KINGSBURG

OBJECTIVE OF KINGSBURG: The objective of Kingsburg is to build the most powerful province, thanks to the King’s counsellors help and to your might.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 to 5

MATERIALS: 

  • 1 game board
  • 5 Province boards
  • 15 player pawns (3 of each colour)
  • 120 Building tokens (24 of each colour)
  • 15 player dice (3 of each colour)
  • 6 Bonus dice (white)
  • 25 Enemy cards (5 for each year)
  • 20 “+2” tokens
  • 1 King’s Envoy pawn
  • 1 Year marker
  • 1 Season marker
  • 50 Goods cubes (25 gold, 20 wood, 15 stone)

TYPE OF GAME: Dice management construction game

AUDIENCE: Adult, Teen

OVERVIEW OF KINGSBURG

In Kingsburg, you have 5 years to become the best Governor of the fantasy kingdom of Kingsburg by scoring the maximum number of victory points. In order to do this, you will have to manage your resources, build buildings but you will also have to prepare yourself for battle against the hordes of creatures that threaten the kingdom. But you are not alone. Each season you have 3 dice to roll that determine which counsellors you can influence to gain resources, military forces and dice modifiers. At the end of each year, you must fight enemies who are trying to invade the kingdom.

SETUP

Each player :

  • takes a board of buildings, which represents his province
  • takes the building tokens and the three dice in his colour
  • places his Military Force pawn on the 0 square of the military track
  • places his Score pawn on the 0 square of the Score track
  • places his Turn Order pawn on the 0 square of the Turn Order track

Next, place on the game board:

  • the Year token on square I of the Year track
  • the Season counter on square 1 of the Seasons track
  • the King’s Envoy pawn on the corresponding slot in square 5 of the Seasons track
  • the Goods cubes on the corresponding areas of the board
  • the +2 tokens on the corresponding area of the board
  • take a random Enemy card, without looking at it, from each year’s Enemy cards (1 card I, 1 card II, 1 card III, 1 card IV and 1 card V) and place them in ascending order on the Battle area of square 8 of the Seasons track
Example of a 3 player setup

GAMEPLAY

The game takes place over 5 years for a total of 20 game rounds broken down as follows:

  • 3 production seasons (spring, summer, autumn)
  • 1 battle season (winter)

You will have to make the most of the counsellors and your buildings during the 3 production seasons to prepare for the battle that will take place in winter.

Here are the details of the actions in each of the 8 steps that make up a year:

  1. King’s help: the player with the fewest buildings receives a white die that he can roll with his dice during the spring season (and only during the spring season).
  2. Spring: production season
  3. King’s Reward: The player with the most buildings receives one victory point.
  4. Summer: production season
  5. King’s Envoy: The player with the fewest buildings receives help from the King’s Envoy. The King’s Envoy can be used either to influence an already influenced counsellor or to build two buildings during a production season (instead of one). When used, the King’s Envoy returns to the King’s Envoy square.
  6. Autumn: production season
  7. Recruitment: each player can recruit soldiers by paying two goods of their choice per point of military strength.
  8. Battle: reveal the Enemies of the Current Year map and resolve the battle.

Production season

Each production season follows the same course:

1. Rolling the dice

  • each player rolls three dice
  • update the turn order: adjust the position of the Turn Order pawns according to the result of players’ dice (the lower a player’s result, the sooner he will play)

2. Influencing Counsellors

In turn, and following the order of the turn, each player can influence a counsellor by placing a set of one or more dice corresponding to the value indicated on the counsellor.

  • it is forbidden to influence a counsellor already influenced by other dice (unless using the King’s Envoy)
  • Players can use any number of +2 tokens to increase the value of a dice set (but not make a set with only tokens).

3. Receiving help from Counsellors: once all players have finished placing their dice, each player recovers the resources or effects of each Counsellor they have influenced.

4. Constructing a building

Each player may build a building on their Province board by paying the cost shown in the round box of the building.

  • you cannot build a building if you have not built the previous buildings on the same line.
  • only one building can be constructed per production season (unless the King’s Envoy is used)

Place a building token on the building’s round box to indicate you already have built it. Buildings provide victory points immediately after being built as well as various bonuses to improve the player’s province.

Turn example: the black player has two white dice, one because he has less buildings than everyone and one thanks to his Farms building. He rolls a total of 18, the red player rolls 16 and the green 13.

  • Green plays first and uses a 4 to influence the Sergeant , whose number is 5, but the green player has the Market built, which allows to influence a Counsellor for one more or one less than the used die.
  • The red player also has a Market and thus influences the Swordsmith with a 10 instead of 11.
  • The black player then influences the Queen with 15 and +2 token.
  • The green player influences the Master Hunter (value 9) with his remaining dice (6+3)
  • The red player influences the Astronomer with a 6 instead of a 7 (using the Market’s power again)
  • The black player uses his remaining 3 to influence the Architect

Players then collect:

  • Green player: 
    • Sergeant: 1 Military strength
    • Master Hunter: 1 wood, 1 gold
  • Red player: 
    • Astronomer: 1 good of his choice, 1 +2 token
    • Swordswmith: 1 gold, 1 stone (could have chosen 1 wood 1 stone instead)
  • Black player
    • Queen: 2 goods of his choice, 3 victory points, ability to secretly look at the current Enemy card
    • Architect: 1 wood

Battle

In the battle that takes place in winter, each player compares his military strength with that of the revealed Enemy card: 

  • if a player’s military strength is lower, he has lost the battle and suffers the malus indicated on the card
  • if a player’s military strength is higher, he has won the battle and receives the bonus indicated on the card
  • in the event of a tie, enemies are repelled by a narrow margin (no malus or bonus)

In case of defeat, the player could:

  • lose resources: put them back into the reserve, if he does not have enough resources he only loses what he has
  • losing victory points: moving your pawn back on the track Score
  • losing buildings: the building in the rightmost column is always destroyed first, if there are several buildings in the rightmost column, the one at the top is destroyed first.

After resolving each player’s battle, compare the military strength of each player who won his battle: the player with the strongest army wins one victory point.

END OF GAME

At the end of the fifth year, the player with the most victory points wins the game. In case of a tie, the player with the most goods wins. If there is still a tie, the player with the most buildings wins. If there is still a tie, it is a perfect tie.

Enjoy! 😊

VARIATIONS

Rules for 2 players

The only difference is the following: in each production season, before players roll their dice, three white dice are rolled and placed on the corresponding counsellor. Then two white dice are rolled and placed on the corresponding counsellor. If this counsellor is already influenced by the three white dice rolled previously, separate the dice and place each one on the corresponding counsellor, if possible.

Nakoa Davis
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