Kingsburg looks good, very good indeed. It is simple, it is bright, it has a ton of dice. I am a eurogamer through and through and yet these games that have plenty of dice attract me no end. Yspahan for example is high on my list of games to get because it bridges euro’s and dice. Kingsburg does a similar thing but with more rolling. It is not as bigger part of the game as To Court a King (thank goodness). Lets get this straight, dice will burn you and you will cry bloody murder, but dice are fun especially when mitigated by strategy.

Kingsburg is pretty with it bright colour pieces and dice. There is something seductive about coloured dice, and I am tempted to buy the Kingsburg dice badge for this reason. The components are easy and the board well laid out. Arguably the board is a little cluttered and the clarity is distorted a little by the art but that is part in parcel of a themed game. We can’t expect age of steam precision from every game!

The nature of the gameplay is what interests me because it appears to be an optimal path game. I was reading the latest session report from the designer and he was talking about a particular strategy beating the established strategy. In my opinion it is not so much a strategy as it is a path through the board. I love optimal path games that change, but the more I play the more I think that this one doesn’t, it is pretty much the same every time. Sure for the first few games you can try different strategies and if you are only going to play a game a handful of times a year that is fine, but if this is a once a weaker then it will struggle for longevity. The combative/competitive elements is limited to one phase of the game, it is low on confrontation.

One part of the game sees you rolling dice and placing them on the numbers 1 -18 on the board. The numbers you roll determine the combinations you can place and with a base of three dice you are not going to be placing in three squares very often. A 1,5,6 would allow you to place on 12 or 5-7 or 1-5-6. However you only make one placement at a time and only one player can place in each spot (envoy excepted) and so most often you will place in one or maybe two spots. Each placement gives you a different reward, the rewards increasing with the higher numbers. This is the only competitive element in the game, in the placement of your dice. These dice are not self determined which degrades the competitive elements further, and so you can only work with what you’ve got. Admittedly adding more dice in various phases of the game and other special abilities helps increase the confrontation. But I still feel this game leans towards the solo optimisation game. This is not a bad thing.

The second part of the game allows you to take your rewards and buy buildings which give you points and abilities. The third phase of the game pits you in a battle against invaders where your abilities and rewards are pitted against the invader card. You are further helped by a random dice roll which adds to your combat value. If the roll is high almost all players will win, but a low roll might lose you a building if you have not collected battle abilities.

My conclusion is that this goes the Race for the Galaxy way. There is some interaction (more than RFTG by the way) here, but it is limited in many ways and for the first few games you don’t worry too much about it. Don’t get me wrong placement can be very strategic and cutthroat, in fact that is where this game is won and lost with experts I suspect, but it is not the major part of the game. Instead the major part is choosing your placement with rewards in mind and optimising your building track so you get the benefits when you want them and when you need them. When you have solved this dilemma the game feels a little like a concrete cart track. The mystery is gone and you are just trying to make sure you ride the right path, it’s fun but not as fun as at first when you just wanted to get back up to the top so you could come down again.

Kingsburg has the potential to be a very good gateway game. It takes elements from many of my favourite games and combines them in a simple and rich experience. I think my friends will love it.