Crusader Kings, the board game: a look at the Kickstarter

Paradox Interactive it is famous for its real-time strategy video games, certainly not for board games. Apparently, however, he has recently decided to launch himself on the board game market and propose the transposition of one of his best known titles on Kickstarter, Crusader Kings, Together with Free League Publishing. The campaign (here the link to follow it) has started since May 19th and, with more than 3500 backers, has already reached and exceeded 250.000 euros, well over the 48.000 required to start the project. If you are curious to know more, here is a brief overview about this new, interesting, proposal.

What it is: a few words about the mechanics

In Crusader Kings, The board game, 3 to 5 players will lead a dynasty and must lead it to victory by building castles, planning wars, weddings and intrigues. The intent seems to be to simplify the basic principles of the video game, capture its essence and condense it into a playful experience of about 3 hours. Among the materials we find a common map, 5 personal boards with relative dynasty boards, a considerable number of cards and as many as 70 miniatures. The game mechanics seem to be based on the choice of action cards, which determine both what the player will do during his turn (conspiracy, war, marriage, construction, invasion, taxes, troop formation or, of course, crusades!) And events that will happen, which can affect the player who played the card or an opponent. The "traits" of the characters, characteristic of the video game, have also been implemented in the board game but in a particular way: each dynasty is in possession of a certain number of green (positive) and red (negative) tokens; the traits will be placed in a bag and fished to verify the success of some actions and can also be purchased with gold. The events will also determine the birth of the heirs, who will succeed at the head of the dynasty where the main character dies.

First impressions

How do you summarize and transpose a complex video game like Crusader Kings in a board game? This was my first thought as soon as I saw the campaign. The idea is fantastic and certainly has struck a lot of people considering the numbers achieved and given the fact that there are still more than two weeks to go. The board game is enriched with miniatures, which lately are also found where not strictly necessary (see the Cool Mini or Not re-edition of the Council of Four), but which are increasingly popular. A look at the game mechanics suggests that it is not a game in itself complex, even if deep and with an important diplomatic component. The comparison between Crusader King, The Board Game and its digital predecessor: Will Paradox and Free League Publishing manage to create a board game that can hold its own?

All that remains is to follow the campaign and, while waiting to test the board game, I will continue my game of Crusader Kings 2.