Kingdom Death: Monster in action (click to expand)
When Kingdom Death: Monster’s Kickstarter launched in November 2012, it crushed its goals with more than $2 million in funding. The game was, shall we say, ambitious. The brainchild of Adam Poots, the Kickstarter showed beautiful, pre-production resin miniatures while promising an expansive board game, and promised an almost unbelievable set of contents:
- 4 35mm-scale survivor miniatures
- 4 copies of each of 6 armor kits (one armor kit can equip all 4 survivors)
- 7 large-sized boss miniatures
- 400+ cards
- 2’ x 3’ game board
- 15 terrain tokens
- 6 custom dice
- 1 rulebook-storybook, with art throughout
When I heard a Kickstarter promised such outstanding miniatures alongside a board game with euro-style development, RPG-style narrative, and tabletop wargame-style tactical elements at an almost comically high price–backers pledged $150 for the game–I was skeptical. Like many people who didn’t back the project, I assumed the game would be a loose justification to sell the admittedly gorgeous minis. Three years later, after multiple delays and setbacks, I hadn’t given the idea much thought. Saturday at GenCon, the guys from Board Game Replay invited me to join them for their demo of Kingdom Death (the full video is here)—now through production, boasting a 17 pound core game box, and sporting a shocking $400 MSRP.
I wasn’t any less skeptical, and I couldn’t have been more wrong.