Game: Knights

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Toynan — 2008-09-14T01:38:07+00:00

Back of the Knatsch version

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jsper — 2008-09-11T12:19:32+00:00

Promotional sheet in german

Thread: Re: 7 Year Old Game Designer teams up with Michael Schacht

Blood Meridian — 2008-08-29T05:10:42+00:00

Yes, the flipper (entirely his idea) allows you to use it once per turn to bring the bottom card of one of the piles to the top, instead of taking the top card and putting it on the bottom. I loved this idea.

>Congrats again! You must be a most proud father, even if you can't keep the age of the younger one straight. =)

Heh - good catch. He was 4 when we played, but turns 5 this weekend - I guess that's what happens when you wait so long to post - your kids actually age in the meantime!

Thread: Re: 7 Year Old Game Designer teams up with Michael Schacht

GaryP — 2008-08-28T13:25:19+00:00

Wow, those are some genuinely nifty ideas! Congrats to your son for some great cards!

I think I might have to add the Drawbridge myself. I really like that one.

The Flipper is a really creative idea. Do you use it on your turn instead of sending a card to the bottom?

And, yes, it is probably overpowered, but I just love the name of The Dreaded 6! =) Kudos for him recognizing that it really needed the four 5s rating to be plausible.

Congrats again! You must be a most proud father, even if you can't keep the age of the younger one straight. =)

Thread: Re: 7 Year Old Game Designer teams up with Michael Schacht

Yokiboy — 2008-08-28T13:18:25+00:00

Great story Scott, thanks for sharing.

Thread: 7 Year Old Game Designer teams up with Michael Schacht

Blood Meridian — 2008-08-28T05:31:11+00:00

On a recent vacation I took along the game Knights to play with my 7 and nearly 5 year old boys. They enjoyed the game greatly, and we played several games in a row.

A cool bonus is that the game includes 5 blank cards with the standard Knights logo backing and front printed area so that you can add your own variants to the game. This is a great feature that more games should emulate when they have room for extra cards.

My 7 year old snapped up the sharpies and set to work designing new cards that would both work with the game, and be "balanced" with the overall design. He came up with these by himself:

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From left to right we have:

The 5 Horse - an extra 5 die for use in tournaments only
The Drawbridge - an extra 5 die when defending against player to player sieges (a counter to Schacht's catapult)
The Flipper - if your opponent buries a card by sending it to the bottom of the pile, this card will allow you to bring the bottom card back up
The Dreaded 6 - perhaps a bit of a gamebreaker, it allows the use of rolled 6s in all combats... He explained that this card is so difficult to get (requiring four 5's) that it should be ok. When this card came up in games, the kids got really excited...
The Red Castle - this one is from my 4 year old; he always played this card as his starting castle

Bravo to Mr. Schacht and to Rio Grande Games for including these cards and tapping into the creativity of my Jr. game designers!

Thread: Re: Knights: Yahtzee and Chivalry

Lightstorm — 2008-07-29T15:36:39+00:00

After reading your review of Dungeon Dice (with which I totally agree), it seemed that your reviews could also benefit from a "what is it not as good as" section. I'd imagine you would say that Knights is not as good as Dungeon Dice, for example. (By the way, Dungeon Dice is a blast! I've never really enjoyed Knights and find To Court the King somewhat "blah").

Great review, though. I like the style.

Thread: Re: Knights: Yahtzee and Chivalry

Yokiboy — 2008-05-16T23:27:47+00:00

Very good review Josiah. I have added this game to my wishlist. Sounds like a great diversion when you just want some dice-rolling fun, while still having an element of strategy.

Thread: Re: Knights: Yahtzee and Chivalry

gamemark — 2007-11-08T18:45:25+00:00

Drewcooter wrote:
I also feel that it is better than "To Court the King". It plays quicker and you have more control, I find that your options in which card to send to the bottom and which card to go for are more meaningful.

Wow... it "plays quicker"? In my experience, To Court the King is playable in 30 minutes by 2-4 experienced players. Knights can be over in 10-15 min., granted... but it can also run 45 min.+, esp. with 4+ players. My early comment about the "take that" element of the game has considerable weight here - if you "play your own game" and simply play Knights as a race, then I'll agree it's much faster. OTOH, if you actively work to slow down the leader, the game lengthens considerably.

And "more control"? Huh?! Yes, you do have options in how & when to manipulate the cards to see if you can get a better card... but I'm not clear on how that is more control than in To Court A King, where literally every card is available to you from the start of the game (if you have enough dice).

I know that much of this is a "different strokes for different folks" problem - so take my comments with a grain of salt.

Thread: Re: Knights: Yahtzee and Chivalry

Drewcooter — 2007-11-08T18:15:39+00:00

I also feel that it is better than "To Court the King". It plays quicker and you have more control, I find that your options in which card to send to the bottom and which card to go for are more meaningful.

Good Review!

Thread: Re: Knights: Yahtzee and Chivalry

gamemark — 2007-11-07T21:19:46+00:00

I think Knights is decent... but the "take that" nature of the game weakens it. What is fun at 15-20 min. becomes excruciating at 30-45 min... which is why I disagree with your assertions that it is better than To Court the King.

Not a bad game, mind you - just not as good as many of the popular dice games.

Thread: Re: Knights: Yahtzee and Chivalry

happyjosiah — 2007-11-07T20:31:08+00:00

Edited to include a "bottom line" which I had inadvertently ommitted.

Thread: Knights: Yahtzee and Chivalry

happyjosiah — 2007-11-07T17:39:31+00:00

Knights is a card and dice game by the recent SDJ winner, Michael Schacht (for Zooloretto). Some games have cards and dice, but are generally driven more by one than the other. Knights actually strikes a fairly good balance between the two, though the Yahtzee comparisons are inevitable.

What’s in the box?
A deck of 56 cards picturing various Arthurian things like jousting tournaments, castles, trebuchets, and guards. Also included in the (somewhat flimsy) tuckbox are 6 yellow plastic dice with black pips. These will be used for a lot of different things in the game: capturing castles, jousting, and even overthrowing the king. Additionally, there are several blank template cards, perhaps in case you lose some or as “create your own cards”.

Hrmph. Components do not a good game make.
Well that’s true. So let’s take a look at the gameplay.
Each player is dealt one of the six different castles. No two players will have the same castle, though there are multiples of each one in the draw pile. The castles have different amounts of dice at the top (like most cards in the game) that indicate how difficult they are to capture. Some players have better defended castles at the start of the game. Deal with it.
Knights has 3 ways to win, indicated by 3 cards that are placed face-up in the middle of the table before each game. One way to win is to own four castles. A second way to win is to own two castles and win three tournaments. Finally, you can attempt to overthrow the king, though this is the most difficult and most often used as a desperation move. Also, you can attempt to (over)throw the game table, (over)throw the dice around the room, and (over)throw everyone out of your house. This is even more of a desperation move, and actually probably makes you more of a loser than a winner. NOT RECOMMENDED.
The rest of the cards are dealt into two draw piles, and the top card of each is turned face-up and put on top. On your turn you can either attempt to win one of those cards or attack another player’s cards. However, you cannot attack a player’s castle if he/she only has one.

I need specifics. You can’t buy a pig in a poke!
Alright, alright, hold onto your britches. Let me just direct the people who don’t want THAT much detail down to the next boldfaced section. If you have heard enough, go ahead and skip down to the next boldfaced section.
Now, for those of you still here, let’s take a look at some of the specific cards and go a bit more in-depth on gameplay. I mentioned above that most cards (all except tournaments, actually) have a row of dice along the top that shows how easy they are to capture. An example might be 3 threes and a four, as in this picture of a castle:

You get three rolls of the dice, keeping any dice you would like after each roll and re-rolling the others. You are attempting to make “of a kinds”; “in a rows” do not mean anything. In our picture example, you would need to roll at least 3 threes (we’ll get to that four on the end in a minute). This means if you roll 3 twos, it is not enough. 3 fours is more than enough. Four of anything (even twos) is more than enough as well. This is intuitive enough, especially for someone who has played poker or yahtzee. However, just rolling the 3 threes indicated is not enough. You have to also roll a four at least on one other die (known as a “tiebreaker”). So, if I roll 3 fours, that’s all I need. But if I end up with 3 threes and a two and a one and another one, that is not enough. 3 threes and a four is the absolute minimum. (3 threes and a five would of course be fine too). It might seem a little unnecessary to have that tiebreaker die, but it really isn’t for two reasons:
1. In tournaments, ties among players are common and the tiebreaker die, well, breaks them.
2. When you roll a six, that die is removed.
Come again?
You heard me. Roll a six and you can’t roll that die again until your next set of rolls. So you might go for the castle in the picture, rejoice when you see that you have rolled 3 threes (and still have two rolls to go!) and then cry when you realize that the other three dice are sixes. At that point you can only re-roll the 3 threes and hope you can make a set of 3 fours or 3 fives in two rolls. Roll another six and you have no chance at all. If you ever fail to make a roll, your turn immediately ends.

So what are the different types of cards I can go for?
Glad you asked. First, let’s talk about cards on the piles. If you don’t like either of the choices on the piles, you can place one card underneath its pile and flip a new one face-up. (This can also be defensive to keep someone else from getting a good card, but one that you don’t want.) There are three types: castles, tournaments, and specials. Castles we have already talked about capturing. When you go for a castle on the pile, if you succeed, you place it in front of you and your turn ends. If you fail, the castle gets placed on the bottom and your turn ends.
If you go for a special card on the pile and succeed, you place it in front of you and may try for something else. This can lead to a player getting a lot of special cards from the piles in one turn. Of course, if you fail, the card is placed on the bottom and your turn immediately ends.
Finally, there is the tournament. If you are the “host” (it’s your turn) you get 4 rolls to make the best combination you can, including 1 tiebreaker die. Everyone else gets 3 rolls. Winner gets the tournament card, which can never be stolen.
Now keep in mind, you also have the option to steal a card from another player (remember tournaments cannot be stolen and you cannot steal a player’s only castle). If you try to steal a special card, you just need to roll the combination (or higher) on that card. However, unlike taking a special from the pile, you do not get to go again. If you fail, that person just keeps their card.
If you try to steal a castle from a person, they get a chance to defend it. First, you make your rolls and see if you meet or exceed its printed dice value. If you do, you steal it UNLESS that player gets an even higher dice combination than you. They get 3 rolls after you to try to defend it.

So what do all these special cards do?
Well, I won’t go into detail on all of them, but I want to give a few highlights. A lot of cards have a large die on them, showing a single number. Having this special card basically functions as a 7th die that always comes up that number. So if you have the card that is a four and you roll 2 ones, 2 fours, and 2 fives, you might actually want to keep the fours, since you really have 3 of them.
Other special cards let you roll 4 times even if you are not the tournament host, let you put two cards under the pile on your turn, make it easier to steal other people’s castles, guard your castles, or even guard other special cards. When teaching this game, it is best not to explain every single card and what it does (watch their eyes glaze over as they suggest “can’t we just play yahtzee?”). Explain the options people have as they come up. By midway through the game, they will have it.

Didn’t you say something about overthrowing a king?
Sure did. In addition to winning by getting 4 castles or 2 castles/3 tournaments, you can win by making a seriously difficult roll and becoming the king. This takes the place of the normal thing you would do on your turn, and to even attempt it, you need to have 3 castles. The roll is 4 fives and a one. So you can do it with 5 of anything as well. However, if you fail, the king destroys one of your 3 castles (unless you have the special “king’s favor” card, the creepiest one in the game.) It’s the top middle card in this picture. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/247908

This is the place you were skipping to if you don’t like detail
(My dog was de-tailed, and I still liked her!)
Now that you have the basic idea of how to play, lets take a look at the pros and cons.

CONS
--Luck-driven. Not a thinking game.
--The box falls apart.
--With experienced players, it loses some charm as the “get as many special cards in one turn as possible” strategy takes over.
--The sheer amount of different special cards may frustrate some people, especially if they insist on learning every single one before the game starts (See also: Bang!)
--The game end can sneak up very fast, with little anyone can do to stop it.

PROS
--A yahtzee or poker player has a leg up on learning this game
--Tournaments involve everyone, even if it is someone else’s turn, and are very exiting
--Anyone can win, even their first time.
--Experienced players do learn how to work together to keep runaway leaders in check.
--It can be played optimally or just for fun and works well both ways, with optimal play not causing analysis paralysis or long delays.

What is it better than?
--Yahtzee It integrates a theme, has a fun card-game aspect as well, has tournaments(player interaction), no pencil/paper scorekeeping.
--To Court The King Less downtime and more player interaction, with similar theme and mechanics. It’s also a bit less complex than TCTK, which is good considering the luck vs. strategy factor.
--Poker Dice, LCR, Bunco, etc. This is a great step up from dice games that are pure luck. For people who play these types of games, Knights can be a good gateway game.

Bottom Line
Quick, fun dicefest for 2-6 players. A step up from Yahtzee. Can become stale after many plays.

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rseater — 2007-10-13T19:53:45+00:00

The custom cards I use in my set.

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boneroller — 2007-09-17T01:52:40+00:00

Tournament Card

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boneroller — 2007-09-16T02:40:07+00:00

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boneroller — 2007-09-15T18:12:31+00:00

Group 2 - Special Cards: Dice Cards

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boneroller — 2007-09-15T18:11:56+00:00

Group 1 - Special Cards

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boneroller — 2007-09-15T18:11:06+00:00

Goal Cards

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boneroller — 2007-09-15T18:10:43+00:00

One of the Castle Cards

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boneroller — 2007-09-15T18:10:02+00:00

Knights Comes with 5 Blank Cards for Player Additions

Thread: Please don't choose... my kind sir.

wormious — 2007-09-10T19:07:05+00:00

Six nobles all sat down one day with the intention of increasing their land and maybe even becoming king of the land. The latter was to never happen but someone managed to increase their land four-fold.

At the start of all this it looked like the nobles with the lighter fortified castles did not stand a chance but it seems luck was with everyone at some point.

In the first stage (round) few castle were captured from the outer lands. A few stages latter it became apparent someone would be stopping the rest of us nobles from acquiring more land. We put a stop to it, although it took the lot of us. Afterwards, we had to "employ" a few of the younger populous to keep the ranks up.

Before that great battle though one of the nobles had no choice but to hold a tournament to prove that he had the best knights. A shame too... His knight did so well in battle. But the victor was too much for the rest of us and took the show.

Seasons came and went. Other nobles acquired more troops (special dice cards) and enduranced men and horses (x2 flip). I acquired the catapult, and a troop of soldiers to guard the two of my castles. Things looked promising.

The inevitable tournaments even came up. Some nobles begrudgingly sent their knights to participate even though these contests took so long.

My troop only prevented me from being a target. I could not protect the others and so the luckiest noble on the field got her fourth castle and ordered the rest of us to stop fighting or she would destroy us all.

With that much land, wealth, and men who could argue.

Everyone did come out better than they started as no noble was "acquired". So it was good for all. Although, we left with mixed feelings as we felt it was fun but wish we had more control.

Thread: Re: What does "Beginning" means.

Schroinger — 2007-02-21T11:28:43+00:00

GVogel wrote:
Warning: I do not have the rules in front of me so I could be off on this one...

I *think* that they refer to the fact that you cannot go after another player's cards since the players only start with a castle and you can never take a players only castle. Once a player has taken cards, the new cards (and any extra castles) can become targets.

I asked the editors and this is the answer that they gave me. So, you can steal cards any time, but not a player's only castle.

Thread: Re: General Comment

GVogel — 2007-02-17T18:13:53+00:00

One thing that I noticed early on in our gaming sessions is that people weren't too keen on attacking other players. This tends to lead to longer games, I think. I'd recommend that once things start rolling, look to your opponents to get the cards that you want/need - it helps the game roll along!

Thread: Re: What does "Beginning" means.

GVogel — 2007-02-17T17:50:52+00:00

Warning: I do not have the rules in front of me so I could be off on this one...

I *think* that they refer to the fact that you cannot go after another player's cards since the players only start with a castle and you can never take a players only castle. Once a player has taken cards, the new cards (and any extra castles) can become targets.

Thread: Re: Questions: ties at tournament, guards, special cards

GVogel — 2007-02-17T17:10:56+00:00

There are no ties - you simply have to beat another players roll outright.

Thread: Re: I don't understand how "tournaments" work, help please

cgund — 2007-02-17T08:28:45+00:00

Aren't you nice, thanks so much for the quick response. That makes sense.

Thread: Re: I don't understand how "tournaments" work, help please

gashlycrumb — 2007-02-17T08:24:01+00:00

Hello,

I vote for letter B! You roll like Yahtzee, all 6 dice, you can roll up to 3 times and hold some if you want to. Of course, if you are the one starting the tournament, you get 4 rolls instead of 3.

And yes, 5 5 5 5 5 3 beats 5 5 5 5 5 1.

We haven't had a need for paper to keep track, but then again, I've only played this with 2-3 players and it is pretty easy to track unless you play with shady individuals.

Thread: I don't understand how "tournaments" work, help please

cgund — 2007-02-17T07:39:17+00:00

Hi folks -

I just got this game today and am going thru the rules now. I have several questions but the biggest one is regarding tournaments. Here's what the booklet says:

"The [tournament] organizer rolls first and may roll up to four times. The others follow in clockwise order. The player with the highest roll wins the tournament and takes the card, placing it in his playing area. When determining the highest roll, duets lose to trios, trios to quartets, and so on."

OK, my questions are these:

a) Do I understand that the tournament organizer rolls all four of his six-die rolls one after the other, and then the next player takes all three of his/her rolls, and then the next player does the same? IE, it's not organizer takes one roll, then player B takes a roll, then player C, until all players have rolled their allotted number of times?

b) Or, in the alternative, does it work like Yahtzee? IE, organizer rolls all six dice, keeps the ones he/she wants to keep, and re-rolls the rest, up to four times, each time retaining whichever dice he/she wishes (with the other players repeating this process, but only up to three rolls for them)?

c) In determining who has the best roll, are all six dice counted? So that the highest possible roll is 5 5 5 5 5 5? And if I roll 5 5 5 5 5 1, and you roll 5 5 5 5 5 3, did you win? I think you did, but I'm just struggling a little bit with the whole tourney dealie.

d) Do you just use a piece of scratch paper to write down what each player's highest roll is, after their turn is over? I don't want to encounter "I had five 4's!" "No you didn't -- you had four 5's!"

I am really sorry if these are obvious questions to y'all. We are brand spankin' new gamers.

Thread: Re: What does "Beginning" means.

cgund — 2007-02-17T07:21:18+00:00

I have the same question, though I'm leaning toward your option "a".

This game's instruction booklet is not the most thorough I've ever read! I have about four questions, and you beat me to this one...

Thread: Knights Review

mcrow — 2007-01-26T16:15:27+00:00

Knights by Rio Grande Games is a simple card/dicing game of medieval competition. Players play the part of knights who are trying to gain more power by taking castles, winning tourneys, and employing retainers(guards). Knights is what it is meant to be, a fast playing, easy to learn game for anyone of any age. However, those looking for a simple card game with some good strategy may want to look elsewhere (Lost Cities) to get that kind of game. Also the rules are not very clear when it comes to how to handle ties.

The game is about capturing castles, winning tourneys, and defending your own castles. There are three ways to win Knights:

Be the first player with four castles
Win 3 tourneys and have two castles
have three castles and defeat the king

there are two decks in the game and each deck has the top card flipped face up. When it is your turn you can attempt to capture one of those cards. Capturing a castle & special cards require you to roll a higher combination on six dice than is listed on the card. Example: if a castle says you need three fours, you get to roll six dice, three times (keep the dice you like after each roll) and if you roll that or higher you take the card. Tourneys work a little different, the player who's turn it is can choose to call a tourney if a tourney card is face up on the deck. If he does, he gets roll the dice four times and try to get the highest combination he can. Then the other players gets three rolls to beat the tourney callers and other players rolls. Whoever has the highest combination wins the tourney card. Another option is that you can try to capture an opponents castle by rolling higher that what his castle card says. If you do roll higher, then the defending player gets to roll against you to defend his castle. If the capturing players roll is higher he take the defenders castle.

There are also other cards like guards (keep people from capturing your cards), dice cards and others. Generally these cards give you some sort of bonus dice or extra benefit that makes it easier to win. They can be captured the same way castles are.

The downfall for Knights is the fact that it has very little strategy. It is pretty much just a dice rolling game. So, given that, I would not recommend this to someone who enjoys strategy games. On the other hand it is easy to play and quick (perfect for playing between other games). The rules also do not clearly state how you would handle a tied roll, which seems to be a big miss.

In conclusion:

The good: simple rules, fast and fun game that anyone any age can enjoy. The games theme comes through well in the gameplay.

The Bad: Complete lack of strategy.

The Ugly: Poorly explain and near lack of rules regarding ties.

Rating: 4.5

you can read more of my reviews @ http://gameswithboards.blogspot.com/index.html

Thread: Re: How do I use the evil castle card from coloretto?

mitnachtKAUBO-I — 2006-12-28T05:31:42+00:00

Does the German (Abacus) Knights have blank cards? The RGG version of Knights comes with 5 blanks so you can design your own. Perhaps that is why there are no blanks in Rio Grande's Coloretto?

Thread: Re: Questions: ties at tournament, guards, special cards

mitnachtKAUBO-I — 2006-12-28T04:09:47+00:00

I have the same question re ties at tournaments. I think for now we're going to play if there is a tie, then no one wins the tourney and the card goes under the deck. I think your interpretation of the other 2 rules is correct.

Thread: Questions: ties at tournament, guards, special cards

atholbrose — 2006-12-22T15:23:29+00:00

The rules don't seem to say what happens when you tie at a tournament. The rules about attacking a castle don't seem to apply.

Also, I assume that you have to capture a guard before you can attack or capture the card he's guarding on your next turn, right?

Lastly, I am also assuming all special cards confer permanent advantages. Is this correct?

I know, maybe this is too much thought to be putting in such a simple game. Still, sometimes rolling a handful of dice is a lot of fun, so I want to make sure we're playing it right.

Thread: What does "Beginning" means.

Schroinger — 2006-12-13T04:32:43+00:00

My mother language is not English, so probably I'm missing something. Anyway I have a doubt. The Knight's rules says: "In the beginning, a player may only try to capture one of the face up cards on the two stacks. Later, a player may try to capture a card that
belongs to one of the other players."

How can I interpretate this?:

a) Does it mean that in your first turn you cannot try to steal a card from another player? Note that if you're the second player there is a chance that the first player have earned a card that you might want to steal.

b) Does it mean that you cannot steal a card from another player until you capture one of the face up cards on the stacks?

c) You can steal cards. But as in the beginning of the game everybody have only one castle, you may not be able to perform an attack because it is forbidden to try to steal a castle when a player only have one.

d) Does it means that in the beginnig of your turn you have to go for one stack's card and only if you win a special card you'll be able to try to steal a card from another player?

e) Other.

Thanks for your help...

Thread: Re: How do I use the evil castle card from coloretto?

Mike A — 2006-09-07T13:44:25+00:00

If you bought the German version of Coloretto, it contained a whole bunch of evil castle cards that were completely blank on one side so you could make your own cards for Knights. A friend gave me his from his German Coloretto because my kids and I played Knights a lot.

The English version of Coloretto, however, only has one evil castle card which has something on the other side already. Maybe you could add it to Knights as a surprise card - whoever draws it gets a lizard placed on their face or something equally pleasant.

Thread: How do I use the evil castle card from coloretto?

benwang — 2006-09-07T05:51:55+00:00

How do I use the evil castle card from coloretto?
Anyone willing to help?

Thread: Neat!

LoopyWolf — 2006-05-05T23:43:01+00:00

A very casino feel to it, Knights is one of those games like Bonzai or Go which has a very small elegant core rule and the entire game flows quickly from it.

The basic idea is that you want to collect one of three victory conditions, by winning certain cards, and winning cards is a little like playing poker. Cards turn up, and on each card is a dice combination which you have to beat. Four of a kind beats three, three of a kind beats three of a kind if they have a higher value on the dice, and so on. Flushes and pairs have no value. You get 3 rolls for each card. I particularly liked the rule that 6s freeze - if you roll a 6, that dice is out and you can no longer use it.

We played two games in a row, usually a sign of a winner, and the dice-rolling was interesting both to watch and to do. It's a quick, amusing game, and quite challenging. Very nicely put together, but them I'm always a sucker for a game with the elegance of a single rule.

Thread: Re: Missing some cards from Knights??

Ponce1944 — 2005-09-12T10:10:24+00:00

Thank you so much for the response. I knew I was missing something, and it's two of the special dice cards. Happy Gaming to you.

Thread: Re: Missing some cards from Knights??

Thaur — 2005-09-12T05:26:12+00:00

You mean, Michel Schach's Knatsch?
If so, in my German copy there are:

9 tournaments (all the same)
16 castles
- 2 browns (3331)
- 2 purples (3332)
- 3 greens (3334)
- 3 yellows (4441)
- 3 reds (4442)
- 3 blues (4443)
3 objectives
- 4 different castles
- 2 different castles, 3 tournaments
- 3 different castles, King (55551)
23 special cards
- 8 dice
-- 3 ones (4441)
-- 2 twos (4442)
-- 1 three (5551)
-- 1 four (5552)
-- 1 five (5553)
- 3 catapults (4443)
- 1 champion (5552)
- 3 deck (3334)
- 3 castle guards (4443)
- 3 personal guards (3332)
- 1 treason (5552)
- 1 King's forgiveness (4443)
5 blank cards

Thread: Missing some cards from Knights??

Ponce1944 — 2005-09-12T02:48:20+00:00

If someone can upload a manifest of the cards of this game, I would appreciate that. I think I have missing cards or duplication of some of them from a second/third hand copy I got with no rules. I got the rules from BGG, but still it's not clear in some of the cards.

Thread: Re: Ideas for additional cards

GeoMan — 2005-07-19T23:33:22+00:00

There is a mini-expansion with additional cards from Adam-Spielt.

Thread: Ideas for additional cards

Mike A — 2005-07-19T22:14:13+00:00

The game itself comes with several blank cards to make up your own additions. Even more, if you have the German edition of Coloretto, you get a whole bunch more blank cards.

Are there any good additional cards anyone has come up with and would want to recommend? My kids keep making up extra cards but they all end up making the game even easier, which is not something it needs.

Thread: Session Report

rumble — 2005-05-03T18:59:27+00:00

Picked this up for $3 used, and tried it out last night in a two player game.

It is, as has been previously remarked, essentially a card-set collection game with elements of Yahtzee and Can't Stop thrown in.

There's a tendency for the game to go back and forth if players focus on taking away other's chances to win as opposed to going directly for a win themselves. Ultimately, however, someone's luck will run out.

It was a very close call, but I won the game, winning four castles and a tournament, while my opponent had two castles and a tournament. The guard protecting my castles made a significant difference, as did my early acquisition of the "1" wild die card.

My opponent collected an early "double-bury" special card, and stole one of my castles, to no avail. Later in the game, I stole his "5" wild die special card -- while it wasn't that influential in helping me win, it did cripple his ability to make better rolls in the long run.

I'd very much like to try this again with more players. I'm hoping it doesn't bog down based on any lag time. Since it's a dice game at heart, I think there'll be plenty of table talk to fill in the lack of direct player interaction.

Thread: Session Report

garrylloyd — 2005-03-09T22:24:59+00:00

Players: Chris, Mark G, Mark K, Nige, Garry

Knights is a little card and dice game by Michael Schacht that came out quite a few years ago. The cards represent prizes that you obtain through rolling certain combinations of dice: the prizes can be castles, tournament wins or special abilities. You have six dice which can be rolled up to three times, banking any that you want to keep between rolls. However, you lose any die showing a 6. On your turn you can either try for one of two neutral cards that are available or a card that an opponent holds (except tournament cards). If you choose the latter and succeed in getting the right combination, the card owner has a chance to defend by rolling a higher combination than yours. The game ends once somebody claims their fourth castle or has two castles and three tournament wins or has three castles and gains the favour of the King by rolling at least four 5s.

In our game, Mark K and Nige quickly built up their holdings of special ability cards. Chris and I spent a couple of turns trading castles, while Mark G kept failing to roll the combinations he was trying for. Eventually, I claimed a third castle which meant I immmediately became a target. One by one, the others came and tried to wrest a castle from me and each time they were valliantly repelled. My turn came around again and, urged on by my faithful followers, I succeeded in grabbing a fourth castle for the win.

This is a very light fun game, with some tactics but the outcome mainly being subject to the roll of the dice. Mark K had a pretty strong position and should have been able to stop me at the end but the dice weren’t as kind to him as they were to me. However, it was very fitting that the first win of the year went to last year’s champion.

Result: Garry=winner
Ratings: Garry 6, Nige 5, Chris 6, Mark K 5, Mark G 6

Thread: User Review

bucklen_uk — 2004-11-05T19:49:36+00:00

Knights is a card/dice game in which players attempt to capture cards to win. Players may win by capturing four castles, capturing three castles and defeating the King, or by capturing two castles and winning three tournaments.

Each card displays a dice combination that must be beaten to win the card. Dice are rolled several times with the player saving the best dice, removing any sixes, and re-rolling others to try for a better score. Usually players attempt to win cards from the deck, which is split into two piles with the top card of each pile revealed. Players can also attack each other, taking their opponents cards instead of from the piles.

The special cards add a lot of flavour to the game. Some special cards add an extra roll or an extra die for the combat. Others help you defend or attack castles or protect your other cards from capture.

If a tournament is called or a player attempts to take an opponent's card then there is interaction between the players, but most of the time you just watch your opponents roll dice. This is not usually a problem as turns come around quite quickly, but this game is probably best played with less than 5.

Being a dice game it involves a chunk of luck, but a player with an understanding of probability will usually do well. All in all, a very quick game in a very small package, ideal as a filler game or when you don't have time for a game with a little more depth.

Thread: Session Report

Godeke — 2004-06-29T23:12:04+00:00

Due to social events we only got one light game in this weekend: Knights. We played three rounds with three players, each round become more bloodthirsty than the last. This isn't a game of grand strategy, but there are a few more tactics than one would originally expect. Gaining castles that the other players already have can be advantageous if you have a lead (they can't capture a duplicate) and by the last round ownership of the better special cards (such as the bonus "5" card) was hotly contested. For a quick social gaming fix, this game is a lot of fun, although I failed to win any of the three rounds. The suspense of the multiple re-rolls during a turn works very well for a light game and a full game is usually played to completion in ten minutes which makes it perfect filler.

Thread: User Review

familygaming — 2003-09-15T14:20:19+00:00

The graphic on the front of the box depicting a somewhat cartoonish lout blowing a raspberry at a knight in a neighbouring castle does give you a good indication of what kind of game this is. Knights is fairly light, with a well chosen knights-and-castles setting, good artwork, and straight forward gameplay.

Some comparisons have been made to Yahtzee, which may give you the wrong idea. The similarity is that players are trying to roll a certain conbination of dice in Knights as they do in Yahtzee. The difference is that in Yahtzee you have lots of options to roll for, with the possibility to change goals halfway thru your turn, but in Knights you choose your goal then roll for it, all-or-nothing. It may not sound significant, but it is very much so, as it reduces tension and obviously tough decisions.

What Knights lack in tension for decisions in rolling dice, it tries to make up for with neat action cards and a fun theme. To a degree it works. You can roll to acquire new castles, or conquer others' castles; you can win jousting tournaments; you can go after action cards either from the deck or from other playters in order to gain some advantages. The action cards are well chosen with catapult giving you an extra roll when trying to conquer castles, guards helping protect your castles, etc.

This game, given the amount of luck, and the nature and gameplay of the game, seems aimed squarely at families looking for a fun diversion for all ages. And it works as exactly that. Gamers may be disappointed by the lack of meaningful decisions, but kids will enjoy going after different objectives. But as with most dice games, there is a lot of luck present, so beware. Also, forget about this ebing a two-player game, it creates too many runaway leads. 3 or more player means everyone can help keep the leader in check.

Yes it's a dice game, and I suppose one could see the vaguest of resemblances to Yahtzee, but this game definitely is its own game. For better or for worse, depends on your perspective, but Yahtzee does have the nice art Knights has. Fun dice game for 6 years old and up.

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

I have bought the german version of this game. Does anybody know where I can find an english translation?

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

I have heard really good things about this game and some really bad comments too. I finally decided I'd pick it up for only $10. My conclusion is that it's pretty fun. I played a few 2-player games last night with my wife. It plays quickly (about 10 minutes a game) and provides a number fun decisions.
I suspect some of the negative comments are from groups playing with four or more players. That would make a lot more down time and, like many dice games, this game offers players almost nothing to do during another player's turn. I haven't had a chance to try it with three yet, but I think I'll like that number of players best.

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

It's an okay game, but very light. I don't see a problem with down time since it's always interesting to see if the other players will make their dice combos. My only problem with the game is it often seems just too easy to make the rolls to win the cards. Anyway, it's a very fast game so when you just want to kill a little time between longer games, Knights works fine.

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2001-08-27T15:18:15+00:00

This was not a TCG games night -- actually it was a huge group of friends from church who met at my friend Steve's house and we had a 4 on 4 volleyball tourney (which I am happy to report my team cleaned up in.) After it was too dark and cold to play v'ball, everyone moved inside and I talked 4 guys, who'd never even heard of German games, into a game of Knights. I thought it would be a quick, good intro game.

Well, I was wrong. Knights is only a good, little game if it's a QUICK little game, and this game was not quick. All of these guys were completely lost initially. They'd only ever played Monopoly and the other American standards, and learning something completely new eveidentally mystified them. So everyone took forever making decisions and the inactive players were just fidgeting in their seats. Tom had a big lead but he kept rolling for useless cards, and he'd roll the dice one by one...all in all a horrible experience. Finally Dave decided to quit, and after one more turn everyone else including myself agreed. It just took too long.

So my initial impressions of this game were good but this playing really was a wake up call. This game can drag with people with 5 players. The first time I played, the dice would go to a player and he would immediately pick a card to go after, then do 3 or 4 quick rolls to do what needed to be done -- those were the players from my game group, and it worked all right with very little downtime. But with these non-gamer types, the game just wasn't any fun. They didn't pick up on the value of the cards at all, and took too long to decide what to keep and when to re-roll. In the future I would play this game with non gamers with a group of 3 or maybe 4 max.

"A quick game's a good game." An excellent maxim for Knights.

So was introducing German games a bad experience...? Read on for my Formula De session report...

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2001-08-22T15:52:09+00:00

4 Players: William, Rick, Dan, Jy
Group enjoyment rating: 5.50

Dan showed up at the end of Round 3 of Mamma Mia, so we decided to play another opener, and I requested a game of the dice game Knights. It looked fun, light, quick, and since it was one of my new ones, I wanted to see how it went over with the group. (Well, I thought they'd like it...)

The game is pretty simple. The players are "Knights" trying to captures castles, win tournaments, and topple the King in order to win. Castles and tourneys are represented by cards with dice combos on them. If you beat the combo then you win the card -- that simple. You can roll for cards from the deck, or for cards other players have won. Also, there are special cards that don't meet victory conditions but give extra powers to help win other cards. Special cards include Guards, Catapults, and even extra "dice".

William started off with a run of bad luck* and grunted a few times about it, but strangely he also managed to take 3 castle cards which made him a prime target for attack. Rick starting winning a lot of tourneys early, so we tried to keep him in check as well. Dan meanwhile had scooped some great special cards which I spent 3 turns trying to capture. I finally got the one I wanted, but had not really picked up any castles yet which hurt me. Rick and I both attacked William while Dan quietly worked away at picking up cards without anyone noticing. Before we knew it, Dan was rolling for his 4th castle and managed victory quite easily.

* William had 2 Yahtzees -- but not till late in the game. =)

Winner: Dan : 4 Castles

Enjoyment Ratings: Dan 6, Rick 5, William 4, Jy 7
Group avg: 5.50

Well, much to my surprise, this game was not really liked at all. I know it's light and chancey, but I didn't think it was bad. At the end of the game Rick announced "There's just too much luck." Um, Rick, it's a dice game. =) In any case, since I am the one who bought it, I'm glad I like it, but I was a bit disappointed by the low rating because I was hoping to see it hit the table once in a while as filler. I think you have to like the lucky tension in Yahtzee to like Knights. If you do, you will probably like Knights a lot: it is like Yahtzee with more theme, more strategy, and more interaction -- but it's still a dice game; take that for what it's worth to you.

Thread: Session Report

PBrennan — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

I've never played Yahtzee, but my guess is that this is virtually Yahtzee with a theme - which I guess is designed to make it a bit more interesting. It's also Liar's Dice without the fun. On your turn, you choose which of two
cards you wish to roll for. Good cards will need high rolls, lesser cards lesser rolls. Roll 6 dice. Get 3 rolls to improve your set. 6's are dead. If you got an action card, have another whirl. If you got a 'winning condition'
card - castle or a tournament - play goes to the next player.

So in between turns, you watch another player roll dice, and roll, and roll. Go to the loo. Come back. Someone else is rolling now. Clean up the dishes. Come back. Almost your go now ...

To win a tournament card, you get to roll off (4 rolls), and must win, against each other player (3 rolls each). You can try and steal another player's cards, which require a roll-off. Going to the loo didn't require a roll-off. Our game was mercifully cut short at 30 minutes when Nick rolled
in his 4th castle. Every game has it's niche ... this one is with kids I suspect.

A rating of 3 after 1 play for 'very poor game, would need serious persuasion to play this again'.

Thread: Session Report

wavemotion — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

KNIGHTS - A very short and very light 3P game of Knights. My first play and I was joined by fellow Knights newbies Aaron and Matt H. This game went off just as predicted - 20 minutes of chaos with the three of us rolling dice to capture various castle cards, tournament cards and other special cards. It moves quickly and is really quite the dice rolling fest - but it was fun and generated some laughs and was finished before we knew it. I have no problem with such a light and random game in this format - I don't think it pretends to be more than it is. I thought it was a fine filler and I look forward to playing again. If it keeps to 20 minutes or less, I'll be very pleased with the game. Matt took an early lead - and Aaron and I started to steal his cards as quickly as we could! But Matt had too many special cards built-up and used them to take his 4th colored castle and the easy win. Aaron had a terrible string of luck rolling 6's (basically zero value) most of the game. I had a chance to take more of Matt's cards but came up short on two critical turns.