Table of Contents >> Show >> Hide
- 1) Zombicide: Green Horde
- 2) Turing Tumble: Gaming on a Mechanical Computer
- 3) Minerva (Deluxe Edition)
- 4) Escape the Dark Castle
- 5) Heroes of Land, Air & Sea
- 6) The Flow of History: Deluxified™ and Updated
- 7) Sine Tempore
- 8) Clash of Rage
- 9) Kokoro: Avenue of the Kodama
- 10) Deadly Premonition: The Board Game
- Closing Thoughts: The Kickstarter Tabletop Art Boom (June 2017 Edition)
- Field Notes: of Real-Life “Gallery” Experience with Artful Kickstarters
June 2017 on Kickstarter felt less like “online shopping” and more like wandering into a museum gift shop where someone forgot to install a budget. The tabletop scene was (and still is) a glorious collision of illustration, industrial design, mini-sculpting, and the sort of graphic polish that makes you whisper, “Is it weird that I want to frame this rulebook?”
This list is a curated gallery tour of Kickstarter board games running around late May through June 2017projects that didn’t just look good on a table, but could plausibly sit behind velvet ropes with a stern guard nearby. We’ll talk board game art, components, and the gameplay under the varnishbecause even the prettiest painting still needs to hold up when you poke it with a stick (or, in our case, when your friend “accidentally” knocks over the token tray).
1) Zombicide: Green Horde
Gallery label
Medium: Plastic miniatures, modular tiles, and unapologetic spectacle. Kickstarter window: May 30–June 27, 2017.
Why it belongs in an art gallery
“Table presence” is a phrase people use when they’re trying to be polite about the fact that your dining table has become a diorama. Green Horde takes the Zombicide formula into a fantasy siege vibeorc zombies, medieval gear, and the kind of sculpted enemy lineup that makes you want to paint miniatures even if you’ve never held a brush without emotional support.
What you actually do
It’s cooperative survival chaos: gear up, complete objectives, and try not to get eaten by a rule-driven undead stampede. The pacing is tuned for cinematic momentsbig spawns, bigger weapons, and “we’re doing greatoh no” turns that feel like a storyboard panel flipping in real time.
Curator’s note
If you’ve ever wanted a board game that looks like a fantasy illustration exploded into 3D, this is your “centerpiece exhibit.” Just remember: storage is part of the experience. The box is basically a small apartment.
2) Turing Tumble: Gaming on a Mechanical Computer
Gallery label
Medium: Marbles, gears, and logic as kinetic sculpture. Kickstarter window: May 30–June 29, 2017.
Why it belongs in an art gallery
Most games are “interactive art” if you squint hard enough. Turing Tumble doesn’t require squinting. It’s a physical, marble-powered logic machinepart puzzle box, part mechanical tableau, part “how is this even legal to sell without a lab coat?” The board itself looks like a hands-on science exhibit that got a glow-up.
What you actually do
You build marble “programs” to solve puzzles, learning core computing ideas through tactile cause-and-effect. The experience is satisfying in the same way a well-designed museum installation is satisfying: you touch a thing, the thing responds, and your brain quietly high-fives itself.
Curator’s note
If your art gallery has a “please touch” section, this is the star. If it doesn’t, your security guard will develop a nervous twitch.
3) Minerva (Deluxe Edition)
Gallery label
Medium: Elegant euro design with deluxe production polish. Kickstarter window: May 31–June 30, 2017.
Why it belongs in an art gallery
Minerva is what happens when “city building” puts on a tailored suit. The deluxe approach is less about shouting and more about refined materials: upgraded art direction, crisp iconography, and a presentation that makes ancient Rome look like it hired a modern branding agency.
What you actually do
It’s a tile-laying, city-development strategy game: you’re building out an ancient Roman district and chasing favor with the goddess Minerva. The choices are measuredplacement, timing, and synergyso the beauty isn’t just visual. It’s structural.
Curator’s note
This is the kind of game you leave set up because it’s pretty, then pretend you’re leaving it set up because you’re “mid-session.”
4) Escape the Dark Castle
Gallery label
Medium: Black-and-white retro illustration, atmosphere as a material. Kickstarter window: May 31–June 30, 2017.
Why it belongs in an art gallery
Escape the Dark Castle looks like an ’80s fantasy paperback decided to become a board game. High-contrast art, stark design, and a moody vibe that practically fogs your glasses. It’s minimalist without being emptylike a graphic novel panel you can shuffle.
What you actually do
Cooperative adventure with quick decisions: you’re prisoners trying to escape, resolving encounters and surviving the castle’s hazards. The simplicity is part of the charmfast to teach, heavy on theme, and excellent at generating “we are definitely doomed” laughter.
Curator’s note
This is the exhibit for people who love ink, shadow, and a little existential dreadserved with dice.
5) Heroes of Land, Air & Sea
Gallery label
Medium: 4X fantasy spectacle with 3D constructs. Kickstarter window: May 4–June 4, 2017.
Why it belongs in an art gallery
Some games are pretty. Heroes of Land, Air & Sea is architectural. The 3D elements and chunky minis don’t just decorate the boardthey turn it into a pop-up battlefield. It’s the tabletop equivalent of walking into a scale-model exhibit and realizing you’re allowed to move the buildings.
What you actually do
It’s a strategic 4X-style experience: explore, expand, build, and throw down. The visual clarity actually supports the gameplayunits and structures are readable at a glance, which matters when your empire is one miscount away from becoming your neighbor’s new vacation property.
Curator’s note
Warning: once this hits your table, every other board game looks like it forgot to render its textures.
6) The Flow of History: Deluxified™ and Updated
Gallery label
Medium: Civilization-in-a-box with a clean graphic makeover. Kickstarter window: May 9–June 10, 2017.
Why it belongs in an art gallery
“Deluxified” can mean a lot of things, but here it’s largely about presentation and usability: upgraded components, clearer layout, and a visual system that makes a multi-age civilization arc feel organized rather than like your desk in finals week.
What you actually do
You develop a nation across ages by acquiring and leveraging cards through a distinctive market/bidding feelinvesting resources, threatening to “snipe” value, and managing tempo like it’s part economics and part polite sabotage. The best part: the mechanisms match the theme of development and inflation without making you do math that ruins the mood.
Curator’s note
This is the exhibit for people who want their art framed in iconography and their drama framed in resource cubes.
7) Sine Tempore
Gallery label
Medium: Sci-fi miniatures, custom dice, and cinematic worldbuilding. Kickstarter window: May 16–June 9, 2017.
Why it belongs in an art gallery
Sine Tempore is maximalism with purpose: detailed minis, bold character designs, and a campaign presentation that reads like concept art for a high-budget space opera. Even the “three-dimensional elements” energy is strongthis is the kind of box that whispers, “I came with a lore bible.”
What you actually do
Cooperative campaign play with tactical combat and narrative structure. You’re facing an AI-driven system, upgrading, surviving, and pushing forward through missionsmore “strategic expedition” than “kick in door, take loot,” though it absolutely knows how to throw an alien nightmare at you.
Curator’s note
If you love the look of miniature wargame sculpts but prefer cooperation to feuds that last three holidays, this is a strong candidate.
8) Clash of Rage
Gallery label
Medium: Mythic fantasy minis and bold faction identity. Kickstarter window: May 17–June 8, 2017.
Why it belongs in an art gallery
This one is all about the sculptural side of board gamesminiatures that look like they were designed to be photographed. The factions feel like different “schools” of fantasy art: distinct silhouettes, armor language, and that satisfying sense that each army belongs to its own illustrated universe.
What you actually do
A confrontation game where clans collide for dominance. It leans into skirmish energypositioning, pressure, and the drama of committing to a fight you might regret immediately. The visual identity helps players track what’s happening without constant rulebook-checking, which is the most underrated kind of beauty.
Curator’s note
Ideal for anyone who wants a display-worthy box that also doubles as a reason to buy a second set of dice “for clarity.”
9) Kokoro: Avenue of the Kodama
Gallery label
Medium: Whimsical forest illustration and minimalist roll-and-write elegance. Kickstarter window: May 21–June 9, 2017.
Why it belongs in an art gallery
Not every art piece needs to be loud. Kokoro is gentle, charming, and visually cohesivelike a children’s book spread that decided to become a strategy puzzle. The Kodama theme adds warmth and personality, turning simple paths and shapes into something you’d happily leave on a coffee table.
What you actually do
Players draw paths on personal mats simultaneously, connecting sanctuaries to offerings and trying to score at the right moments. It’s quick, interactive in a “we’re all making choices at once” way, and surprisingly tense for something that looks like it should come with a mug of herbal tea.
Curator’s note
The gallery equivalent of a quiet roomexcept instead of silence, it’s everyone whispering, “Wait, that sanctuary scores now?”
10) Deadly Premonition: The Board Game
Gallery label
Medium: Cult-mystery aesthetics and detective-story ephemera. Kickstarter window: May 9–June 8, 2017.
Why it belongs in an art gallery
Cult stories come with a lookand this one leans into the feeling of evidence boards, profiling notes, and strange-town vibes. It’s the kind of design that invites you to sift through components like artifacts: cards that feel like clues, icons that feel like case notes, and an overall mood that says, “Nothing is normal here, and that’s the point.”
What you actually do
A detective-themed board game inspired by the video game’s world: you’re investigating, profiling, and trying to piece together what happened in Greenvale. The gameplay centers on deduction and managing informationless “bash monsters,” more “why is everyone acting like that?”
Curator’s note
If your ideal museum exhibit is “mysterious case files,” congratulations: this is your museum exhibit.
Closing Thoughts: The Kickstarter Tabletop Art Boom (June 2017 Edition)
What June 2017 showedloudlyis that crowdfunding tabletop games can be a playground for visual ambition. Some projects chase cinematic miniatures. Others chase graphic minimalism. And a few build physical objects so charming you start imagining them under museum lighting with a tasteful placard and a donor wall.
The trick, as always, is to remember that beauty is a feature, not a ruleset. The best “art gallery” Kickstarters don’t just photograph wellthey also play well, teach well, and live on your shelf without becoming a cardboard guilt monument. If you find that sweet spot? You’re not just backing a game. You’re curating a collection.
Field Notes: of Real-Life “Gallery” Experience with Artful Kickstarters
If you’ve ever backed a Kickstarter board game because the art made your heart do a little jazz hands, you already know the first rule of the gallery: photos lie (or, at minimum, they flirt with the truth). Studio shots are the runway model of tabletop gamingperfect lighting, perfect angle, perfect “this box will definitely fit on my shelf.” Then the game arrives, and the box is the size of a microwave. A beautiful microwave. But still.
The best way to enjoy art-forward Kickstarters is to treat them like actual art purchases: ask practical questions. What’s the “frame” heremeaning, will the components survive repeated play? Thick boards, readable iconography, and sensible storage are the difference between “museum piece” and “fragile relic.” When a campaign promises deluxe everything, scan for evidence of user-friendly design: trays, labeling, setup time, and whether the beauty makes the game clearer or merely shinier.
Next comes the emotional trap: FOMO as a sales technique. Limited editions, exclusives, stretch goalsthese are the velvet ropes of the Kickstarter gallery. They’re not inherently bad, but they can turn your decision-making into an endurance sport. A simple practice helps: decide what you want the game to be in your life. Is it a “play weekly” game, a “special occasion” game, or a “display and admire” game? All are valid. Problems start when you buy a “display and admire” game and then feel guilty it isn’t your group’s new main obsession. Your shelf is not a moral courtroom.
Storage is another unglamorous reality. Mini-heavy titles look incredibleuntil you’re bagging 300 tokens like you’re running an evidence locker. If you plan to bring the game to game nights, portability matters. A gorgeous insert that collapses the moment you tilt the box is not an insert; it’s performance art about disappointment.
Finally: enjoy the artistry intentionally. Take a moment to appreciate illustration choices, sculpt details, and graphic design the way you’d appreciate a poster or a print. Some groups even do a “first unboxing tour” where everyone handles components like they’re viewing an exhibitthen you play. It’s a small ritual, but it honors why you backed in the first place: because tabletop games can be beautiful objects and great experiences.
In other words: curate with your eyes, but also with your calendar, your shelf space, and the reality that shipping is a journeysometimes a long one. A great Kickstarter board game isn’t just art you own. It’s art you can share.
