Game: Kings & Things

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cmessenger — 2008-09-23T13:07:31+00:00

Kings & Things High resolution

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turtleback — 2008-08-30T04:03:48+00:00

Cute Snuffleupagus like creatures on the backs of the "things" tiles in the German Pegasus version

Thread: Re: Art by Trampier?

Almalik — 2008-06-19T20:29:37+00:00

Trampier did the original art for the Dragon magazine version (King of the Tabletop). The art in King 'n Things (the Games Workshop version) was done by another artist (not Tom Wham) and was very closely based (same pictures, poses) on the Trampier artwork.

Thread: PBEM

SkunkyBeer — 2008-06-07T13:48:04+00:00

Anyone know of a Cyberboard gamebox or Vassal Mod for this? I'm curious to see how it plays PBEM.

TIA
-SkunkyBeer

Thread: Re: Few questions

roope — 2008-06-06T20:27:29+00:00

Thanks Scott, this helps. we definitely misplayed number 2. Now I am smarter for next time.

Thread: The Killer Penguin metal miniature...!

Prodromoi — 2008-05-29T11:44:48+00:00

Now here's a fun little fellow I've just found while going through my bits boxes. A Killer Penguin miniature for Kings & Things.
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Anyone know if this was made by Citadel/GW, or was it an unofficial knock-off? There's no mark under the base, alas.

Thread: Re: Few questions

qzhdad — 2008-05-28T18:38:50+00:00

roope wrote:

2. If I move units into enemy hex that does not have any defenders. I can move units through such hex or I can stop there. In the case I stop there, when do I take over that hex? Immediately when I stopped, that is in the movement phase, or I have to wait until the combat phase and resolve this area as any other area with a conflict?

3. There are two types of income markers. One type has number in parentheses on them (e.g. villages) and the other type has number without parentheses (e.g. mines). The first type generates income and defends whereas the second type only generates income. Is this correct?

I hope someone can help me out to figure the answer to the above questions.

I'll look up the other two, but I can answer these two questions now.

2. You can walk through already explored hexes that are unoccupied by facedown chits or villages, cities or forts hexes. Between the movement and combat phase, control changes hands if applicible. This means the defender has a chance to move in units to contest the takeover. But before any combat starts these hexes change ownership.

3. You are correct. Forts also generate income and defense, but can be colocated with a city or a special income counter.

Thread: Few questions

roope — 2008-05-03T10:47:25+00:00

Recently I played two games of Kings and Things. Following questions related to the rules of the game came up:

1. Can a Magic Sword be used with a Hero (Special Character)? The confusion arises due to the fact that in the German version of the rules characters that are drawn from the bag and special characters are named differently and I got the impression that items like magic sword can not be used with special characters.

2. If I move units into enemy hex that does not have any defenders. I can move units through such hex or I can stop there. In the case I stop there, when do I take over that hex? Immediately when I stopped, that is in the movement phase, or I have to wait until the combat phase and resolve this area as any other area with a conflict?

3. There are two types of income markers. One type has number in parentheses on them (e.g. villages) and the other type has number without parentheses (e.g. mines). The first type generates income and defends whereas the second type only generates income. Is this correct?

4. Is balloon considered a flying unit that can be pinned by an opponent flying unit?

I hope someone can help me out to figure the answer to the above questions.

Thread: Re: Dust of Defense

roope — 2008-05-03T09:19:56+00:00

according to the German rules you can play it only during the movement phase. The English translation available on BGG does not say anything about the time when it can be played.

a little bit late answer, but better ever than never :-)

Thread: Re: Missing Hex

banzai123 — 2008-04-17T14:38:47+00:00

Thanks Christian. Now I wish I had the German version of the game! I understand that the hexes from Settlers can be used if necessary.

Thread: Re: Missing Hex

elchtod — 2008-04-17T14:07:01+00:00

yupp, you're right, there should be six "Plains" hexes.

Thread: Missing Hex

banzai123 — 2008-04-17T14:00:37+00:00

Unfortunately I am missing a hex from my original game.
I have
8 Sea Hexes
5 Frozen Waste
5 Jungle
5 Plains
6 Desert
6 Forest
6 Mountains
6 Swamp

My guess is that the missing hex is a plain. Nowhere in the rule book can I find a listing. Can anyone help, please?

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zombiegod — 2007-12-17T23:38:55+00:00

Rulebook Back Cover

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zombiegod — 2007-12-17T23:38:00+00:00

Rulebook Cover

Thread: Re: Beware the Big Juju!

themitchells — 2007-12-12T14:42:41+00:00

What You Do

The goal of the game is to be the first player to build through the four stages of forts: starting with a tower, you improve to a keep, then to a castle, and, given a high enough income, produce the citadel. If you can build a citadel and hold it one entire turn, you can claim victory, as long as nobody else has a citadel themselves. If there is more than one citadel, it comes down to a game of total conquest: last player standing.

I think this could be where you're creating an excessively long game. The rules state that if more than one player gets a citadel then the new requirement for winning is 2 citadels! (So you don't have to be the last man standing - just get another citadel! )

Thread: Re: Beware the Big Juju!

Isamoor — 2007-12-11T13:53:56+00:00

Nice review Micheal. It's hard to find a lot of good information about some of the "older" games out there.

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sauceybugger — 2007-11-27T00:23:55+00:00

Might make a good T-Shirt.

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sauceybugger — 2007-11-27T00:08:44+00:00

Counters 03

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sauceybugger — 2007-11-27T00:05:36+00:00

Counters 02

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sauceybugger — 2007-11-26T23:56:24+00:00

Counters 01

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sauceybugger — 2007-11-06T10:19:13+00:00

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sauceybugger — 2007-11-06T10:18:16+00:00

Thread: Re: Art by Trampier?

Curtis Anderson — 2007-10-25T00:15:24+00:00

Maybe I'll ask Wham.

Thread: Re: Art by Trampier?

yossarians — 2007-10-24T12:46:28+00:00

I thought I read somewhere that Tramp had done some of the counter art.

Thread: Art by Trampier?

Curtis Anderson — 2007-10-24T09:40:35+00:00

Does anyone know whether the counter art in the American edition of Kings & Things was done by David Trampier?

Thread: Re: Dust of Defense

ycyclop — 2007-09-23T05:13:01+00:00

from what I remember:
you can play the dust at any time during combat! not movement.
if you can not retreat then there is no use of playing the dust, there must be a hex you can retreat to, in order to use it.

Thread: Dust of Defense

glennjabba — 2007-09-22T23:40:10+00:00

I'm wondering when you are allowed to play "dust of defense". Can you play it before combat, during the movement phase, causing your troops not to be pinned by the attacking force? Can you play it at any time during combat?

Also, what happens if there is no space for the attacker to retreat into (attacker may have flown in over sea hexes or the hex he came from may have been occupied in previous battle) ? Does that mean that you can't play "dust"? *scratches head*

Regards!

Thread: Beware the Big Juju!

mi_de — 2007-06-02T18:40:03+00:00

Kings & Things* is a boardgame by Tom Wham and Doug Kaufman originally published by Games Workshop and West End Games (re-released by Pegasus, but this review is based on the former) in 1986. The game handles 2 to 4 players and takes anywhere from 2 to 5 hours to play.

What You Get

Inside a colorful box with an attractive comical illustration of a variety of fantastic creatures are 48 fairly large, colorful hex tiles depicting seven terrain types (plains, desert, forest, jungle, swamp, frozen waste and sea) nicely illustrated and sturdy. You get 351 color counters depicting Things (such as Centaurs, pixies, penguins, and my favorites: the goblins, thing, and slime), magic items, control markers, event tiles, forts, money counters, treasures, special income tiles, and heroes. The illustrations on the counters are very amusing, some of my favorite in gaming, and are fun just to browse through even when not playing the game. You get 8 plastic racks (2 per player) to hold your Things in secret, four 6-sided dice, and a rules booklet with detachable reference section.

What You Do

The goal of the game is to be the first player to build through the four stages of forts: starting with a tower, you improve to a keep, then to a castle, and, given a high enough income, produce the citadel. If you can build a citadel and hold it one entire turn, you can claim victory, as long as nobody else has a citadel themselves. If there is more than one citadel, it comes down to a game of total conquest: last player standing.

The game is begun by building the map, done by laying out the hex tiles upside down (the map for the 2-3 player game is a little smaller). Players have designated start tiles to choose from, and in player order choose two more tiles each, contiguous with the initial tile, and not touching any opponent’s tile. Then, an initial draw of 10 Things is made. Any creature tiles may be deployed on the map, with the following proviso: you may only support creatures for which you have control of a matching terrain type. That is, the sand worm is only supportable if you control a desert hex. Actually, you can place any creature regardless of terrain control, and even fight with them, unless your opponent notices you lack the terrain, then this creature is simply discarded. Watch your enemies: they can be devious! Creatures are keyed to terrain, as mentioned, and have a combat value (number needed or less to hit on a 6-sided die roll), and indications if it uses spells, ranged attacks, gets multiple ‘hit’ attempts, or if it can fly.

Other items, magic, treasure, unused creatures and events, can be stored on your rack for later: up to 10 tiles may be so kept. One may also place special income counters on the board, if you have the right terrain, like mines in the mountains or farms on the plains, or villages and cities anywhere. On the first turn only, you get a ‘Mulligan’: any unused tiles may be freely exchanged for new draws, one-for-one. This is not allowed as the game progresses. Finally, players place their initial tower on one of their land tiles (ocean is out of play: too bad) and you are ready to start.

There are nine stages of play. First, income is collected: one gold per hex controlled, one per hero, and variable amounts for special income counters. Next, special characters, or heroes, may be recruited. There are initially some ten or so available, like the Swordmaster, Jungle King, Deerhunter, or Gahog II (love the art on his counter!) An attempt to recruit means a roll of 2 dice, trying to equal or better the combat value of the counter doubled: usually an 8 to 12. These rolls may be modified by +1 by spending 5 gold before the roll, or 10 gold after the roll. Several of these leaders have special abilities: the Assassin can kill specific tiles, the Warlord can promote defections, and so on. The third phase is Thing recruitment: a player gets a number of automatic draws equal to the number of controlled tiles divided by 2 (round up). Extra draws may be acquired by spending 5 gold/draw, and by exchanging 2 tiles for every one extra draw. These are then deployed. Next, players are given the chance to play events, such as teeniepox, vandals, or the dreaded Big Juju.

Now comes the meaty part: movement and combat. Movement is easy: all creatures have a movement allowance of 4, with difficult terrain (mountain, forest, jungle, swamp) requiring 2 movement points each. Flying creatures can cross all tiles (including water) with 1 point/tile, but can be intercepted by opposing flying creatures. A key rule is the ‘pin’: if just one creature enters a hex with opposing units, it can ‘pin’ the entire stack, and thus it cannot be moved during that player’s movement phase. This makes one’s own turn of being first player very important. Moves may also be made into unexplored (face-down) hexes in order to determine what lives there, and in the hopes of conquering new land. In this case, a die is rolled, and if a 2 to 5 is thrown, that many tiles must be drawn and confronted before the hex may be claimed. A 1 or 6, and the tile is free to be claimed!

Combat is divided into phases. First all creatures with a magic ability go first, and each roll a die. If the number is less than or equal to their attack number, they score a kill, and cause the opponent to remove a creature. Losses are simultaneous. After all magic creatures, those with ranged weapons get a throw. Finally, melee takes place, with creatures with a ‘C” rating getting to attack twice. After each round, the attacker has the option of retreating. Otherwise, last stack remaining claims the tile. Magic items may be used to enhance combat or give special abilities, but all magic items are one use/one combat only: use with caution!

After all combats are complete, players are given the option of building new or upgrading their forts. This costs 5 gold, one stage being allowed per turn. In order to upgrade from castle to citadel, the player also needs to have achieved a specific income level for the turn (20 gold for the 4 player game, 15 gold for the 2-3 player game). At this time, two of the special characters, the Assassin and the Master Thief, can ply their trades, trying to eliminate one opposing character, or steal all an opponents money, respectively. Lastly, the first player turn order is rotated to the next player, and a new turn started if nobody has achieved victory.

What I Think

Kings & Things* is in the tradition of the old fantasy battle and conquest games like Divine Right and Titan, but in a much more humorous vein. The modular map makes every game play quite differently, but can also cause considerable grief as the asymmetry of the starting position can severely hamper a player’s first few turns. The map gets quickly filled up with counters, and care must be taken to keep things orderly. The tiles can be a bit thin, and the stacks can be up to ten markers high. The number of variable powers by the leaders adds some real spice, as does the bluffing afforded by deploying forces face down, keeping your opponents guessing as to your strength and army composition. Throw in random events, magic items and hidden treasures, and this becomes a wildly unpredictable game, with tremendous comebacks and great collapses of the mighty possible.

There is definitely room for kingmaking here, and it is often a good tactic to beat down a weaker player. If the game comes down to a struggle between two (or more!) players owning citadels, it can be a very long affair. But you know what? I don’t care: this game is a lot of fun. The artwork on the counters is hilarious, and the rules are fun to read, with an entertaining timeline of the history of the land of Kadab on the back, and little vignettes throughout the text. This was from the heyday of Games Workshop, when they could actually make some entertaining games. The Tom Wham stamp (he of the Awful Green Things and Snit’s Revenge fame) is ever-present, and the chaos high enough to keep things unpredictable, but not so high as to nullify strategy. In particular, movement and timing of moves is quite important, as are the timing of use of items and event tiles. So, I give my recommendation to this game, but warn that not every game will be a balanced affair, and will not regularly clock in at a specific length of time, and the endgame can be a bit drawn out. It is an American-style game with lots of dice rolling, randomness, and mayhem, but below all this seeming chaos is a good system that leads to some nail-biting finishes.

Thread: Re: Nuetral magic?

ewokracoonbreder — 2007-05-16T21:20:12+00:00

I almost forgot about this post, but thanks for replying.

I agree that the magic items would stay there. But its a crazy thing because no one would attack that hex, one because there were some really good creatures, and two the dust of defense could just be used against them right?

Thread: Re: Who holds the rights??

Curtis Anderson — 2007-04-04T09:21:53+00:00

West End Games looked into reprinting this some years ago and decided the cost of printing was too high. I don't know if some other company wouldn't find otherwise.

Thread: Re: Who holds the rights??

Great Dane — 2007-04-04T08:49:35+00:00

It was a West End game,
and it was re-released by Pegasus Spiele in 1997, so the rights are certainly obtainable.

Thread: Who holds the rights??

JayAdan — 2007-04-03T21:03:36+00:00

I was just wondering, was the originally a West End Games game, or a GW game? I figure if it was WEG there would still be a chance to see a new version of it. If GW, then almost certainly not.

What are the chances that we'll see another version?

Thread: Re: Nuetral magic?

Curtis Anderson — 2007-03-02T02:08:15+00:00

I'd say the only way the magic items would disappear would be if the player controlling the neutral things decided to use them. I don't think the Talisman or Dust of Defense could be used once your bluff was eliminated, so they would stay there.

Thread: Re: bow and sword

Curtis Anderson — 2007-02-03T13:41:55+00:00

That's right.

Thread: Re: bow and sword

Yogurt — 2006-12-13T19:41:45+00:00

That's my recollection. If you have to remove a creature, you can remove the sword/bow instead.

Thread: bow and sword

ewokracoonbreder — 2006-12-13T19:16:05+00:00

Can the bow and sword take a hit in battle and the creature it was played on still be not be eliminated. Essentially can the bow and sword take a hit? The rules are strange, I'm wondering if anyone else encountered this strange rule.

Thread: Nuetral magic?

ewokracoonbreder — 2006-10-16T14:11:21+00:00

Yesturday in a game during my first exploration i rolled a five, producing a high power ranged creature and two high power charging creatures, as well as the tailsman and dust of defense. my one creature was a bluff and was immediatly called. now i know that magic can be used by the nuetral defender but what happens when magic is left in an explored hex with nuetral defenders? is the magic available for the next time the hex is attacked?

Thread: Re: Sea hexes

Dspitzle — 2006-07-09T02:40:29+00:00

Great Dane wrote:
Only Flying creatures (or creatures in the Balloon) can enter a Sea hex (Rule 9.25 West End or 9.26 Pegasus)) and they cannot end there.

It will thus be impossibe for anyone to construct anything in a Sea hex during the Construction phase, and you cannot explore either as that happends at the end of the movement phase.

Many thanks. I kept looking for information about the hexes, but never thought to look for the movement rules.

Thread: Re: Sea hexes

Great Dane — 2006-07-08T16:12:16+00:00

Only Flying creatures (or creatures in the Balloon) can enter a Sea hex (Rule 9.25 West End or 9.26 Pegasus)) and they cannot end there.

It will thus be impossibe for anyone to construct anything in a Sea hex during the Construction phase, and you cannot explore either as that happends at the end of the movement phase.

Thread: Sea hexes

Dspitzle — 2006-07-08T15:51:00+00:00

Can anybody tell me whether sea hexes can be 1) constructed on, 2) moved into, and/or 3) explored? With the exception of the starting position rule (which I assume is necessary because of the lack of sea creatures), there is no indication that sea hexes are any different than the others, but I want to check. I'm assuming they are otherwise identical.

Thread: Re: English or German Edition?

Curtis Anderson — 2006-06-26T12:52:57+00:00

I believe the main differences are graphical. If you look at the pictures on this site, the English version is the one with the black borders around the terrains. A small difference is that in the English version, players' counters are hidden behind racks that let you see how many counters they have. In the German version they're hidden behind screens that don't reveal this information. Another difference is the flying rules, which you can see on this thread:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/6864

With the downloadable files here on the 'Geek, it's easy to play with the German set, and you might even learn some German. I would take a look at the pictures of the game and then decide based on aesthetics or price.

Have fun!

Thread: English or German Edition?

crusher100 — 2006-06-26T09:55:13+00:00

What are the main differences between both editions? Which one worth it?

Thread: Kings and Things

Legomancer — 2005-10-30T20:29:13+00:00

I bought Kings and Things* (K&T - the asterisk is part of the game's title) back around 15 years ago, mostly because it was from Games Workshop, which had brought out other games I enjoyed at the time, like Talisman and DungeonQuest. It isn't like those games, however. Those are explorer-like RPG-ish games, where you move a character through an environment battling foes and gaining treasure (and, in the case of DungeonQuest, dying, dying, and dying.) K&T is instead a game where you dispatch a variety of critters across a hex-delineated board for ultimate control. In other words, it's a wargame. But it's a very light one.

How light? Well, that's where the asterisk comes in. The various Things that can be recruited include Gypsies, Slime Beasts, Dwarves, Killer Raccoons, Flying Buffalo, Ice Bats, Walking Trees, Sandworms, Eskimos, Elephants...you get the idea. They populate a land made up of hexes of various terrain types: Plains, Mountains, Swamp, Jungle, Forest, Desert, Sea, and Frozen Wastes. Since the board is laid out randomly, it's not unusual to have a Kadab (the name of this land) like ours, in which Desert is surrounded on three sides by Frozen Waste. All of this is illustrated through very cartoony Tom Wham artwork. So as you can see, there's not a small amount of silliness in the game.

My copy of the game, being fifteen years old, is a little worn. One corner of the box is damaged, the rules are kind of wrinkled, and I didn't do the best job adding an asterisk to the Swordsmaster and Marksman, a little manual errata required due to misprinted tiles. It's seen a lot of wear. But play? Not a bit. I'd never played the thing. A couple of times I'd gotten close, but I'd never even started round one. I decided the time had come and announced to my friends that I was determined to finally play K&T. TJ, Grant, and Mike answered the call, and Friday night this boardgame finally saw play.

I had read the rules in advance, and started to explain them to the others, but we decided that we'd go over the main things and then cover other ground once we got started. As a result, everyone pretty much had a disastrous first round, as not everyone had a good idea of how exploring unowned tiles and combat worked. Our first two rounds or so went by very slowly. However, soon we had most everything figured out and things happened much more quickly.

Combat in the game is pretty slow. Things face each other and then roll a bunch of dice until one side retreats or is destroyed. Since a Thing has to roll under its combat rating to hit, and many of them have combat ratings of 1 or 2, some battles can be pretty tedious.

Also, since there's a wide variety of Things, and they're pulled out randomly from a cup, it's very easy to walk into a hex and get annihilated. One nightmarish hex that Grant wandered into early on stayed unclaimed for the rest of the game, even though it held some pretty good treasure. Nobody wanted to mess with the forces assembled on it.

The goal of Kings and Things* is to be the only person with a Citadel, which you get by building up your Tower into a Keep, then a Castle, and then a Citadel. But since building a Citadel requires not only a Castle but an income of 20 gold, you also have to do some other exploring. Several strategies seemed to be going on. TJ seemed content to stay in a relatively small area, building up his forces and recruiting many Special Characters. Mike was all about building forts, and then went after the income to try and get a Citadel. I was trying to do a lot of exploring while staying away from others to keep a buffer zone between me and them. Whatever Grant's strategy may have been, it got sidetracked by a series of ridiculously poor dice rolls from which he had a hard time recovering.

Eventually TJ, Mike, and I were racing towards the finish. We all were closing in on the prized 20 income mark. I attacked one of Mike's tiles successfully, allowing me to both get 20 income and deprive him of the same. TJ's largely isolationist strategy had made him a powerful foe. The portion in the round came where I could turn my Castle into a Citadel and win the game!

Except...I wouldn't, necessarily. For you see, there's a catch. If someone else builds a Citadel as well, then you don't win. At that point you can only win through conquest. You have to control two Citadels at that point, and the only way to do so is to capture another player's Citadel. So I would have built one, and then TJ would have, and then we'd have to fight it out from there. By the next round, Mike would have one as well, so there'd be a three-way battle for supremacy. Since TJ and I were on opposite sides of the board, we'd either have to slowly crawl across it towards each other, or we'd have to simply wait for Mike or Grant to build a Citadel and then try and wrest it from them. Mike was close, but Grant wasn't.

And we'd already been playing for about three hours. No matter how you sliced it, the game was only now starting to get ugly. We were probably looking at at least another hour, probably two, before this would wrap up. And even then it was clear that TJ would probably win, as he was in a much more powerful position than I was. So I declined to build a Citadel, TJ built one, and won the game. I conceded.

Thus we come to the great problem with Kings and Things*. Like the kingdom and forces in the game, the game itself is a confusing collection of things. It can't seem to make up its mind whether it's silly or serious. On the one hand, it's got a ton of rules that make it quite intimidating for non-wargamers (though to be fair, the rules ultimately aren't as bad as they seem at first). But on the other, it's got far too much randomness and silliness for those who enjoy wargames. On the one hand, it's light and fun and funny, but on the other hand it takes about four hours to play. Even discounting the extra hour it took us to get the rules down and get into the swing of things, and even if you simply change the victory condition to whoever is the first to build a Citadel, period, you're still looking at two hours of playing time. In that same amount of time there are tons of better games you could instead play multiple times.

I'm not sure what can be done about K&T. I think it can possibly be revamped into a faster game that's more satisfying for everyone. But as it is, I think it's something that is an unfortunate product of its times that has been sidelined by a generation of better, faster games.

Note: I have uploaded photos from this session.

Thread: Re:Flyer rules question

Curtis Anderson — 2005-04-20T01:27:43+00:00

shugyosha (#475878),
I disagree. The rules don't make an exception for flying creatures in this case, so they should be treated the same as the other creatures. Also, the rules don't distinguish between face-up and face-down neutrals.
If you want to make your game more chaotic, though, a rule allowing flying creatures to pass over neutral hexes could be a good house rule.

Thread: Re:Flyer rules question

shugyosha — 2005-04-18T18:08:51+00:00

yossarians (#475866),

If it is known what is in there (i.e. a neutral hex that threw off the invaders) and there are no flyers amongst the defenders, the flyer can fly over into the territory beyond.

If it was a face-down hex they have to stop.

David

Thread: Flyer rules question

yossarians — 2005-04-18T17:53:40+00:00

I have a question for K&T Aficionados that popped up last Sat. night during a three player game.

Must flying creatures stop when passing over "neutral" hexes that contain non-flying units? Neutral hexes would be hexes that have been explored and now contain face up creatures as defenders. I think it makes sense that such hexes would only stop flying creatures if they contained flying creatures, and then only one-for-one, but it's really not that clear.

Rule 9.42 states Counters that move into unexplored territory (unownded hexes, see 10) must stop moving argues against the above interpretation. What do you think?

Thread: Re:How long is gametime?

qzhdad — 2005-04-07T19:35:53+00:00

nnf1 (#466253),
150 minutes is one the quick side.

When I ran it at Gencon, approximately half the tables finished in the three hour and forty-five timeslot. Up to the first half hour was used explaining rules on some tables.

With experienced players, three to four hours is pretty common, but occasionally it went longer.

We used a point system to determine the winner of the table (for advancement purposes) when the time was up that most players found agreeable.

It's a fun game, but not quick.

Happy Gaming,
Scott

Thread: How long is gametime?

nnf1 — 2005-04-03T02:59:16+00:00

The BGG database says 150 minutes it would be great if someone could give a more definitive answer.

Regards
Neil

Thread: Re:Urgent flying question

SgtYork — 2004-08-30T04:18:22+00:00

Hello All,

We had some flying questions come up in our game.
Player A moves two flying creatures and is pinned by two flying creatures of Player B. Player C now moves through that same hex. What is the status of the units of A & B - Can they block? If Player B opts not to block can Player A?

Secondly when exactly are creatures flipped to be hidden and viewable. After Player A & B collide -- must they remain face-up until combat happens? After combat they may become hidden again?

73,
Timothy

Thread: Session Report

Zandari — 2004-07-16T23:21:50+00:00

Well, there are three of us trying to kick-start the gaming of our past, and since I have had Kings & Things for so many years, we figured we would try it out.

Three-player set up makes for nice, short games, but tends to through the world of Kadab into early turmoil. The reduced tile set resulted in only one Jungle hex, placed exactly in the center of the board. I for one drew four high-powered Jungle critters to begin with, so I knew where I would be headed in the first round. There were only two sea hexes, and Timothy and I both had one adjacent to our starting position (which led to my newbie error in round three).

I moved first into a Frozen Waste hex so that I could support a minor horde of both killer penguins and killer puffins that were sitting on the back burner. I managed to roll a five (as usual) for my exploration, fortunately The Cup yielded Dispel Magic and an Event, so the battle was pretty easily won.

Timothy had his normal luck with die rolls and scored the Master Thief in the first round, which meant that Jonathon and I were regular victims of banditry throughout the game. He grabbed up a plains hex with only two defenders.

Jonathon picked up some forest, but no special characters.

In round two, I moved into some mountains that contained only two defenders and a silver mine. Much happiness for my rag-tag band that included not only the aforementioned jungle and frozen waste critters but also a couple of pretty nice mountain folk (a 4 and a C3). I went for Assassin Primus but rolled a three. Standard luck for me.

Timothy and Jonathon were at instant odds over the forest hex that Jonathon picked up in round one. Timothy was forced to retreat from that battle. Timothy did get the Warlord out of this round. I hate going up against the warlord.

Jonathon picked up some desert over on our side of the board, but still no special characters.

In round three, not thinking about the sea between my new high income mountain hex and Timothy's folks, I sild my now swollen army into the central jungle hex, prepared with two big mountain troops. Jonathon piled armies up on this non-move turn for him. Then Timothy swooped in grabbed my mountain hex with a measly force of vultures. This caused great trouble in my jungle fight because I now had two mountain-raised bluff troops in my army, which was quickly noted by Timothy when it came time for my battle. I managed to win the jungle hex, but was left with only a single troop.

In round four, I was ready to take back the mountains with my massive jungle army, but Timothy laid the Teeniepox on my head, completely decimating my army (I rolled a five, of course). From here on out, my battle was royally screwed.

Timothy and Jonathon battled it out for a couple more rounds before Timothy managed to hold onto his citadel through rounds five and six to win.

One day I shall overcome the dice and rule all of Kadab under an iron fist. ONE DAY!!!!

Thread: Re:K

littlemute — 2004-05-17T15:47:18+00:00

The Jakster (#17188),

King of the Table top removes the map from the game entirely. You can attack any lands on the table at any time with your army, you don't have to move there through other lands (Like Shadowfist and Doomtown). Instead of moving units into hexes, you divide your army up amongst the enemy's lands and he is obliged to defend. Since the defender places his units first, the attacker can pick off undefended land tiles for free, so the larger a player gets, the easier it is for the other players to pair him down.

Thread: Session Report

KDSN — 2004-03-07T18:31:07+00:00

Well another go at this Tom Wham classic. Two expirenced players and one newbie. The board was a very nice distribution which is nice because then everybody isn't just fighting over one piece of land for different goals, but then again sometimes that make it interestion too. Another twist was the center of the board was dominated by two sea tiles leaving the newbies starting position nicely defended on one side from land creatures. The game started out as usual, battles were one to gain territory. Then things started to take shape first player C, we'll call him ended up losing two of his armys as a neutral territory played by newby P, whipped him out. Meanwhile player M stepped into player P territory in an attemp to take a Frozen Waste land it failed. It looked like player P was on a roll. Until, player M turned the one sea tile beside P's Keep into a swamp he attacked it leaving nobody in the frozen wasteland giving player M the massive Frost Giant. As player M and C finally reached the all important income of 15 to build the final upgrade to a citedel and win. Player M, being me, realized he was one block away from player C, who both now had citidels. Final round of the game. Player C took every flying creature on the board and attacked my citadel leaving most of his terratory defenseless. Everything player M could get to player C citadel did, and everything else went back to his own citadel. While player P saw and empty board around him. And started taking territory. Player M easily defended his citadel. But player C knew that taking his would not be so easy. Player M lost quite a few things in the defense of his keep so he knew if he didnt finish it here player P would win. So he attacked with everything he had. Player C was ready thinking it would be a fair fight until player M pulled out the Golem a magical item with an attack value of 6. It wasnt much of a fight.

Thread: Re:Query on the Reprint

Curtis Anderson — 2004-02-26T21:46:56+00:00

Jonbone (#29005),
I play the German version and love it. The biggest language roadblock is if there's an event or character counter whose name is in German, and you don't know what it means, despite the pictures on the counters. With the player aids here on the 'Geek, though, that shouldn't matter at all. It's so cheap at Adam-Spielt (cost me $40, including shipping to Massachusetts), there's really no excuse not to get it.
You might learn a bit of German, too.
Have fun!

Thread: Re:Query on the Reprint

yossarians — 2004-02-26T21:40:57+00:00

Jonbone (#29005),

The differences are mostly in favor of the Pegasus version--nicer counters, nicer and bigger map hexes. One downside (to my eye anyway) is that I liked the original artwork on the counters better, but that is mostly a matter of aesthetics I suppose. For a while, the rules that we could get online where not the greatest, and the german wording on some of the counters made things a little confusing. At this point, however, I'd say that the player aids that are availiable here take care of most, if not all, of those issues. I'd say go for the German.

Thread: Query on the Reprint

Jonbone — 2004-02-26T21:22:54+00:00

Does anyone have any views on the relative merits of the original GDW version vs. the current Pegasus version? I'm a gamer not a collector -- but I'm an English speaker so if playability is signficantly affected by the German version, I might consider laying out the dough on ebay for the original. Any other differences between the two worth noting?

Thread: Re:Movement Question

SGHughes — 2003-08-21T21:26:35+00:00

Thank you both. Your replies provided just the clarification I was looking for.

Thread: Re:Movement Question

Duglis — 2003-08-21T05:23:42+00:00

Duglis (#18417),

Oh yeah..all face down pieces HAVE combat values (because treasures, forts, cities, events, and spells would never be face down) The question is just whether it is a bluff or not, and bluffs CAN halt your movement once begun. It is just that an army of all bluffs can't stop you from starting your movement.

So all face down pieces have a combat value.
The question is just during the later battle, whether they
all die or not if they are all bluffs.

and yes, face down 1s in a black cloud space have a combat
value. It just is 0. hehe

Doug

Thread: Re:Movement Question

Duglis — 2003-08-21T05:20:30+00:00

Curtis Anderson (#18391),

Yes, Curtis is correct

Thread: Re:Movement Question

Curtis Anderson — 2003-08-20T17:29:08+00:00

SGHughes (#18356),
Because the rules say specifically at an asterisk at the end of 9.23 that bluffs can stop your movement, I would say the face-down thing doesn't have to be verified as supported. Because the rules say at 8.21 that "Once taken from the cup or captured during exploration, magic, event, and treasure counters are never placed on the board," and at 8.23 that other special income counters "can only be placed (face up)," players can assume a face-down piece has a combat value, because it has to be a creature. Therefore, in addition to stopping movement, the face-down piece also prevents someone from taking the hex uncontested (9.43), all without being turned face-up.

Have fun!
-Curtis

Thread: Movement Question

SGHughes — 2003-08-20T13:51:59+00:00

Section 9.23 of the English rules says that "your creatures must stop moving as soon as they enter a hex occupied by face-down enemy counters, or by face-up enemy counters which have a combat value." but section 9.41 says "enemy controlled hexes do not halt your army’s movement. Only enemy units with combat values do (creatures, special characters, forts, cities, or villages)."

So my question is this: When your stack enters hex A with face-down enemy counters, can your stack continue on to another hex if the enemy does not show you at least one counter from hex A with a combat value, or must you always stop and wait until the combat round to determine that you are free to move in the next movement phase?