Photos from Gencon: Kingdom Death

Ok, maybe it took all week for me to get my life back in order after the best four days in gaming, but here I am, and I've got loads of pictures to share. I must say, I was very happy to hear that Kingdom Death would have a booth in the dealer's hall this year. Although they didn't have any of their beautiful resin minis to sell (boo!) they did have quite a bit to show off, including a demo of the much anticipated game- Kingdom Death: Monster.

 

 Players take up roles in a colony of humans living in a horrific hell dimension, where life is short and brutish (death is very commonplace in the game, and players will need to bring in new characters somewhat often).

 The gameplay more closely resembles an RPG than pretty much any board game I've played- except without a GM. In combat, monsters actions are dictated by an AI deck (each monster has his own set of cards). The cards describe unique actions, and unique effects. Also of note, when you score a hit on a monster, you draw a card from the monster's wound deck telling you exactly where you hit it, and what happens if you succeed or fail to hurt it. All of the descriptions really give a sense of heroism and desperation that is present when you're running a game with a good GM.

 

 Of course, all of those unique cards add up, and the game has ended up being tremendously heavy. It does seem like they've considered how much sorting this game might require.

 

 We all know that the overloaded of plastic minis is what we'd like to see

 

The game comes with three beastly monsters, and three intelligent ones. The encounters with them are very different- while colonists might choose to hunt down a lion or phoenix for resources, they're really best off if the passing Kingsman or Watcher just ignore them (and they might, based on how the players have run their colony).

 

I got to talk a little with Adam Poots (owner of Kingdom Death, and creative director of everything involved). He told me that in transferring the monstrous miniatures from resin to plastic, they increased the size on almost all of them. This is because the detail on the resin kits was so great that the plastic wouldn't hold it. (Anyone who has painted up some Kingdom Death minis will know about the fine detail work). Honestly, I feel that these plastic kits look pretty fantastic, and I'm quite eager to get a Watcher and Phoenix for myself.