An interesting Kingdom builder review – the one where Ticket to Ride meets Catan

How the game feels-

Kingdom Builder is like Ticket to Ride and Catan. It’s a light area control game where you build routes and settlements. You place settlements to help yourself, but sometimes it’s smart to mess with your opponents. With hexagonal boards and settlement placement, it’s competitive and simple to grasp. In this Kingdom Builder Review – we will dive a little deeper.

To a certain extent, the game also feels a bit like Carcassonne. Each turn you are going to draw a random terrain card and then place settlements in the corresponding terrain. It feels like drawing that tile from Carcassonne and then finding the right spot on the board to place it. Don’t get me wrong, this action of tile-laying does not make it a “tile-laying game.” That said the similarities are unmistakable.

Each game in Kingdom Builder varies. You pick from 4 modular boards out of 8, possibly using the same 4 for two games. Placing boards differently offers unique experiences. The manual suggests a beginner game. You get 4 out of 10 Kingdom Builder cards, determining how points are scored.

What a turn is like-

The game moves at a reasonable pace. Each turn you will place a minimum of three settlements. Your placements will be dictated by a specific terrain card you draw. Your first turn will allow you the most flexibility. Future turns you will be bound by the terrain card you draw. You will also be required to place settlements adjacent to other settlements when possible. This where most of your decisions will come from.

I found that you need to carefully consider your first turn placement. A less than optimal first placement can really handicap you for the rest of the game. Often there will be spots where you can claim a bonus tile on your first turn. That said you still want to make sure you have room to grown and meet the objectives on the Kingdom Builder cards. Getting boxed in is a real danger as there aren’t any inherent “catch up” mechanisms.

As you attach your settlements to specific locations, you will earn extra actions. The actions could include placing an additional settlement(s), or moving settlements. Often these locations have a direct impact on scoring. Your overall game strategy will involve settling around these areas. Ideally on your turn you will do at least one of three things:

• Gain immediate benefits – Achieved by immediately gaining a location tile. As mentioned these tiles will allow you to use special abilities that will assist in building your kingdom.
• Work towards Kingdom Builder cards – The way you win the game is by efficiently completing the goals set on the 4 Kingdom Builder cards.
• Work to deny others – This can be as important it is to fulfill the Kingdom Builder cards for yourself. Remember the other players are vying to do the same thing. At times the best action may be denying a player a key placement.

There is growing tension as tiles are placed. The game end triggers when one player has placed their final settlement. This act as an ingame time. It is a good visual as to when the final scoring will happen.

Learning the Game

The manual is well written and easy to understand. The location tiles are easy to understand and have an easy reference on the opposite of each tile. The game boards are bright and the terrains are distinguishable from each on another, making it clear to know where your next placements can be. The terrain cards are great and easy to identify the corresponding terrain on the board.

The scoring objectives, or Kingdom Builder cards as they are called, will take the most mental energy to understand. That said the text on them is easy to understand and the manual provides nice examples. I certainly wouldn’t let that deter anyway from learning the game. Because the manual is so easy to understand, and the rules so straightforward, this is an easy game to teach as well.

Replay Value

As touched on already, Kingdom Builder can be different each time you play it. This is due to the selected terrain boards will be different and the Kingdom Builder cards will be different. I don’t know the exact math, but intuitively I know that means that are going to be a wide variety of permutations the game can take on. In addition, there are several expansions.

Kingdom Builder: Nomads

Four new game boards – and consequently four new powers associated with their respective game boards, such as the power to place one or two stones from a quarry on empty spaces to block them. Three additional Kingdom Builder scoring cards are included to provide new scoring opportunities during game play, and red houses are included to allow for up to five to play.

Kingdom Builder: Crossroads

Four new landscapes with two different location spaces to offer new options to shape the kingdom. The task cards challenge players to build their settlements in a certain way in order to gain even more gold at the end of the game. Crossroads introduces 8 new unique location abilities, two on each of the game board sections. 6 task cards are also introduced. These allow for additional end game scoring. The three Kingdom Builder cards are selected as usual, and then 1 task card is randomly chosen for each Crossroads game section that is in play.

Kingdom Builder: Marshlands

There are 24 location tiles with 8 new abilities and 12 summary cards for the edges of the board. There are 4 new board quadrants with the Marshes land type on them. Castles have been replaced with Forts adding a different scoring possibility. To go along with this new land type, 5 Marsh terrain cards are added to the terrain deck. What makes the Marshlands expansion unique are the bonus abilities. For they include new abilities, a bonus ability is unlocked if you manage to collect that ability twice.

Kingdom Builder: Harvest

Harvest adds many new strategic possibilities to this already classic game. Farmland is a new terrain type that does not have terrain cards. The only way to expand into it is to build into adjacent terrains and spread into the Farmland. Silos on the board allow players at the end of the game to move up to three of their own pieces adjacent to any empty land hex next to their own settlement. The Cabin ability allows the use of two Scout meeples that can traverse land, water, or mountains. Six new Kingdom Builder cards encourage expansion.

The game has also been reimplemented into a new game known as Winter Kingdom. Winter Kingdom is still slated for release in 2020 via Kickstarter.

If you are one for completion, consider the Kingdom Builder Big Box. What a trove of treasure here! Skip picking up the expansions one at a time. You can save a chunk of change by ordering the big box and getting everything at once. With the big box you get the aforementioned expansions, but 3 mini expansions that are much harder to find.

The Upside/Downside

Here is the Upside/Downside of the game as I see it. Notice I put the low play interaction/conflict on both sides here. If you are looking for a “you do you” and “I do me” type of game, this hits it soundly. If you are looking for player tension or some form of interaction, well you’ll need to look elsewhere.

Overall it is a solid game. It is a game I can get off the shelf and teach just about anyone in under 10 minutes. We can be done in less than an hour, and because of its high replay value – we can play again and have a totally different experience.