Tune into our live interview on Instagram in one hour!
11 months ago – Mon, Oct 16, 2023 at 11:05:55 AM

We're doing a live interview on instagram in 1 hour 20:00 (GMT + 1) 🥳 . Gareth, who you might know from his instagram @boardgamemeeple or his podcast Meeple2Meeple, will be interviewing us live. Tune in to hear us talk about the Kickstarter campaign, Spiel Essen, conservation and our tips for creating your own game. 

It would be amazing to speak to you all in real time via the comments and questions if you're able to join the live interview. 

Hope to see some of you online soon. 

Zara & Matt 

Deluxe Player Boards
11 months ago – Fri, Oct 13, 2023 at 04:49:43 AM

Hello, hello!

A short update today. Here is a snapshot of what the deluxe player boards will look like with the added corner holders. We're working with our manufacturer to produce a final version at the moment and this is a digital mock-up of what we will produce. The boards will have an added layer of card on top which will create the corner-holders for the cards to tuck into. The corner holders will keep your Nature Reserve safe from wind gusts when playing outside or shaky tables disturbing your animals if you're playing indoors! 

Woohoo, more stretch goals and sharing updates from Essen
11 months ago – Thu, Oct 12, 2023 at 09:59:31 AM

Since our last update two new stretch goals have been unlocked - amazing! We based our latest stretch goals on feedback from Essen and some wonderful conversations we had with people there. 

The £130k stretch goal unlocked an illustrated map of the Kavango region in Southern Africa and we'll include some fun information in there about where the player boards came from and the some great organisations working on conservation in the region. 

The £140k stretch goal unlocked easy and expert rule variations. What does that mean? 

• The easy rule variations will make Kavango easier to play, by taking out the research tasks, and will focus mainly on card-drafting to build the nature reserve tableau. 
• The expert rule variations will add two new elements of strategy to the game. The first will be that all players can look ahead to the research goals for the whole game rather than reacting to them round-by-round. The second is that each player will have their own long-term goal card that gives them extra points if they complete it during the course of the game. Thanks to Peter Gorniak (from Seas of Havoc fame) for a great conversation at Essen that inspired this variation. 

Whats next? Well, we have a special stretch goal for the £150k milestone which will be inside box art. We're excited about the luxury finish it will give your Kickstarter version of the game. 

As always, please share any thoughts and feedback with us. We love talking to you and bouncing around ideas for future stretch goals. 

Here's some photos from Essen in case you missed them on our instagram! 

XL t-shirts available
11 months ago – Mon, Oct 09, 2023 at 12:43:49 AM

Thanks for all your feedback on our t-shirt add-ons! 

We've added XL t-shirt options in all colours to the pledge manager. You can add them to your pledge via 'Manage my pledge'. Let us know if you have any trouble. 

Thanks

Matt & Zara 

New stretch goal and the meaning behind the player boards
11 months ago – Sat, Oct 07, 2023 at 02:57:55 PM

Congratulations on unlocking the climate mini-expansion! This will allow you to add cards to your game which will make the game-play more focused on achieving climate goals. These cards are: 

• Climatologist Conservation Expert. Players using this character can play animals for which they do not yet have the required climate protection. 
• Three desert adapted species variation cards: desert adapted lion, desert adapted elephant and desert adapted giraffe. These highly specialised populations of desert adapted animals are particularly vulnerable to climate change and will require level 3 climate protection. They'll be worth more points than their non-desert adapted cousins because they are more vulnerable.  
• A new end of game award focused on climate.

We hope you enjoy it! It was inspired by a recent trip to Namibia where we were lucky enough to see the desert adapted elephant, lion and giraffe.

The meaning behind the player boards

We've been having a blast at Essen and lots of people here and online have asked for more background on the conservation context for the game. There's so much to share with you that we're going to do it in stages. In this update, we'll explain the inspiration behind the player boards...

Firstly, we need to explain what Kavango means! Kavango is our shorthand name for the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area which spans 5 countries in Southern Africa and is home to the world's largest elephant population. The area is full of biodiversity and Kavango is inspired by the region and conservation methods within it (I say inspired because we also included elements from South Africa, which isn't in the Kavango-Zambezi region). 

Each player board represents a different landscape in Southern Africa. As you know, the premise of Kavango is that each player is working to transform an area of degraded land somewhere in Southern Africa into a thriving nature reserve. Each player has a different area of land, symbolised by their player board, which has its own unique habitat and starting conditions. Your challenge is to maximise the potential of your land to create the best nature reserve in Kavango. 

• The green board is a riverine forest. This board is inspired by the Chobe Forest National Park in the northeastern corner of Botswana. It's a beautiful and thriving forest adjacent to the powerful Chobe River. There are seasonal floodplains across the landscape and it's a haven for bird and aquatic species. Chobe is full of elephants and you can even see them on the main road as you drive towards the park! The green player board starts with a tree and a fish.
• The yellow board is a grassland savannah and is inspired by the Central Kalahari Game Reserve where golden grasses stretch to the horizon and the night sky glows with stars. It's the second largest wildlife reserve in the world, encompassing 52,800 sq. km. During and after the rains, the area teems with wildlife as herbivores migrate to enjoy the fresh grasses and predators follow them. It's the only place where we've seen a cheetah run at full speed while it was chasing a springbok. The yellow player board starts with a grass and a termite.
• The blue board is a wetland. The Okavango Delta was our inspiration for this landscape board. It is the most breathtaking place we've ever seen. A protected UNESCO world heritage site, the land is characterised by meandering waterways, lush vegetation and an abundance of wildlife. The blue player board starts with a fish and a grass.
• The purple board is an arid desert prone to flooding. It was inspired by the areas around the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. Most of the year, this desolate area remains waterless and extremely arid. However, in years of good rain, the flat landscape floods attracting wildlife – most spectacularly flamingos in the tens or even hundreds of thousands. The purple board starts with a fish and a termite.
• The orange board a bushland savannah and is based on semi-arid sandy savannahs in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa such as the Kalahari Transfrontier Park. The terrain here is dotted with dwarf trees and bushes, grasslands and deep orange sand dunes. The orange board starts with a termite and a tree. 

New stretch goal 

Our new stretch goal is linked to this update on the player boards...If we hit £130k, we're going to include a pull-out, hand illustrated, map of the Kavango region in the Kickstarter version's rulebook. The map will point out where you can find similar habitats to those on the player boards and will include information on the different landscapes across the region. Let us know if there's anything else you'd like it to include!

We'd love to hear from you in the comments. Have you been to any of the landscapes that inspired our boards? 

Thanks for all your support,

Zara & Matt