Welcome to the Indie Tabletop Newsletter, hear from independent tabletop games designers about their current and upcoming projects. Take a look at the games we’ve already self-published and our upcoming Kickstarters, maybe even get yourself a free print n play game. Learn more about this newsletter here.
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I’ve filled my month up with fun Malus Hortus activities, starting with an evening at Comics, Games and Coffee in Worthing on the 8th, I’ll be demoing the game there and hope to find some new fans. On April 13th I will be at HandyCon in Milton Keynes, I will have a play test table, play testing my new additional night cards for a Malus Hortus stretch goal, they will add extra story and replayability to the game. On April 19th I will be at the Big Top Boardgame Mini Convention in the Retrocave Café in Poole.
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There are a few small gaming groups near me that I’d like to go along to if I have the energy and at some point, I plan to take myself along to Board in the City, the amazing board game café in Southampton that I rarely find time to go to. Why not treat myself whilst I’m full of Kickstarter based nervous energy!
There are several ways that you can help if you would like to, some of which won’t cost you a thing and all of which apply to other indie Kickstarters you find on this newsletter every month:
1. If you really want the game, please back it on launch day
2. You could back the campaign for as little as £1, the Kickstarter popularity algorithm cares more about the number of backers than the numbers of £s
3. If you have backed the campaign you can send a message in the comment section to up the engagement figures for the campaign
4. Share the campaign link with someone you know would enjoy the game
5. Watch the campaign video all the way through
6. Send me a message on launch day telling me everything is going to be alright, Kickstarters are exciting but scary, full of waves of emotion
If you have played Malus Hortus, please rate it on Board Game Geek if you have the time, I always forget to ask during demos and it’s currently a third of the way to having a fully fledged BGG rating!
Thank you for reading, please join me for launch!
Travellers is to some degree based on the movie Passengers, in the game the ship is transporting colonists held in cryogenic deep freeze. The cryo system is malfunctioning and colonists are waking up early. That probably doesn’t sound too bad, but the ship has limited oxygen and extra people means extra sets of lungs. Players can put the new sets of hands to work on completing missions and possibly get the mission completed before the air runs out, or they can reduce the number of people breathing, one way or another.
Hopefully, we should still be live when this newsletter reaches you, but even if it’s not, we will be open for late pledges. Please come by and give us some support, it’s a small project, but we keep seeing people come back, so we must be doing something right.
Bandits boarded the 3:15 to Fort Worth. Sheriff Amun Carter has rounded up a posse with two leaders. The leader who best achieves the goals of stopping the Train Robbery in progress will be the new Deputy.
In The Great Train Rescue, players will join opposing posses to save as many passengers as they can from the train scoring for the cards that have been chosen. Each choice will help players score or will set them up for future success. Turn order changes when players choose cards with the lower time value letting that player go first on the following turn.
Players will note the Wanted cards, some of the time they will earn the players more points or at other times earn the players fewer points. Players will also have to consider passenger color, tools, and loot! Each choice of a card will allow the opponent more cards to access and so taking just the right card can really get wild in the old west!
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Hop aboard the train and see if you can thwart the robbers in the best ways each round. Cunning and clever play across the 18 cards of this game will challenge the players. Do you have what it takes to be the new Deputy?
In Cozy Lighthouse Keeper, you play as the solitary keeper of a lighthouse on a peaceful coastal island. You must manage resources, maintain the lighthouse, interact with visitors, and weather the storms of nature. This is a solo experience, where your goal is to keep the lighthouse running through the changing seasons, surviving environmental challenges, and making the most of your time as a keeper.
Main Goal: Keep the lighthouse running through a series of seasons, maintain your health, and build relationships with visiting travelers. Winning: The game ends after 4 seasons (one year). Losing: If your health reaches 0 or the lighthouse is not fully repaired by the end of the year, you lose.
Story: For years, the lighthouse has stood as a silent guardian against the restless tides, guiding sailors home and warning them of the treacherous rocks below. Now, it is your duty to keep its beacon shining.
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As the new keeper, you must tend to the lighthouse, manage supplies, and weather the changing seasons. The salty wind carries whispers of old tales, and each visitor who arrives—whether a lost sailor, a drifting message in a bottle, or a curious seabird—brings a new story to unfold.
Life here is quiet but never dull. Some days, the work is peaceful—mending nets, brewing tea, and watching the waves roll in. Other days, storms rage, supplies run low, and the lighthouse itself demands urgent repairs.
Will you keep the light burning through the seasons? Will you uncover the hidden stories of the shore? In this quiet yet unpredictable life, every choice shapes your legacy.
Welcome to the lighthouse. Your watch begins.
Stay tuned for more, and feel free to get in touch with me on my website or socials!
1. Being able to demo Fetching Feathers to you all. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive so I can’t wait to add the final tweaks and start the process to being able to bring it live for you all!
2. Quizzing with a fantastic bunch of indie publishers and content creators, both for the official Airecon quiz and to celebrate the Togcast 100th episode!
3. Social and party games in the evening with a whole bunch of lovely people. Although the less said about my “That’s not a hat skills”, the better 😛
4. And talking of hats, you all looked fabulous and made me very happy to see everyone join in the silliness!
5. Meeting and signing some cards for Seb, one of our younger super fans! Warms my heart to see his space version of Molehill Meadows and can’t wait to see what else he comes up with.
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6. I know it’s been said by many already but the Airecon vibe is just one of the nicest things. What a friendly, diverse, amazing and incredibly talented bunch of people and was a real treat to meet old friends and make a bunch of new ones too. Huge thank you to Mark and the team for creating one of the best gaming events around, there’s nothing quite like it!
I can’t wait to do it with a bunch of you again at UKGE in only 8 weeks. Big love to you all!
Manufacturing for Ministry of Lost Things: Lint Condition has recently wrapped up, and freight shipments are all now en route. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the games should be delivering in late spring! You can find out more in the most recent Kickstarter update. If you missed the Kickstarter, you can preorder a copy of the game on our website.
For fans of jigsaw puzzles, escape rooms, and legacy games, Pandora’s Legacy is a must-play! PostCurious is thrilled to have collaborated with TED-Ed on this exciting project, which will be launching on Kickstarter next month.
In other news, at the end of March I went to Airecon in Harrogate (Yorkshire, UK), which is a fun play-focused convention. Alongside playing published games and meeting up with wonderful people, I managed some playtests. A couple of these were of Dwarven Union, which I anticipate will be my next game – and my first boxed game. It’s an asymmetric game – currently 2-player – where one side is the dwarven owner of a mine, and the other represents the dwarven miners’ union. There’s negotiation where you’ll wrangle over pay, strikes which your workers may or may not join. Overall my aim is for a game that models the limitations of agency of both ‘the boss’ and ‘the union’ – in terms of needing each other in order to get work done, and not necessarily having all the power to just order your pieces around the table.
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If this concept sounds interesting to you, follow along on my socials (follow the Poll & Write USA link) or newsletter.
Until next time!
We also had a brilliant time at Airecon where Mike was in the Demo Zone with a whole bunch of our indie publishing friends. The Demo Zone was busy all weekend and we played a lot of games of Sakana Stack and Flower Cards with people. It was so great to play demos with people that had backed Sakana Stack on Kickstarter and the feedback was brilliant! Mike also got to run a couple of demos of a new trick-taking game he has designed for a compendium of card games designed by a group of international indie designers! The demos went really well and we look forward to announcing more about this project later in the year.
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Next up we were at Paradice in Worthing where Mike playtested a new word game he has been working on, combining his love of word games and trick-taking games. Hopefully it went well and it could be a future Huff No More release!
We’re excited to launch Breakers on Kickstarter on September 2, 2025, and we’re working hard to build a community of players who enjoy trick-taking games with strategic depth. We’re also thrilled to have Justin Gerard illustrating the game, bringing the world of Breakers to life with his incredible artwork.
The Phoenix and Fates are the first two monsters revealed for Breakers, showcasing just a glimpse of the exciting creatures in store—there’s so much more to come! Check them out on our Instagram!
As we approach the launch, we’re refining the game through extensive play-testing to ensure it’s well-balanced with entertaining gameplay. Our goal is to create a game that’s both accessible and rewarding for players of all skill levels.
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We can’t wait to share more as we get closer to release. If you love trick-taking games, we’d love for you to join us on this journey and help bring Breakers to life. Follow us on Instagram, X, and Bluesky, all linked to our website header.
Tackle the impending threat from a vast Supervolcano. Construct power plants & a pipeline network to local settlements and harvest super heated steam from deep inside the magma chamber. Balance the challenges of building your operation and local populations, whilst keeping the magma chamber pressure under control.
Fail to meet your quota and the resulting eruptions and quakes will see those precious populations disappear! You can also pick up a bundle of our current games including Attack of the Intergalactic Gherkins, Anxious Unicorn’s Poop Gold and Tails of the Sea at a knocked down price.
We’ve also been working on Voids 2.0, a lightweight tactical card game, launching spring/summer 2025. Voids is a fast-paced card game where quick thinking wins the day!
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Collect matter from the far corners of the Galaxy and fill the Wormhole at the centre before the ever increasing Voids consume the board! Sounds simple…with one small problem – the more cards you play, the more of the board disappears…so choose your path wisely!
Play solo, as a team or in competitive mode to collect cards and bridge, boost and warp your way to victory, but with a limited hand, will you play it safe or push your luck?
