This week, GARPA has some nifty little strategy games for you to check out.

The Ancient World  (Red Raven Games)
$21,000 or $15,000, ends 3 April 2014

From the creator of Eight Minute Empire comes a new civ-builder set in the ancient Mediterranean with a box full o’ cards that cover trade routes, combat, knowledge, and building.  Red Raven’s artwork is some of the best thematic art on the market, and although it’s a light worker-placement game, it feels like your civilization is rising from nothing to dominate the neighborhood.  At $50 for a copy, this is a good deal for a game that’s likely to become a staple of any game group that’s not exclusively grogs.  Go see the Kickstarter page and get a load of the game, and some gameplay videos.

Eternity Wars (Justin Wachholder)
$6000 of $23000, ends 31 March 2014

Another high-level strategy game of “warfare”, Eternity Wars includes a separate tactical map fighting out the actual battles during the game, giving grogs a chance to flex their command prowess while letting others enjoy the 4x nature of the rest of the game.  Where War of the Kings is a visual minis-fest, Eternity Wars is a personality-driven attempt to bring computer-style RTS gaming to the tabletop with a lot of unique characters and buildings in the game.  The creator is building an entire world around the media license, to include a novel that every back gets as an eBook.  They’ve also partnered with an EU-based shipper to keep costs down for folks in the Olde World.  Give their Kickstarter page a drive-by and see what you think.

War of the Kings (Heath & Seth Robinson)
$33,400 of $25,000, ends 23 March 2014

One of the niftiest little minis mechanics we’ve ever seen – separate pieces that show the town growing from a hamlet to a city, and the growth of fortifications from a wood palisade to crenellations and towers – make this a visually stunning game.  And the word on the street is that the gameplay is a blast as well.  Officially is a 2-6 player game of medieval warfare that moves simultaneously and keeps players on their toes with the constant interactions.  And if you’re going to beat up on each other for an afternoon, you might as well do it in an attractive game full of eye-candy!  Pledge levels include one that just gets you the minis, so you can drop them into your own game (say, maybe Warrior Knights), or you can take the plunge and get the whole game.  A crazy-high pledge ($150!) gets you a ton of extra pieces to play with, but with that kind of mad money you really need a regular game group that’s going to play this a lot to justify that cost.  Look over the Kickstarter page and see what you think!

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