Friends of Gryphon & Eagle Games,

We believe that games are nothing if not art, and we are proud to bring this sentiment to life with our newest Kickstarter Campaign: Games of Art!

This campaign presents 3 new games: Petite Pastiche, Games of Art and

Fantastiqa: Rucksack, all of which display a wide range of wonderful classic & modern art in their design and game play. If you choose to support us on Kickstarter, you may select any of these games individually, or you may bundle them in various ways for greater savings. We are also adding two additional games to the collection as "Add-Ons", Cubist and Rococo, two new games which take place in two very different artistic movements. The more games you bundle, the more you save, especially as we are offering Free Shipping for U.S. orders!

We have also included the information on our other ongoing kickstarter project,

Nika, a Knowledge-in-a-Box game themed around Ancient Greek warfare that pairs nicely with any of our Games of Art for a truly cultural gaming experience!

This is a campaign to satisfy the art-lover in all of us, so check out the games below, or jump right to the Kickstarter campaign to check out the pledge levels here!

Games of Art is a book of games by Sid Sackson in which players use colored markers to collectively create their own works of art in the style of seven Modern Art masters. All Kickstarter-backed copies of Games of Art will have the words "First Edition" printed on the cover. This exclusive printing will be available ONLY during this 30-day Kickstarter Project!

The book includes seven classic games, each of which can be played with the colored dry erase markers provided in the package. Each game includes a short biography of the title artist, followed illustrated rules (less than one page per game) and a full-page diagram of the game. The games are named after and reminiscent of the styles of the iconic modern artists Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee, Joan Miro, Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Jean Arp, Ferdinand Springer, and Victor Vasarely.

When Sid Sackson passed away in 2002, the world lost one of the most creative and prolific game designers of all time. Gryphon Games has dedicated itself to the mission of reprinting many of these now out-of-print masterpieces.

Games of Art is being produced to honor Sid Sackson's legacy.

Games of Art plays in 15-60 minutes with 2-4 players, ages 8+

This Kickstarter Exclusive title, Petite Pastiche, is the new, more streamlined edition of the 2011 Mensa Select Award Winner, Pastiche! The game gives players an opportunity to mix "paints" to re-create the color palettes used by 23 different classical European and American artists and to complete commissions that picture some of the finest art works from the past six centuries.

The word pastiche is used to refer to something that is an imitation or recreation of an earlier work, often as a tribute to the original. Each player starts with two personal commissions on her wooden easels. There are also four paintings in the Gallery that anyone may attempt to complete as well. Explore the paintings, palettes and pasts of the artists in this unique and challenging game for the whole family.

Petite Pastiche plays in 45 to 60 minutes with 2-4 players, ages 10+

Fantastiqa: The Rucksack Edition, is the new, slimmer version of the award winning deck-building strategy game set in a fantasy world of terrific 18th and 19th century art. The game portrays intrepid adventurers and the beasts they must subdue to pursue their quests. Each creature you encounter has both an ability and a vulnerability. Subdue it and recruit it as an ally! Combine the powers of different creatures and fulfill curious quests to gain victory points!

The world of Fantastiqa changes every time you set up the game, so prepare for a new, exciting adventure each time you play! The components are lavishly illustrated with fine art by Caspar David Friedrich, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Theodor Kittelsen, Arthur Rackham, John William Waterhouse, John Bauer, Edward Burne-Jones, Francisco Goya, and others!

Six new expansions (contained in 3 sets), fully compatible with both editions of Fantastiqa, will be printed and made available at the same time as the new Rucksack Edition.

Also, as a special treat, be one of the first 111 backers of our "Mad Men Only" level and receive a copy of Alf Seegert's new promo card (and part of the Exclusive Artifacts expansion) Tailfeathers of the Hairy Crane signed by the namesake of the card, avid gamer, Rich Sommer, who plays Harry Crane on the hit tv show Mad Men!

Fantastiqa plays in 30-60 minutes with 2-4 players, ages 9+

In Cubist you and your opponents are architects competing to build a grand and inspiring new Modern Art Museum, including its interior sculptures, or "installations." Aptly enough, your building materials are cubes, or more precisely, dice!

On each turn, you roll two dice and place them in your studio as raw materials for your cubist sculptures. From there you position these dice to complete commissioned installations for the museum. You can press your luck by committing to a risky commission-hoping that no one else will complete it first-or play it safe by locking up your dice for later use. You can also use your dice to enlist the aid of masters of modern art like Juan Gris, Franz Marc and Olga Rozanova. Each installation you complete allows you to contribute dice to the building of the Museum itself. You will have to sculpt cleverly but quickly to get the new Museum named after you!

Cubist plays in 30 to 45 minutes with 2 to 4 players ages 7+

Rococo takes place in a world where holding lavish balls is quite trendy. As the biggest event is coming up in just a few weeks, everyone is turning to you with their requests: an elegant coat here, a stunning dress there, or a donation to fund the fireworks at the event. Soon you realize that it's not just about your dressmaking business anymore - it's about managing the most prestigious ball of the era.

Each turn, you play one of your employee cards and let that employee perform a task: hire a new employee, buy resources, manufacture a coat or dress, or invest in the ball's decorations. After seven rounds, the game ends with the big ball and a final scoring. Then you gain prestige points for certain employee bonuses and for coats and dresses that you rent out to guests at the ball as well as for decorations that you funded. The player who collected the most prestige points wins.

Rococo plays in 60-90 minutes with 2-5 players, ages 10+

While not specifically a member of the Games of Art Kickstarter, we'd also like to let you know about one of our historical Knowledge in a Box games that is running on a concurrent project: Nika.

Nika is a board game inspired by Ancient Grecian warfare, and named

after the Greek word for "Conquer". In Nika, players will play as factions in one

of two ancient Greek alliances (Sparta and Thebes or Athens and Messene) as they

vie for control of the battlefield.

Nika takes places on a rectangular board, with each faction's ally placed on the

opposite side of the rectangle. The goal is for a faction to deliver a piece into their

ally's starting area, or facilitate their ally's ability to deliver a piece into their own

starting area. To do this however, they must traverse enemy territory, putting

themselves far away from their own staging ground and close to the enemy's.

To be victorious, players will have to use their troops to push an enemy backwards, and then rout the enemy with flanking attacks. Although routed units can be rallied at any time, doing so costs precious actions, both to rally the piece and to move them from the rally point back into the action. If you can punch a hole in the line of your enemy and deliver a unit past enemy-controlled territory, you've won the game and the right to call "Nika!"

Nika plays in 30 minutes with 2-4 players, ages 8+