Although that did turn some of my group members off the game, everyone agreed that the relevant information was presented on the cards well, which is probably the main thing. The artwork is attractive (although it is largely grotesque fantasy in nature) and there doesn’t appear to be a traditional “good” side to choose among the four.
Using the prebuilt decks had the opposite effect – games were closer to the original chess form, albeit still with a distinct flavour.Įveryone who played Eternal Kings and already enjoyed either chess, Magic or both found it to be a very interesting take on a classic system. To address this, I worked with my most experienced playtesting partner to create a piece by piece draft system, which undoubtedly resulted in some of the wackiest and most unpredictable games.
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My version of the game didn’t come with a manual (the retail release clearly will) and so I wasn’t sure how to handle the deckbuilding element of the game fairly. The specific focus of each deck becomes highly evident after several plays, meaning that players can either specialise with a prebuilt deck or attempt to mix the best of two (or more) other decks to create their own. There is much less predictability of outcome in Eternal Kings, largely because of access to special, asymmetrical powers and hidden cards and abilities. The combination of chess and complex card play is certainly interesting and it is, if nothing else, a different tactical proposition to vanilla chess. Examples of redcast card abilities include those that can add hit points to an adjacent ally, effectively saving them from death on some occasions. The design team made a sensible decision in not making these cards too powerful, so it is rare that they will affect the board more directly than the pieces themselves. These cards can increase strength or hit points, place traps on the board or do similar things. Most redcast abilities are found on the action cards that are drawn from an offboard deck of sixteen cards.
This is important because whilst most abilities can only be cast during the active player turn (whitecast) some are redcast, which means that they can be cast at any time, which can affect the outcome of combat. Whenever a card is exhausted in this way, it will not usually be refreshed until it is moved again, although it is still able to defend itself based on its standard hit point value. Usually, this is intended to allow that card to use its printed ability, so whilst the game does allow for powerful and complex sequences and highly strategic gameplay, it is basically very simple to play. In terms of how the game plays, pieces move exactly like they do in chess, with the exception of very occasional omissions or changes (like the absence of En Passant.) One piece is moved each turn and when it is activated, it can be flipped to its exhausted side to gain the amount of discipline shown. Each card can also be exhausted (turned over) to gain discipline, which allows the player to activate abilities on the cards themselves, or to activate action cards that are held in the players’ hand. Firstly, each card has a strength and a hit point value which is used to resolve combat.
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There are four decks of cards provided, each of which includes a full set of cards to represent traditional chess pieces, albeit with a few twists. In my version, the board is printed onto a large, canvas map which makes it easy to slide cards around on. The game is played on an eight by eight board with alternating white and black checkerboard spaces. I should note that the version I played was a pre-production copy, although it is clearly fairly representative of the final build. I’ve been testing Eternal Kings for about two months now, and I finally feel as if I’ve played enough to comment on whether or not he’s been successful. Given that chess has been around for thousands of years and even Magic has undergone more than twenty years of iterative improvements, Eternal Kings designer Rolando Issa certainly has big shoes to fill. The latest tech news, global tech news daily, tech news today, startups, usa tech, asia tech, china tech, eu tech, global tech, in-depth electronics reviews, 24h tech news, 24h tech news, top mobile apps, tech news daily, gaming hardware, big tech news, useful technology tips, expert interviews, reporting on the business of technology, venture capital funding, programing language