Kingswood
Kingswood Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 5 Common Location boards
- 8 Special Location boards
- 1 "King's Tally" Scoring board
- 25 "Chapter I" Monster cards
- 17 "Chapter II" Monster cards
- 7 Guild cards
- 7 Guild Scoring markers
- 25 Sword tokens
- 25 Spellbook tokens
- 30 Heart tokens
- 30 Coin tokens
- 3 Adventurer meeples
- 1 King's Guard meeple
- 1 Starting Player marker
Setup
Village
- Find the Forest in the Common Location boards and place it face-up on the table to start your Village. Place the "King's Tally" Scoring board above it.
- Choose one Special Location board to use in this game. You can choose at random by shuffling them and taking the first one, or you can pick one in particular that you want to use.
- Add the chosen Special Location to the four remaining Common Location boards.
- Shuffle these five Location boards and deal them face-up on the table. Arrange them in a circle to create the Village, with the Forest at the bottom. Each Location has two adjacent Locations.
- Place one Adventurer meeple on the Tavern, one on the Blacksmith, and one on the Academy.
- Set the King's Guard meeple beside the Village, but not on any Location board.
- Place the Sword, Spellbook, Heart, and Coin tokens to the side as a general supply, within reach of all players,
Monsters
- Shuffle all of the "Chapter II" Monster cards and place them face-down in a temporary pile near the Forest.
- Look at the front of the "Chapter I" Monster cards. They're marked in the bottom right corner to show which cards to use with different numbers of players. Separate the cards into a pile for cards that have your number of players (those cards are "in"), and a pile for cards that don't have your number (those cards are "out"). For example, if you have three players, only include cards that have a "3" on them. Don't look for any other numbers.
- Return the pile of cards that are "out" to the box.
- Shuffle the pile of cards that are "in" and place them face-down on top of the "Chapter II" Monster cards. This forms the Monster deck.
- Reveal three cards from the Monster deck and place them face-up below the Forest.
Guilds
- Have each player choose a Guild card and gain tokens matching the starting resources shown on their card. (Note: if you choose Krom, two of your tokens start exhausted — face-down, with the gray side showing.)
- Give each player the Scoring marker matching their Guild.
- Give the Starting Player marker to the youngest player. That player takes the first turn, and play proceeds clockwise.
Goal
Defeat the monsters lurking in the Forest of Kingswood! Each monster you defeat increases your Fame, but requires resources — Swords, Spellbooks, Hearts, and Coins — so you must visit the different Village Locations to prepare before you venture into the Forest.
The player who has the Starting Player marker takes the first turn, and play proceeds in clockwise order.
Once a player reaches 20 Fame, play continues until everyone has had an equal number of turns, then the game ends. Whoever has earned the most Fame after their final turn is the winner!
Resources
The resources you use to defeat monsters are Swords, Spellbooks, Hearts, and Coins.
Coins are money — you gain them for doing work, and spend them to pay for what you need. When you spend Coins, return them to the general supply.
Swords, Spellbooks, and Hearts are a bit different. They represent skills your Guild has attained. Each token has two sides — refreshed and exhausted.
When you use a skill resource to defeat a monster, you don't lose that resource permanently, you just flip it from the refreshed side to the exhausted side (Exhaust).
Later you can visit Locations in the Village to refresh your resources to use again (Refresh).
You can also gain more resources by visiting some Village Locations. When you pay to gain a resource, it starts on the refreshed side.
Taking a Turn
On your turn, choose between the Explore action or the Collect action. You must use one action, and only one.
Explore
- Choose any one of the three Adventurer meeples to use for your turn.
- You may use the ability of the Location where your chosen Adventurer starts.
- Move your Adventurer to an empty Location. You may move to a Location adjacent to the one where you started for no cost, or you may skip over one or more Locations (even if they are occupied) by immediately paying 1 Coin for each Location you skip. You can move in either direction around the circle, but you cannot skip directly across the middle. You cannot stop in a Location if another Adventurer or the King's Guard is already placed there.
- You may use the ability of the Location where your Adventurer stops.
- Place the King's Guard meeple on the Location where the Adventurer started.
When you Explore, you must always move an Adventurer from one Location to another. You must choose an Adventurer that you can move.
Remember: you can use the Location where your Adventurer starts, and the Location where your Adventurer stops.
Collect
- Remove the King's Guard meeple from its current Location and place it to the side.
- Gain 2 Coins from the supply.
If the King's Guard is not on a Location when it is your turn, you cannot take the Collect action and must Explore instead — you will place the King's Guard back on a Village Location at the end of your turn when you Explore.
Locations
Common Locations
There are five Common Locations, always used in every game of Kingswood.
Academy
Choose one:
- Pay 1 Coin to refresh all of your exhausted Spellbooks.
- Pay 1 Coin to gain a Spellbook token.
Blacksmith
Choose one:
- Pay 1 Coin to Refresh all of your exhausted Swords.
- Pay 1 Coin to gain a Sword token.
Tavern
Choose one:
- Pay 1 Coin to Refresh all of your exhausted Hearts.
- Pay 1 Coin to gain a Heart token.
Market
Gain 3 Coins.
Forest
When you enter the Forest, you may fight any number of the face-up monsters revealed there.
To fight a monster, exhaust Swords, Spellbooks, and Hearts equal to the icons shown on the Monster card, by flipping the tokens to their exhausted side.
You may also need to pay Coins to defeat a monster, by returning that number of Coins to the general supply.
After successfully defeating a monster, take its Monster card and place it face-up in front of you so that it is visible to all players. Some monsters give a bonus at game end. Others have a reward that you gain immediately, one time only.
You score the Fame points marked on the monster as soon as you defeat it. Place your Scoring marker on the "King's Tally" Scoring board when you first gain some Fame, and advance your marker to score the marked number of points each time you defeat a monster.
If you pass 20 points, flip your Scoring marker to the "+20" side and continue around the Scoring board.
At the end of your turn, always refill the Forest by revealing cards from the Monster deck until there are three monsters face-up. Since refilling the Forest is done only at the end of your turn, you cannot continue to attack the newly-revealed monsters.
Special Locations
There are eight Special Locations. Only one will be used in each game.
Bakery
You may do one or both:
- Refresh one Heart at no cost.
- Capture a monster from the Forest.
Game Parlor
Choose one:
- Pay 1 Coin to gain a Sword token.
- Pay 1 Coin to gain a Heart token.
Graveyard
Swap a monster you have defeated for a monster in the Forest that is worth 1 Fame more (not including any game end bonuses).
This will increase your Fame total — adjust your Scoring marker accordingly.
If the newly acquired monster has a reward, you do not gain that reward, but you do still get any game end bonuses.
King's Castle
You may do one or both:
- Refresh one Sword at no cost.
- Capture a monster from the Forest.
Manor House
Choose one:
- Refresh one Sword at no cost.
- Refresh one Spellbook at no cost.
Potion Shop
Pay 1 Coin to refresh one Heart, one Sword, and one Spellbook. You may use this ability even if you don't have an exhausted token of all three types.
Witch's Hut
Use the ability of the Location with the King's Guard meeple on it, as if you were there. You must still pay any costs of that Location.
Wizard's Tower
You may do one or both:
- Refresh one Spellbook at no cost.
- Reveal the top card of the Monster deck. You may immediately defeat it, using the resources needed in the usual way. If not, return the card to the top of the deck.
Capturing a Monster
Some abilities or Special Locations let you capture a monster. This allows you to keep that monster for yourself, to fight later. It is not the same as defeating the monster.
When capturing a monster, you can choose one that is revealed in the Forest, or draw the top card from the Monster deck (without looking first). Tuck that Monster card face-down under your Guild card, so that it doesn't get mixed up with the monsters you have defeated, and keep it secret.
If needed, refill the Forest as usual at the end of your turn.
Whenever it is your turn in the Forest, you may choose to defeat your captured monster in the usual way. If you do, add it to your defeated monsters and gain its reward.
You can still defeat other monsters in the Forest as normal in the same turn.
You cannot release your captured monster — you must defeat it before capturing another. You can only have one captured monster at a time.
If you do not defeat your captured monster by the end of the game, it is not counted for scoring.
Game End
Game end is triggered after any player reaches at least 20 Fame from the monsters they have defeated (not including any game end bonuses).
Play continues until the player to the right of the Starting Player has taken their turn, so that all players get to take an equal number of turns.
After adding any bonus Fame from your monster abilities, the player with the highest Fame wins!
If there is a tie, then the tied player with the highest number of Coins is the winner.
If still tied, the tied player with the highest total number of resources (counting Swords, Spellbooks, and Hearts, whether refreshed or exhausted) is the winner.
A Question
How many Hearts do I need to defeat the Iceball or the Fireball?
The broken heart symbol means you must lose a Heart token. You need three refreshed Heart tokens to defeat one of these monsters, so that you can exhaust two Hearts and lose the third back to the general supply. You cannot use an exhausted Heart token for this.
Solo Play
When only one Guild answers the King's call...
Since there are no other Guilds to compete with, there's no point fighting for Fame.
You must defend the Village alone, and do everything you can to prevent it from being overrun by monsters!
Take your turn as usual, by moving an Adventurer and using the abilities of both the starting and ending Locations, followed by placing the King's Guard to block the starting Location for next turn.
However, when there is only one Guild, the Forest begins with no monsters and is not automatically refilled. Instead, after completing your first turn without any monsters, reveal one card from the Monster deck at the start of each turn and add it to the Forest.
If there are ever four or more monsters in the Forest at the end of your turn, then the Village is overrun and your Guild fails.
Your Guild is victorious as soon as you defeat any two of the three mightiest beasts in the Forest — the Dragon, the Giant, or the Genie!
Credits
Designer: Henry Audubon Illustrations: Tristam Rossin Graphic Design: Thomas Holt, Tristam Rossin, Joel Finch Development & Producer: Chad Elkins Rulebook: Joel Finch, Kate Finch Additional Editing: David Ladyman
Special Thanks
From the Designer
Thanks to my mom for her endless generosity and encouragement, to Jeremy Bryson for 3D printing pieces for the original prototype, and to Chad Elkins for picking me up at the bus station at Proto ATL 2018.
From the Publisher
Steve Avery, Eugene Bryant, Brian Dunkel, Matthew Goeke, Thomas Holt, Scott Lootens, Jim Pridgen, and Andrew J. Smith.
All of our wonderful playtesters along the way.
Also, a special thank you to the Kickstarter backers who helped bring this project to life. And to Henry Audubon for having the confidence in 25th Century Games to let us share his design with the world.