The King is Dead (Second Edition)

The King is Dead: Second Edition

Review by Ethan Reyes

You know the feeling when you meet someone special? When the fog-of-war clears, and leaves you trance-like, unable to think of anything else – a sort of shell of your former self? Like a body’s cells replacing themselves every 7-10 years but not with new cells, no – with thoughts. Nothing but thoughts.

The King is Dead (hereby forgoing the “Second Edition'' subtitle) is my new board game crush. My new always-on-my-mind box of cubes. And just like its mechanisms, it has played a subtle game of influence over my heart. 

Let me explain why I feel this way.

Sidenote: I’m not interested in writing detailed rules teach, there are plenty of how-to-plays available for this game and most others. The rules I will be explaining provide the necessary context to understand why this game is so special.

The King is Dead is an area influence game, where the British, Scottish and Welsh battle it out over 8 regions, each region being resolved per round in an order known to all players. On a player’s turn, they will play cards from their hand which have a variety of special effects, all of which influence the power balance of the 3 factions on the board, represented by colourful cubes. When each player passes, the faction with the most cubes in a given region will win influence over that part of the map. 

This repeats 7 more times, and once all regions have been resolved, the player with the most influence in the winning faction will be crowned the new King of Britain.

So, here is the first twist:

Whenever you play a card, you resolve its effect on the board, then you remove a cube from anywhere on the map. Why would you do this? Well, to summon them to your court of course - thus granting you increased influence in the faction you chose. 

But (you might say), wouldn’t removing a cube from the board weaken the position of the faction you just essentially invested in?

Answer: Yes

This inverse relationship between board presence and court influence is a fascinating tight-rope display, acting as the peak of this game’s design. But like a peak, things can easily fall apart if one is not careful. Choosing which cube to remove, like everything else in this game, is important.

The Second Twist in The King is Dead is this: each player has an identical set of 8 action cards in their hand that they will use to influence the board each turn. But once you use one of these cards, it is discarded for the rest of the game. And so the excruciating decisions just became more excruciating. The most important and central point of despair in The King is Dead reveals itself:

Regret.

Regret at not saving that one card that would be soo useful right now.

Thus, the cards become your most important resource, and one that only dwindles. Careful management of them is key to success. 

The third twist is simple: If a region ties during the resolution of a round, it becomes unstable. If three regions become unstable, the French invade, and the end-game scoring conditions change. Now, instead of leading the most powerful faction in Britain - the new King will be the one who can unite the land against the French by having the most complete sets of cubes in his court.

 And that’s basically it.

The central points of tension in this game: that being the card management and the inverse relationship between your court and the strength of the factions on the board create a game ripe for creativity. It reminds me a lot of Torres by Kramer & Kiesling – specifically the open-handed variant where all your action cards are available and visible at the beginning of the game. Once again, these action cards are a one-time-use deal. Once you use them – they’re gone. So timing, and creative use of your abilities is everything – but it will never be enough. 

The King is Dead boils down to just that: Decisive moments. Moments that make you feel like a power broker, wheeling and dealing in intrigue and back-room deals. Each action you take plays out a crucial moment in a tug of war that exists as much on the board as in your mind. 

For an essentially "themeless" game to evoke such a feeling, is a special thing indeed. 

The King is Dead is an easy 10/10 for me, as in, I love this game and will actively suggest playing it to my friends until they play it with me.

Caveats: I have only played the two-player and three-player game. Both were fantastic but I think two players is where this game shines the most. I feel like The King is Dead would come the most alive if you play it several times with a dedicated opponent. The opportunities to develop a meta within The King is Dead are strong and begging to be explored.