2016 English First Edition (*Review Copy)
Published by: Rio Grande Games
# of Players: 2 to 4
Published by: Rio Grande Games
# of Players: 2 to 4
For Crown & Kingdom is an abstract strategy game that has players maneuvering their tokens to gain support in each region. The story of For Crown & Kingdom is that the King is on his deathbed, you and the other players are up to possibly being named King. Each of you has a team of skilled emissaries that are traveling the regions of the kingdom to gain support. To win and become King, you must gain support in each region. Becoming king can be a difficult accomplishment when you have others that stand in your way. Can you use your emissaries to the best of their ability to become king or will you fail and end up bending the knee to another? If that sounds interesting, then i encourage to read along as I give you my take on For Crown & Kingdom.
Components
For Crown & Kingdom does not contain many components. This is true to many abstract strategy games as they tend to focus more on gameplay rather than theme and components. I found however, For Crown & Kingdom did a good job with delivering some theme through it's components. Each player has 5 different emissaries that are on wooden discs with a male sticker on one side and a female sticker on the other. Each player also has support tokens that they will placing on the outside of the board. The support tokens along with coins and board regions are made of cardboard that you punch out. The quality was standard and had no issues punching any of it out. Each player has a player aid that explains what each emissary does and what bribes you can make and for how much. The rule book is designed very well and explains everything in detail. Everything is organized well and made for an easy learning process. For an abstract strategy game, I thought For Crown & Kingdom did a good job with it's components and delivering some theme.
For Crown & Kingdom does not contain many components. This is true to many abstract strategy games as they tend to focus more on gameplay rather than theme and components. I found however, For Crown & Kingdom did a good job with delivering some theme through it's components. Each player has 5 different emissaries that are on wooden discs with a male sticker on one side and a female sticker on the other. Each player also has support tokens that they will placing on the outside of the board. The support tokens along with coins and board regions are made of cardboard that you punch out. The quality was standard and had no issues punching any of it out. Each player has a player aid that explains what each emissary does and what bribes you can make and for how much. The rule book is designed very well and explains everything in detail. Everything is organized well and made for an easy learning process. For an abstract strategy game, I thought For Crown & Kingdom did a good job with it's components and delivering some theme.
Gameplay
For Crown & Kingdom has players taking turns using one of their emissaries with the ultimate goal of getting support tokens in each of the regions on the map. The number of regions is based on how many players are playing. Each map tile has a side with one region and a side with two regions. Each region has it's own special action that can be used by the Scholar emissary. Players during their turn will do up to 3 steps. A player can first put a bribe to allow them to do something special during their turn like move 1 less step or use a character's ability. After the player decides to use a bribe or not, they will move one of their emissaries. The amount the emissary moves is based on how many emissaries are currently in the same region as the emissary you want to move. If your emissary is with 3 others including other player's emissaries, you would move 4 spaces. 1 for your emissary and 1 for every other emissary in that region. You always move clockwise unless you do a bribe that lets you move in the other direction. You can not move less than your what your total movement is, unless you use the bribe that lets you move 1 less than you would.
For Crown & Kingdom has players taking turns using one of their emissaries with the ultimate goal of getting support tokens in each of the regions on the map. The number of regions is based on how many players are playing. Each map tile has a side with one region and a side with two regions. Each region has it's own special action that can be used by the Scholar emissary. Players during their turn will do up to 3 steps. A player can first put a bribe to allow them to do something special during their turn like move 1 less step or use a character's ability. After the player decides to use a bribe or not, they will move one of their emissaries. The amount the emissary moves is based on how many emissaries are currently in the same region as the emissary you want to move. If your emissary is with 3 others including other player's emissaries, you would move 4 spaces. 1 for your emissary and 1 for every other emissary in that region. You always move clockwise unless you do a bribe that lets you move in the other direction. You can not move less than your what your total movement is, unless you use the bribe that lets you move 1 less than you would.
The last step during your turn is to use that emissaries action after it has fully moved. Each of your 5 emissaries have different abilities. The Duke allows you to place a support token in the region they are in, as long as they have the majority of emissaries in that space. The Merchant gains 1 coin for each emissary token in the region including himself. The Thief steals 2 coins from every other player that has tokens in the region he is in. The Knight can imprison another emissary including one of your own. The Scholar performs the special action that is listed in the region. This can range from using a certain emissary to gaining coins or support tokens. Going back to the Knight you may be wondering what happens to an imprisoned emissary. That emissary is taken off the board and the player must pay a certain amount based on how many imprisoned emissaries that player has, to free that emissary during the bribe step. If you are low on coins and need a emissary back on the board you may look to using your knight to imprisoning one of your other emissaries so that the bail is cheaper. For Crown & Kingdom is a very easy game to teach, but playing the game will burn your brain with strategy of trying to win.
Final Thoughts
I knew absolutely nothing about For Crown & Kingdom before it randomly appeared on my doorstep. That is a shame because this is a very fun and strategic game. If you are a fan of abstract strategy games then you should be a fan of this game as well. The amount of brain burn that went into my decisions for turns reminded me of Chess. You really need to think ahead and also keep your opponents in check. At first you may think this is easy as you get the first 3 quarters of the regions with support, but then suddenly it hits hard. Those last 2 to 4 regions you need suddenly become very challenging to get as players can more easily block you from placing support tokens. The 2 player game is very competitive head to head, while playing with 3 or 4 players can be chaotic but still very good. I love how easy this was to learn and teach. This is a game that can be enjoyed by a teenager and your grandparents. This has definitely been a surprise hit for me in 2016 and hope more people get the chance to play this. I would gladly recommend this to anyone who wants a chess like experience or a game that is easy to learn but has lots of challenging decisions. For Crown & Kingdom is for sure staying in my collection.
I knew absolutely nothing about For Crown & Kingdom before it randomly appeared on my doorstep. That is a shame because this is a very fun and strategic game. If you are a fan of abstract strategy games then you should be a fan of this game as well. The amount of brain burn that went into my decisions for turns reminded me of Chess. You really need to think ahead and also keep your opponents in check. At first you may think this is easy as you get the first 3 quarters of the regions with support, but then suddenly it hits hard. Those last 2 to 4 regions you need suddenly become very challenging to get as players can more easily block you from placing support tokens. The 2 player game is very competitive head to head, while playing with 3 or 4 players can be chaotic but still very good. I love how easy this was to learn and teach. This is a game that can be enjoyed by a teenager and your grandparents. This has definitely been a surprise hit for me in 2016 and hope more people get the chance to play this. I would gladly recommend this to anyone who wants a chess like experience or a game that is easy to learn but has lots of challenging decisions. For Crown & Kingdom is for sure staying in my collection.
Taco gives For Crown & Kingdom a rating of...
8.0 out of 10
Pros:
+ Easy to learn and teach
+ Lots of brain burning decisions
+ Decent amount of theme in a abstract strategy game
Cons:
- Some of the pictures of the emissaries can be mistaken for other emissaries
- board becomes very busy with 4 players
Pros:
+ Easy to learn and teach
+ Lots of brain burning decisions
+ Decent amount of theme in a abstract strategy game
Cons:
- Some of the pictures of the emissaries can be mistaken for other emissaries
- board becomes very busy with 4 players
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