Kingdom Death: Monster review

[SpiralngCadavr]

Any of my regular readers would have probably guessed this review was a long time coming. First, the purely subjective.

Within two sessions, Kingdom Death established itself as one of my group's favorite games. Since we've gotten it, we've played it at least ten times as often as all other games combined. It's spent large periods sitting on the dining room table half-unpacked, because we plan to play it again in a day or two. The box has gotten dust in it, not from disuse, but from the lid never being on.

Normally, we slowly get in to games, playing two or three sessions, feeling it out, and then it either enters the regular loose rotation or is dumped because it's not our taste, etc.

And while I'm obviously heavily involved in the hobby, I've dropped pretty games with lackluster rules before (sometimes quickly), so this isn't just about it being extremely pretty, though it is.

As always, I try to keep things in perspective, but it's hard to hide my love of this game.

 

Continue to the review proper

[SpectreEliteGaming]

I somehow missed this post - your models, as always, are great.

This is one of those games I'm disappointed about not kickstarting - I never got into the kickstarter craze until like almost a year after it.

I'm definently interested now though! A number of models are totally despicable and, therefore, right up my alley. With my dive into WWX though - my modelling queue is extensive as is. I need to retire so I can spend more time hobbying me thinks.  

Even so - practically impossible to pass this stuff up and I've got a WP of 3-4 at the best of times.  

Glad to hear the gameplay matches the quality of the models.

Edited December 10, 2015 by SpectreEliteGaming

[SpiralngCadavr]

Thanks, yeah... that price tag is a real barrier. Like I said, though, if you find a trade or whatever (they often have holiday sales) and have a friend or three to co-op with, I feel it's well worth it.

As a little more past the review, getting through my second successful campaign, I'm feeling like they oversold the death count or that the note in the rulebook about hard mode being the intended style is very serious: once you learn the game, normal goes from shockingly deadly to manageable... though it might've been about preparing people for that first probably doomed campaign. Actually, I think there's a lot in the way they've organized the game that I think does a very smart job manipulating players, for example how the first fight is introduced as the tutorial, but it's arguably the first five years or so that gradually flesh out the rules set in an extended tutorial of sorts. There's a lot of psychology involved in that game, and I wouldn't doubt PR being part of it.

Either way, my group's moving on to harder iterations of the game soon, and hoping to see gradual increases in difficulty. I'll probably be back in a few months with an addendum -

[lusciousmccabe]

Yeah, I think a lot of the difficulty comes from lack of information. I try to avoid reading things in advance to keep that aspect of it but I'd say replays would tend toward extreme munchkining. 

[LordZombie]

I loved this game from the start, and have followed the kickstarter from day one. I never could get the $155 to back it and get the main game and now that it is out and the price tag is $300, I will never play it. Not that I would have been able to get in any games anyways, without a good gaming group. Guess it is better to not have it then to have it and never play it. Glad you love it so much! I do feel the price tag is going to keep anyone outside the kickstarter from ever getting this.