In the long tradition of strategic board games, many kingdoms have been enlarged, including Majesty: your crown - your kingdom from the house of Hans im Glück. The subtitle "Your crown, your kingdom" reveals what this game is about: as a ruler you have all sorts of things to do to lure new followers into your kingdom. After all, a king without a kingdom rarely gets rich. In games with a fixed number of rounds, players have to occupy their production facilities, build defensive lines - and, under certain circumstances, even call for help from dubious witches. Everything is embedded in a basic framework of beginner-friendly rules that make Majesty: Your Crown - Your Kingdom even a family game. It all sounds like a lot of entertainment and a high rating, if there weren't certain game constellations that noticeably break in the fun factor in the board game by Marc André - who was also responsible for the hit Splendor. Why the title is good, but not outstanding, is explained in the following review of Majesty: Your Crown - Your Kingdom by Hans in Luck.
Pimp your Empire: Governing can be so easy
Children are down-to-earth if you ask them about their dream job: alongside firefighters, animal keepers and policemen, the racing driver is one of the more unusual mentions. With adults, the choice falls more often on activities shaped by power: God or world ruler, sometimes modest: just king.
To be king once, to nibble on the legs of wild boar and to be able to casually determine the fate of your subjects by pointing a finger is one of the dreams of many adults with a pronounced narcissistic personality disorder. And at Majesty: Your crown - your kingdom the dream comes true. The simple basic rules of the board game by Marc André show that managing a kingdom is not that difficult.
The preparation for the game shows how far apart dream and reality can be: instead of splendid buildings, each king compiles his city from eight simple (but at least nicely illustrated) building cards. Double-sided printing provides two variants, one for beginners, the other for advanced rulers. This is useful because the gameplay differs from Majesty: Your crown - your kingdom quite worn out.
Sorting and shuffling the character cards is the next item on the preparation list: Cards with a 2 always remain in the game, cards with a 1 are partially sorted out - depending on the number of players taking part. Both types of cards then together form the draw pile. Then the top six cards are laid out face up. Each king also receives a figure card that can accommodate up to five meeples; “Up to”, because the number can change in the course of a game. Above all, this is due to the fact that players keep receiving new meeples: through a person card or due to a building function. Surplus followers, for whom there is no space on the character card, are immediately put back in the supply. However, they then give the active player at least gold coins, one for each meeple.
Speaking of financial resources: Majesty: Your crown - your kingdom is not stingy with haptic stimuli. Players receive new coins on a regular basis, which feels pretty powerful overall - and very suitable for a game of kings.
Family-friendly game idea
The course of the 12 game rounds always follows a simple pattern. On the move, the active player chooses one of the six character cards on display and places it next to the appropriate building in his city. In ascending order from left to right, the choice of person cards is associated with more effort. While the left card can move into your own city completely free of charge, a meeple must be placed from the character card onto the person cards for each additional card. Now it becomes clear why the character card can hold a maximum of five meeples. Character cards showing two people give kings the choice of which of the two people he would rather use. The acquired persons then immediately trigger special functions in the building. Finally, the cards are moved to the left and the rightmost gap is closed with a new display card.
The features of the buildings are always dealt with immediately and proceed as follows:
A guard of the watchtower protects against a soldier attack. Soldiers, on the other hand, eliminate the left person card of their city in the event of successful attacks (i.e. those without a block by a guard). This is then placed in the hospital and can be transported back to the city by a witch - but without triggering the building feature again. If wounded person cards remain in the hospital, they are reflected in penalties at the end of the game: each person then costs one coin, in the advanced game two coins. What may sound complicated works very well in practice due to the simple counter-attack principle. Round after round, players lure followers into their realm, fight simple conflicts and collect victory points - until each player has 12 cards on display in his city. Then the final account follows.
What is noticeable negatively in some games are individual game strategies that can prove to be overpowering - at least if none of the other players intervene in the action in time. Even if such tactics can put the players in a good mood, they come in a comparative way. On the one hand, because hoarding soldiers in order to clean up opposing players in the best mass-battle manner, depends heavily on card luck and because other players can easily bypass this strategy - if they want to. On the other hand, because there are always enough options for intervention. at Majesty: Your crown - your kingdom Sometimes it is not enough to just concentrate on your own tactics. Whoever allows - admittedly obvious - opposing strategies shouldn't be surprised afterwards. Marc André's game concept is not rocket science with regard to the generation of victory points: scattering its inhabitants is a winning strategy that often works.
What Marc André once again proves as a game designer: you don't need complicated rules or complex processes for a strategic worker placement game to be fun. In any case, the author is known for his clear lines, because board games like Splendor or barony were anything but complicated, but entertaining in any case.
That yourself Majesty: Your crown - your kingdom as a family-friendly strategy game was able to prevail on the market, is therefore also thanks to the consistent avoidance of unnecessary rule tricks. If Majesty: Your crown - your kingdom However, it is (understandable) for children at the age of seven years is questionable. Sure, the principle of the game is explained and understood in around 20 minutes, the first round of the game lasts about as long - but not for children of this age.
Majesty put to the test: too much right to be wrong
One can call questionable age information a flaw. And even overpowering strategies can leave players at a loss. One could even discuss the usefulness of using the mass of coins: in the end, it does Majesty - your crown, your kingdom so much correct that all these (possibly) flawed factors take a back seat. Marc André's idea works, it works really well.
The simple worker placement board game from Hans im Glück is fun and appeals to a gigantic target group that ranges from beginners to experienced frequent players. Last but not least, this is also due to the feeling that this title spreads while playing. It feels incredibly good when a lot of coins slip through your fingers as a player: the haptic component of Majesty: Your crown - your kingdom is truly majestic, the overall look is regal. Preparing your kingdom at the beginning of the game is the perfect introduction for budding junior rulers.
From this point on it shines Majesty: Your crown - your kingdom thanks to its pleasant tension curve, which, despite the noticeable happiness factor, does not suffer any downturns. The constant confrontation with important decisions creates the necessary motivation for players to follow the action carefully - which is particularly relevant when individual players try to set themselves apart with the help of niche tactics. Snatching a card from opposing kings creates a lot of glee; You rarely break a spike out of the crown, because almost every card choice is useful in its own way. And if you want to bring variety to the gaming table, you can use the B-sides - or the A- and B-sides mixed in to bring at least a little chaos into the solid set of rules.
Pictures of Majesty - Your Crown - Your Kingdom
Infobox
Number of players: 2 to 4 players
Age: from 10 years
Playing time: 20 to 30 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Long-term motivation: medium
Published by Hans im Glück
Author: Marc André
Graphic: Anne Heidsieck
Year of publication: 2017
Language: German
Cost: 32 Euro
Conclusion
Also Majesty: Your crown - your kingdom is a game of thrones: quite exciting, sometimes surprising - but completely bloodless. You can be mean as a king without having to fear consequences for your kingdom, you have to endure the same. You can stubbornly follow an imagined strategy, but you have to put up with it when opposing kings approach it a little more cleverly. You can think in the short term, but you will have to endure long-term tactics when more coins are thrown in. Majesty: Your crown - your kingdom is pleasantly demanding despite simple basic rules, and that for family gamers or casual gamers as well as for frequent gamers. Marc André's worker placement game does not require a long study of the rules: the first game takes around 15 minutes.
Having to constantly make relevant decisions keeps kings happy. Likewise, the handling of tons of game coins or the possibility of simply throwing his royal scepter between the legs of his opponent. The gameplay, which is always comprehensible, enables even absolute beginners to find their way around the essential mechanisms. Sure, the motivation also remains due to the simple course of the game Majesty: Your crown - your kingdom after a few games - however, the low entry barriers should ensure that there is sufficient supply of teammates. Unfolded with full cast Majesty: Your crown - your kingdom also the full potential, it goes well with three players: the variant with two players is a matter of taste.
The more you deal with the shallow worker placement game, the more you get the impression that Marc André wanted to design a parlor game that doesn't really belong to any target group - and that is not meant to be derogatory. On the contrary, Majesty: Your crown - your kingdom brings the most diverse types together at one table and everyone has fun. If you want to find a real flaw, then it is most likely the lack of variety. The games play more uniformly because you have to work with what the lucky hand of cards offers you anyway. That makes this title insignificant in a certain way, but also ensures that the crisp gameplay can unfold within a very short time. This is extremely important in a game where the games only last between 20 and 30 minutes. Only the constant changing of money costs a lot of time: it makes sense to let a player take over the "bank".
Otherwise, the title presents itself like a typical game from the house of Hans im Glück: colorful, nicely illustrated, high-quality production. Overall, the presentation is excellent. As a player, you shouldn't make high demands on strategic possibilities. This is ideal for occasional rulers, but at times it is not challenging for frequent gamers. Nevertheless: Majesty - your crown, your kingdom Not having played at least once borders on lese majesty; and it is known to be severely punished.
