Hey now, hey now…  you didn’t really want to start saving for Christmas shopping, did you?  You really wanted to blow it all on these fine pre-orders and crowdsourced games instead!

Sea Kings (Worthington Publishing)
$4800 of $15k, ends 1 Nov 2014

Worthington makes some of the best lightweight wargames in the business, with hits like Hold the Line and Band of Brothers.  Sea Kings looks like it’s going to take that track record to the age of Vikings and give you a great little empire-builder that looks like a Euro with it’s cute wooden pieces, but whose theme actually means something and evokes a real time and place.  A combination of card play and area movement, Sea Kings is something that grogs can whip out with the non-wargaming crowd to still get a historical challenge when forced to play with a table full of folks that can’t spell “ZOC”.  Sail over to Kickstarter and conquer your fear of pledging.

War in the Wind (Compass Games)
Pre-order price $37, MSRP $49

Remember when the Japanese invaded Alaska?  Yeah, they don’t want to either.  Here’s a nifty game with a compact set of rules (see for yourself here) from Compass Games, whose quantity is slowly ramping up to match its quality in output.  A company/platoon-level game that pits Japanese logistics challenges against American numerical superiority, and the unpredictable weather against both of them.  Go pre-order over at Compass’ site, and don’t forget to save on an in-stock game when you do.

King Down (Saar Shai)
$126k of $50k goal, ends 12 Oct 2014

A four-player fantasy twist on chess, with a variety of characters wo augment your basic chess pieces, King Down has some definite visual ‘oomph’ to it, with variable maps, impressive sculpts, and cards that change the powers of the game.  Quite frankly, some of the pieces and maps look like they were borrowed from the lounge of the Millennium Falcon.  With the Kickstarter-only rewards, and the stretch goals, the total piece count is bordering on preposterous.  The early reviews are quite positive.  And if you’re a complete nerd with access to a 3D printer, they’ve even shared some of the sculpt files for you to make your own sample minis – “print-and-play” indeed!  Go ogle the beautiful goodness that is King Down on Kickstarter and figure out how you’re going to resist the urge before finally being checkmated into ordering.

Slaughterball (Frog The What Games)
$38k of $30k goal, ends 19 Oct 2014

A sci-fi version of Blood Bowl?  A 4-player sports game?  A wargame with balls?  It doesn’t really matter how you describe it, Slaughterball is just begging to matriculate the ball down your tabletop.  Pledge levels let you buy in with just one team (if your buddy is already getting the base game) or the two- or four-player versions.  There’s a batch of figures, a team reference card, and a big-ass board for the game.  And doesn’t it make sense that Slaughterball would be played in an octagon?  Bounce over to the Kickstarter page and see what you think.

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