Publisher: Victory Point Games
Designer: Jeremy Lennert
Year: 2013
Players: 2
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 30-60 minutes
Retail Price: $51.95
Category: Deck building/Strategy board game hybrid
Contents:
One 12-page full color Rule book
One 11″ x 17″ game board
123 thick, two-sided, laser-cut game units
150 deck-building cards
One 11″ x 17″ mounted, two-sided, jigsaw-cut game map
One bright red, 9″ x 11 7/8″ Deluxe cardboard VPG game box
One beautiful box cover sleeve
One “Wipes-A-Lot” napkin
One charcoal desiccant packet
From Victory Point Games:
“Civil war has broken out between two royal brothers over the succession of the kingdom, and the people of a once-peaceful nation must choose sides and rush to war. Even when the sun goes down, the war for the crown does not cease. While the battle rages on during the day, both princes and their armies still hope to catch the other unawares under the blanket of darkness. Neither side is safe even then, however, and so both princes are well prepared – they’ve gone through lengths to recruit special units to surprise their enemy, including a Phantom to cloak itself and hopefully use the darkness to its advantage in order to capture the rival King and Heirs.
Do you enjoy deck building games (ala Dominion/Thunderstone)? Check. How about chess? Check. Then no need to read any further: Buy this game! Let me point out, I’m not very good at chess as I can’t remember the last time I won a game. Yet that fact didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying For the Crown (FtC). There are so many strategic options to work with that you’ll be trying different approaches nearly every time you play.
The cards are of standard stock and should hold up nicely to a multitude of plays. The game board and unit pieces are laser cut and are the extra thick style we’re now seeing from VPG. The board is about 1mm thick while the units are 2mm, both feel “heavy” for what they are. However (and this is an issue with all the new VPG titles with these sorts of chits) there is a residue left on the edges from the cutting process. The included “Wipes-A-Lot” napkin will clean the majority of the edges off and after about four games the residue was gone, so everybody’s fingers remained clean. I just don’t recommend punching the counters out and immediately playing because your hands will be covered in black soot.
Both players will begin with the same ten cards as a Starter Deck: Six Peon and four Guards, as well as a King (Sovereign) unit which is placed on the board. There will also be fourteen piles of cards to buy from out of 25 which come with the base game. Along with these cards are playing pieces which you can place on the board (King, Queen, Bishop, Rook, etc.) and these units move just as standard chess pieces would.
Also available are additional units that move in a variety of different ways. The Spy can attack in any direction up to one square, however it can March (swap places) with another piece you own. The Anointed (Sovereign unit) moves diagonally one or two squares. One of my favorite units is the Charger as it can move 1-3 squares in a straight line, capturing multiple enemy units along its way. Some units just leap or leap along with their normal movement. This is a sampling of the units available just in the base game as two expansions, Shock & Awe and All the King’s Men, add even more units and cards. Of course the more powerful the unit the more it costs for you to purchase and the longer it will take to build gold to purchase the unit. Learning how best utilize how each unit moves, and effectively taking advantage of their special abilities, will have you coming back to this game over and over again. Yes! You can have even multiples of any and all units and there are other cards you may buy which give you additional Actions, Buys and Gold.
After a dozen plays FtC even has me thinking about it when I’m not playing as I’m making a mental list of things to try. Everyone I’ve introduced to For the Crown has enjoyed it; from people who are Dominion fans to others who are chess masters. Okay, maybe not chess masters but folks who play chess extremely well. One of my gaming buds, also named Chris, has enjoyed playing FtC and can really see himself adding this game to his library. Once again Victory Point Games has lived up to their motto “The Gameplay’s the Thing”. For the Crown is simply a game I know I’ll play whenever anyone asks.
