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Junk Art and Mind MGMT co-designer behind Harrow County board game

Welcome to The Family.

The co-designer behind Junk Art and Mind MGMT, Jay Cormier, has co-created a new horror board game based on the Harrow County comic book series.

Harrow County: The Game of Gothic Conflict is an upcoming board game adapted from the comic series written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Tyler Crook, which was published by Dark Horse Comics between 2015 and 2018. Similarly to the comic series – which featured a collection of short stories, essays and artwork focused on a strange fictional village – the Harrow County board game will feature various horror elements inspired by the American gothic horror movement led by the likes of Edgar Allen Poe and Hermen Melville.

The new horror board game sees players taking control of one of three factions, each with their own agendas and methods for achieving them. As an asymmetrical board game, Harrow County will have players experience different playstyles and hunt for different objectives depending on the faction they choose. Players will be able to select from either the Protectors, The Family or Kammi, with the option to add a fourth playable faction – the Fair Folk – with an expansion.

An image of blocks being putt into the box for Harrow County: A Game of Gothic Conflict

As the protectors, players will be attempting to rescue their fellow Harrow County townsfolk from the numerous horrors that plague its streets. Controlling The Family will challenge players to spread chaos and fear across the town, performing terrible acts and spawning creatures. As Kammi, the player will be looking to find a doll of some significance in amongst series of decoys, using magical abilities to enact their will. For each of the factions, players will have access to a roster of character boards, each with their own abilities, as well as the unique gameplay elements connected to their decks and boards.

When playing with three players, one of them will be able to control Hester – a witch who remains buried underneath the earth, using her spells and minions to enact her will. As Hester, players will be attempting to infect the other players’ Haints – or summoned creatures – to do her bidding and bring her back to life. Throughout the game, players will be placing and moving meeples, using their abilities and drawing cubes from the game box itself: which serves as a dice tower.

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Besides Cormier, Harrow County was co-created by Shad Miller, who has previously worked with Cormier on Partners in Crime, a board game about communicating alliances using a word pad. Harrow County will be published by Jay, a studio founded by Cormier.

The Kickstarter campaign for Harrow County is live until October 28th, with a pledge of CA$ 84 (£56/$60) getting backers a copy of the core board game in October 2023.

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About the Author
Alex Meehan avatar

Alex Meehan

Senior Staff Writer

After writing for Kotaku UK, Waypoint and Official Xbox Magazine, Alex became a member of the Dicebreaker editorial family. Having been producing news, features, previews and opinion pieces for Dicebreaker for the past three years, Alex has had plenty of opportunity to indulge in her love of meaty strategy board games and gothic RPGS. Besides writing, Alex appears in Dicebreaker’s D&D actual play series Storybreakers and haunts the occasional stream on the Dicebreaker YouTube channel.

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