Crowd Funding Spotlight: Games

The Crowd funding movement is really getting big. Since it's inception a few years ago, hundreds of thousands of people have used it for everything from restoring historical landmarks to finance their garage bands album.

Enough time has passed by for people to get a good enough idea of what projects have a better chance of getting funded than other projects that won't. One industry to really benefit from crowd funding has been the game market.

This has a lot to do with the fact that a lot of these game kickstarters almost always promise a "gift" for a certain level of donations. This is often times the game itself and sometimes extra's that will only be available to donors.

Below are a few games that are worth your time to take a look, but hurry some are ending very soon.


Spinespur, The Survival Horror miniatures game
by Comfy Chair Games

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/97182592/spinespur-the-survival-horror-miniatures-game

Ends: Apr 6, 2013

Heroic scale, Survival Horror Miniatures game where Fear, brutality and dead bodies are the key to winning.

Achtung! Cthulhu - The WW2 Keeper's & Investigator's Guides

By Modiphius

A terrifying World War Two setting for the Call of Cthulhu & Savage Worlds roleplaying games. The Secret War has begun!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/modiphius/achtung-cthulhu-the-ww2-keepers-and-investigators?ref=live

Ends: Apr 2, 2013

Zombicide: Season 2
by CoolMiniOrNot

The follow up to the hit boardgame of 2012! More Zombie action with tons of great miniatures and fast paced rules!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/zombicide-season-2

So the first edition was a runaway hit. I haven't played it yet but have watched demos on youtube, it look like loads of fun. They're offering a bunch of exclusive items only available during this Kickstarter. It's worth noting the first set of exclusives offered from their first campaign demand a huge price on ebay, so this might be a good monetary investment as well as a fun one.

Game Review: Last Night on Earth - The Zombie Game

Last Night On Earth: The Zombie Game
2-6 Players
Ages 12 & Up
http://www.flyingfrog.net/

Any regular size Diner table works good
as a playing surface

My oldest son (13) considers himself an oldschool gamer. He has dozens of emulators spread over his computer, phone and tablet. Hundreds of ROM's from everything from Atari 2600 to PSX. He has a growing collection of systems including a first gen NES and Gameboy.

As impressive as that might be, I still think I trump him in the realm of old school gaming. I play boardgames, pen & paper RPG's, and miniature war games. It doesn't get much more "oldschool" than that. The good news is his love of gaming gives me an instant partner when I feel the need to roll some dice and move little figurines around a board.

This past Christmas I purchased him a boardgame he has had his eye on for a while, Last Night On Earth: The Zombie Game (LNOE). We haven't had time to play a session up to a few weeks ago we finally did. So was it any good? Hells Yeah! 

Here's a description from the game cribbed from the companies web site:

"Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game is a survival horror board game that pits small-town Heroes head-to-head against a limitless horde of Zombies (players can play on the Hero team or as the Zombies). A modular board randomly determines the layout of the town at the start of each game and there are several different scenarios to play, adding lots of replayability. Fast Paced Game Play with Easy To Learn rules allows players to jump right into the action, while Strategic Depth and Strong Cooperative Play keeps the game interesting. One or two players control the zombies, while the rest control heroes. To achieve a horror movie feel, all of the art for the game is photographic and the game comes with a CD Soundtrack of original music. " 

We played through the introductory scenario, and then a more challenging story.  As stated above, the game board is modular so it can change from session to session. It was easy to set up just being 5 large pieces, they are made of sturdy cardboard and should last years with proper care.

The rest of the game pieces are of equal quality from the nice size dice dice pool, to the character cards. One stand out feature of the game are the "hero" and "zombie" pawns. They are very nicely sculpted miniatures.

An example of a "Hero" figure

Game play was quick as promised, with each player able to do a few different actions each turn, like move, search for items, and fight Zombies. The Game mechanics do a good job of mimicking a Zombie movie, like the random spawning of zombies, and finding a weapon right when you really need one.

Our game lasted an hour and left us excited about the next session. All in all it's a very cool game, with great support and freebies from the companies website, and a nice selection of expansion packs that add new heroes, zombies, board pieces and scenarios.

Consider this one recommended.