Kings & Things

Kings & Things is a 4-player board game designed by Tom Wham[1] and published by West End Games in 1986. A newer edition was published by Pegasus Spiele and Z-Man Games in 2010, and included Doug Kaufman and Robert J. Kuntz as co-designers.

Gameplay

The playing surface is created by randomly assembling hex tiles representing various types of terrain to form a map of the fictional continent of Kadab. Each of the four players starts at a different corner. Players take turns participating in the eight different phases of a game turn, with game turns continuing (each turn has a new start player, so no one person has that advantage all game) until there is a winner. On their turn, the active player can increase their army, hire special characters to add to their army, play an event, move their armies to explore or attack adjacent tiles, and improve their fortresses. Each time the player enters a new tile, the player possibly draws random counters from a cup (whether to draw or how many to draw based on a die roll), revealing monsters, treasures, or magic items. If monsters are drawn, they must be defeated in order to conquer the tile. If treasure or magic items are drawn, those are added to the player's inventory if the battle is won, and the tile is considered to be conquered. If the player is successful in conquering the tile, then it provides a source of money, which can be used to start improving his fortresses, ultimately building up to a citadel. On subsequent turns, the player tries to explore and conquer new tiles to provide fresh sources of income.[1]

The winner is the player who is the first to complete a citadel and hold it for a full turn, provided no other player builds a citadel of their own or conquer that player's citadel within that turn. If another player manages to build a citadel during this time frame, then the winner is the first player to own two citadels (a player may only build one citadel of his own; to obtain a second one, it must be conquered).[2]

Reception

In the October 1986 edition of White Dwarf (Issue 82), Robert Neville was enthusiastic about the game, saying "It's all rather wonderful." Neville admired the high production values, which he called "very flash", and found the rules very straightforward as well as amusing. He concluded that it was "one hell of a great game — fun, easy to pick up and play, but tremendously entertaining no matter how many times you play it."[1]

In the July-August 1988 edition of Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer (No. 82), Richard Edwards recommended the game, saying, "If you have four players with gaming time to fill with a wild and crazy game, then by all means spend an evening exploring the world of Kadab. Who knows, you might be the next Emperor."[2]

In the December 1993 edition of Dragon (Issue 200), Allen Varney was not impressed because the game depends on random encounters rather than any player interaction. "Players who try just about anything must draw counters from a cup to see what they meet or get. Winners show great skill in counter-drawing and not much else."[3]

Reviews

Awards

Kings & Things was awarded the Charles S. Roberts Award for "Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Game of 1986".[5]

Kings & Things, a play-by-mail version of the game by Andon Games, won the Origins Award for "Best Play-by-Mail Game of 1988".[6]

References
  1. Neville, Robert (October 1986). "Open Box". White Dwarf. Games Workshop (82): 3.
  2. Edwards, Richard A. (July–August 1988). "Kings & Things*". Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer. Diverse Talents, Incorporated (82): 39–41.
  3. Varney, Allen (December 1993). "Social Board Games". Dragon. TSR, Inc. (200): 120.
  4. https://archive.org/details/AdventurerMagazine04/Adventurer%20Magazine%2005/page/n11/mode/2up
  5. "The 1986 Origins Awards". The Game Manufacturers Association. Archived from the original on 2012-12-16.
  6. "1988 Origins Awards winners". Archived from the original on 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2007-08-24.
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