I bought a ton of the resin minis when Poots first came into the scene, back when our only indication of what the minis were intended for was some super obscure board game to be released in the future. And then the plastic version minis came out and they were way more affordable. I still remember the prototype game ideas on the website that were drastically different than what we got now (what we have now is WAY better lol). My experience with Poots himself was cool too. I ordered a Wet Nurse and they actually sent two. I emailed to let them know about the mistake (I was kinda worried someone else had ordered one and I got theirs too). I offered to send it back and Poots emailed back to say not to worry about it and to enjoy both. Lots of companies might do that admittedly but it just felt kinda cool being told by the man himself their goof was my benefit, it was a gesture I've remembered. I probably still have the email if I looked haha. I got out of miniatures and wargaming and such for quite a few years, but recently got back into tabletop gaming in general with a focus on the larger more thematic, grandiose games like Gloomhaven, S&S, Middara, etc. I remembered how much I loved the Kingdom Death series of minis so I checked up on it and saw this behemoth of a game was released in the time I was away. And yea....now I'm waiting for mine to arrive. I'm friggin elated hahaha. This is like everything I didn't even know I wanted in that "super obscure board game" I heard about so many years ago.
Anyone interested in getting this game should be aware it's going to be back on Kickstarter for a second printing on November 25, 2016. No word yet on the price or any other details. The second printing is apparently going to have some minor rules/balance changes/clarifications.
Not a big board gamer (although that's changing), never built miniatures before, never played a proper role playing game before…but learned about this game, bought it…blown away, truly blown away. The game is tough, enjoyable, endless fun, cruel, huge, it even helped me decide things in my own life. The miniatures so far have been good to build, challenging but very achievable especially with the help online. I don't paint them, as I love the greyness of it. If you like things edgy, challenging, sophisticated, consuming and you want to get away from the computer screen a little…highly recommend, and honestly worth every single penny.
Got to agree with this review. Played this game a ton now and it's looking to become the gem of my collection. It is expensive as all get out, though, and people who can't afford to blow 400 dollars on a board game probably shouldn't, no matter how awesome that board game might be. That said, I could see this game working well as a club game: if you can get a group of people to split the cost of the game, then its price point becomes more manageable, and it is well set up to enable multiple simultaneous play-throughs. There is the issue of determining ownership at that point, of course, but worth considering if you're absolutely set on getting the game but know you can't really afford it. You should also give the game a solo try, Nick. It plays surprisingly well as a solo game, and has a different but still enjoyable feel. Super darned fiddly, but that's to be expected.
Not sure why I enjoyed this review so much even after the fact that I preordered it. I do give credit to your honesty and entertaining review. I skipped the gameplay portion because I've already spent hours watching other people play the game but it was both enjoyable and comforting to hear such a positive review from you.
Nice review. My opinions about the game pretty much mimic yours. Having been a backer, I'm glad I got in at the price I did, because it's definitely worth that amount of money. I haven't played a game where I learned how to play with a friend, played it for 7 hours and then wanted to set it up to play it solo when I got home. I just wish I had a bigger table and painting skills.
Something about the highly detailed miniatures paired with what appears to be closer to an 'Anime style' for the print materials seems weird and inconsistent to me.
I had the same thought. I watched them play it on Beasts of War, then went to the web page out of curiosity. Suddenly there was anime everywhere, and I was a little confused as it don't seem to go with what I had watched.
Amazing game, my wife and I have been playing like crazy!! You can easily play for 8 hours without rest. Miniatures are amazing, quality of all elements in the game is just over the top, I cannot recommend it enough. It will deliver so many hours of great game play, AND, building and paiting miniatures is something I love, and this game has possibly the best quality miniatures I have ever seen, both material and sculpting wise. If you can afford it and are attracted to the theme, go for it.
We are now on year 8 of the campaign. Almost died to the plague. It wiped us down to 4 survivors from 9. The butcher fight was terrifying. The traps are my least favourite aspect of the game due to the reshuffle of the hit location deck. We have house ruled it already where the second time you see a trap, we just archive it so we can't see it again in that specific encounter. Have had some really tense moment and I keep wanting to play more.
Thanks for this review! I just got the game (pre-ordered it this summer). I was wondering if it would be worth the time to assemble the minis as I've already got a bunch of games that I haven't played. But now I realise that I just have to play this! I've been looking for a boardgame that plays like a role playing game for a long time. This just might be it! Wish I had been part of the kickstarter so that I could replace the tokens for actual minis. If someone wants to sell me theirs please contact me!
Hi Nick. I recently bought a used KD:M Kickstarter Survivor Edition together with DBK, Flower Knight, Lion Knight, Lonely Tree and Manhunter expansions. I was wondering, as an fan of your work with similar tastes in games, what other expansions do you think I should buy if any? I'm looking at Gorm and Sunstalker to add to my collection, but do you have any oppinions what to buy or should I wait for the upcoming KS?
Thanks for an extensive and interesting review. I'm currently waiting for my KD: M order to arrive. My greatest fear was that this game would be easy to meta game like Arkham Horror where you can blitz the game if you just know some of the statistics it is based on. This review took that load of my mind. :-)
Great review, I agree with you on all the points! Absolute amazing game, but might not be for everyone for the reason you mentioned. Would really like you to get Tom to play a year or two in the game to see what his feelings are.
+Roger Bartels The dynamic nature of the story events - the fact that each event has many different options and random occurrences - means that, while you may lose some of the shock value by seeing the same event again, it's still very interesting to see what new directions the game will go in. Tough to go in too much more detail than that. Also, there's something to be said for the large amount of innovations and character gear. Each time you start a campaign, you can try completely different stuff.
+Roger Bartels The story is emergent and mostly about how your settlement dies its horrible horrible death in this horrible horrible world. Truly excellent stuff. Plenty of replay value. Beating the boss is a triumph.
9 років тому
What is the 6" x 6" grid plastic or resin square board with the skulls I keep seeing around the internet for this game?
well it is a RPG style based game, you kinda need indepth rules that will need to be reviewed as you play the game that's just the nature of RPGs, so yes your right it is not for everyone and those wanting a simple game should not go into kingdom of death. however this is coming from a big RPG guy ;). over all this is my type of game, though the price range right now is unrealistic, they defiantly should have cut things down a bit in order too keep the retail price reasonable. great review though I am glad you did it, and really like a game like this.
I really want this game. Unfortunately I didnt find out about this till it was too late. I hope this becomes something thats easier to come by later... I would do dirty things for this game, but I dont have the $1000+ that people are asking for ti currently.
This game is fucking mercilessly, horrifyingly brutal.... It is absolutely geniously hardcore... It´s such a great game!!!! Never had more fun over having such a shitstorm of bad luck in ANY board game... its a fkn 11/10
+Pon Squared Nah, the kickstarter was to create his dream game. With the massive amount he got, he went all in and upgraded the game content, apparently with his own money thrown in. Now that it's done, I don't think we would be seeing it for any less than the pre-order price, especially since it's only available from his webstore. Possible for you to get a used copy off ebay after awhile but new copies aren't going for anything less than the pre-order price. That said, Poots did mention that he is looking into working on another game. Maybe there will be a KS for that, but I hate to wait 3 years for it though.
+netnoob77 I'll just have to find some way to live without it I suppose. to me a hundred fifty sounds better than 0 but I guess my economics are strange in today's world.
Sweet ass shit. Is the floor of the arena composed of the faces of previous settlers? Because that is some spooky shit. Game sounds really fun; someday, probably in the not-too-distant-future, I'll pick it up.
Is there any chance they are gonna cut the price,make a budget edition? I don't need 30$ miniatures to enjoy this game,i just want the mechanics and the rule/story book.
I've got to say... I bought Kingdom Death after hearing so many glowing reviews of it, and I feel like I'm playing a different game than everyone else. Everything in the game just feels completely random. Some of the components are nice, some are flimsy and lacking in artwork. The rulebook feels like it's about to fall apart at any time. I constantly have to flip back and forth between rules or tables in the unwieldly rulebook, or check online for rules clarifications because they're so ambiguously worded. There are hundreds of cards, tables and other components, and yet I STILL have to constantly erase and re-write a paper character sheet as well! The usage of some of the components isn't even explained. Literally half of the gameplay so far has just been "Roll on a table> something bad happens!" It's like someone took the worst parts of a board game and the worst parts of a pen and paper RPG and mushed it all together. I really wanted to like it, but it's just SO cumbersome to play. The setting and miniatures are very nice, although there are other games that certainly have comparable quality miniatures (Malifaux, Infinity, etc). I guess I'll just sell my copy and buy it again later when they release the inevitable 2.0 version, with streamlined components and clarified rules.
+Christopher J That's why it's best to make sure you get all the information you'll need for a game like this before you purchase it to make sure it's for you.
Yea the rules are unclear and there are tons of them. People really liked the miniatures and the story so I guess they felt it was worth dealing with the endless fiddly knobs in the game. There are too many rules due to the fact that it's players vs random chance for several aspects like hits, wounds, awards etc. It's not streamlined and polish and clean like a retail game. Maybe some people like the intellectual challenge of crunching rules but I find it frustrating if I forget a rule which this leans towards. Also you need to have friends willing to put up with failure and death on top of teaching them all the bookkeeping! Makes a single round last hours for one game! This game can easily make you burn out an afternoon just administering the rules. The story is cool though.
It sounds really interesting and epic and thematic but the fiddliness of it, expensive price tag and miniature assembly is off putting. I love dark themes though and if I had more time, I'd probably enjoy putting the miniatures together and painting them. Also, as someone who have to have the whole collection of expansion, I'll pass on this for now - until I get a better job I guess.
The amount of time you'll put in to setup will be well worth the many many hours of enjoyment you'll get from the game once you've got everything put together and actually begin playing.
No offense to all the people complaining about the price, but this is a tabletop game meant to be on the same level as Warhammer. A full Warhammer Army with full paintjobs and everything can cost you anywhere from 400 to 1000 bucks easy. It's meant to last. This is not checkers or monopoly. It can't be mass-produced so easily.
I'm not a fan of GW, but saying this games "crushes their stuff" is definitely the Kickstarter effect you described. Either that or you haven't seen many GW minis. I'm guessing it's a bit of both.
+K Money this is not even remotely true. please do at least five seconds of research. People can use minis that old, sure, but you absolutely can not buy them in stores.
+Jeff Connell I own GW minis from 2015, nothing holds a candle to the KD:M premade minis in quality - I will agree the customizable ones lack a bit in comparison to GW minis, but considering there's countless ways to build them, versus 2-3 in the case of SOME GW models you're really comparing apples and oranges at that point.
I have gotten 3 lantern years into the game and about 4 showdown. The showdown did not kill a person yet, the hunt event and settlements actions have killed 3 people.
+Pom4das not sure but i think its a special box for super dungeon explore, or a game box from the same company with the same artstyle (like arcadia) SDE had enemies called mimics (like the dnd chest with mouth monsters) and that looks like it has the same artstyle, and i think i saw that before but just dont remember all :p
I guess it's worth $400 if you really like melancholy horror tales. The basic game sounds like Castle Panic in boss rush mode. And you can level up. Castle Panic is a good game.
+Enroth186 What is better Risk or Ticket to Ride? Its quite dissimilar to Shadows of Brimstone. SoB is excellent in its own regard - but in more of a Descent/Heroquest style (although full co-op) rather than Civilization meets Monster Hunter meets Dark Souls in the case of KD:M there really is little in the board game world I've seen I could compare it to. Some of the really old "Choose your own adventure" books that involved some dice rolls from White Wolf get evoked to me with the narrative elements as well. For those old enough to remember those.
+Robert Piechocki "The game is a campaign style boardgame/rpg hybrid, split into 2 seperate game phases: One phase where you cooperatively fight monsters and gather ressources in an ameritrash style and gain xp. One phase in between the fights, where you can spend the ressources collected in town to improve your characters and select your next battle. The theme is rather dark and the game is quite hard. The game plays solo or up to 6 players. Sometimes you roll dice on event tables to see what happens / what results will occur." To me, This explanation fits both games very well ;) I think Kingdom Death:Monster's "town" phase is much more involved, with you creating new buildings and enlarging your tribe/group and having more possibilities for crafting. ShadowsOfBrimstone has a more involved Adventure phase, where you explore a mine and have more story and unexpected things happen. But if i look at the boardgames released in the last 5 years, SoB would be the one which comes closest to KD:M, gameplay and structure wise imho.
Wow. Well, it sounds amazing. But being expensive as it is, it means it is totally prohibitive for me. Hopefully other game designers may learn from the innovations here and apply them to simpler (and cheaper!) games.
Thanks for being as fair as possible, but a major issue I have with the game is it's price point. How much did you spend on the game? Did you get in when the base set was cheap? As it stands, the game's MSRP is $400 (currently discounted, but disregard that). After playing the game, I have to say that it's not worth $400 to me. I like the miniatures, but it's not something I would spend more for. I like the gameplay, but for $400 the gameplay needs to be perfect. Probably more than perfect, there are just too many good games with better gameplay for cheaper, or cheaper games with less than stellar gameplay more worth it by virtue of being cheaper. Thanks for the review, if possible sometime in the future, can you answer the question of "is the game good?" with consideration that the price point is simply not competitive.
+SyntheticDuckie Ah, sorry. He did go into it in the last 3 minutes. I didn't think he was going to go back after he started raving on it. I actually cancelled my order back when it was up for $275 after playing the game twice with a friend. I feel like there are just more and better games you could buy for that price. Things I felt were lacking were character development and the combat mechanics. I opted for Descent + all expansions because it does those things. KD:M's settlement phase is the best thing about it that's not really presented in any game. But for $300? It's just too much.
I guess that's fair. Though, anything with mini's is usually crazy in price. ( Looking at you GW. ) That said, I plan to eventually pick this up, I had been looking for a review for this damn game for awhile. All that's out there is awkwardly placed Nokia phone cameras recording game play lol. I haven't heard of Descent so I will check it out.
+SyntheticDuckie See that's the difficulty when looking at reviews for this game: its such a huge investment people tend to convince themselves that it's great. And the ones who don't have to pay for it (review copies?) don't have a grasp on the consumer element of price point. I would say be very critical of reviews, especially when it comes to this game. If you're set on it though, pick it up now. It's $100 off right now, which it probably won't ever be at again!
I'll buy a copy when they release a version without those minis. I never cared for minis; i'm perfectly happy using paper cutouts. All I care about is the gameplay.
+Mr. Horseshoe You are going to be waiting a long time if not 'forever'. They are a miniature company firstly and that why they made the game, as a result I doubt that you will see it without miniatures.
The aesthetics of a game can go a long way towards the enjoyment of a game. While I agree gameplay is most important, a game's presentation and it's quality is also incredibly important. A game with excellent gameplay but piss poor aesthetics simply won't feel as fun as the same game with much higher production values and thats a fact. Perception plays a huge role in a gamer's enjoyment of a product and if the aesthetics of the game are shit, it won't matter how perfect and refined the gameplay is, the game will absolutely suffer because the gamer will perceive the game is of poor quality overall.
You're paying for the higher production quality. Most people are willing to shell out a little more cash for a game that not only plays great, but looks great as well.
Showing mini's in the KS that you won't be able to use in the game is becoming way to common. The eternally offended just whine, not like their tears impact anything.
It concerns me that you have said the showdown phase is a little boring, as Poots has said the showdown phase is the 'meat' of the game. As all your decisions really come to a point in the showdown, the fact that it is anticlimactic/simple is disappointing.
It sounded like it was just because it was standard/familiar. I view it as similar to my feelings on Magic the Gathering - I enjoy deck building more than actually playing, but the play needs to be there to justify the deck. I imagine this is similar; the showdown may or may not be the most exciting phase, depending on the sort of thing you enjoy, but at the very least it's the bit that validates your actions in the other phases. It's the culmination of your choices.
+Tony The showdown's solid enough, just not really innovative in a way that's going to grab an experienced gamer's attention. I'd say the variability introduced by the AI deck and Hit Location deck are the big thing that the showdown's got going for it. Every few hunts that Lion you've killed what feels like a billion times before will suddenly throw you a curve ball and turn into a completely different sort of monster than you're used to, requiring you to adapt your strategy on the fly. Keep in mind that this is a living game of a sort, as well. There are expansions coming out which might introduce more complicated/interesting monster mechanics, and there's plenty of room for homebrew and online free content that lets you set up custom "legendary" monsters to spice things up. Adam's stated an interest in supporting homebrew and custom content, similar to old GW White Dwarf days, but it's still early days and so hard to tell if he'll follow through on that.
I bought a ton of the resin minis when Poots first came into the scene, back when our only indication of what the minis were intended for was some super obscure board game to be released in the future. And then the plastic version minis came out and they were way more affordable. I still remember the prototype game ideas on the website that were drastically different than what we got now (what we have now is WAY better lol). My experience with Poots himself was cool too. I ordered a Wet Nurse and they actually sent two. I emailed to let them know about the mistake (I was kinda worried someone else had ordered one and I got theirs too). I offered to send it back and Poots emailed back to say not to worry about it and to enjoy both. Lots of companies might do that admittedly but it just felt kinda cool being told by the man himself their goof was my benefit, it was a gesture I've remembered. I probably still have the email if I looked haha.
I got out of miniatures and wargaming and such for quite a few years, but recently got back into tabletop gaming in general with a focus on the larger more thematic, grandiose games like Gloomhaven, S&S, Middara, etc. I remembered how much I loved the Kingdom Death series of minis so I checked up on it and saw this behemoth of a game was released in the time I was away. And yea....now I'm waiting for mine to arrive.
I'm friggin elated hahaha. This is like everything I didn't even know I wanted in that "super obscure board game" I heard about so many years ago.
very interesting commentary on the Kickstarter effect, which I hadn't thought of but makes perfect sense.
Anyone interested in getting this game should be aware it's going to be back on Kickstarter for a second printing on November 25, 2016. No word yet on the price or any other details. The second printing is apparently going to have some minor rules/balance changes/clarifications.
Glic2000 missed it.. :(
Just gonna wait for 2.0
Gon Kyaw Zaw Han same here bud.
You can preorder the 1.5 version right now, just go to their site.
This video put a 330$-sized dent in my wallet... :(
Damn You! I was on the fence and this video cost me $320.
Scott Johnson That's it!! Damn u found a deal. Here in Canada it's min listed that I've seen so far is at least 500.
Thanks for this awesome review that totally respected the need to avoid spoilers. Other reviewers should take note
Not a big board gamer (although that's changing), never built miniatures before, never played a proper role playing game before…but learned about this game, bought it…blown away, truly blown away.
The game is tough, enjoyable, endless fun, cruel, huge, it even helped me decide things in my own life. The miniatures so far have been good to build, challenging but very achievable especially with the help online. I don't paint them, as I love the greyness of it.
If you like things edgy, challenging, sophisticated, consuming and you want to get away from the computer screen a little…highly recommend, and honestly worth every single penny.
The Advanced Squad Leader of tabletop adventure games.
I want to get this but it's too expensive for me. I'll probably get my gaming group to chip in for it sometime next year...
HELL YEA NICK 10/10 on Boardgame breakfeast lol
Got to agree with this review. Played this game a ton now and it's looking to become the gem of my collection. It is expensive as all get out, though, and people who can't afford to blow 400 dollars on a board game probably shouldn't, no matter how awesome that board game might be.
That said, I could see this game working well as a club game: if you can get a group of people to split the cost of the game, then its price point becomes more manageable, and it is well set up to enable multiple simultaneous play-throughs. There is the issue of determining ownership at that point, of course, but worth considering if you're absolutely set on getting the game but know you can't really afford it.
You should also give the game a solo try, Nick. It plays surprisingly well as a solo game, and has a different but still enjoyable feel. Super darned fiddly, but that's to be expected.
Not sure why I enjoyed this review so much even after the fact that I preordered it. I do give credit to your honesty and entertaining review. I skipped the gameplay portion because I've already spent hours watching other people play the game but it was both enjoyable and comforting to hear such a positive review from you.
Nice review. My opinions about the game pretty much mimic yours. Having been a backer, I'm glad I got in at the price I did, because it's definitely worth that amount of money. I haven't played a game where I learned how to play with a friend, played it for 7 hours and then wanted to set it up to play it solo when I got home. I just wish I had a bigger table and painting skills.
You see the "kickstarter effect" quite often in video gaming as well, and I'm sure elsewhere.
Best game of all time! Recent kdm convert here
Something about the highly detailed miniatures paired with what appears to be closer to an 'Anime style' for the print materials seems weird and inconsistent to me.
I had the same thought. I watched them play it on Beasts of War, then went to the web page out of curiosity. Suddenly there was anime everywhere, and I was a little confused as it don't seem to go with what I had watched.
It’s like a dark sexual mixture of the game Monster Hunter and the manga Berserk !
I had never heard of this game, but this is certainly a wonderful guide to it. Thanks! Tempting...
Amazing game, my wife and I have been playing like crazy!! You can easily play for 8 hours without rest. Miniatures are amazing, quality of all elements in the game is just over the top, I cannot recommend it enough. It will deliver so many hours of great game play, AND, building and paiting miniatures is something I love, and this game has possibly the best quality miniatures I have ever seen, both material and sculpting wise. If you can afford it and are attracted to the theme, go for it.
Lovely and detailed review. Liked your describing it more than the overly lenghty gameplay.!
First video I've seen from you. Excellent in-depth review.
We are now on year 8 of the campaign. Almost died to the plague. It wiped us down to 4 survivors from 9. The butcher fight was terrifying. The traps are my least favourite aspect of the game due to the reshuffle of the hit location deck. We have house ruled it already where the second time you see a trap, we just archive it so we can't see it again in that specific encounter. Have had some really tense moment and I keep wanting to play more.
Thanks for this review!
I just got the game (pre-ordered it this summer). I was wondering if it would be worth the time to assemble the minis as I've already got a bunch of games that I haven't played. But now I realise that I just have to play this!
I've been looking for a boardgame that plays like a role playing game for a long time. This just might be it!
Wish I had been part of the kickstarter so that I could replace the tokens for actual minis.
If someone wants to sell me theirs please contact me!
New Kingdom Death Monster Kickstarter! V1.5 core set is now available on kickstarter and they're reprinting all of the expansions.
Hi Nick. I recently bought a used KD:M Kickstarter Survivor Edition together with DBK, Flower Knight, Lion Knight, Lonely Tree and Manhunter expansions. I was wondering, as an fan of your work with similar tastes in games, what other expansions do you think I should buy if any? I'm looking at Gorm and Sunstalker to add to my collection, but do you have any oppinions what to buy or should I wait for the upcoming KS?
Sounds a lot like they mashed the Warhammer Quest boardgame together with the monster hunter videogame and refined/streamlined the result :3
How would you compare the "Fidleyness" of Kingdom Death: Monster, to something like Eldrich Horror?
There are tons more rules to remember for KDM. Not really comparable to any Fantasy Flight game. Completely different design philosophy.
Thanks for an extensive and interesting review. I'm currently waiting for my KD: M order to arrive. My greatest fear was that this game would be easy to meta game like Arkham Horror where you can blitz the game if you just know some of the statistics it is based on. This review took that load of my mind. :-)
Yeah, the kickstarter effect is in effect. The game looks good...just good.
Great review, I agree with you on all the points! Absolute amazing game, but might not be for everyone for the reason you mentioned. Would really like you to get Tom to play a year or two in the game to see what his feelings are.
If discovering the story is so important, what is your assessment of the game's replay value?
+Roger Bartels The dynamic nature of the story events - the fact that each event has many different options and random occurrences - means that, while you may lose some of the shock value by seeing the same event again, it's still very interesting to see what new directions the game will go in. Tough to go in too much more detail than that. Also, there's something to be said for the large amount of innovations and character gear. Each time you start a campaign, you can try completely different stuff.
+Roger Bartels The story is emergent and mostly about how your settlement dies its horrible horrible death in this horrible horrible world. Truly excellent stuff. Plenty of replay value. Beating the boss is a triumph.
What is the 6" x 6" grid plastic or resin square board with the skulls I keep seeing around the internet for this game?
well it is a RPG style based game, you kinda need indepth rules that will need to be reviewed as you play the game that's just the nature of RPGs, so yes your right it is not for everyone and those wanting a simple game should not go into kingdom of death. however this is coming from a big RPG guy ;). over all this is my type of game, though the price range right now is unrealistic, they defiantly should have cut things down a bit in order too keep the retail price reasonable. great review though I am glad you did it, and really like a game like this.
So theirs a gear system, does that include medicine, is there magic?
Love the Asuka figure. :) Oh crap, and your shirt too!
There are definitely a lot of digital assistance tools that help fix all that fiddliness
I really want this game. Unfortunately I didnt find out about this till it was too late. I hope this becomes something thats easier to come by later... I would do dirty things for this game, but I dont have the $1000+ that people are asking for ti currently.
+The Kwarenteen It's presently available at $295 on Kingdom Death's webstore.
+netnoob77 Yeah I just found that out. Placed an order ASAP
This game is fucking mercilessly, horrifyingly brutal.... It is absolutely geniously hardcore... It´s such a great game!!!! Never had more fun over having such a shitstorm of bad luck in ANY board game... its a fkn 11/10
I hope he does another kick starter and offers it at a reasonable price again. I'd love to get in, but not at more than $150
Whilst the price is undeniably high, I'd struggle to call $150 reasonable for the amount of stuff that is in even the base box.
+Pon Squared You'll have to wait for a suitably ratty copy to turn up on Ebay in a few months to years if you want it at that price.
If you could get all that stuff for 100 the first time, he could do another KS for 150. Im sure it get to 1,000,000+ again easily.
+Pon Squared Nah, the kickstarter was to create his dream game. With the massive amount he got, he went all in and upgraded the game content, apparently with his own money thrown in. Now that it's done, I don't think we would be seeing it for any less than the pre-order price, especially since it's only available from his webstore. Possible for you to get a used copy off ebay after awhile but new copies aren't going for anything less than the pre-order price. That said, Poots did mention that he is looking into working on another game. Maybe there will be a KS for that, but I hate to wait 3 years for it though.
+netnoob77 I'll just have to find some way to live without it I suppose. to me a hundred fifty sounds better than 0 but I guess my economics are strange in today's world.
So, would you describe the game as a sort of port of a video game (complexity, components, elements, etc.) into a physical format?
"This dark Hell world... or whatever you want to call it..."
Um. I call it "Kingdom Death".
Sweet ass shit. Is the floor of the arena composed of the faces of previous settlers? Because that is some spooky shit.
Game sounds really fun; someday, probably in the not-too-distant-future, I'll pick it up.
How can i get this game>?>> how much did it cost?
Where did you get your shirt?
What is the game on the left above takenoko?
Is there any chance they are gonna cut the price,make a budget edition? I don't need 30$ miniatures to enjoy this game,i just want the mechanics and the rule/story book.
So... where can I get this? I checked Bliss and 401games.
+Frank Zed It's only available through their official store: shop.kingdomdeath.com/
+Board Game Brawl HOLY PRICE TAG! I'll have to save up for this.
Thanks, Nick.
I've got to say... I bought Kingdom Death after hearing so many glowing reviews of it, and I feel like I'm playing a different game than everyone else. Everything in the game just feels completely random. Some of the components are nice, some are flimsy and lacking in artwork. The rulebook feels like it's about to fall apart at any time. I constantly have to flip back and forth between rules or tables in the unwieldly rulebook, or check online for rules clarifications because they're so ambiguously worded. There are hundreds of cards, tables and other components, and yet I STILL have to constantly erase and re-write a paper character sheet as well! The usage of some of the components isn't even explained. Literally half of the gameplay so far has just been "Roll on a table> something bad happens!" It's like someone took the worst parts of a board game and the worst parts of a pen and paper RPG and mushed it all together.
I really wanted to like it, but it's just SO cumbersome to play. The setting and miniatures are very nice, although there are other games that certainly have comparable quality miniatures (Malifaux, Infinity, etc). I guess I'll just sell my copy and buy it again later when they release the inevitable 2.0 version, with streamlined components and clarified rules.
exactly how I feel about it
+Christopher J That's why it's best to make sure you get all the information you'll need for a game like this before you purchase it to make sure it's for you.
Yea the rules are unclear and there are tons of them. People really liked the miniatures and the story so I guess they felt it was worth dealing with the endless fiddly knobs in the game. There are too many rules due to the fact that it's players vs random chance for several aspects like hits, wounds, awards etc. It's not streamlined and polish and clean like a retail game.
Maybe some people like the intellectual challenge of crunching rules but I find it frustrating if I forget a rule which this leans towards.
Also you need to have friends willing to put up with failure and death on top of teaching them all the bookkeeping! Makes a single round last hours for one game! This game can easily make you burn out an afternoon just administering the rules. The story is cool though.
It sounds really interesting and epic and thematic but the fiddliness of it, expensive price tag and miniature assembly is off putting. I love dark themes though and if I had more time, I'd probably enjoy putting the miniatures together and painting them. Also, as someone who have to have the whole collection of expansion, I'll pass on this for now - until I get a better job I guess.
The amount of time you'll put in to setup will be well worth the many many hours of enjoyment you'll get from the game once you've got everything put together and actually begin playing.
Two years later, I got a much better job, full time now. I also just bought Kingdom Death Monsters and all 12 expansions.
No offense to all the people complaining about the price, but this is a tabletop game meant to be on the same level as Warhammer.
A full Warhammer Army with full paintjobs and everything can cost you anywhere from 400 to 1000 bucks easy.
It's meant to last. This is not checkers or monopoly. It can't be mass-produced so easily.
I'm not a fan of GW, but saying this games "crushes their stuff" is definitely the Kickstarter effect you described. Either that or you haven't seen many GW minis. I'm guessing it's a bit of both.
+Jeff Connell GW minis are horrible. I stopped playing 20 years ago and they are still using some of the same miniatures in 2015.
+K Money this is not even remotely true. please do at least five seconds of research.
People can use minis that old, sure, but you absolutely can not buy them in stores.
So true. Their prices are rubbish but the latest minis are outstanding.
+K Money Name one model from 20 years ago still being used today? You can't. They don't exist. Give me a break.
+Jeff Connell I own GW minis from 2015, nothing holds a candle to the KD:M premade minis in quality - I will agree the customizable ones lack a bit in comparison to GW minis, but considering there's countless ways to build them, versus 2-3 in the case of SOME GW models you're really comparing apples and oranges at that point.
I have gotten 3 lantern years into the game and about 4 showdown. The showdown did not kill a person yet, the hunt event and settlements actions have killed 3 people.
Can anyone tell me whats the game on his right that is a Mouth with sharpen teeth and a tounge, realy curious ! ??
+Pom4das not sure but i think its a special box for super dungeon explore, or a game box from the same company with the same artstyle (like arcadia) SDE had enemies called mimics (like the dnd chest with mouth monsters) and that looks like it has the same artstyle, and i think i saw that before but just dont remember all :p
+Pom4das found a pic online, i think its a kickstarter special or something www.thebrushwizard.com/2015/04/super-dungeon-explore-forgotten-king.html
Thanks a lot for taking the time to search it !! : D
Realy appreciate it !
Thanks for the video, I subbed to you channel.
if playing 5-6 players, does it become easier and not as fun?
smooth122 It just becomes harder, with no additional rewards. xD
What's your top 3 then?
I guess it's worth $400 if you really like melancholy horror tales. The basic game sounds like Castle Panic in boss rush mode. And you can level up. Castle Panic is a good game.
Seems similar to shadows of brimstone. Which one is better?
+Enroth186 What is better Risk or Ticket to Ride? Its quite dissimilar to Shadows of Brimstone. SoB is excellent in its own regard - but in more of a Descent/Heroquest style (although full co-op) rather than Civilization meets Monster Hunter meets Dark Souls in the case of KD:M there really is little in the board game world I've seen I could compare it to.
Some of the really old "Choose your own adventure" books that involved some dice rolls from White Wolf get evoked to me with the narrative elements as well. For those old enough to remember those.
+Robert Piechocki "The game is a campaign style boardgame/rpg hybrid, split into 2 seperate game phases: One phase where you cooperatively fight monsters and gather ressources in an ameritrash style and gain xp. One phase in between the fights, where you can spend the ressources collected in town to improve your characters and select your next battle. The theme is rather dark and the game is quite hard. The game plays solo or up to 6 players. Sometimes you roll dice on event tables to see what happens / what results will occur."
To me, This explanation fits both games very well ;) I think Kingdom Death:Monster's "town" phase is much more involved, with you creating new buildings and enlarging your tribe/group and having more possibilities for crafting. ShadowsOfBrimstone has a more involved Adventure phase, where you explore a mine and have more story and unexpected things happen. But if i look at the boardgames released in the last 5 years, SoB would be the one which comes closest to KD:M, gameplay and structure wise imho.
great review ! I wanna try it out !
Wow. Well, it sounds amazing. But being expensive as it is, it means it is totally prohibitive for me.
Hopefully other game designers may learn from the innovations here and apply them to simpler (and cheaper!) games.
Thanks for being as fair as possible, but a major issue I have with the game is it's price point. How much did you spend on the game? Did you get in when the base set was cheap? As it stands, the game's MSRP is $400 (currently discounted, but disregard that). After playing the game, I have to say that it's not worth $400 to me. I like the miniatures, but it's not something I would spend more for. I like the gameplay, but for $400 the gameplay needs to be perfect. Probably more than perfect, there are just too many good games with better gameplay for cheaper, or cheaper games with less than stellar gameplay more worth it by virtue of being cheaper.
Thanks for the review, if possible sometime in the future, can you answer the question of "is the game good?" with consideration that the price point is simply not competitive.
+MadeOfMush He did lol.
+SyntheticDuckie Ah, sorry. He did go into it in the last 3 minutes. I didn't think he was going to go back after he started raving on it.
I actually cancelled my order back when it was up for $275 after playing the game twice with a friend. I feel like there are just more and better games you could buy for that price. Things I felt were lacking were character development and the combat mechanics. I opted for Descent + all expansions because it does those things. KD:M's settlement phase is the best thing about it that's not really presented in any game. But for $300? It's just too much.
I guess that's fair. Though, anything with mini's is usually crazy in price. ( Looking at you GW. ) That said, I plan to eventually pick this up, I had been looking for a review for this damn game for awhile. All that's out there is awkwardly placed Nokia phone cameras recording game play lol. I haven't heard of Descent so I will check it out.
+SyntheticDuckie See that's the difficulty when looking at reviews for this game: its such a huge investment people tend to convince themselves that it's great. And the ones who don't have to pay for it (review copies?) don't have a grasp on the consumer element of price point.
I would say be very critical of reviews, especially when it comes to this game. If you're set on it though, pick it up now. It's $100 off right now, which it probably won't ever be at again!
+MadeOfMush Hah - Descent as a replacement for KD:M? That's just sad... they're not even in the same league...
This game look amazing, and the design is just superbe.
Manu Alteirac
I like the Neon Genesis Evangelion T-shirt
wow that book keeping
I'll buy a copy when they release a version without those minis. I never cared for minis; i'm perfectly happy using paper cutouts. All I care about is the gameplay.
+Mr. Horseshoe You are going to be waiting a long time if not 'forever'. They are a miniature company firstly and that why they made the game, as a result I doubt that you will see it without miniatures.
The aesthetics of a game can go a long way towards the enjoyment of a game. While I agree gameplay is most important, a game's presentation and it's quality is also incredibly important. A game with excellent gameplay but piss poor aesthetics simply won't feel as fun as the same game with much higher production values and thats a fact. Perception plays a huge role in a gamer's enjoyment of a product and if the aesthetics of the game are shit, it won't matter how perfect and refined the gameplay is, the game will absolutely suffer because the gamer will perceive the game is of poor quality overall.
You're paying for the higher production quality. Most people are willing to shell out a little more cash for a game that not only plays great, but looks great as well.
This game is just the fever dream of sociopathic weeb that never left the basement
How do you not mention that you have to assemble all of the mini's
Ike Hancoski 46 minutes in he discusses it
kickstarter effect = cognitive dissonance
you have a dead pixel in your video in the center... your black shirt only makes it worse.... AHHHHHHH
i need that shirt
Showing mini's in the KS that you won't be able to use in the game is becoming way to common. The eternally offended just whine, not like their tears impact anything.
not ceremonial makeup, its ink that was caked in your eyes and ears when you wake
awesome game
It concerns me that you have said the showdown phase is a little boring, as Poots has said the showdown phase is the 'meat' of the game. As all your decisions really come to a point in the showdown, the fact that it is anticlimactic/simple is disappointing.
It sounded like it was just because it was standard/familiar. I view it as similar to my feelings on Magic the Gathering - I enjoy deck building more than actually playing, but the play needs to be there to justify the deck. I imagine this is similar; the showdown may or may not be the most exciting phase, depending on the sort of thing you enjoy, but at the very least it's the bit that validates your actions in the other phases. It's the culmination of your choices.
+Tony
The showdown's solid enough, just not really innovative in a way that's going to grab an experienced gamer's attention. I'd say the variability introduced by the AI deck and Hit Location deck are the big thing that the showdown's got going for it. Every few hunts that Lion you've killed what feels like a billion times before will suddenly throw you a curve ball and turn into a completely different sort of monster than you're used to, requiring you to adapt your strategy on the fly.
Keep in mind that this is a living game of a sort, as well. There are expansions coming out which might introduce more complicated/interesting monster mechanics, and there's plenty of room for homebrew and online free content that lets you set up custom "legendary" monsters to spice things up. Adam's stated an interest in supporting homebrew and custom content, similar to old GW White Dwarf days, but it's still early days and so hard to tell if he'll follow through on that.
For that price only kids of drug dealers are going to enjoy it.
zzzzz.. !! Sorry, Just play Dnd 5e. this game seems amazing but too much of a good thing.
Horribly overpriced. A bit of a con tbh.
agreed, only makes sense if 4 people buy 1 box. buying it by yourself is a money trap for sure.
MrSuckeragi how much is it? their Kickstart page is so confusing
Hmm ... did Seasons just get kicked to the curb?