The King is Dead: Second Edition
- Brand: Unbranded
Description
Every player receives a set of 8 Action Cards and 1 Crown Token, and draws 2 Followers from the bag to form their court. Note: a player may have 2 Followers of the same color. However, if 2 or more players all draw Followers of a single color (e.g. if 2 players each draw 2 red Followers) they should both re-draw. Coloured cubes are the game's core components showing each player's influence within the factions. These are randomly drawn at certain points of the game so unfortunately it was important that these were not sculpted pieces. The game also comes with 24 control tokens, eight for each of the three factions, as well as four for the Saxons and four crown tokens. Actions and region cards are the last components of the game, the artwork being clear but very simple. This helps to ensure an easy learning experience. Setting Up The production quality of the game is rather good considering its role. Coming in a lovely book style case which a lot of gaming companies could learn from, and though the pieces are not exciting they serve their purpose. Osprey for me really achieved what they were aiming for with this game, it even comes with a variant which adds the followers of Mordred to the game, creating a new ending condition which I am yet to try but it would appear to change the game up significantly.
A nearly perfect game, now presented at its most beautiful. The struggles of Medieval power feel palpable – and entirely within your control. The game ends when the final power struggle has been completed, or when the Saxons have invaded. The winner is the player who has the most Followers of the faction which controls the highest number of regions. In the case of an invasion the winner is determined in a slightly different way. At the start of a round, players take turns playing cards which may move forces (cubes) around the countryside, take forces out, or change the region where the skirmish will be. Players take as many turns as they want, but might not want to as you only have eight cards to use for the entire game.If, at any point, there are four Saxon Control Tokens on the board, the game ends immediately. The Saxons have invaded and gain the throne. The winner is the player with the most complete sets of Followers. There are two ways for The King is Dead to end, the first and most common way is for the eighth power struggle to be resolved. At this point the faction who controls the most regions is declared in power, and the player with the most followers of that faction gets declared King or Queen of Britain. The second way to trigger the game's end is by there being four Saxon markers on the board. If this happens at any time the game immediately ends. The King is Dead is a board game of political struggle set in Dark age Britain, following the death of King Arthur. Players will be taking the role of King Arthur's court members, as they attempt to secure the most power and get themselves crowned the new ruler of Britain. The games board has a beautiful antique look and is partitioned into eight territories, which is where your power struggle will be occurring. Your fellow players are not your only competition however, as if territories are left uninfluenced the Saxons may try and assert their claims. If the Welsh control the board, then whichever of the Scots or Romano-British controls the most regions will determine the winner: if the Scots, Phil will win as he has more blue Followers; if the Romano-British, Laura will win as she has more yellow Followers. The game can end in two ways - if three regions become unstable then the French invade. In that case the player with the most sets of cubes in front of them (yellow, blue and red) wins. If all 8 power struggles are resolved then the nation with the most controlled regions is crowned. Then the player with the most cubes of that colour wins the game.
The home region symbols on the board only affects starting placement and the Scots, Welsh and Romano-British Action Cards.
Randomly draw Followers to place on the board until each region contains 4 Followers, including the starting Followers on the home regions. Place the remaining Followers onto the title section of the board to form the common pool.
If the game ended due to Saxon invasion, then Laura has won as she has more matching sets - three to Phil's two. The King is Dead feels like the love child between two brilliant games in Santorini and Hanamikoji. Two games I adore for their simple rulesets, and their tense push-and-pull gameplay. The King is Dead is a deeper board game than both of those two, while still maintaining a paper-thin ruleset. However, despite requiring a softer touch the tension you feel playing The King is Dead is astronomical. With only eight actions, there’s an extremely low margin for error.The King is Dead is both the name and opening line of this game, designed by Peer Sylvester and published by Osprey games. It’s a two to four player area control game where you win by exerting influence over three factions (English, Scottish and Welsh) to determine the future King or Queen. After eight power struggles across the regions of the British Isles, the winner is the player who uses their cards to influence the power struggles in each region to unite the kingdom once again. To be crowned winner, you must gain the influence of the most successful faction, or unite the factions against a French invasion. The duplicated card is settlements which allows the player to move one follower of each faction from the common pool on to the board and into an unresolved region. These can be placed together or separately. If no followers are available of a given faction then the action is carried out using those that can be taken from the pool, there is no substitution to fill it. A set consists of one Follower from each faction. This player unites the resistance, and vows to fight off the Saxon hordes. In the case of a tie, the tied player who last played an action card wins - the resistance needs a leader who will be proactive.
Every time they do this, they gain influence within a faction by 'summoning a Follower to court': removing a Follower from a region and placing it in front of them. Each faction's power in a region is represented by the number of their Followers within it.The King is Dead delights in the interplay of starting big and getting smaller and smaller with each power struggle. Each push and pull of the cubes becomes more and more meaningful with each decision. In the basic two-player game, knowing your opponent has certain cards makes it feel chess-like: tight and tense. With three players, you are openly vying for control and actions can be used to stop one player getting too far ahead. Final Thoughts There are only 3 unresolved power struggles when Phil plays an Ambassador card. One of the regions is empty, and Phil would like to place a Follower here and swap it for nothing. This would be allowed, except that the third region does have a suitable Follower.
- Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
- EAN: 764486781913
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