Kings & Things
| Kings & Things | |
|---|---|
 Game box from Kings & Things (2001) |
|
| Game data | |
| author |
Tom Wham , Doug Kaufman , Robert J. Kuntz |
| graphic | Doris Matthäus (Pegasus Games) |
| publishing company |
Tactical Studies Rules (USA, 1983), West End Games (USA, 1986), Games Workshop (Great Britain, 1986), Pegasus Spiele (Germany, 1997, 2001, 2010), Z-Man Games (USA, 2010) |
| Publishing year | 1983 |
| Art | Board game |
| Teammates | 2-4 |
| Duration | from 60 minutes |
| Age | from 12 years
|
| Awards | |
|
Origins Award 1986: Science Fiction / Fantasy Board Game |
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Kings & Things (English for kings and things ) is a classic strategy game with strong tactical elements, the plot of which is set in the field of fantasy . The aim of the game is to be the first player to build a citadel or, if several citadels are built at the same time, to conquer those of the other players.
Emergence
Kings & Things was designed in the early 1980s by American game developer Tom Wham and first published in 1983 under the name King of the Tabletop as a supplement to the magazine Dragon # 77 by TSR inc. , the publisher of the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons . From 1986 the game was sold in a revised form as a stand-alone game by West End Games . Also in 1986 the British game manufacturer Games Workshop brought a licensed version onto the European market in small numbers. The first German-language edition was published in 1997 by the German publisher Pegasus Spiele , which brought out revised versions in 2001 and 2010. The German and English editions published in 2010 have a new graphic design, but are otherwise identical to the previous versions.
Game flow
The game mainly uses typical mechanisms from well-known conflict simulation games and development games . So an area of influence must first be conquered, which enables the player to increase his economic and military strength. The armies of the players are led by means of so-called counters on the game board. Targeted attacks on the lands of other players can be used to attempt to reduce their economic and military power. If a player has reached a certain economic strength, he can build a citadel and win the game. If several players build a citadel at the same time, at least one citadel of another player must be conquered in order to win.
With its funny, comic-like design and the explicit reference to the fact that defeated units are not destroyed, but only temporarily disappear into the afterlife in the form of a bag of things , the author provides a harmless and funny framework story to the fundamentally very military character of the game principle from the fantasy genre . Nevertheless, due to the typical style of play, the game can be counted among the classic conflict simulation games.
Special features and influences
Kings & Things is one of the few strategy games based on a complex combat system that can be played by more than two people at the same time. It also contains a lot of humorous elements. It is probably due to this unusual mixture that the game has developed into a popular classic among board games and is constantly being reissued.
Due to the game board made up of landscape hexagons , the game has an obvious resemblance to the much better known Settlers of Catan , who appeared only twelve years later . In contrast to this game, Kings & Things is not a trading game, but essentially a classic, military conflict simulation. It is unclear whether the idea of the game board made of landscape hexagons, which changes with each game, was copied by the author from Siedler von Catan or whether this was just a coincidental parallel development.
literature
- Erwin Glonnegger : The game book: board and placement games from all over the world; Origin, rules and history . Drei-Magier-Verlag, Uehlfeld 1999, ISBN 3-9806792-0-9 .
Web links
- Kings & Things in the board game database BoardGameGeek (English)
- Kings & Things (1986) in the Luding games database
- Kings & Things (1997) in the Luding games database
- Review at drosi.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Z-Man Games Newsletter 5 ( Memento of the original dated February 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF, English)
