Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
The Men Who Would Be Kings is a set of rules designed for fighting historical or Hollywood colonial battles in the mid- to late-Nineteenth Century, from the Indian Mutiny to the Boxer Rebellion.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Scenario Campaign
Play linked or standalone scenarios with their own setup, objectives, and consequences.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Line of Sight
Visibility between pieces determines valid targets, movement, or effects.
Simulation
Model a real or imagined system through detailed cause-and-effect rules.
Read the full game description
The Men Who Would Be Kings is a set of rules designed for fighting historical or Hollywood colonial battles in the mid- to late-Nineteenth Century, from the Indian Mutiny to the Boxer Rebellion. Large scale colonial clashes tended to be one-sided affairs, but there are countless reports of brief, frantic skirmishes in every colonial war--where either side could be victorious--and these are the battles that The Men Who Would Be Kings seeks to recreate. Although focusing on the British colonial wars against the Zulus, Maoris, and others, these rules will also permit players to explore the empires of France, Germany, and other nations, as well as allowing for battles between rival native factions. Gameplay is very simple, and is driven by the quality of the officers leading your units, in the true spirit of Victorian derring-do and adventure, where larger than life characters such as the (real) Fred Burnaby and the (fictional) Harry Flashman led their troops to glory and medals, or to a horrible end at the point of a spear tip.