Table feel
Moderate level of interaction with a mix of direct and strategic confrontation.
Players
2-7
Time
?-?
Age
12+
Weight
3.06
Rating
6.53
Teaching signal
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
Luck-sensitive
Moderate level of interaction with a mix of direct and strategic confrontation.
Kingmaker offers a high level of variability with its gameboard, multiple paths to victory, and variable setups. The presence of expansions adds new content and gameplay elements, enhancing replay value. The game provides deep strategic possibilities and allows players to improve their strategies over time. The player interaction score is average. Kingmaker scales well with different numbers of players without compromising its appeal or balance. While the game may take some time to learn, it offers a good balance between easiness and depth. Overall, Kingmaker has a strong replayability score of 7.9.
Kingmaker has a moderate level of luck involved in the game. Random elements such as dice rolls and card draws have a notable but not exclusive impact on the game outcome. However, players have substantial ability to mitigate randomness through strategic decisions and planning. The game outcome is primarily determined by player strategy and decisions, with luck playing a moderate role.
Kingmaker simulates the Wars of the Roses, the period of sporadic Civil War in England between 1450 and 1490. Ruled by a weak and mentally unstable king, Henry VI, demoralized by the defeat in France at the end of the Hundred Years War, and encouraged by the ambitions of Richard, Duke of York, and his sons; the country's Noble families used their large private armies in attempts to gain control of the government. The game is based on the premise that the powerful Noble families used the Lancastrian and Yorkist princes as pawns in a greater game of gaining control of England. Players control factions using their military and political power to control and influence the royal heirs, supporting the heir in their control as king while trying to take down all of the other heirs. Kingmaker has been published by several companies, starting with Philmar under their Ariel imprint in 1974, by Avalon Hill in 1976, by Gibsons Games in 1983, and by TM Games in 1988/9. In 2023, Gibsons Games published a new edition, which has its own entry under Kingmaker (2023).
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