Uwe Rosenberg’s The Danes has sailed past 600,000 euros on Gamefound, more than six times its funding goal, after backers funded the campaign in just 23 minutes.

The standalone worker placement game, set in the world of A Feast for Odin and designed by Rosenberg with Gernot Köpke, launched on Gamefound with a 100,000 euro goal. The campaign page shows the goal fell in 23 minutes and 12 seconds, and with about 17 days still to go, more than 5,500 backers have pushed the total past 600,000 euros. The project is also part of Gamefound’s Stable Pledge program, which guarantees backers a full refund if production cost estimates rise more than 10 percent.

The Danes started life as an expansion to A Feast for Odin and grew into its own game during development, and publisher Feuerland Spiele says you do not need the original to play. That matters, because the original is one of the hobby’s heavyweights: ten years on, A Feast for Odin still sits near the top 30 overall on BoardGameGeek with an 8.2 average from more than 34,000 ratings.

The familiar worker placement and tile-laying puzzle stays at the heart of the game, with a new transport system, reworked actions, and extra scenarios. Instead of exploring islands, players explore Kaupangs, trading towns represented by 26 double-sided boards, using five types of ship. Seven- and fourteen-sided dice replace the original’s d8 and d12 for hunting and plundering, and if another player uses an action space you have marked on a Kaupang, you get paid in hacksilver.

The game plays 1 to 4, runs 90 to 180 minutes, and is aimed at ages 14 and up, with art again from Dennis Lohausen. Backers choose a German or English edition, and solo and duel challenges are planned, some of which ask you to hit a set goal rather than chase points.

The Danes is the latest in a run of blockbuster tabletop crowdfunding campaigns this month. Awaken Realms’ Nemesis: Legacy has passed 5.7 million euros on Gamefound, and MOOD Publishing’s Satisfactory board game has blown past 1.6 million euros with weeks still to run. For euro-game fans who wore a groove into A Feast for Odin, this is the one to watch.

Source: The Danes campaign page on Gamefound
Image: Feuerland Spiele via Gamefound