A play review of GP's board game 'Kingdom Board Wars' in which you compete against your opponent's generals by using the abilities and strategy cards of your generals
The board game ' Kingdom: Battle on the Board ,' based on
Kingdom Board War
http://www.gp-inc.jp/boardgame_kingdom.html
The Kingdom Board Wars package looks like this.
The game is for two players, ages 8 and up, and estimated play time is 10 to 30 minutes.
Inside the box were an instruction manual, various pieces, military commander cards, strategy cards, general and vice-general frames, various tiles, a game board, and a partition.
There are two thousand-man commander pieces of each color, and one deputy commander piece and one general piece of each color.
It also includes one platform piece of each color and 12 soldier pieces of each color.
Here's what the military commander cards look like. These cards only affect the general or vice-general pieces, and each has a different ability, such as 'number of moves +1.' Characters from '
Strategy cards include 'Encouragement,' 'Arrow,' 'Surprise Attack,' and 'Multiple Attacks.' These cards contain skills that can be activated during the game, and have powerful effects that can completely change the course of battle. By using these cards well, you can gain an advantage in battle.
Carefully remove the general frame, vice general frame, rock floor tiles, etc.
There is a large 'Kingdom Board Wars' logo on the partition.
In addition, there were two 6x4 grid game boards. Depending on how you play, you can choose to use one or two game boards.
Let's try playing. First, we'll use the beginner's rules, which use only one game board. The beginner's rules use eight soldier pieces, one warrior piece, one warrior frame, one warrior card, and one main camp tile. In addition, eight strategy cards are used, excluding 'Fire Attack,' 'Scout,' 'Escape,' and 'Ambush,' and one rock tile is used. The pieces are arranged as follows. The warrior pieces are arranged from left to right in the order of 'Commander of a Thousand,' 'General,' and 'Deputy General.' Note that you cannot move to a space where a rock tile is placed.
The condition for victory in Kingdom Board Wars is to 'defeat the opponent's general first.'
Or, 'occupy the opponent's main camp with your own pieces.'
Each player chooses one of their favorite general cards and places it in the general slot. The effect of the card placed in the general slot will always be applied to their own general piece during the match.
Also, players shuffle the strategy cards and draw two of them to put in their hand, which they keep so that only they can see them.
The red player goes first. Each player can choose one of three actions to take: 'move one of your pieces,' 'use one strategy card from your hand,' or 'draw one strategy card from the deck and add it to your hand.'
A soldier can only move one space forward.
A warrior piece can move one space in any direction.
If a piece is moving to a location where there is another piece of your own, the pieces can overlap and merge. The merged pieces are treated as a 'unit' and can be moved together. In this case, a maximum of five soldier pieces can be merged, and two or more general pieces cannot be merged. It is also possible to disassemble only part of a merged unit and move it. In this case, the direction of movement will follow the direction of the piece being moved.
In addition, a 'unit' made up of soldier pieces and warrior pieces can move one square forward, including diagonally.
Additionally, the squad can turn 90 or 180 degrees after moving.
When pieces are adjacent to each other, they can attack. Soldier pieces and general pieces are each treated as having a 'power of 1,' and when they overlap as a 'unit,' their power increases. In this case, the blue unit with a power of 4 attacked the unit with a power of 2.
After that, both players remove the troops equal to the damage dealt. This time, only the blue troops remain with a strength of 2.
In addition, attacking from a 'blind spot' other than the direction of the opponent's piece movement will temporarily increase your military power. If you attack from directly behind, your morale will increase by 2 and the damage you deal with the attack will increase by 2. Also, if you attack from anywhere other than directly in front or directly behind, your morale will increase by 1.
During your turn, you can choose a strategy card from your hand and use it. However, you cannot use more than two cards more than your opponent used in the previous turn. If your opponent only used one card, you can use up to two cards in one turn. If your opponent has used none, you can only use one card.
Also, during your turn you can draw a strategy card from the deck, but the maximum number of cards you can have in your hand is four.
While playing the game, my opponent used the 'Bow and Arrow' strategy card. The 'Bow and Arrow' card allows you to select a unit from your own army and remove the opponent's soldiers within the target range. This allowed my opponent to defeat my pieces without reducing the number of their own pieces.
In the midst of the confusion, the Blue player's general marches into his camp. If things continue as they are, the Blue player will occupy his camp. The nearby General 'Pang De' has a morale boost of +2 in exchange for not being able to form a unit, but he can only move one space per turn, so it looks like he won't be able to reach the enemy's pieces this turn.
However, he had a strategy card in his hand, the 'Cavalry.' The Cavalry card 'moves up to two spaces and attacks if there is an enemy piece.' By using this, he can deliver Hou De to the enemy piece, and by attacking from a blind spot, he can completely defeat his opponent.
So I used 'Courage,' but the other player played a 'Defense' card, which negated the effect of the card, so my attack never reached its target.
After many battles, the blue player was unable to stop the red player's advance and the main camp was occupied. This ends the game. The red player wins.
Next, we'll play the game using the original rules, which use two game boards. In the original rules, you can place your pieces freely, so you can place a partition in the center to hide the placement from your opponent. You can also use all of your pieces and strategy cards. You can also place pieces that you didn't place later during your turn as 'hand pieces.'
Under this rule, you can assign a general card to both the general and the vice general, allowing the vice general to take advantage of the general card's effects.
Once both players have placed their pieces and removed the partition, the opponent's formation will be revealed. Pieces can be placed freely, so there will be individual differences in how the pieces are arranged. In addition, pieces placed on the high ground pieces will increase their morale by 1.
As I was playing my turn, my opponent used a 'Scout' card. The effect of 'Scout' is to allow you to check up to two strategy cards in your opponent's hand and discard one of them. The effect of 'Scout' caused my 'Multi-attack' card to be discarded.
In the end, the red player's general was defeated by the attack of the blue player, who had 'Shin' as his general. The turning point of the game was how well the red player was able to use the effects of the general cards.
Kingdom: Board Wars is a game similar to shogi or chess, in which you move your pieces and attack your opponents as appropriate, but there is no complicated movement of the pieces. You also need to think about 'when to use strategy cards' and 'what is the best combination of generals and vice-generals' while building formations, moving, and attacking.
Although Kingdom Board Wars is a simple game, it is quite tactical, requiring players to read their opponent's mind and place their pieces appropriately. One way to enjoy the game is to find the best piece placement pattern and combination of generals and vice-generals by repeating the game.
The price of the Kingdom Board War that I played this time on Amazon.co.jp is 1,420 yen including tax at the time of writing.
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