Just heard that a pal who ordered it for me just got the notification that Kingmaker (aka "Kingmaker The Second") should be here this coming week. A long Designer's Diary addressed the problems it used to have on BGG, and made me excited for this release. So, like The Russian Campaign, it will be a game from the Seventies reborn! This new version will be shorter and play with up to five. After being Kickstarted, it will also have the old version as an option, and even a Solo mode. This is the old design on the English War of the Roses.
How often does a Kickstarter deliver early? The Last Kingdom will be here in August instead of September. It was a simple offering with no multiple backer tiers, stretch goals, or add-ons. It looks to be a much simpler game, but not easy to win! Its Leaders and Heroes of Anglo Saxon England will have powers reflecting their roles in the novel series and TV show by or based on the works by Bernard Cornwell, which actually is a fictionalized version of the history of his own family, which he learned about only late in life!
Another Kickstarter now due in October is Dune: War For Arrakis, a full on CMON production. They just released the newly redrafted rules based on backer comments, including from some who playtested it on Table Top Simulator. This is the new online standard for developing a game, and several are doing this now. It has seven "alternate universe" options where different characters lived longer, shorter, or changed alliances during the first book chronicling the Harlkonnen-Atreides war. What will be out first, this or the second part of the new movie?
Bretwalda is a totally different treatment of the Anglo Saxon kingdoms and Viking invasions of England. Its also due next Fall. Its a beautiful game, and I'm also getting the first expansion, which allows for a Viking player (and a fifth player). How can you not?
Song For War is a crowdfunder I backed, but then the offering failed. The new company making this first design on the WWII Mediterranean Theater with the British, Americans, Italians, and Germans, should be reoffered. Its been two months since it was withdrawn, and many of us are hoping to see it reborn with its innovative features and new scenarios.
