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Let’s Play Kingdom Death: Monster – Lantern Year One
October 31, 2016 by dignity
We’re joined by the wonderful Chris Handley from Darker Days Radio to play through Kingdom Death: Monster and what more fitting day to do so than Halloween.
Here we’re attempting Lantern Year One where Justin, Warren, and Chris are looking to survive against monsters and more in the darkness.
We’re loving this game and can’t wait to continue the series and see if we can survive!
Have you played Kingdom Death: Monster?
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Ooooh! That’s one of the game video I was expecting the most! Cant’ wait to see it!
Let me just take a big cup of coffee, and get ready to go into the darkness of nightmare!
Thanks BoW! As always, you’re making my day!
I am seconding this notion! It’s my day off. Kingdom Death is on BoW. I’ve got a box of cripsy cremes to go through and I need a coffee large enough to handle this momentous collection of awesome.
I have waited a looong time for this.
Kingdom death Monster is the best game i own. I played it like a 80+ hours so far with only the base game and cant wait to start with the expansions.
At the moment the core game is sold out but at 25 novemeber a kickstarter will start for new copies.
Unfortunately it is an expansive game but if you have the money get it.
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=1f4d6d8b08474b282855b8143&id=512c104de4&e=699c1e76a9
It’s good to hear that someone loves the game – we’ve played it during the year and for me and my group it is unfortunately one of the worst games we’ve played. It wants to do everything but does nothing particularly good. It could be boiled down to a single dice roll: 1-10 you die (insert any horrific way you want) and on a 11 you succeed. Note that you roll a d10.
That’s a pretty harsh review. I’m on my third campaign and I haven’t won one yet and I LOVE IT. The brutality forces you to think really hard about your actions and your positioning and the rewards when you work as a team are all the better knowing you’ve earned them. But if you don’t like to loose why not give yourself a +4 handicap or start with a half decent set of armour, the back of the rule book even encourages house ruling it to your own tastes.
It may be harsh but obviously the game as it is is not for everyone. I know that Adam wanted to make a hard game and I think he had rogue likes in mind – however, a typical video game rogue like is typically easy to start and quick to play so you can learn something and start again – something that cannot be said about KD:M. I cannot count the times where we went out to kill a monster and either die to a dice roll during the hunt phase or due to an event when going back. Personally I do not think it is fun when you cannot influence the outcome in any way. I got not a problem with loosing in general but why all the bookkeeping, giving character names, having disorders etc. etc. when characters are no more than throw away things. The time required for a single lantern year is just too long for a game that obviously was made to be played over and over again.
We once even tried cheating but you have to be very careful: as usual it will rob you of any fun easily. We even played a campaign where we would not die, and just use the same characters, etc. – but even with these massive cheats we would have died to most special bosses (butcher and others). While the hunting monsters seem to have at least some basic balance the special monsters are almost impossible to handle imho. But who does want to fight the same 1-3 monster types over and over while starting new campaigns? As it stands I see no reason to buy any expansions unless they contain low level monsters that can be done as an alternative to the lion etc. as one would never see the later ones…
To also mention some positive things:
- I think the boss AI decks and mechanics are quite good and the fights are fun. Unfortunately one would only see the same few bosses over and over again.
- the setting is nice and it feels like you are stranded in this mysterious world
The bad things however:
- the settlement and hunt phases take very long and need tons of bookkeeping, making the fight only a small part of it
- the crafting system is aweful – lots of bookkeeping and creating settlement upgrades just to be able to craft an item once in a while (not to mention loosing all item due to you whole parts dying)
- there are tons of things in the game that you will never be able to use so one could ask why there where even added. It boils all down to game design: instead of removing everything not needed more and more and more things were added and I think that was not for the good.A perfect example are the item bonuses where you would have to align certain items next to others in your inventory with certain colors to get some bonuses – a system taken from video games, however there are so few possible combinations that it is completely irrelevant in 99,9% of all campaigns you will ever play.
FYI items are not lost if characters die in a hunt. All items go back to the camp.
Are you sure? Have to check the rule book but I thought it is only the case if at least one character returns, not if the whole party dies.
btw: nevertheless the video was nice to watch and I liked the first games and initial lantern years a lot
Page 63 states all equipment unless it is irreplaceable or some special fight rule says so, returns to the settlement when they die on a hunt.
And the same is said on page 73 with regards to showdowns.
Honestly it sounds like you inadvertently played the game on hard mode.
Year One: Lion’s don’t like it up ‘em!
..although the Lion should have been perfectly safe from such attacks when there was an Ass Guardian at the table
Great game guys
. Couldn’t stop laughing at @warzan and his obsessive compulsive need to, how shall i put it, ” attack with his fists from the rear “.
KD:M is a great game and the monsters are so horrifyingly beautiful to behold, it’s a must play game. Which reminds me, i must bug my friend about starting to bring it down to club again.
‘Where can I fist him from’ quite possibly my favourite quote.
One thing though, I’m not certain the Tail is an actual wound? I might be getting confused with Glorious Mane though.
Yeah, you’re thinking of the Glorious Mane, which is Impervious. That location can’t be wounded, but you can cause a Crit there.
Intriguing game I really liked the depth that it seems to have.
45 minutes to kill one beast..!!!
I guess in KD:M, every fight is a boss battle!
Indeed
well think about it, it was me, Warren and Chris trying ti kill a friggin lion with sharp stones
This is a video I have been waiting long to see, and I am not disappointed
As sometimes happens in this game, good rolls and lucky card draw don’t show just how dangerous a Monster can be, even when it isn’t the Monsters turn.
The answer to the question “Is there a maximum amount of Insanity?” is “No”, Survivors can gain as much Insanity as they can accrue. Certain circumstances can make it dangerous to have excessively high levels though
Much easier than I thought… I now would like to get this dark box ! ^^
The first Lion is a toned down ‘practice’ Lion. And it can quite easily one shot kill a survivor without too much trouble. But it is designed to be somewhat easier.
Looks good, I will follow this with interest.
So a few things, I am not going to lie, the game looks a little intimidating, they are properly the most intimidating models out there, but the game itself looked a little complex, more than a little.
If you guys didn’t have the practice run, and the good doctor with you do you think you would have gone through without too many errors in your first run?
Second, I do like a lot of the way Kris put it. Like how the idea was that you have the basic survivors and then your meant to sculpt one based off your role playing experience. There is a few other things I really like like how you talked about how they wake up with their eyes covered with ink, and then bam! it’s on like donkey kong.
I think that the whole thing makes me way more intrigued, but to be honest a little hesitant. It does look more boutique than ever after watching that, but I am sure the next game will go so much smoother.
I have to say this is one of the things I have been most excited about since the whole 40k charted thing
Looking forward to the next one
I think if I am ever to play the game after this this what I am going to do at the start of the session. Just play this…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNLc8dHv0Ac
two minutes and thirty seconds that you have to watch, it is just beautiful.
Errors in any game are always possible. But I think sometimes in the case of this game the errors can come in just because of people getting too ahead of themselves while having fun. But the reality is the game is quite simple.
The main hurdle for people is getting too fixated on a few survivors, rather than thinking about the big picture.
But isn’t that a bit of the goal? Getting people invested in their characters? They see themselves as extensions of themselves.
Still looks complex
I am looking forward to the next one
Actually no. And this is seen in the later videos, when it click with Warren that we are the gods of the settlement, and we are invested in are survivors in that manner. Rather than seeing ourselves are a particular survivor in the game.
Yeah @doctorether is right, this series shows the game taking over our minds and things clicking, and getting serious as we become more absorbed by it.
They will all come in quick succession in a few weeks
I meant with the whole naming thing, you know you get extra survival and so on, that your meant to have some sort of attachment from them, not they are you.
An extension not them self.
It is almost like a roleplaying game with rules for building and managing a settlement.
Does sound like it @limburger it seems to be closer to that than, ‘just’ a board game
Been waiting for you guys to do this for a long time can’t wait until the next vid as It will show more of the game and not just the intro do wish you guys had used more of the narrative from the book as I do feel it adds a lot.
Brilliant! Thanks for this gentlemen, I certainly am gonna back this in November!
Not only are the miniatures absolutely fantastic, it also seems a great game promising countless hours of entertainment of the best kind.
For a tabletop simulation of beating a lion to death, then tearing it apart, that was splendid.
Yeah I regret not backing this.
I know its not quiet the same sort of game but this did not hit the same spot as mythic battles for me. I never got past the first 10 minutes it was just rule after rule it lacked a natural flow but I will give it a second chance and watch the full video.
A great deal of this become rote after this first session, which will become obvious in the later videos. If this was not a co-op game, then yes, the amount of different rules would make the game too slow and not fun.
Its also a very different game as we discover over the course of the series. Monster is a deep story telling machine, that tells the story of a small group of frightened and lost folk, who are clinging on to life by tiny threads… but through love, discovery and a bit of courage those founding mothers and fathers can create a community who can fight back the darkness and even take a modicum of control over their lives.
To make this work its requires a process, but its definately one that clicks on the second or third game, as we discovered as things started to get very real
I can’t tell whether it was unintentional, or if Warren was intentionally being cheeky using phrases like “taking the lion from behind,” “do I have to fist him?” or “go in with your mouth.”
However, he’s now ruined this game for me.
Warren: “So I will attack the Lion in the rear”
“Can I use my founding stone…or do I have to fist him!”
Kingdom death monster is the most atmospheric game on the market and of coarse the most beautiful. their miniatures are just stunning, setting the standard in the industry period and light years ahead of the usual PVC you find in board games. the game is a work of art if nothing else.
uncompromising in its vision and execution, so refreshing to see when compared to the games we so often see that compromise their vision in accord with their boardroom agenda. the imagination that goes into each and every monster is phenomenal, everything else is cliché by comparison. the way the narrative unfolds is likewise top notch and the art is to die for.
I don’t get the criticism of investing in characters only to see them die, that’s the point your supposed to feel the loss. to me this just adds to the realism of the experience. people die and fate and ill fortune can take you in an instant. there is supposed to be the sword of Damocles hanging over you, you are supposed to fear the horror that awaits around every corner.
It confronts all the issues other games shy away from on so many levels. the things that are being highlighted as weaknesses are in fact some of its strengths.
as for variety of monsters the game has 12 expansions and this is just the beginning. the options are already large and set to become enormous. this is before we get to the lantern festival and all the promise of town building, can’t wait for that.
the settlement phase is again miles ahead of anything else right now.
this game more than any other for me shows the future of miniatures games. it is building its world from the ground up and driven by the narrative. this characterful way of exploring the world in an interactive way will give an extremely immersive experience. the world building explored in monster will lead into the hero game that is to follow. this will add layers on top of layers of experiential involvement. Adam has mentioned kingdom death going to war at some point, which will complete the circle. it will blow your socks off playing in a world that has been built from the ground up in an experiential narrative driven way.
Well done to Adam and everyone at Kingdom death for giving us something truly refreshing, ground breaking and beautiful. well done to beasts of war for show casing the game and well done to @doctorether for putting himself out there, solidarity my mate.
Only one reason not to get kingdom death , its outside your price range. other than this if you only back one game this year make it kingdom death monster.
can’t wait for the next one
I agree with every word of this
This game is addictive, in that the desire to grow your community and see what happens to them is sooo strong.
And the choices it forces upon you can be quite harrowing (as playing a game goes) the fun of the fight is not the heart of this game, the heart is in the hunt and the settlement building
After the kid got her treats, now here is mine
This looks to be a very good game. I don’t know if it is a hundreds of dollars good game for me (I don’t think it would get enough time from me). I am glad Beasts of War did a Let’s Play of it. I wouldn’t mind a bunch more episodes at this level of production value so I can experience the world vicariously as I definitely want to know what is up with the lanterns, the darkness, where the survivors came from and how did they get there.
The game looks amazing. Now all I need is to sell my Conan Kickstarter so I can afford it heh.
At work now but looking forward to watching this when painting tonight
Thank you Chris and BoW for this, I had no idea this game was so interesting. It’s the one kickstarter I regret not backing after seeing so many beautiful painted models.
That was a lot of fun to watch and I’m looking forward to your settlements story unfolding.
I’ve been lucky enough to get my hands on kingdom death, but I haven’t had a game yet as I still have to finish painting the models. The beautiful sculpts justice scream for the best paint job I can manage.
That was a lot of fun to watch and I’m looking forward to your settlements story unfolding.
I’ve been lucky enough to get my hands on kingdom death, but I haven’t had a game yet as I still have to finish painting the models. The beautiful sculpts justice scream for the best paint job I can manage.
Magnetizing the survivors would be great to show the equipment they are carrying, but I believe this would be incredibly time consuming to pull off and may well reduce the overall esthetics of the models. But I’ll have to hunt for some examples of people doing so.
Airbrushing light effects is also something I have to look into. With all the lanterns this really would add to the models. I would love John showing of the ins and outs of this and I’m hoping this will happen, as you mentioned giving kingdom death the cel-shading treatment with additional lighting effects.
It’s sad that they haven’t got a proper distribution network in place in the EU, as it makes the models even more expensive, but I hope I can use the upcoming Kickstarter to add to my set.
I’ve magnetized my core set armor kits as well as all current expansion armor kits. Once you get into the flow, it doesn’t take too much time – I think i did the entire core set during a weekend and a day off. For me it is absolutely worth it, and I would have done it again, but yes, there are valid concerns with the esthetics (can look actionfiguery) and also some weapons are too top-heavy for the wrist-magnets and can lead some frustration
@timelesseye: Thanks for the feedback. I’ll have another look at magnetisation options. I might go for magnetised arms including weapons to avoid the action figure look. In any case good to hear that it is possible without to much effort.
Really enjoyed this, thanks BOW team and especially @doctorether
Going to make not backing the next Kickstarter almost impossible……
Out of curiosity how tall are the survivors foot to top of head in mm?
32mm I think. https://www.instagram.com/p/BIv2w9VjgIJ/