Kingmaker (board game)

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Cover of the original British version of Kingmaker

Kingmaker is a board game created by Andrew McNeil. It was first produced in Britain by PhilMar Ltd. in 1974. The second edition was produced by Avalon Hill in the United States in 1975. This version was somewhat different from the original, as it refined the rules and required less knowledge about England to play.

The game is set in the time of the English Wars of the Roses (1455 - 1487). Two to eight can play. Each player builds and controls a faction of nobles that, through battle, diplomacy and politics, attempts to eliminate other player's factions, and gain control of one or more of members the two rival royal families, the House of Lancaster and the House of York.

1 Game components
2 Play
3 Look and feel
4 Computer Game
5 External links

[edit] Game components

The board is a map of 15th century England and nearby lands, with walled cities, towns, castles, and roads. Players get resource cards each turn, which add to the player's faction. There are several different kinds of resource cards:

A noble, such as Neville, Beaufort, or Percy.
A title to bestow on a noble, such as Earl of Warwick, Earl of Shrewsbury, or Duke of Northumberland.
An office of government to assign to a noble, such as Marshal of England, Warden of the Cinque Ports, or Chancellor of England.
An ecclesiastical office, such as Archbishop of York or Bishop of London.
Mercenaries, such as Burgundian crossbowmen, Scots archers, or Saxon foot soldiers.
Walled cities, towns or castles, such as London, Coventry, or Nottingham.
Ships, allowing transport quickly or to Ireland, Calais, or the Isle of Man

Round cardboard pieces with heraldic emblems represent the nobles' current position on the map. The royal heirs are represented by octagonal or square pieces displaying either the red rose (for the Lancastrian faction) or white rose (for the Yorkist faction). Each player gets a set of markers with different colors and a feudal badge to mark their current holdings. Square pieces are used for the few ships in the game.

A second set of smaller cards make up the random event deck. Each player draws from this deck at the beginning of their turn. Any player, noble, or royal heir might be affected by a random event card, depending on the conditions it specifies. The effect is not limited to the drawing player.

[edit] Play

Kingmaker involves conflict conducted on different levels.

One level of the conflict is combat. Most resource cards add to the combat strength of your nobles. If you move your nobles to the same space as one or more enemy nobles, you can attack them. If your total combat strength is sufficiently greater than that of the enemy, they are defeated, and the enemy nobles are captured. You can then either hold them for ransom, or execute them. Most of the named places on the map have some fortification with significant defensive combat strength, but hiding in these can get your nobles besieged, and when such a siege is successful you lose all your defenders.

Another aspect of Kingmaker is politics. If there is only one currently crowned King of England, the player controlling the King can summon Parliament. All unfilled offices and titles are assigned in Parliament, which can result in quite of lot of power changing hands if Parliament has not been held recently. In Parliament, each noble uses their acquired voting strength in the House of Lords and the House of Commons to decide how to assign the spoils. A majority vote is required in both Houses to assign any title or office. Nobles who are weak in combat strength can still be strong in either Lords or Commons votes, and vice versa.

The real contest is often a contest of diplomacy. One strong player can be brought down by two or more weaker ones working together, and threats, promises and agreements can be easier ways to get results than by using brute force. Players can trade cards, and agree on future spoils of war or honours awarded. But no agreement made in the game is binding; supposed allies can change sides at will. The winner is often the player who manages to double-cross the other players just before they double-cross him.

Besides untrustworthy rival players, the random events deck will often disrupt a player's long-term plans. With power comes responsibility, and acquiring nobles, titles and offices make you strong, but events can break up your faction at any time, as any of your nobles can be sent across England to fulfill their assigned duties. Combat also has risks, either with bad weather or the chance death of one or your nobles. The plague also can drastically affect those who choose to spend much time in the cities and towns.

When nobles die, they eventually re-enter the game as a new head of the noble family assumes their place. This is not true of the royal heirs, who are limited to a few specific historical people, such as Henry VI, Richard, Duke of York, and Margaret of Anjou. One-by-one, death by combat, execution or plague reduces their number. The player who controls the last crowned King (or Queen) in the game wins.

Although the Avalon Hill printing of this game puts a limit on the number of players that may take part, no such limit was mentioned in the original Ariel (UK) printing and the game can accommodate more than the suggested maximum if need be without the wheels coming off. Additionally, would be players who wander in after a game has started can be accommodated simply by "dealing them in" a hand of cards, a feature of the game system not often appreciated by the casual rules peruser. This, along with the fact that no player need be eliminated before the game ends, makes Kingmaker an attractive choice for an evening's play.

[edit] Look and feel

The game components are striking, full of feudal images of heraldry and parchment, and the places, people and terms all use actual mediaeval English. This is done without detracting from playability; in fact, the colorful and striking heraldic emblems are used just as they were designed, making identification easier than reading names. The only historical difficulty is in some of the place-names, where non-English players may be unsure of the pronunciation.

The game makes no attempt at reproducing the historical chain of events which occurred in the Wars of the Roses; the players are free to do as they see fit, which is likely to be quite different each time Kingmaker is played. The role of the royal heirs in the game, as mere pawns in the Machiavellian plots of the noble families, reflects the roles of some but not all of the real heirs. Actual holdings of land and titles of different nobles has been broken down and simplified in many cases. However, reflecting the common view of that time, where few really cared which royal house had the more "rightful" claim, there was as much fighting within the houses as between them. Loyalty might change as the wind blows, and a ruthless climb to power was often rewarded by betrayal and a cataclysmic downfall. This is faithfully reproduced in Kingmaker.

Some details are changed from historical fact to improve playability. Henry Tudor is not present in the game, and some titles are removed from the nobles that historically held them. Also, the troop strengths are modifed for different nobles for game balance.

Kingmaker won the Origins Award for Best Professional Game of 1975.

[edit] Computer Game

There is a computer version of the game, produced by Avalon Hill in 1994, which reproduces the look and play of the board game almost exactly, allowing the player to compete with up to 5 computer controlled factions. The major change from the board game is the addition of a battle interface where the player can control their army in combat, but it is very simplistic and the option to resolve battles by the original method remains. The game is no longer produced (obviously), but can be found for download for those willing to put up with VGA graphics.