Kingdom Builder Board Game First Impressions

Kingdom Builder is dubbed as a boring game with no replayability.

Wrong!

In Kingdom Builder, the players create their own kingdoms by skillfully building their settlements, aiming to earn the most gold at the end of the game.

Nine different kinds of terrain are on the variable game board, including locations and castles. During his turn, a player plays his terrain card and builds three settlements on three hexes of this kind. If possible, a new settlement must be built next to one of that player’s existing settlements. When building next to a location, the player may seize an extra action tile that he may use from his next turn on. These extra actions allow extraordinary actions such as moving your settlements.

Overview

OK, so placing houses is easy to play but quite difficult to explain, it’s all about restrictions.

The board is divided up into different blocks of different terrains spacing a few spaces.

You build them on Hexes next to houses you already have on the board. The hex you build on is decided by the draw of a card that tells you which terrain you HAVE to build on.

Once you start building, you have to build in that block of that terrain until you have filled the block of that Terrain. Once you fill that out you can then start on any other terrain of that type.

If you draw a card with a terrain type that you haven’t built on before you can start anywhere. BUT! If you have built next to a space of that terrain, you must start there.

That’s it.

Scoring

The good bit is the random mission cards. In our game, we had bonus points for building next to Rivers, Mountains and Towns. These are different for each game and add plenty of replayability. It’s only 30 minutes for a 5-player game which is great.

Building next to Towns gives you abilities, such as allowing you to jump a building over a square.

Kingdom Builder Summary

A very simple game, quick, easy, and replayable.

At first, I thought it was very basic. It’s like a flip-and-write game but so restrictive the game plays you a bit?

But, those restrictions really make you think. Every house you place makes you think about what it’s next to and how that may affect future turns. If you’re trying to build, say, down the board, you need to look at what terrain types you’re building towards. You can easily screw yourself if you’re not careful.

So it’s a lot more fun than I first thought.

Jesta ThaRogue