Board Game Review- The Kings Dilemma
I had seen multiple reviews of this game ever since it was launched (Dice Tower, SUSD, etc) and most of them commented that it was one of the best Legacy games out there. I was dying to get my hands on it, and after some searching I did manage to import it to India (I am quite sure very few people here have played this game, as it is indeed rare and not at all easy to get). I was lucky to have a group of 5 players to maximize the game’s potential to the fullest (Technically its 3 to 5 players, but the best experience you will get is with 5, avoid playing this game with 3 players, it will most likely not be fun).
To start off, this game has a 40+ page rulebook, but the game mechanics itself are notoriously simple. You just set the board, add in some resource tokens, get your card (dilemma) deck ready, deal out those colorful (prehistoric looking) Aye, Nay, Pass cards to all players, set up a House for each player, and then you are ready to begin (almost). The game lets you choose your own House plus assign it a particular name and that is how you will be referred to for the entire game. Oh and yeah I would highly recommend to get good color markers separately (I got the Sharpie ones) to maximize the full experience of playing the game (these are not included).
As for the theme, the game is set in a medieval Kingdom where all the players are the Wise (or Nefarious, you choose) Counselors to the King, who must make certain decisions which will impact the Kingdom in a positive or negative way. However each player will also have an individual objective and will try to maximize his or her own house’s benefits, even if it harms the kingdom. The story is remarkably good, draws you in completely and transports you to another fictional world of Ankist (name of the Kingdom), with each game feeling like a breath of fresh air.
You might end up playing 15–20 games in all, and nobody knows the victory condition till it is revealed through a secret envelope. It’s a spectacular narrative experience, with each choice (which you have to make as a group) resulting in a certain outcome which is permanent. Occasionally I felt as if I was playing an RPG video game, trying to balance out the decisions. You will need to interact and negotiate heavily with your fellow counselors, perhaps bribe them to take decisions which are favorable for you (but not necessarily for the kingdom perhaps). You will have a Leader who draws out a card from the bottom of the Dilemma deck and reads it aloud, and you will have a Moderator who can break ties as per his/her will. The Leader and Moderator will change often even within a single game. Depending on how you resolve the Dilemma, the resource tokens will either move upwards or downwards (signifying the positive or negative impact), and certain secret envelopes, or stickers will open.
After playing 7 rounds of Kings Dilemma, I can say with confidence that this has been an experience like no other, in the board gaming world. (Minor Spoiler) I remember in one game, I became bit greedy and managed to give a license for prostitution and other nefarious activities to prevail in the kingdom, to reach my own personal objective. However that had a major long term impact going forward in the game. Lets face it, the game can be cruel, and it definitely has major adult themes in it, so its not recommended for children, or in fact anyone under the age of 18. But playing this game, will definitely give you insights of human psychology, how politics can pan out in real, how our human emotions can overpower logic and rational and how there is no end to greed.
My concluding thoughts would be- if you are a player who doesn’t give much emphasis to the theme or story/plots in a game, then you can probably skip the Kings Dilemma. There is no combat, no victory points as such, no worker placement mechanisms. It is definitely not your standard board game. But from a Legacy game perspective, I cant stress enough on how beautifully this game has been crafted. Even if you say you can only play this once, this game should last you for close to 20 hours if not more, which is pretty decent for a single board game. And completely worth the experience. The people I played this with loved the game unanimously to the extent that they were even ready to share the cost of the purchase with me.
My Personal rating for the King’s Dilemma would be:
1. Theme/Story: 9.5/10 [That’s the Core of this Game]
2. Replayability: 2/10 (Lets face it, it’s a Legacy game, you wont be able to play this again with an used box, but you still might to play fresh)
3. Gameplay: 8/10 (Components wise, its still basic but sufficient)
4. Complexity: 5/10 (You probably need to read the rule book in depth once, but that’s about it)
5. Overall: 9/10 (Highly Recommended)
Edit: We finally managed to finish the game after 15 sessions and over 30 hours of gameplay. Adding some pictures below of our actual gameplay.
