What do you get when a first time design team (husband and wife, no less) start their own board game company, design a game, and handle the logistics of manufacturing and promotion? Just one of the very best board games in existence. Three Kingdoms Redux is a shining example of what's possible in the modern age of board gaming. The barrier to entry for creators and designers is at an all time-low. If you have an idea along with the drive and ambition to create your own board game, you can actually make it happen. Online collaboration and crowdfunding have reduced the need for publishers as gatekeepers. On the whole, I think it's a good development but it has also meant a lot of half-baked games being released. So how does Three Kingdoms Redux avoid the pitfalls that are so common with independent publishers and put together one of the best board games I've ever played?
Design: <PERSON> & <PERSON> Art: <PERSON> Publishing: Starting Player
This is a follow up article to a game covered earlier in the month. As such, it assumes that you are familiar with the game and how it works. If this game is new to you, check out the Initial Thoughts video to see if it's a game you would be interested in.
I'd like to take some time and extol the brilliance of the box size. Take a standard, square, Ticket to Ride-sized box and reduce its depth by about half and you have a good idea of Three Kingdom Redux's box. It's svelte. It's dense. And most of all, it's respectful. The board is on the larger end of the board gaming spectrum with an ample supply of nice, thick tokens and counters alongside over 100 full sized cards. They all fit snugly in the box with little empty space. The creators chose to prioritize functionality over whatever benefit a larger box may serve on a store display. They respect the space needed to have these things in our homes. The box is exactly what is needed and nothing more. Ultimately, if the game came in a larger more ostentatious box I'd still be happy with it because the game is just that good but the fact that the creators were considerate enough to package the game in a way the favors the players is one of many ways that you can see how much thought and care was put into making this game a reality.
This respect of the player shows itself in the player count. Three Kingdoms Redux is a three player game only. Rather than provide a more flexible player count and risk the integrity of the game experience, the designers focused the efforts on creating the best three player game they could. Could they sell more copies if they offered a two-player variant? Quite possibly so, but it would likely be a lesser experience. 304
TKR (it's what the cool kids are calling it) was designed from its inception as a three player game. Every design point, system and goal was crafted with this in mind. Much like the constraints of poetry, the three player only design is not a limitation, it is an inspiration. This inspiration takes form most apparently in the alliance system.
Sometimes even an alliance isn't enough to scare away the enemy.
Every round, whichever two players are not in the lead are put into an alliance. It is a concrete implementation of what happens informally in many other games: trailing players band together and focus their efforts against the leader. TKR doesn't shy away from making the leader a target, it revels in it. From the beginning, the game skews the odds in favor of one player. The Wei faction begins the game with the most generals, giving them a distinct advantage when bidding for actions. Right off the bat it's 2v1 and the Wei had better get used to it. Together, the other two factions discuss which action space to place the alliance marker. Normally, there can only be a single winner of an action space, but when the alliance marker is placed, it allows the two players in the alliance to take the action together. Furthermore, those players combine the strength of their generals in the space for determining the winner of the bid. Simply placing the alliance marker can be enough to scare the leader from even attempting to take that action. The odds are not in their favor.
It's a simple system really, but it flavors the entire game experience in the best ways. By making the alliance action space declaration its own phase in the game, it creates a moment where all players can take stock of the game state. The allied players discuss potential spots the leader might like to take. They analyze potential strategies and try and get in the head of the leader. If they can successfully anticipate a move, they can move one step closer to the lead. But taking away an action from the leader is only one thing to consider in an alliance. You still have to look out for yourself. Sometimes helping your own cause is better than hindering someone else's. But you're in an alliance, remember? 237