Gregor Hutton FRAS MCIPS

Tried a new board game this week and was not impressed. Lots of flaws. 1. Only one scenario - Most games these days have dozens of scenarios you can play. This game starts the same every time. Very low replayability. Will probably get old fast. 2. No campaign mode - Every game is a standalone experience. This feels pretty lazy. Where are the Legacy style booster packs we can unlock? Where are the persistent changes, character upgrades, etc.? Just sloppy design work. 3. Crude miniatures - Yeah, they're kinda nice in a minimalist way, but it feels like they were just cutting costs here. No big bucket of plastic minis I can paint. Very low detail renderings on the small soldier pieces in particular. 4. No expansion packs - Adding on to the replayability problems is the fact that no new content has been announced. It's just good design and business sense to have the first 2 or 3 big box expansions already in production when the base game hits. But this is just a core set without any new content on the horizon. So the meta will probably die pretty fast. 5. New players are at a disadvantage - You have to play this game more than 2 or 3 times to find any kind of viable strategy. So new players are at a huge disadvantage. When I play a game, I want everyone to feel included so all players should be getting like 400+ victory points 6. Only one way to win - The only way to win is by taking the other player's king piece. That's it. No alternate paths to victory or other strategies to pursue. Just take the king and you win. Boring. I really would have liked if you'd been able to win by building up your kingdom peaceably, or pursuing alternate routes like farming, trade, or earning favor with a visiting monarch or something. As is, the game really pigeonholes you into just one approach. So yeah. I won't be revisiting this one. Sad, because it feels like there was a lot of potential here that was wasted by some short-sighted design and development decisions.