketable we want all of our games to be.”
He told BoardGameWire at the end of August that pre-launch follower numbers were tracking alongside Rolling Deep, while trailers for the two games had generated unusually high viewing figures.
The Baba Is You board game trailer alone has generated more than 240,000 combined views across Bitewing Games’ and Baba Is You video game creator Hempuli’s YouTube channels – far more than any of the publisher’s previous game trailers or videos.
That contrasts with Murray’s experience of the games’ reveal at Gen Con, where he said few of the board game media attending had played either original video game.
He told BoardGameWire, “My expectation is that we’ll see a huge percentage of our backers for this project be from the video game community rather than the board game community. And I’ll be thrilled if our adaptations help any of those people fall in love with board games.
“I firmly believe that board games are for everyone! Anyone who says otherwise just hasn’t found the right game for them (yet).”
But Murray added that attracting an audience from outside the traditional board game market also puts greater importance on getting the adaptations themselves right – preserving what people like about the original games without attempting to reproduce them wholesale on the tabletop.
He said, “I think a lot of adaptations make the mistake of trying to perfectly simulate or mimic the experience of the IP they are based on.
“Instead of embracing the strengths and mitigating the weaknesses of our tabletop medium, they try to cram a square peg into a round hole. Or they take the opposite approach and merely slap a popular brand on a board or card game without much meaningful connection between the two.
“With anything IP related, my goal is to wow both the fans and the creators of that IP. The adaptation should preserve the spirit of that IP, but it should also fully embrace and respect its form as a tabletop game.
“And it should stand on its own as an incredible board game experience, even for people who have zero familiarity with the IP.”
Murray added that he hopes Baba Is You, Party House, and Rolling Deep are enough to “get the ball rolling” for other video game adaptations.
The push into videogames does not mean Bitewing is moving away from Knizia, however, with Murray saying its long partnership with the designer “will continue” – adding that the company’s wider slate is also expanding through work with designers including David Thompson, Trevor Benjamin, Brett J. Gilbert, Kasper Lapp and Perry.
Murray said, “Folks will always regard Bitewing and Knizia as close partners, and we’re proud of it! But I’m always seeking opportunities to work with my favorite creators.”
Giant Roc bringt mit „Mercurial: Alchemia“ die deutsche Ausgabe des Alchemie-Spiels von Designer David Goh über die Spieleschmiede auf den Markt. Das Original erschien 2025 bei Hyperlixir zunächst auf Kickstarter und ist seither auf BoardGameGeek mit 8,1 von 10 Punkten bei bislang 30 Wertungen gelistet, eine kleine Stichprobe, die vor allem von Unterstützenden der Kickstarter-Kampagne stammen dürfte und eher die Begeisterung dieses Kreises als ein unabhängiges Qualitätsurteil widerspiegelt.
Worum es in Mercurial: Alchemia geht
„Mercurial: Alchemia“ spielt laut BGG-Beschreibung zwölf Jahre nach dem Vorgänger „Mercurial“ (2023) im selben Fantasy-Setting, diesmal im Bündnis-Knotenpunkt Concordia. Spielende übernehmen angehende Alchemisten, die nachts ein persönliches Terrarium mit fantastischen Pflanzen und Kreaturen kultivieren und daraus Zutaten für Elixiere gewinnen, tagsüber auf dem Basar Taliq’ir Samen und Eier einkaufen und an den sogenannten Runalithen ihr Terrarium verzaubern lassen. Gebraute Tränke verkaufen sie an die Gilde, wobei die gewählten Zutaten sich gegenseitig verstärken oder aufheben können. Laut Verlagsseite ist Alchemia ein eigenständiges Spiel, Vorkenntnisse aus dem ersten Teil sind nicht nötig.
Das Spiel ist für 1 bis 4 Spielende ab 14 Jahren ausgelegt, eine Partie dauert 90 bis 120 Minuten. Mechanisch kombiniert es Deck-, Bag- und Pool-Building mit Worker Placement, Hand-Management und variablen Spielerfähigkeiten, laut BGG-Einstufung mit einem Gewicht von 3,33 von 5 ist es eher etwas für Kenner- und Vielspielende. Der Vorgänger „Mercurial“ war mit einer Spielzeit von 45 bis 90 Minuten und einem Gewicht von 3,21 etwas leichter und kürzer, erschien 2023 ebenfalls als deutsche Ausgabe über die Spieleschmiede.
Nach Angaben der Verlagsseite unterstützt Alchemia sowohl einen Solo- als auch einen kompetitiven Mehrspieler-Modus, Details zu einem möglichen Automa-Gegner nennt der Verlag nicht. Die Interaktion folgt einem Tag-Nacht-Rhythmus: Tagsüber handeln und konkurrieren Spielende auf dem Basar und bei rivalisierenden Alchemisten, nachts spielen alle ihre Zutatenkarten simultan aus.
Kampagne und Preise bei der Spieleschmiede
Die Kampagne läuft noch 28 Tage (Stand: 8. September 2026) und zählt bislang 4 Unterstützende. Vier Stufen stehen zur Wahl: „Kalzinat“ für 5 Euro ohne physisches Produkt, nur mit einer Errungenschaft im Spielernetzwerk der Spieleschmiede, „Chrysopoeia“ für 10 Euro mit ausschließlich dem deutschen Regelheft, gedacht für alle, die das Spiel bereits auf Englisch besitzen, sowie „Magnum Opus“ (80 Euro) und „Hermetischer Verschluss“ (92 Euro) mit der deutschen Collector’s Edition, bei Letzterer zusätzlich mit passenden Kartenhüllen. Eine weitere Collector’s Edition lässt sich als Zusatzoption für ebenfalls 80 Euro dazubuchen.
Weitere Kampagnendetails wie Liefertermin oder Stretch Goals nennt die Spieleschmiede-Seite bislang nicht.
As you know, I do love me a good Card Driven Game….or a game that uses cards….multi-use cards. I love cards because it allows for the designer to keep a game going while using a vehicle that incorporates special rules that fit a historical situation but also to be able to use bits of the history itself to teach the players about the topic. A few months ago, I caught wind that The Dietz Foundation was working again with Yoni Goldstein on his second game called The Nights of King Ludd: The Luddite War on Industry, 1811-? that recently launched on Kickstarter (the game has already funded). The Nights of King Ludd is a 2-4 player game that deals with direct oath-sworn secret societies of English Luddites at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the English Midlands. Working together, players will build a secret network of saboteurs, ferry provisions and weapons on the black market, assemble raiding parties, and if all goes as planned, smash those “dark satanic mills” to cinders. I reached out to Yoni to get a bit more information about the design and he was more than willing to share.
Grant: Yoni welcome back to our blog. What have been your feelings about the reception of your great game Chicago ‘68?
Yoni: I’ve joked that I’ve taught this game now more than I’ve played it (of course this is only true if one just counts the last couple years!). Since 2024, I’ve taught it to a diverse and intergenerational cohort of non gamers, grognards, peace activists, veterans, and even a few spooks. Inevitably players relate the experience they are having on the board to what they see in their neighborhoods: protests and tear gas, troops deployed into cities, election interference, and so on. Those conversations are still ongoing and I’m heartened that Chicago ‘68 is facilitating a space for that.
Grant: What lessons did you learn from that experience that have helped you with your new game?
Yoni: I’m grateful that Joe Dewhurst, who developed both Chicago ‘68 and the upcoming The Nights of King of Ludd, guided me through the design, testing, and development processes. Ludd is my second game and it went through a number of iterations, but this time we had a proper methodology in place. Likewise, The Dietz Foundation was very transparent with the manufacturing and publishing side of things, which gave me a deeper understanding of the timeline and proofing / editing process that accompanies those final stages of production.
Grant: What is your new upcoming game The Nights of King Ludd about?
Yoni:The Nights of King Ludd is a collaborative game for 2-4 players about the Luddite revolts in the English Midlands. Set roughly around 1811, the game tells the story of local workers in the textile industry (“weavers”) forming secret societies and leading armed raids against mills and factories in their communities. Players command an oath-sworn organization of conspirators working with the Luddites to achieve the collective goal of machine wrecking while also attempting to meet their individual motivations (which may include assassinating the local manufacturer, spurring a republican revolution, or just avoiding an Australian exile).
In terms of game mechanics, you are building a dice pool while also maneuvering pieces and collecting multi-use cards to modify your roles. Collectively you are building a tableau and operating it together to mount a series of raids against the three Mills on the map.
Grant: What is the meaning of the title of the game? What should it convey to players about the game and the history it represents?
Yoni: The title of the game is borrowed from a chapter in Gavin Mueller’s book from 2021, Breaking Things at Work. Mueller is among a cohort of authors, including Kirkpatrick Sales (Rebels Against the Future), Brian Merchant (Blood in the Machine) and Cory Doctorow, who are working to reconsider the Luddites’ reputation in the age of AI and the gig economy. Rather than seeing them as misguided revolts against the inevitability of technological progress, these writers appraise the Luddites in their historical context as severely desperate labor movements against tech oligarchies. The Luddites’ aims were, ultimately, to raise the minimum wage, cease child labor, and to maintain a higher standard of craftsmanship and quality in the production of textile goods. At every point their appeals to authority were spurned. So they turned to mob justice. “You may call the people a mob,” remarked Lord Byron before Parliament, “but do not forget that a mob too often speaks the sentiments of the people.”
The subtitle of the game, “The Luddite War on Industry, 1811-?” is also a cheeky nod to Volko’s Labyrinth: The War on Terror, 2001 – ?. While these games don’t share a mechanical similarity, they both explore the ongoing and unpredictable nature of insurgencies.
Grant: Why was this a subject you wanted to focus on?
Yoni: My area of interest in game design, broadly speaking, is movement politics on an operational scale. As with Chicago ‘68, the Luddite war on industry feels an under-explored subject matter in historical gaming. While there are certainly titles about the Industrial Revolution from the perspective of barons and magnates (especially in the Euro game niche), little is mentioned about the social, political, and ecological costs of these endeavors for progress.
Moreover, the story of the Luddites and their “secret societies” is about the tensions of modernity. New technologies combined with extensive wars abroad drove a rise in food costs and detonated an affordability crisis in the imperial homeland. Communication media (handbills, newspaper editorials, and pseudonymous letters) was an instrument of persuasion, vitriol, and threats. Suspected Luddites and their sympathizers were surveilled by the state, which increasingly saw its interests entwined with industrial capital. We’ve seen this all before!
Grant: What are the unique features with the system used for the game?
Yoni: The Nights of King Ludd has a unique framework for collaborative engine building. Initially, players draw from “The Commons” (a shifting card pool) where each card has the same “trade cost.” On your turn, you may activate a Conspirator (spending an action point) to draw a card into one of the columns in your tableau. Each column upgrades your actions with a permanent ability. If you specialize your actions, you can harmonize a collective strategy between players and hone in on the steps you need to take to sabotage the mills.
In the Commons we are evoking the notion of a shared economy. But this may shift dramatically when decreasing wages and increasing productivity converge. Then, the Commons transforms into the “Common Market.” Now, players are building their tableaux with an increasing cost, similar to the Pax Series (for example, Pax Pamir or Pax Renaissance). Each player is now facing a decision: overwork their cabal of conspirators or draw on the labor power of the workers in the textile industry (which drains their militant power on the map).
Grant: What does the collaborative portion of the subtitle mean for the game? How do the players cooperate?
Yoni: I choose “collaborative” not “cooperative” as a descriptor to emphasize the multi-victor nature of the game. In The Nights of King Ludd, each player chooses not only their persona and their role in the Luddite struggle (with asymmetric abilities and effects), they also put forward a “Motivation.” Motivations are personal victory conditions that unlock if the collective win condition (destroying all three mills on the map) is met. This gives shape to the degree of player friction in the game. For example, Lord Byron’s motivation is to turn down the heat from the ruling Regency. His motivation is in conflict with George Mellor’s, the famed assassin, whose attempts at the Manufacturer’s life will ratchet up the crown’s crackdown. But pair John Baines, a republican agitator, with the Molyneux sisters, two young women destined to labor in the mills, and the gameplay will tilt more toward cooperation. In this case, Baines is working to regulate the industriousness of the mill (keeping productivity low and wages high) while the Sisters are interested in keeping workers employed. So the degree of cooperation is up to the players, and as often happens, someone may have to make a noble sacrifice for the collective good.
Grant: What did you need to model regarding the English Luddites at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution?
Yoni: As EP Thompson (The Making of the English Working Class) notes, the history of the Luddites is, at best, “opaque.” We are grappling with a story about secret societies in an era where workers associations were illegal and damaging weaving frames was a capital offence. As such, we have dubious claims from government spies, confessions before “hanging judges,” and pseudonymous letters and handbills. Consequently, the model had to be expansive enough to capture the granular nature of these conspiratorial operations, but also open enough to allow for the plausibility of a broad range of player actions.
For example, one of the core actions is to “rally local weavers,” which is a form of recruitment. In game terms, this means moving one of the Employed Weaver cubes into an Enclosure where they can contribute to your force strength. This action may represent members of your secret society swearing in sympathetic workers in local pubs, or calling a clandestine meeting in the nearby woods. We don’t know precisely how the Luddites organized themselves, so the language has to be inclusive of these possibilities. Players then “assemble a raiding party”, which is to move the cubes from the enclosure into a nearby Mill. Each cube in the Mill space adds a die to the Sabotage roll (which is the primary means of wrecking machines). So here is a group of raiders hiding in the hedge and awaiting the signal from King Ludd. They are spurred on by the Mobs who have surrounded the site, represented by these Mob tiles. Matching a die roll to the symbol on the Mob Tile is how you roll a “hit.” The intention is to shape a series of amorphous and difficult to historicize chain of events into a familiar wargaming mechanism: rolling a handful of dice representing an “attack” and applying modifiers to the results.
Grant: What is your design goal with the game?
Yoni: My overall aim was to develop a system that could express a relationship between an abstract economic system, worker uprisings, and the coming together of industry and aristocracy to form a ruling class. But on a purely design level, I wanted to work within the framework of a Pax Series style market that you encounter in games like Pax Pamir and Pax Renaissance. That is, a shifting market of cards that players can purchase and place into their tableau. It’s an evocative description of history as a bazaar of possibilities and counterfactuals. The Nights of King Ludd tweaks this vision of history as somewhere between a commons (a gift economy) and a market (which costs worker power as in-game resources).
But really, I want this to be a “raiding party game.” Beneath the heady layers of history and theory is a brisk experience featuring dice odds, clever combos, and cooperation with your friends (while slyly pushing your own agenda!).
Grant: What other games did you use as inspiration?
Yoni: John Company from Wehrlegig Games is certainly one of the biggest inspirations, taking place in a similar era of British imperial economic imperialism (Ludd is at the tail end of JoCo’s later scenarios) and drawing on the satirical printworks of the time. Like John Company, players are asked to intervene in an existing ecosystem. In both games, player actions accelerate a system that will simultaneously reward and punish everyone at the table. How this is doled out is uneven, so players have to weave and dodge to make best of a collapsing infrastructure.
Grant: What sources did you consult about the history?
Yoni: An invaluable resource for all things Luddite is the Luddite Bicentenary curated by Richard Holland. This is a comprehensive digital archive of historical ephemera devoted to Luddism, including handbills, court transcripts, and other images and texts. I also quote extensively from Rebels Against the Future by Kilpatrick Sale and The Risings of the Luddites: Chartists and Plug-Drawers by Frank Peel, E.P. Thompson, as well as The Making of the English Working Class also by E.P. Thompson.
Other reference texts include:
Writings of the Luddites edited by Kevin Binfield
Ben o’ Bill’s, The Luddite: A Yorkshire Tale by Daniel Frederick Edward Sykes, George Henry Walker
Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right About Why You Hate Your Job by Gavin Mueller
The Luddite Rebellion by Brian Bailey
Blood in the Machine by Brian Merchant
Women in Protests 1800-1850 by Malcolm Thomis
Convict Lives at the Launceston Female Factory (A swing rioter: Elizabeth Studhamby Keryn Rivett), edited by Lucy Frost & Meredith Hodgson,
Grant: What is the dice pool building mechanic and how does it work in the design?
Yoni: At the core of the game is a fairly straightforward dice mechanic for resolving raids against the three mills on the map. Throughout the course of the round, players add “saboteur dice” to the dice pool, representing the Luddite’s militant capacity. These are D6’s with the following icons: gun, hammer, and torch (matching the “mobs tiles” – armed rabble surrounding the mill). The remaining three sides are blank and always result in a miss.
When a sabotage operation is initiated, the number of dice rolled is determined by the number of raiders you’ve positioned at the mill and what constitutes a possible hit is determined by the matching icons on the nearby mob tiles (again; gun, hammer, or torch). All misses are returned to supply but if at least one hit is rolled, you may push on and carry out multiple raids, striking at other mills as well.
As your readers can deduce, the purpose of the tableau building and the card engine is to modify the odds of the roll in your favor, i.e. the more raiders you assemble the more dice you will roll, and the more mobs you’ve fomented the more likely you are to roll a hit.
Grant: What is the general Sequence of Play?
Yoni: As neighboring societies of Luddites, you have three rounds before the Crown musters its army and crushes the revolts. Each round is structured the same:
Dawn: Industry Operates – at the beginning of the second and third round your adversaries in London will take actions against you, sending the militia on patrols and accelerating industrial production.
Day: The Manufacturer Speculates – during this phase, the local manufacturer will take an action, depleting the Commons of its resources.
Night: The Luddites Conspire – this is the main phase of the game, where each player takes turns resolving a Conspiracy action by spending a Ready Conspirator cube on their boards. Each player takes a primary Conspiracy Action and resolves any secondary effects on Cards tucked into the Column of that Conspiracy on their Player Boards. In this phase, players can attempt a sabotage roll to destroy the Mills.
Round’s End – when there are no Ready Conspirators (or all players pass) players reset the components for the next round.
Thank you for your time in answering our questions Yoni! I am very much interested in this game and its efforts to tell this very interesting story of resistance. While this is not a traditional wargame, in my opinion it certainly merits a serious look from wargamers who are interested in CDG’s and games that use cards and that are interested in seeing these type of non-traditional historical subjects represented. I have backed the project and look forward to getting my copy next year!
Auch in der zweiten Septemberwoche bleibt es bei Kickstarter, Gamefound und Spieleschmiede eher ruhig, die großen Neustarts der letzten sieben Tage (31. August bis 7. September 2026) waren bereits eigene Meldungen dieser Redaktion. Zwei weitere Kampagnen erreichen zusätzlich die Auswahlkriterien: eine Jubiläumsausgabe eines Verhandlungs-Klassikers und ein Kunstschul-Spiel, das sein Finanzierungsziel um mehr als das Vierzigfache übertrifft.
Fief: France 45th Anniversary Edition
Der französische Verlag International Team hat Fief: France 45th Anniversary Edition am 1. September 2026 auf Gamefound gestartet, Stand 7. September 2026 bei rund 273 Prozent des Ziels von 30.000 Euro (82.043 Euro). Design stammt von Philippe Mouchebeuf, der die Fief-Reihe ursprünglich entworfen hat.
Drei bis sechs Spielende führen eine Adelsfamilie im mittelalterlichen Frankreich und kämpfen über Bündnisse, Heiraten, Wahlen, Kirchenämter und offene Kriege um die Vorherrschaft im Königreich. Mechanisch verbindet das Spiel Verhandlung, Gebietskontrolle, Würfelwürfe und ein Bestechungssystem, dazu kommen geheime Truppenbewegungen und Abstimmungen im Kronrat. Zum 45-jährigen Jubiläum der Reihe überarbeitet diese Ausgabe einzelne Abläufe und bündelt Inhalte aus früheren Erweiterungen der Vorgängerausgabe. Eine Partie dauert laut Kampagnenseite rund 120 Minuten, ausgelegt für drei bis sechs Spielende ab 14 Jahren, einen Solo-Modus gibt es bei dieser Spielerzahl nicht.
Die Kampagne läuft noch bis zum 17. September 2026. Eine deutsche Ausgabe ist bestätigt.
Reverie: Symphony of Colors
Das US-Studio Dux Somnium Games hat Reverie: Symphony of Colors am 1. September 2026 auf Kickstarter gestartet, Stand 7. September 2026 bei rund 4609 Prozent des Ziels von 5.000 US-Dollar (230.460 US-Dollar, 1.434 Unterstützende). Design stammt von Amy Droz und Dusty Droz.
Ein bis vier Spielende schlüpfen in die Rolle angehender Künstlerinnen und Künstler an einer viktorianischen Kunstschule, sammeln Pigmente, erlernen neue Techniken und knüpfen Freundschaften, um daraus eigene Meisterwerke zu schaffen. Punkte gibt es über die sogenannte Euphorie, ein Maß für die persönliche Entwicklung und die geschaffenen Werke im Spielverlauf. Eine Partie dauert laut BGG rund 70 Minuten, ausgelegt für ein bis vier Spielende ab 8 Jahren, ein Solo-Modus ist enthalten. Details zu einem eigenen Automa-System nennt die Kampagne nicht.
Die Kampagne läuft noch bis zum 1. Oktober 2026. Eine deutsche Lokalisierung ist bislang nicht angekündigt.
Angekündigt: Neu: Updates: ANGEKÜNDIGT In der kommenden Woche im Crowdfunding: Sommerpause. Es sind einige wenige Projekte angekündigt. Hier der Überblick über die kommende Woche und den verschiedenen Plattformen und die „wichtigsten“ Projekte: Barbaric: Crown of the Frost Mit Barbaric: Crown of the Frost erhält das postapokalyptische Brettspiel Barbaric: After the Apocalypse neue Inhalte. Im Grundspiel kombinieren die Spielenden unterschiedliche […]
Dire Wolf startet zum zehnjährigen Jubiläum von Clank! eine Kickstarter-Kampagne für „Cube of Holding and The Forgotten Vault“: eine neue Erweiterung, eine Deluxe-Aufbewahrungsbox für die Sammlung und aktualisierte Karten und Komponenten zur Master Thief Edition. Die Kampagne läuft vom 3. bis 29. September 2026, bei einem Ziel von 50.000 US-Dollar steht sie bereits am ersten Tag bei 327 Prozent (163.700 Dollar, 593 Unterstützende, Stand: 3. September 2026). Kickstarter selbst hat das Projekt zusätzlich als „Staff Pick“ ausgezeichnet, eine redaktionelle Plattform-Auswahl, kein unabhängiges Qualitätsurteil.
Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure von Paul Dennen (Dire Wolf/Renegade Game Studios, 2016) ist ein Deckbuilder für 2 bis 4 Spielende ab 12 Jahren, eine Partie dauert 30 bis 60 Minuten. Wer sich in die Höhle eines Drachen schleicht, sammelt Artefakte, während jedes laute Manöver den Zorn des Drachen steigert.
Was „The Forgotten Vault“ bringt
„The Forgotten Vault“ führt in die verwunschenen Ruinen einer alten Bibliothek: Zwei neue Spielpläne, „The Ancient Archive“ und „The Clocktower“, versetzen laut Verlag den Dungeon in Bewegung, etwa über Pendel und Seile, in Study Rooms lassen sich mit Secret Tomes dauerhafte Verbesserungen freischalten, dazu spuken Geister durch die Gänge. Wie viele Erweiterungen die Cube of Holding tatsächlich fasst, beziffert die Kampagne nicht näher. Zu einer deutschen Lokalisierung von Erweiterung oder Cube of Holding äußert sich die Kampagne bisher nicht.
Pledges und Lieferung
Die Pledges umfassen, mit den von Dire Wolf angegebenen Ersparnissen gegenüber dem Einzelkauf: Birthday Wish ab 10 Dollar (individuelles Baukasten-Paket über BackerKit), A Journey Continues für 115 Dollar (Cube plus neue Erweiterung, 8 Prozent), Dungeon Delver für 205 Dollar (zusätzlich das komplette Master-Thief-Edition-Set, 9 Prozent), The Treasure Chest für 210 Dollar (11 Prozent) sowie Dragon's Hoard für 435 Dollar beziehungsweise 395 Dollar ohne Basisspiel, das größte Paket mit 21 Prozent. Nur bei Dragon's Hoard unterscheidet die Kampagne explizit zwischen den Varianten mit und ohne Grundspiel, bei den übrigen Stufen bleibt offen, ob das Basisspiel jeweils enthalten ist. Der BackerKit-Baukasten soll im Dezember 2026 geliefert werden, alle übrigen Pledges im August 2027.
Zum Versand nach Deutschland äußert sich die Kampagne nur allgemein: Laut FAQ zählt die EU zu den regulär belieferten Regionen, der Versand erfolgt dort aus einem Fulfillment-Zentrum innerhalb der EU. Eine Liste einzelner Länder nennt die Kampagne nicht.
Der deutsche Solo-Entwickler Andreas Sperling startet mit Jurassic Crisis eine Gamefound-Kampagne für ein Survival-Brettspiel im Stil von ARK: Survival Evolved, mit Dinosauriern, Basisbau und wählbarem Koop- oder Kompetitiv-Modus. Schon am ersten Kampagnentag ist das Projekt mit 216 Prozent des Fördersziels deutlich überfinanziert: 108.370 statt der veranschlagten 50.000 Euro, getragen von 443 Unterstützenden.
Modi und Spieldaten
Gespielt wird wahlweise PvE, kooperativ oder solo, oder PvPvE im kompetitiven Modus mit asymmetrischen Rollen und Informationen. Auf einem Hexfeld errichten die Spielenden Basen, zähmen Dinosaurier, verwalten Ressourcen und schließen laut Kampagnenbeschreibung auch Bündnisse. Jurassic Crisis ist für 1 bis 4 Spielende ab 12 Jahren ausgelegt, die Regelhefte sollen laut Ankündigung jeweils rund 50 Seiten umfassen. Zur Spieldauer widersprechen sich die Quellen: Gamefound nennt 90 Minuten, BGG dagegen 90 bis 360 Minuten, welche Angabe für eine einzelne Partie gilt, lässt sich aus der Kampagnenseite nicht eindeutig klären.
Der PvE-Modus ist laut Kampagnenseite ausdrücklich auch solo spielbar. Ob der Koop-Modus zu echter Absprache zwischen den Spielenden führt oder eher zu parallelen Einzelbasen, beschreibt die Kampagnenseite nicht genauer.
Inhaltlich gliedert die Kampagnenseite das Spiel in mehrere Themenbereiche: „Ride a Dino“ für das Zähmen und Reiten der Dinosaurier, „Structures“ für den Aufbau und Ausbau der eigenen Basis, „Food & Rations“ für die Versorgung von Spielfigur und Dinosauriern mit Nahrung. Wie eine einzelne Spielrunde konkret abläuft, welche Kosten das Zähmen hat oder wie der Konflikt zwischen Spielenden im PvPvE-Modus im Detail funktioniert, zeigt die Kampagnenseite überwiegend in Bildern und einem Video statt in beschreibendem Fließtext, Details dazu dürften erst die verlinkten Regelhefte liefern.
Pledges: von Core Game bis Community-Paket
Das Core Game kostet 99 Euro. Das Gameplay Bundle (Core Game plus zwei Erweiterungen) kostet 143 statt regulär 163 Euro, das Ultimate Collector’s All-In mit sämtlichem Zubehör 229 statt 282 Euro, beides zusätzlicher Spielinhalt zum Vorteilspreis. Die Creator Supporter Limited Edition für 499 Euro (nur 100 Stück, nur auf Englisch) enthält die komplette All-In-Ausgabe plus exklusive Unterstützer-Extras, das ist vor allem Sammlerwert statt neuer Mechanik. Der Community Pledge liefert sechs Exemplare des Core Game für 475 Euro, gedacht für Spielgruppen und Vereine.
An Zusatzoptionen gibt es die 4-Spieler-Erweiterung (35 Euro) und die Redwood-Survivors-Erweiterung (29 Euro) als neuen Spielinhalt, dazu reine Komponenten-Aufwertungen wie eine Neopren-Spielmatte (33 Euro), ein Deluxe-Insert von Poland Games (40 Euro) und zwei Holzmarker-Sets (25 beziehungsweise 29 Euro).
Holzmarker-Set (145 Teile) als Zusatzoption zum Core GameDeluxe-Insert von Poland Games als Zusatzoption
Eine Stretch-Goal-Leiter hat Sperling Spiele bislang nicht veröffentlicht, die Kampagne läuft erst seit heute. Es ist laut eigener Angabe die erste Crowdfunding-Kampagne von Andreas Sperling, eine Liefer- oder Kampagnenbilanz aus früheren Projekten gibt es entsprechend nicht. Jurassic Crisis selbst sei nach eigenen Worten ein rund zehn Jahre altes Projekt, das nun endlich umgesetzt werde. Die Lieferung ist laut Kampagnenseite zwischen Oktober 2027 und Februar 2028 vorgesehen.
Grimspire startet zwei Kampagnen gleichzeitig auf der Spieleschmiede: „Dice Throne 2026“ bringt sechs neue Helden für das Duell-System, „Dice Throne: Adventures (2. Auflage)“ legt den kooperativen Dungeon-Ableger neu auf. Grimspire ist laut eigener Kampagnenseite der Ersteller beider Aktionen und bringt als deutscher Partner von Originalverlag Roxley die deutschen Ausgaben der Reihe heraus. Beide Aktionen laufen seit dem 1. September 2026, jeweils 28 Tage, ohne festes Fundingziel. Einen Liefertermin nennt keine der beiden Kampagnenseiten.
Dice Throne 2026: Sechs neue Helden
Im Duell-System von Dice Throne treten 2 bis 6 Spielende gegeneinander an: einzeln im 1-gegen-1, in Teams wie 2-gegen-2 oder 3-gegen-3, oder im Free-for-all. Jede Figur greift mit einem eigenen Fünf-Würfel-Set an und aktiviert Fähigkeiten über Karten, gespielt wird ab 8 Jahren, eine Partie dauert rund 30 Minuten, einen Solo-Modus gibt es nicht. Neu sind vier Helden aus der Vanguard-Reihe (Druid, Duelist, Forgemaster, Sun Elf) sowie zwei eigenständige Charaktere (Alchemist, Mystic Brawler), alle auf Deutsch. Ein Grundspiel-Kasten ist für die neuen Packs laut BGG nicht nötig, für ein Duell reichen zwei beliebige Heldenpacks aus jeder Season.
Die sechs Helden unterscheiden sich deutlich im Spielstil: Druid wechselt zwischen Bär-Form zum Einstecken und Katze-Form für kraftvolle Angriffe, Forgemaster rüstet sich und Verbündete mit Ausrüstung auf, und Mystic Brawler setzt auf reine Wucht. Duelist weicht mit einem neuen „Footwork“-System aus und kontert, Sun Elf heilt oder greift mit Sonnenenergie an, und Alchemist wirkt mit Tränken offensiv wie defensiv. Ob die neuen Helden das bestehende Kräfteverhältnis verschieben, sagt die Kampagnenseite nicht, mit dem Footwork-System bringt zumindest der Duelist ein neues Subsystem mit.
Wer einzelne Helden will, zahlt 15 Euro pro Pack, reiner Spielinhalt ohne Extras. Der Sixpack „Neue Helden Pur“ bündelt alle sechs für 90 Euro, ebenfalls ohne Zusatzmaterial. Der Sixpack „Neue Helden Deluxe“ kostet 220 Euro und legt zu den sechs Helden noch die passenden Accessory Packs sowie eine leere Strongbox obendrauf. Die Accessory Packs bringen laut Kampagnenbildern pro Held eine Miniatur, Premium-Kartenhüllen und Acryltoken, das ist reine Komponenten-Aufwertung, kein zusätzlicher Spielinhalt.
Dice Throne Adventures: Der Koop-Ableger kommt zurück
Dice Throne: Adventures nutzt die bereits vorhandenen Helden aus Season 1, Season 2 oder den Marvel-Sets für eine kooperative Kampagne: Bis zu 4 Spielende ziehen gemeinsam durch mehrere Szenarien, kämpfen gegen Bosse und rüsten ihre Decks von Partie zu Partie auf. Gespielt wird ab 10 Jahren, eine Partie dauert 60 bis 120 Minuten. Anders als das Duell-Grundspiel, das in der BGG-Spieleranzahl-Umfrage für eine Person kaum empfohlen wird, ist Adventures ausdrücklich solo spielbar und kommt dort für eine Person ganz ohne Ablehnungen aus.
Der Hauptpledge kostet 115 Euro für die zweite deutsche Auflage. Dazu kommen bemalte Miniaturen für Staffel 1 und Staffel 2 (je 50 Euro, laut Kampagnenseite nur noch begrenzt verfügbar), reine Optik ohne neue Spielinhalte. Besitzerinnen und Besitzer der Erstauflage können außerdem ein Errata-Pack (5 Euro) und eine Mini-Erweiterung mit Promo-Errata (6 Euro) dazubuchen.
Eine Stretch-Goal-Leiter gibt es bei keiner der beiden Kampagnen: Beide sind als Vorbestellaktion ohne Fundingziel angelegt. Das Dice-Throne-System stammt ursprünglich von Nate Chatellier, Aaron Hein und Manny Trembley, Adventures entstand zusätzlich mit Gavan Brown. Würfelreich hat die Reihe bereits mehrfach begleitet.
„Du bist nur ein Stück Dreck. Nein stimmt nicht, du bist weniger als Dreck. Du bist eine Ameise!“ Diese Worte von Hopper dem Grashüpfer könnte einem in den Sinn kommen, wenn ich an Ameisen denke. Bis jetzt, denn Antzeit bietet eine völlig neue Perspektive auf das „Große Krabbeln“.
They recently announced their next Kickstarter project that would take their system to the Anglo-Boer War called The Great Anglo-Boer War: The Battle for South Africa 1899-1902. The game is currently on Kickstarter and I reached out to my contact there Kevin Talley who acts as one of the Developers on the team for his input into the design to give us a better picture of how this new game plays.
Grant: What is the focus of your new upcoming game called The Great Anglo-Boer War?
Kevin:The Great Anglo-Boer War is a grand-strategic level game of the war between the British Empire and the Boer Republics in South Africa from 1899 to 1902.
Grant: Who is the designer and what is their goal with the game?
Kevin: As with all of our designs, R.J. Mills is the designer. He has always been fascinated with the Boer War and the goal was to make a really good hex-and-counter wargame to cover the whole conflict.
Grant: What is important to model from the history of the Anglo-Boer War?
Kevin: Well, the Boer War was very unique. It began as an asymmetric conventional contest in 1899 between the relatively small citizen militia forces of the two Boer Republics (they had no standing professional armies) and nearly the entire army of the British Empire! Then, once the Empire had captured both Boer capitals in 1900, the Boers refused to surrender and instead decided to fight a guerrilla war (and that went on for 2 more years). So, given the dynamics of this truly unique conflict, making a realistic game presented some serious design challenges. The design had to accurately simulate the conventional period, where the fractional Boer forces soundly defeated the British in several key battles during the early months, and it also had to credibly represent the guerrilla phase of the war, where very small numbers of Boers roamed (often unseen) and raided (always with surprise) throughout a vast area nearly twice the size of Texas. For this phase, the Empire forces had 250,000 troops deployed unsuccessfully trying to defeat 20,000 guerrillas! It all ended (finally) 31 May, 1902, with the Treaty of Vereeniging.
Grant: What other games inspired this design?
Kevin: We had not intended to make a Boer War game here at Cadet until after we started seeking a good grand-strategic/operational game about the Boer War to play. We got the “Boer War bug” playing Geoff Noble’s Redver’s Reverse: The Battle of Colenso, 1899 from Legion Games and decided we wanted to play a game of the whole war. We had pledged the KS Campaign for Joseph Miranda’s The Boer War from Canvas Temple Publishing and were hopeful, but it wasn’t what we’d hoped for in the end. Then we tried all the other Boer War games out there, or at least those we knew about, but there just wasn’t a good, realistic, strategic level/operational game of the whole war – especially not with the kind of depth we were looking for. We wanted something more like Nick Karp’s Vietnam: 1965-1975 from Victory Games – but for the Boer War – something with that kind of simulative value, historical chrome and especially guerrilla war operational mechanics. The closest thing we found was the old 3W game from 1991 (Eric Faust and Lew Fisher) called The Boer War. It had a lot of what we were looking for, but it was under-developed, errata-riddled and had too many issues to list. Still, that game had some brilliant design ideas, so we decided to start with that framework and make our own game. We were surprised that this topic didn’t have more published games already.
Grant: How did warfare change during the Victorian Age? How did you capture these changes?
Kevin: The British Army was fighting in drill book formations all the way through the 19th century. Consider that, just a year before in 1898 at Omdurman, the infantry stood in close order (just like in the movie Zulu), easily repelling the 50,000-strong army of the Khalifa with Lee-Metford volleys, Maxims and quick-firing breech loading artillery. This all worked very well when the enemy had swords, spears or primitive firearms. But the Boers had Mausers. And Krupps. And Maxims! Tactics had to evolve to meet this new level of lethality and the British Army was not initially prepared to face an enemy that was equipped with the same weapons as they. And an enemy that chose trenches and concealment – inflicting severe losses on British troops in drill formations. The combat system in the game realistically models the advantages of entrenchments, terrain, unit formation posture, night marches and even artillery effects. The Boers on defense can be very tough. A typical attack will be costly. Best to use open order and artillery to great effect – even better to use maneuver and avoid the prepared defense altogether. It took the British some time to learn their lessons.
Grant: What sources were consulted for the historical details?
Kevin: The bibliography for the game is included in section 26 of the rulebook. We used 20+ books on the topic to get the information for the design, and of course those include all the most important works published about the war: Rayne Kruger, Pakenham, Farwell, Arthur Conan Doyle (who was there), Barthorp, Reitz (a famous Boer Journal of the war), Maurice’s official history, Amery (Times history) and more. Someone who has researched the war and knows the historiography will truly appreciate this game.
Grant: What is the scale of the game? Force structure of units?
Kevin: The map scale is 9 miles to a hex. The map is huge. 34″ x 44″ on the table. The unit scale can be as little as a half battalion on the Empire side (500 men) and a single commando element of as few as 333 for the Boers. But the system is so flexible that a single leader’s counter in a hex on the map could represent as many as 30,000 Empire soldiers (with supporting artillery) and up to 13,320 Boers with several batteries of their guns as well. The game scale works for both large conventional battles (early war) and small guerrilla actions (later war).
Grant: What is the layout and anatomy of the counters?
Kevin: The counters are the typical ½” variety, printed on both sides. There are Entrenchment markers that, when flipped, double as “Scorched Earth” markers; Rail markers (early war) that also double as Blockhouse Line markers (guerrilla phase); Boer Control markers that can also be used as Strength Point counters; Number markers that flip to various increments; dozens of Empire Detachment markers which flip to show either Infantry or Cavalry or Artillery Strength Points (and the rotated position of these markers indicates the detachment strength in the hex); Armoured Train unit counters; Supply Wagon unit counters; Unit Status markers for multiple conditions like Retreated, Disordered, Demoralized, Invasion VP’s and more; and of course the Empire and Boer Leader counters, which are the basic units of maneuver in the game.
Grant: What different types of units are available to both sides?
Kevin: A Leader counter on the map typically indicates a ‘Force’ (which is a leader and the Strength Points of soldiers and artillery in their command) for both sides. These Forces are the maneuver units that move around on the map. There are also Detachments, which are Strength Points of soldiers and artillery without a leader (these secure and patrol an area, with a ZOC but without the counter moving). The Empire Strength Points can be Infantry, Cavalry or Artillery, with each point equating to 500 soldiers or a battery of field guns. The Boers are basically all mounted infantry militia, with each Strength Point representing 333 Boers or one battery of their artillery. The Empire also has Armoured Train units (we kept the English spelling), which function as ‘line of communication’ forces that police Empire-controlled rail lines. The Boers also have their Republic Presidents (Steyn and Kruger) and their small government staffs, which serve to score Victory Points by avoiding capture and maintaining their presence as head of state, either in their capitals or out on the veldt.
Grant: What is the off-map Arrow/Wheel used for?
Kevin: There are “Unit Displays” for both sides. These typically show a small picture of the Leader next to a pair of Strength Point numbered ‘wheels’. The players use counters with little arrows on them to indicate on the ‘wheels’ how many SP’s of soldiers are in a Leader’s Force, with any artillery batteries indicated by using a number marker. This keeps the counter-density on the map low, since the battalions, regiments, batteries or commandos are indicated using these off-map strength displays, and only the Leader’s counter moves on the map.
Grant: What was the inspiration for this mechanism?
Kevin: This came from the 3W game. Some players dislike this method for managing unit strength, and it took some getting used to, but we eventually decided it was the best mechanic we had seen in any design for this aspect of the game. Now we love it. Especially because of the flexibility it allows once the war changes from conventional to guerrilla. Historically the forces changed from divisions and brigades fighting large Boer commandos to much smaller columns of Empire troops chasing small Boer units of a few hundred all over the map.
Grant: How does it show the importance of Leaders in the game?
Kevin: I think this whole method of organizing the armies of both sides by each “Leader’s Force” really works perfectly to simulate the Boer War. It matches the real history. Everything a Force does boils down to the influence and command capabilities of the Leader. And forces of widely varying strength and unit composition were assigned to different leaders on both sides at different times throughout the conflict.
Grant: What is the Leader specific initiative rating system? How does it aid in your telling of the Anglo-Boer War?
Kevin: A Leader has to ‘roll for initiative’ to do most actions. Each Leader has an initiative rating which either helps or hurts their odds of a successful die roll, and the ratings are based on the historical performance of that Leader. This represents more than simply a Leader’s tendency to act decisively or not, but also his relative command influence for scarcity of resources, typical Victorian-era officer rivalries, orders and communications variables, bad intelligence and other typical “frictions” of war. The history of the war is full of instances where orders didn’t get communicated, sometimes weren’t given at all, or were ignored. Battles were lost many times because this leader or that failed to act on their own initiative or had some other priority override their commander’s intent. There are some Leaders whose rating is so good, they can nearly always do anything the player wants (and those are almost exclusively Boers). Other Leaders are reliably ineffective, and special care must be taken by the players to choose the right missions for these people. The realism of the design is greatly enhanced by this aspect – a player might have a great plan, but there is no guarantee that their Leaders will enact it. As Lord Roberts said after the battle at Poplar Grove, “In war you can’t expect everything to come out right.”
Grant: What is the layout of the game board?
Kevin: The Game Map contains almost all of the area of the war, from the eastern Transvaal and much of Swaziland and Zululand all the way to the Kalahari desert in the west; from 150 miles west of Port Elizabeth on the coast all the way up past Durban in Natal – and all of the mountains, ridges, rough and veldt of South Africa contained therein. It is a very large area and the map scale is 9 miles per hex. Using .625 hexes (for standard ½” counters), the map is 34″ x 44″ on the table.
Grant: What key terrain features are included and how do they affect maneuver and tactics?
Kevin: The terrain types for hexes include mountain, rough and veldt. Special hexside types can be ridge or river, bridge or rail. The mountain ranges are all there, as are the ridgelines and heights, rivers and rail, towns, ports and capitals. Even the passes and “neks” are indicated. The actual escarpment of the Drakensberg are all mountain hexes, but the Biggarsberg north of Ladysmith, as an example, is treated as ridge-type hexsides with rough terrain hexes. There is a real distinction between mountains and typical rough country/hills. The geography of South Africa was a serious factor in the conduct of the war and the terrain effects for both movement and combat are significant in the game.
A Force attacking across a river hexside is reduced by 50%; a Force attacking across a ridge or into mountains is reduced by 25%; a Force defending in mountain terrain is doubled; a Cavalry Force crossing a river pays 2 extra movement points to do so, while an Infantry Force pays 3; a veldt hex costs 1 point to enter, a rough hex 2, a mountain hex 4, and crossing a ridge hexside adds 2 points. Geography is key. Often, the only way to effectively dislodge an enemy Force from a position is to maneuver them out of it, because the odds for a successful attack are slim based on the terrain. The Tugela River line in Natal is a famous example of a natural fortress, and so it is with the game. To get past a competent Boer defense there, it will take an Empire player who understands the map and the combat system (plus some good dice and a card or two).
Grant: What type of cards are included? Can you share a few examples.
Kevin: The cards are great. Mostly they modify the combat odds or DR’s by providing for an odds-column shift or a DR mod for one of the many on the Battle Board (the Empire Attack Scouting Effect, the Artillery Effect or the actual combat DR). But there are also many cards that influence very specific game actions – like evasions or recruiting, siege surrender extensions or supply situations, armoured trains or movement or initiative effects. Some cards influence the unit formation or entrenchment posture during a battle, while some may determine the outcome of night marches. Some are related to intelligence and reveal hidden enemy units or prevent unknown strength in a combat event. Others influence scouting and observation, signals and orders, escapes and ambushes…I could go on.
All the cards were created based on actual events that happened during the war. Here is an excerpt from the Campaign language and the “design notes” section of the rulebook: “The game cards are designed to build historic realism into the game, especially for the combat system. As in all wars, small instances of chance – moments of decisive leadership (or not) – a thunderstorm – an oil-less signals lamp – a wire fence – a flooded drift – a poorly drawn map – a mistaken guide – an enemy surprise…all these historic events and elements of chance are represented in our design by game cards for both sides. We think this adds to the design immensely, since these can account for odds column shifts and DR mods that the players cannot anticipate. Like their historical counterparts, the players cannot know exactly what their odds are until the battle is joined and the card(s) are revealed!”
Grant: How does combat work?
Kevin: The combat system uses an odds-based CRT and a combat die roll to determine battle results, so it is fairly typical of a hex-and-counter wargame. What gives the system the right depth is that combat can happen during the movement as well as the combat phases. Combat can also be initiated by the non-phasing player using a reaction mechanism – so it isn’t nearly as simple or predictable as “I go / You go”. Based on the history, we felt the combat system (even at this scale) needed to incorporate strength ratios, unit tactical formations, weather, visibility, unknown Boer strength, artillery strength and effects for both sides, leadership, scouting and intelligence, terrain, night march outcomes, unit morale, “dummy” defensive positions, entrenchments and more.
Grant: How does the Battle Board work?
Kevin: There are so many effects and modifiers that contribute to the combat system that we decided the only way to keep everything straight was to have a Battle Board. For example, an Empire attack vs. a defending Boer Force would look like this: First, the Force attacking commits their desired number of Strength Points to the battle using the Attacker’s SP display, then the defending Boer unit’s SPs are indicated on their display. Any unit status particulars (Disordered, Demoralized, Retreated) are also indicated. The next step is to see how many unknown Boer SPs there are, so a die is rolled and that number goes on the Board (usually the Empire player cannot know their exact combat odds until after they commit their SPs to the attack because of this “unknown SP” die roll). Then any terrain or supply state modifiers are applied (there are markers for these) for both sides to establish the initial combat odds, and a counter for that ratio is placed in the appropriate box on the odds track (always rounded in favor of the defender). Next, any factors that modify the combat odds are noted and applied (entrenchments, the Empire Attack Scouting Effect DR, any other enemy units in the attacker’s ZOC, a Demoralized defender, any cards – attacker first). Now a marker is placed for the final combat odds on the final odds track. The last bit is to calculate what modifier (if any) is going to apply to the combat DR. The Artillery Effect is determined with a DR, if the Empire is using a night march there is another DR, the Empire Force’s Leader combat rating is applied, if the attack is made from a rail-move ZOC it matters, and finally any cards that modify the DR – attacker first. Once the Battle Board has been completely and correctly configured, the combat die is rolled and the CRT consulted to determine the result. The Battle Board is really essential to keep track of all of it.
Grant: What role does scouting and intelligence play in the game?
Kevin: The British generals were famously ignorant of the Boer dispositions in the early battles, for they had almost no intelligence organization in their army corps and they were especially short on mounted troops for effective scouting. The Empire Attack Scouting Effect is built into the combat system to reflect this. If the “E.A.S.E.” DR is greater than the number of Cavalry SP’s in the attacking Force, there is an odds-column shift to the left for the combat on the CRT. Later in the guerrilla phase, there is a “mystery movement” dynamic which keeps the Empire player guessing about which Boer commando markers are real units and which are only decoys. Some of the game cards confer valuable intelligence by allowing the Empire player to reveal a “mystery” commando of their choice (and native spies can help both sides).
Grant: How is artillery used?
Kevin: There is an Artillery Effect Track on the Battle Board which compares the arty strength of the two sides in a battle – whomever wins this comparison gets a modifier that applies to the combat DR. The Boers get a DR to add to their battery count, so even an Empire Force with 8 batteries of guns might not win the Arty Effect Bonus if there are 3 Boer batteries (if they roll a 6, they have 9). This “Boer Arty Effect” DR does not necessarily represent additional unknown batteries/guns, but more simulates the Boer tendency to use superior artillery tactics, multiple prepared positions, gun re-positioning during a battle, indirect fires and hidden gun positions with range and target fire preparation. In addition, the British firepower was often wasted against cunningly prepared “dummy” trenches and positions such that seemingly impressive preparatory fires were completely ineffective. The Boer Arty DR serves to simulate both aspects. The Empire has far greater potential weight of fire, but qualitatively the Boer Arty is superior (as with the historical truth). There are cards for both sides that impact the Artillery Effect for a battle.
Grant; What is the role of Scorched Earth?
Kevin: As the Boers turned more towards guerrilla tactics, the Empire forces began burning farms and killing or confiscating livestock (and especially horses) as reprisals for Boer attacks and to destroy potential shelter and supply sources for the guerrillas. This often resulted in the re-settlement of the Boer women and children in concentration camps, where thousands perished from disease and hunger. There are several game mechanics during the guerrilla phase that simulate this aspect of the war, and one is the “Scorched Earth” program. If the Empire player chooses, they may assign Forces during a game turn to “Scorch” one or more district areas in the Boer Republics. A marker is placed, and Boer movement point costs in that district are doubled, while guerrilla recruiting is halved. Once “Scorched”, a district can no longer provide Boer VP’s during the District Control segment of the VP interphase. But there is a potential cost to this kind of “scorched earth” policy: every turn this is done the Boer rolls a die – if the result is equal to or less than the number of newly “scorched” districts for the turn, the Boers get 5 VP for each. These VP’s reflect negative public opinion, parliamentary outrage and press coverage back in England, as well as increased Boer resentment and dedication to fight to the bitter end to avenge the destruction of their homes and families. The Empire player must balance the military benefits against the possible consequences of the policy (and be careful).
Grant: How does the Attrition Phase work?
Kevin: There is a lot going on during the Attrition and VP interphase. Hundreds of the Boers in just about every Force will simply leave to go home (they are all volunteer militia, not regulars); The Empire may have thousands of losses to typhoid (it was a big deal during the war); Boer family deaths in the concentration camps may cause desertions in the commandos (and uproar back in Britain); Besieged Empire garrisons may suffer losses or surrender; Railheads may advance or be pushed back: Forces might entrench; Unit statuses (like Demoralized units) get updated; VP’s for the game turn are tallied and losses counted, and the totals for the war (or scenario) are arrived at. It gets even busier if a Boer capital has been captured during the turn, as this can drastically increase the number of Boers who choose to “take leave” and go home (low morale). At the end of the phase, the players advance the game turn marker and start the next month of the war.
Grant: How is victory determined?
Kevin: Victory Points are awarded to both sides for all kinds of events. Mostly major or minor battle victories, but also for siege outcomes (relief or surrender), Boer invasions of Empire territory, capture of Leaders and capitals, control of districts, consequences from the scorched earth policy and concentration camps, and even penalties for over-stacking. There is a VP table on the back of the rulebook so the players can double-check during the VP interphase, and there are handy player-turn and interphase record sheets to use as well. Whoever has the most VP’s at the end of the scenario wins, unless an automatic victory for either side ends the contest early.
Grant: What different scenarios are included in the design?
Kevin: There are three scenarios – the Conventional War, the Guerrilla War, and the Grand Campaign Game. Here’s an excerpt from the Campaign language: “The full campaign is the ultimate Boer War experience – from the first desperate siege defenses of 1899 to the treaty of Vereeniging (or maybe not?) – and everything tactical and otherwise in between: Battles, blockhouses, farm-burnings, evasions, escapes, raids, concentration camps, sieges, drives, armoured trains, 1-pdr automatic “pom-poms”, surrenders, entrenchments, typhoid, barbed-wire, native spies, night marches, supply wagons and more. If it was part of the real Boer war – it is in the game.”
Grant: What does the game do well in modeling the Anglo-Boer War?
Kevin: We feel the game succeeds in modeling just about every aspect of the war, but there are a few particulars. Again, from the Campaign language: “For our design, we wanted a more granular scale of both movement and combat than any other strategic-level Boer War game yet published. Rayne Kruger, in chapter 23 of his “Good-Bye Dolly Gray” pointed out that, perhaps more than any other Boer advantage, the Empire was fighting “a war against space.” We ended up having two 22″ x 34″ map sections at 9 miles/hex to pull this off. A very large game on the table – but very typically “Cadet.” As it goes here, bigger is better. More hexes = more realism.”
Also, the Empire forces during the war were especially dependent on the rail lines for supply, while the Boer forces were far less dependent on any supply system to keep their forces in the field. The supply rules in the game really do justice to history, as everything the Empire player wants to do will be substantially constrained by their proximity to a rail line. In fact, some remote districts simply cannot be effectively garrisoned by Empire forces or detachments, because those units will be out of supply. Moreover, the scarcity of draft animals (oxen and mules) during the war meant only a handful of supply wagon units were available to extend an Empire LOS away from any rail line, and so it is with the game. These few substantial wagon convoys are also prime targets for the marauding Boers (as with countless examples from the war).
Grant: What has been the experience of playtesters?
Kevin: The game plays very well, indeed, but there were a few unexpected outcomes from the initial design, especially the combat system. In our first run of the conventional war scenario, we discovered that the “Boer unknown SP DR” mechanic needed a change. The Boers simply fought too well. Every time the Empire committed SP’s to an attack, the Boers would essentially be ‘reinforced’, owing to their unknown SP die roll. It always added SP’s to the Boer Force, since it wasn’t designed to subtract them. True, this kept the Empire player uncertain as to the combat odds until the forces were joined, but it had the effect of representing the Boers as ahistorically disciplined regular troops – prepared to fight to the death and hold their ground even when attacked by 15, 20, or even 30,000 British with 50+ field guns. The Boers just didn’t do that. There are far more examples of the Boer volunteers fleeing in droves from large Empire forces (in spite of exhortations and even threats by their leaders and even presidents) than examples where they stood their ground. In many ways this tendency served to preserve their forces and denied the Empire the showdown battles they hoped for during the second phase of the conventional war. A small rearguard of hardcore Burghers (farmers) would usually hold off the exponentially larger Empire forces, allowing their thousands of fleeing comrades to make their escape. They traded ground for time and blood, almost always avoiding any decisive loss.
So, we amended the rule so the DR can go either way, depending on the size of the attacking Empire force and on another DR modified by the Boer Leader rating of the defending force. This solution made a huge difference and resulted in the historical outcomes we wanted. If you attack Botha with a large Empire Force, he will likely motivate several hundred more Burghers to join the defense. Attack Prinsloo, though, and he’s likely to have several hundred of them (or more) run away before the battle is joined. There is a card in the Empire deck that prevents the unknown SP DR altogether, and now freshly retreated or Demoralized defenders don’t roll either.
Grant: When can we expect the game to be fulfilled?
Kevin: We are optimistic that the community will support our Campaign for this one (gotta get successfully funded first), and we will start the production sample and the rest of the process immediately afterward. Our anticipated timeline is to have the games shipping to the backers by August of next year.
Grant: What projects are in the near future for Cadet Games?
Kevin: We would really like to get our Hamburger Hill game produced. The design is 100% done and it is a really detailed sim of that famous battle. We ran it on Gamefound back in 2025 but it didn’t hit the goal. So, we will likely run that one again to see if we can’t get that produced here sometime soon. We have a ton of other projects in the works, one of which is a solo design covering the Mayaguez incident and the battle for Koh Tang Island from May, 1975. We have been really immersed in the Boer War since the middle of last year, so this one has had almost all of our attention (and still does for now, since we are playing through multiple rounds of the guerrilla phase and all of its intricacies)! We also have Barbarossa ’41 on deck for our Armies & Alliances Series of WWII ‘miniatures and monster map’ designs. Thanks again for helping us get the word out about our passion for military history and wargames!
Thank you for your time in answering our questions Kevin and for the great care you guys are taking with these games to tell a fun and interesting part of history.
Nach der Gen Con ist es rund um Kickstarter, Gamefound und Spieleschmiede spürbar ruhiger geworden. In den vergangenen sieben Tagen (24. bis 31. August 2026) erreichen nur zwei neue Kampagnen die Auswahlkriterien dieser Redaktion, die deutsche Spieleschmiede liefert in diesem Zeitraum keinen neuen Brettspiel-Kandidaten. Dafür kehrt bei Gamefound ein kooperatives Tower-Defense-Spiel mit Reprint und zwei Erweiterungen zurück, während ein Kickstarter-Projekt auf einen fremden Planeten führt.
Aberration: Oblivion's Embrace
Der australische Verlag Ghostfire Gaming hat die Kampagne zu Aberration: Oblivion's Embrace Expansion & Reprint am 26. August 2026 auf Gamefound gestartet, Stand 31. August 2026 bei rund 794 Prozent des Ziels von 20.000 US-Dollar (158.823 US-Dollar). Design stammt von Andy Collins und Peter Lee, Letzterer bekannt für Lords of Waterdeep, Tyrants of the Underdark und Horrified.
Ein bis vier Spielende verteidigen kooperativ das Dorf Bürach gegen eine wachsende Bedrohung aus Monstern und Verderbnis im Grim-Hollow-Setting des Verlags. Mechanisch verbindet das Tower-Defense-Spiel Worker Placement, Bag Building und asymmetrische Heldenfähigkeiten mit einem Fog-of-War-System, das Teile der Gefahr zunächst verdeckt hält. Die Kampagne bringt neben einem Reprint des Grundspiels zwei neue Erweiterungen: Oblivion's Embrace mit zwei wiederholt spielbaren Roguelike-Kampagnen und Arcanists & Abominations mit vier neuen Zauberklassen. Eine Partie dauert laut Kampagnenseite rund 90 Minuten, ausgelegt für ein bis vier Spielende ab 14 Jahren.
Ein Solo-Modus ist enthalten, die Kampagne läuft noch bis zum 17. September 2026. Ghostfire Gaming hat mit dem gleichnamigen Grundspiel Aberration bereits eine erste, eigene Kampagne durchlaufen, die laut Gamefound bereits vollständig produziert und ausgeliefert wurde. Eine deutsche Lokalisierung nennt die Kampagnenseite bislang nicht.
Orbitstar: Expedition to Darwin IV
Das neuseeländische Studio Arkus Games hat Orbitstar: Expedition to Darwin IV am 25. August 2026 auf Kickstarter gestartet, Stand 31. August 2026 bei rund 216 Prozent des Ziels von 30.000 Neuseeland-Dollar (64.712 Neuseeland-Dollar). Design stammt von Bobby Hill, Welt und Artwork gestaltete Illustrator Wayne Barlowe nach seinem eigenen Buch „Expedition“. Arkus Games hat seit der Studiogründung 2020 bereits mehrere Kickstarter-Kampagnen realisiert, darunter Shelfie Stacker, Storm Raiders und Dreadful Meadows.
Ein bis vier Spielende schlüpfen im Jahr 2358 in die Rolle von Forschenden, die den fremden Planeten Darwin IV erkunden und laut Verlag insgesamt 49 außerirdische Spezies dokumentieren. Dabei kommen Bag Building, Bewegung über verschiedene Biome und der Ausbau der eigenen Hovercone-Fahrzeuge zum Einsatz, während Wetter und Raubtiere die Expedition erschweren. Eine Partie ist laut BGG für ein bis vier Spielende ab 14 Jahren ausgelegt und dauert rund 90 Minuten.
Ein Solo-Modus ist vorhanden, Details zum genauen Ablauf nennt die Kampagnenseite nicht. Die Kampagne läuft noch bis zum 16. September 2026, der Versand ist laut Kickstarter weltweit vorgesehen, die Auslieferung für September 2027 geplant. Eine deutsche Lokalisierung ist bislang nicht angekündigt.
Beide Kampagnen sind reine Nischenprodukte für den deutschen Markt: englischsprachig, ohne angekündigte Lokalisierung, mit den üblichen Kickstarter- und Gamefound-typischen Zusatzkosten für Versand und Einfuhr nach Deutschland. Wer auf deutschsprachige Neuheiten wartet, muss sich diese Woche gedulden. Die Spieleschmiede blieb in den vergangenen sieben Tagen ohne neuen Brettspiel-Kandidaten.
Angekündigt: Neu: Updates: Zur Zeit ist eher „Saure Gurkenzeit“ im Crowdfundingbereich. Rund um die Gen Con sind kaum neue Projekte gestartet worden. Daher auch nur kleinere Updates und ein paar neue Live-Projekte. ANGEKÜNDIGT In der kommenden Woche im Crowdfunding: Sommerpause. Es sind einige wenige Projekte angekündigt. Hier der Überblick über die kommende Woche und den […]
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