The King is Dead: Second Edition

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These are Laura and Phil's Followers at the end of a game. If the Scots control the board, then Phil has won as he has more blue Followers. There are several ways to play the game. Firstly, there are standard rules for two to three players, where everyone has the same eight cards, and an advanced version where each player has an additional three cards contributing to hidden intrigue and encouraging different strategies. I haven’t played the four-player game, where players are split into two opposing teams, and while this doesn’t appeal to me as much, it is something I would like to try at some point. The rules are concise and easy to understand with clear tie breakers and win conditions with further details for the advanced cards. The cards are well designed and handy drawings help provide clarity to the actions. 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. He’s dead, and what awful timing. There is a power vacuum in Medieval Britain, and you’ll want to be one the right side of the scuffle when the mud settles. And that’s what we’re going to be doing in The King Is Dead– now presented in a beautiful and occasionally gold foiled second edition. 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.

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. The King is Dead can host up to four players and due to the game's eight action rule, play is fastand intuitive. The King is Dead plays in roughly 30 to 50 minutes, making it a great game to slot in on your evenings. The DesignerIf the game ended due to Saxon invasion, then Laura has won as she has more matching sets - three to Phil's two.

Garrison enables a player to switch two followers in one region with one follower in another. This however cannot be played immediately after someone else moved the same pieces, so planning ahead is the key to this card. The English, Welsh, and Scots are fighting to gain control over Britain in The King is Dead. As a noble, you’re doing your best Aaron Burr impersonation and attempting to gain favour with the eventual victors. Cards are cleverly balanced between adding cubes and taking them from the board meaning you always have to balance a nation’s power on the board and presence in front of the players. It’s a unique satisfying game and this second edition includes more advanced ways to play!

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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. The home region symbols on the board only affects starting placement and the Scots, Welsh and Romano-British Action Cards. However, what makes The King is Dead even closer is the multiple end game scenarios. While we’ve focused on the winner of the warring factions. There’s also the sneaky French. Whenever there’s a tie in a skirmish (i.e. the same number of cubes from each faction) then the French win the battle. If the French ever win three battles, the game ends. In The King is Dead players do not play as the Scots, Welsh or Romano-British factions. Instead, they play as powerful members of the late King Arthur's court, vying to be declared ruler over all three groups.

Laura plays a Welsh card, but there are no Welsh- controlled regions, and the Scots have taken over Caerleon. The card is played even though the action cannot be taken, and Laura summons a Follower to court. I prefer face-up as then it is a game of total perfect information. You know how many cubes are on the board, how many in the supply and how many in front of players. You know all the cards player and what options players have going forward.Example Power Struggle: Phil, Jo and Laura are playing. Phil passes, then Jo passes. If Laura were to pass, the power struggle would end immediately, even though no cards have been played. Laura plays instead, and the power struggle continues.