The King is Dead: Second Edition

Product Information

The King is Dead! And rather than take this opportunity to build a free people’s utopia, the citizens of Scotland, England and Wales have diverted their energy into civil war. In Peer Sylvester’s The King is Dead, players assume the role of a pretender to the throne, courting the different factions in an attempt to win the support of the most powerful nation by the end of the game. This 2 nd edition from Osprey Games updates the original with gorgeously refreshed artwork and a new asymmetric play mode. Æthel-ready! If the game ended due to Saxon invasion, then Laura has won as she has more matching sets - three to Phil's two. A more limiting complaint is that this is ultimately a three-player only game. Two and four player games do not work out well, or provide the same kind of challenge. Also as I have alluded too the components are not exactly premium, but then neither is the price. In the event of a French victory, then the winner of the game is determined by whoever has the most sets of influence from the other three powers. As they become The Great Uniter, stopping the war and getting the three factions to fight against a common frog-eating foe. After a player plays a card and takes the relevant action, they must summon someone to court by removing 1 Follower from a region and placing it in front of them.

Shuffle the Region Cards and lay them face up beside the board in positions 1 to 8. Whoever set up the game goes first. Having played the game multiple times, it still hasn’t become stale with new strategies and plays emerging with each game. The simplicity of the rules make light of a deeply strategic game where limited decisions matter more than you first realise as you peel away layers that aren’t immediately visible. I adore this game and look forward to each opportunity to play The King Is Dead.The box for The King is Dead is one of these hinge open affairs that Osprey Games seem to use when ever they can. If you have the new prints of London, or Escape the Aliens in Outer Space you'll know what I mean. Open the flap and you'll find a smallish board, a load of wooden cubes and draw bag, some cards, and some of the flimsiest punch board on God's green earth. Punching the relatively few tokens out of that wafer thin monstrosity gave me nightmares. Their are five unique actions among the eight cards, with three having a similar ability one being a duplicate. King Arthur is dead and Britain stands divided in today's Let's play, as we look at The King is Dead.

If there is a tie for most Followers, the faction with the next most regions gains importance, and the tied player with the most Followers of that faction becomes ruler. If there is still a tie, the tied player who last played an action card loses - indecisiveness is a poor trait in a leader. Invasion The region cards are shuffled and laid face up in the positions from one to eight marked on the board. That is the entire board set up, and so far we are looking good on the ease of play aspect, the last thing to mention here is that whoever set up the game will be taking the first turn. Playing the game I'm absolutely entranced with the game and highly recommend it. The three-player limitation doesn't bother me that much because my game nights often end up at three players! Yes I wish the components were better particularly the punchboard, but it doesn't detract too much from a brilliant experience. Jo plays a Settlement card, but there are no blue Followers left in the common pool. Jo still takes one red and one yellow Follower, places them accordingly , and summons a Follower to court. 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 UpIt’s area control, but you don’t have a fixed horse in the race unless you go all-in for one faction. The problem with that is your strategy is too obvious to your opponents. Plus, removing cubes from the board to your court weakens that faction. Meaning you might end up with a court full of Englishmen in a nation conquered by the Welsh! Æthel-steady!