Designer:  Donald X. Vaccarino (Dominion, Dominion 2nd Edition, Dominion: Intrigue, Kingdom Builder)

Artist:  Markus Erdt (Copenhagen, Pioneers, Treasure Hunter)

Publisher:  Queen Games (Alhambra, Amerigo, Chicago Express, Escape: The Curse of the Temple, Fresco, Kingdom Builder, Lancaster, Luxor, Shogun, Thebes, Wallenstein)

Genre/Mechanisms:  area majority/influence, chaining, enclosure, hexagon grid, modular board, territory building, variable setup

Funding Status:  At the time of this posting, Winter Kingdom is already fully-funded. Pledges currently total almost 9x the initial funding goal, with 7 days to go on the campaign.

Player Count:  2-4

Solo Mode:  no

Complexity:  medium-light

Risk:  low

What It’s About:  “The sequel and standalone spin-off to Kingdom Builder, where players expand their Kingdom across the game board by placing villages and forts as dictated by the terrain card drawn.”

How It Works:  “Players expand their kingdom by placing houses and forts across the board, which is covered with different types of terrain. Placing their pieces on certain locations will earn the players coins to spend on special abilities, or simply expand their Kingdom to earn them points at the end of the game. Each game, three Winter Kingdom cards will give the conditions for scoring victory points. The economy card will show how to earn more gold, which can be used to purchase special abilities giving players more options on how to place their houses on the board each turn.”

“Winter Kingdom is played over several rounds. Each round the start player will take their complete turn, then play will pass to the next player clockwise, until all players have taken a turn. On their turn, each player must do the mandatory action of Building 3 houses on the terrain depicted on their terrain card. Additionally, before and/or after the mandatory action, the player can use their acquired ability cards to perform extra actions. Once the player has performed their mandatory action and all extra actions they can and would like to use, they may acquire a new ability or upgrade an already acquired ability by paying the appropriate number of coins depicted on the ability card. At the end of the turn, the player discards their terrain card and draws a new one. Play then passes to the next player.”

“The game ends at the end of a round in which at least one player has built all their houses and forts. Final scoring takes place with players awarded points for each of the 3 Winter Kingdom cards in play and the specific conditions and point amounts depicted on each card, and 3 Victory Points to the player that has the most houses (with forts counting as 2 houses) adjacent to each castle space. The player with the most total Victory Points is declared the winner, with any tied players sharing the victory.

Comparisons:  It bears some comparisons with Catan, and the much more complex Clans of Caledonia. Like designer Donald X. Vaccarino’s landmark deck-building game Dominion, Kingdom Builder is essentially a game system (this time in the Catan-inspired genre of territory-building and area control, minus the trading-between-players aspect) that allows for a lot of variability and customization through various modules and expansions. Your mileage will vary with this game, as seen in the Shut Up and Sit Down video below. Like Dominion, it offers almost unlimited variability and gameplay because of the level of customization, but the gameplay itself is simple and easy to learn, and may not appeal to gamers who only want something with a much higher level of crunchiness and complexity. For those who want something simple with a huge amount of variability to it, this is your game.

What Should I Pledge?:
$55 Early Bird 3: a copy of Winter Kingdom plus the exclusive Box Sleeve and exclusive Custom Houses. The same rewards as the Winter Kingdom pledge, at a reduced price. Limited stock.
$65 Winter Kingdom: a copy of Winter Kingdom plus the exclusive Box Sleeve and exclusive Custom Houses.
$95 Kingdom Bundle: everything in the Winter Kingdom pledge level, plus a copy of the Kingdom Builder Family Box. Limited stock.
$125 Winter Kingdom + KB Big Box 2nd Edition: everything in the Winter Kingdom pledge level, plus a copy of the Kingdom Builder Big Box 2nd Edition.

Add-Ons:
None.

KS Exclusives
The Box Sleeve and Custom Houses.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $125 for the Winter Kingdom + KB Big Box 2nd Edition pledge plus $29 in shipping for a total of $154.

Winter Kingdom completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, April 9th and tentatively ships in October 2020.