Kickstarter Tabletop Alert: ‘Red Dog Junction'

Geek Dad

9 hours ago

You've got a ship, a crew, and a dream—but so does everyone else. Who will be able to take home the most gold? What Is Red Dog Junction ?
Red Dog Junction is a resource management game for to 2 to 5 players, ages 14 and up, and takes about 30 to 60 minutes to play. It's currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, with a pledge level of $67 for a copy of the game. The game rules aren't too complex so I think you could go perhaps as young as 10 as long as they can handle some direct conflict in the game.
It was originally launched on Kickstarter in October 2024 as Space Freight with placeholder artwork, but the publishers decided to cancel the campaign and try again. This review is based on my original Space Freight write-up, but modified to reflect the changes, which are primarily art-related.
Red Dog Junction was designed by Tyler Cheves and Brendon Cheves and published by Waterworks Games and Healthy Pixels, with art by Marie Bergeron.
New to Kickstarter? Check out our crowdfunding primer. Red Dog Junction components. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Red Dog Junction Components
Note: My review is based on a prototype copy, so it is subject to change and may not reflect final component quality. The plastic spaceships in the prototype were 3D-printed and I assume they will not all be yellow in the finished game.
Here's what comes in the box: Red Dog Junction tile
Haberdashery tile
4 Planet tiles
5 Home Base tiles
5 Ships
15 Super Deal tiles
Metallic Gold D4 die
6 Plastic D6 dice
5 Player Aid cards
81 cards
50 Gold cubes
30 Scrap cubes (black)
30 Ruby cubes (red)
30 Ice cubes (clear)
30 Oxygen cubes (green)
30 Gas cubes (yellow)
30 Whiskey cubes (brown)
Space Freight had experimented with a 'no rulebook' system, where the component trays had lids that explained the game as you unpacked it. The publisher realized that most players still preferred just having a rulebook, so Red Dog Junction does not use the same panel system. Unique ships, one loaded with cubes. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu
The plastic ships are quite large—each one can hold up to 12 resource cubes on it, and they also serve as your player piece for moving around the table. The cubes themselves are a standard size, mostly plastic, while the 'gold' and 'whiskey' cubes are made of metal and have an impressive heft to them. The dice for the trading exchange are similar: one plastic die for each of the six resources, and then a metallic D4 for the gold. The ships all have unique shapes, which gives them a fun bit of personality—particularly if they end up all being grey plastic. (I'm not sure what the finished ships will be.)
The resources tray is nice because you can just set the whole thing on the table as a supply. I noticed that, along with renaming the resources from Space Freight , they've also adjusted the colors some—there's now a brown metallic cube for whiskey, and the yellow cubes are now 'gas' or 'fuel' (but I still think having both yellow and metallic gold as resources can be a little confusing). Also gone are the tiny mineral icons, replaced by different colored cube icons—though it would still be nice to have a legend somewhere, because the 'green' icons looked like grey to me, which is the color of the scrap cubes in the prototype. I've been told the finished version will have more distinct colors so everything is more easily distinguished.
Instead of a folding board, the locations are now large tiles that you just place around the table, which feels fitting for a game set in space. The illustrations are by Marie Bergeron, who also illustrated Thunder Road: Vendetta , and it gives everything a lived-in feel. This isn't a polished, shiny sci-fi where everything looks like it was designed by Apple; it's beat-up and rusty and feels a little bit more like the world of Firefly . (I'm not sure why the store location is called the 'Haberdashery' other than maybe they liked the sound of the word—it doesn't appear to be a clothing store.) How to Play Red Dog Junction The Goal
The goal of the game is to have the most points by the time the gold supply runs out. 4-player setup. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Setup
Set up the various location tiles with the resource tray nearby. Place the scrap cubes on the table in space; the rest of the cubes stay in the tray.
Put the D4 in the center of Red Dog Junction set to '1,' and then roll the other six dice and place them randomly in the six spaces around it. Shuffle the two stacks of Super Deals (there are 6-value tiles and 8-value tiles) and place them in the Haberdashery, face-up. Player setup. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu
Give each player a ship, a player aid card, a Home Base, and a set of starting crew: 3 Cowboys, 1 Miner, 1 Scavenger, and 1 Agent. Players will start with some gold based on turn order. Place your ship on its home base, and your gold in storage on your home base.
Shuffle the cards and place the deck off to the side, and reveal six cards to form the market. You start with four crew types, but you may be able to recruit others during the game. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Gameplay
On your turn, you may take two actions from the following: Load/Unload : Move any number of resources between your storage and your ship while docked at home.
: Move any number of resources between your storage and your ship while docked at home. Move : Move from any dock space into space, or move from space to any open docking space. (Special: you may move from one dock to another at Red Dog Junction for a single move rather than having to move into space first.) Only one ship is allowed at a planet at a time.
: Move from any dock space into space, or move from space to any open docking space. (Special: you may move from one dock to another at Red Dog Junction for a single move rather than having to move into space first.) Only one ship is allowed at a planet at a time. Mine : While docked at a planet, gain cubes of that color onto your ship.
: While docked at a planet, gain cubes of that color onto your ship. Salvage : While in space, collect cubes from space into your ship.
: While in space, collect cubes from space into your ship. Trade : While docked at Red Dog Junction, trade resources.
: While docked at Red Dog Junction, trade resources. Purchase Gold : While docked at the Haberdashery, turn in resources to complete a Super Deal and earn gold.
: While docked at the Haberdashery, turn in resources to complete a Super Deal and earn gold. Displace : Move ships from docks into space (requires Rustlers crew).
: Move ships from docks into space (requires Rustlers crew). Swap : Trade resources with another ship while you're both in space (requires Outlaws crew).
: Trade resources with another ship while you're both in space (requires Outlaws crew). Buy: Buy a card from the market row. This ship can salvage cubes from space—currently there's only scrap floating around. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu
The strength of many of the actions is affected by how many crew you have. For instance, at the beginning of the game you have one Scavenger, so a salvage action lets you take 1 cube. If you had 3 Scavengers, then you could pick up 3 cubes for 1 action. Cowboys give you capacity for your ship—you start with 3 Cowboys so your ship capacity is 6 cubes; at the end of your turn if you have more than your capacity in your ship, you must choose cubes to jettison into space, where they could be salvaged by any players on future turns. This ship could trade 3 oxygen for 4 whiskey or 1 gold. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu
When trading, you may exchange resources matching the two dice next to your ship, as well as gold, and the exchange rate is equal to the values of the dice. For instance, in the photo above, the oxygen die is 3, the whiskey die is 4, and the gold die is 1, so you may make any swaps at a ratio of 3 oxygen : 4 whiskey : 1 gold. Your trader crew cards give you more trades per action; you may also use a trade to increase or decrease one of the D6 next to your ship, manipulating the economy. (Note that there is no whiskey planet, so the only way to get whiskey is through trading.) Docked at Honest Jose's Haberdashery. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu
If you dock at the mission center, you may turn in the required resources shown on one of the Super Deal tiles to gain the gold payment, and you also take the tile, which is worth 1 point. Remember: you still have to get the gold back home safely! Jose might be honest, but you can't trust your fellow players. Buy crew, officers, and boosts at the card market. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu
You may buy cards from the market no matter where your ship is located, but you may only spend resources that are already in your storage, not from your ship. Crew cards will make your actions more efficient, and Boost cards are single-use cards that usually give you an extra action after you play them, letting you set up a powerful turn if you can time it right.
Officer cards are the most expensive, each costing 8 resources, but they give you an ongoing ability for the rest of the gameand are also worth points. The Pathfinder can move directly to any open docking space without stopping in space; the Quartermaster can unload directly to your storage from space without being docked at home. Game End
The game ends when all of the gold has been moved to player's storage (so if it's still floating in space or on a player's ship, the game isn't over yet!).
Players earn points for all of their crew, officers, and mission tiles, and 1 point per gold in their storage. The highest score wins, with ties going to the player with the most remaining boost cards, and then the most crew cards. Why You Should Play Red Dog Junction
One of the gimmicks for the older prototype (while it was still named Space Freight ) was the fact that it didn't have a rulebook, but that idea was scrapped. The other thing that stood out, though, was the big spaceships that held the resource cubes. There's definitely a bit of a toy factor there, but it also makes it really obvious who's carrying what, because although this is a pick-up-and-deliver game, there's also a lot of space piracy happening. Just because you've picked up some goods doesn't guarantee you'll actually get to keep them, unless you can get home and offload them into your base. Mining for ice. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu
Okay, so how's the gameplay?
Your turns are pretty short, particularly at the beginning, because most of your actions are fairly simple. It'll take you two actions just to fly your ship somewhere and dock, and then maybe on your second turn all you do is mine two resources if you made it to a planet. Or, perhaps you started by loading some gold into your ship with the intentions of trading. Your goal is to just accumulate as much gold in your storage as you can, but there are multiple ways to go about that.
If you see that the markets have made a particular resource more valuable (if the die is low, you can trade fewer gems per gold), then maybe it's worth making a run to that planet so you can load up and then go trading. Or, maybe there's a good combination where you could take your starting gold and trade it for something that's needed for a Super Deal. Either way, the two primary sources of gold are Red Dog Junction and the Haberdashery, turning goods and scrap (however you managed to acquire them) into gold, and then shuttling that back home.
Powering up your actions with crew is also key, and each crew member can be purchased with a specific type of resource or you can spend gold, though that's usually if you're desperate to beat somebody else to the punch. Cowboys increase your ship capacity so you don't have to fly back and forth as often, and Miners and Scavengers let you gain more cubes per action. Agents make your trading stops more efficient, both because you can manipulate the market dice but also because you can make more trades per action.
Then we get to the other crew: Outlaws and Rustlers. You don't start with any, but as soon as somebody acquires these, prepare to be boarded. Rustlers let you dislodge players from their docks, putting them into space. That's handy if somebody's mining a planet but you want that spot, or if they're hogging the space you need at Red Dog Junction. But the real one-two punch comes when you have Outlaws, which let you swap resources on your ship with somebody else—why go to the trouble of mining and then trading at Red Dog Junction, when you can just hang about in space, maybe scavenge some scrap metal, and then dump it on those merchants and take their gold? You get so many more actions if you don't have to spend them docking and undocking all the time.
The Rascal is a special crew that is very expensive, but every turn you can decide which crew it is, so it gives you a lot of flexibility. Carrying a lot of cargo? It's a Cowboy this time. Time to mine? Let's make it a Miner. Boost cards cost 1 gold but can be quite effective. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu
Finally, there are boost cards—these all cost 1 gold, which means you're spending a point to acquire them, but they give you really amazing effects once. You might be able to manipulate dice at Red Dog Junction (including the gold die!), increase your ship's capacity temporarily, or get a boosted mine, salvage, or swap action. Whenever a boost card comes up in the market, everyone should take a look at it because even if it's not directly useful for you, it may be worth buying so your opponent can't use it against you.
Once the game gets going, things can get pretty heated. Multiple players want to be on the same planet, or are racing for particular resources because an officer card just appeared in the market. If you see somebody collecting resources that match a Super Deal, is it worth trying to outpace them, or do you go for something else instead? When you're done trading, do you use some of your trade abilities to change the die and make the exchange rate worse for everyone else? Super Deals: are they worth the risk? (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu
Super Deals are worth 1 point just for buying them, but also give you a decent amount of gold. The problem is, if there are Outlaws about, there's no guarantee you'll get that gold home to storage. In our games, it was often a dilemma whether it was more efficient to complete missions or trade resources for gold, and one of the limiting factors was always the amount of time it took to fly back and forth between locations.
The different crews between players can also make for some funny outcomes. In one game, one player had a lot of Outlaws so if they accumulated enough of anything, they could swap out and take pretty much my whole stash of gold before I got it home. But I realized I had a lot of Scavengers and they didn't—so if I jettisoned all my gold into space, at most they could get 2 of them in a turn, and I could try to scoop up the rest and flee for home!
There can be a bit of a stalemate, though, depending on how determined players are. If you have gold and you're not in space, it will take you at least two turns just to get home, and then you can't unload until your next turn. But that means you're a sitting duck for anyone who has a Rustler and some Outlaws. If they undock you and take some gold, do you try to get it back, or just go back home and unload whatever you have left? We had some long tug-of-wars over gold in one of the games I played and eventually one player just had to give in so the game wouldn't go on too long. There are only 5 unique officers in the deck. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu
The officers are a game-changer, and since there are only five of them in the entire deck, there's no guarantee that you'll even see all of them in any given game. We did feel like the Pathfinder, which allows you to teleport anywhere, felt like it was the most valuable of them, because saving an extra action per turn just lets you unload gold before anyone else can get to you, and it feels unstoppable. Some of the others can be pretty handy, but nothing really compares to teleportation. I would have liked to see either some more officers, either multiple copies of the same ones or some additional powers, because it's possible that the player who's first to get an officer can just run away with the game.
Overall, Red Dog Junction is a solid pick-up-and-deliver game that can spark some really exciting moments, but can also feel a bit limiting at times because you only get 2 actions and flying through space is time-consuming. It's not too complex once you learn the different actions, though coming up with a winning strategy can still be a challenge. The components have a fun toy factor with the ships carrying the cubes around the board.
For more information or to make a pledge, visit the Red Dog Junction Kickstarter page!
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Disclosure: GeekDad was loaned a prototype of this game for review purposes.
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