It's been a while in the making, but Wander: The Cult of Barnacle Bay, by Panda Cult Games, is on Kickstarter now, and I'm super excited!

This is one of those projects that we've been able to follow from its infancy and I'd be lying if I didn't say that I feel like a proud parent (ok, maybe grand-parent) seeing it grow its legs.

The Cult of Barnacle Bay drops a band of fantastic animal heroes into a dungeon delving adventure where the villains are all aquatic/land based hybrids there to do their worst!

This family friendly, choose your own adventure style board game delivers all the epic moments you could possibly hope for through its clever mechanics (and adorable minis).

Let's talk about some of the wonderful elements in the game. For starters, I absolutely love the turn order mechanic. Being a cooperative game, players can choose their strategies and adjust accordingly throughout game play depending on what has happened in the game up that point.

Do you have a character with little health left? You probably want to move them to the back of the line as far as order of activation. Do you have a ranged attack? Maybe you should send that character up first to pick off those distant enemies before they get a chance to get up close and personal.

Then there's the event cards. I think these are my favorite. Where there's loot on the line, how can you resist checking it out? It may be something amazing. It may benefit you or perhaps the whole group! But in the same manner, there may be something bad involved and you (and perhaps your group) may suffer the consequences...but I'll tell you what- it's so well written and entertaining that you won't even care it it's bad.

We had more laughs over the dice rolls, epic or horrendous, as well as the outcome of searching.

As mentioned before, it's a cooperative game, which means the villains are controlled as an AI component, so nobody has to choose between being the good guys or bad guys and you can actually play the game solo if you'd like (although no one will be there to cheer when you roll well or mock you when you don't).

It simply wouldn't be a Kickstarter without a Kickstarter Exclusive mini, and Panda Cult does NOT disappoint. Check out Gunnbjorn, the warrior polar bear!

And there's plenty more where that came from. The project is three quarters of the way funded already and the first teaser stretch goal will be Krex, the mini-boss! What could be more menacing than a crocodile/crab combo?

Will you be exploring The Cult of Barnacle Bay?