Thames & KosmosBrutal Kingdom Game

I would like to start off by saying my entire family adores the game 'Love Letters'. We've played it, I kid you not, hundreds of time over the years. But this is a review of 'Brutal Kingdom', why are you talking about 'Love Letters'? This is why, even though we are smitten with 'Love Letters' (LL), 'Brutal Kingdom' (BK) has taken it's place for us.Even though I compare BK to LL, they are very different games. They have a similar mechanic, each character has special abilities, and a comparable playing time, but the similarities stops there. LL requires simple deduction and some light strategy, but BK needs a lot more to be good. You have devise a strategy for the cards that you drafted. You need to keep track of who has what cards, what the turn order will be for each round, and manage global resources to make sure you're not left at the end of the game with useless tokens. Personally I think our entire family can play LL in our sleep. It's fun, but there isn't too much thinking involved. BK on the other hand, every game is a battle. We're constantly trying out new strategies and trying to figure the best cards to play together for the strongest hand. Sometimes we talk about the round we've just played longer than it took to play it!I can whole heartedly recommend this game for anyone who enjoys card games. It's quick, engaging, and inexpensive. What more could you want?

I was intrigued by the anthropomorphic vulture on the cover and that each card has a special power that somehow ties in to the animal...It's basically like Love Letter...but with more strategy. I don't care for witch tokens or whatever tokens - that makes the game seem dated. I strongly dislike anything that uses the word "influence" because it reminds me of the King Louis XIV game - which is an O.K. game but I hate the idea of influence tokens because it is weakly thematic; it's just a tool a designer uses to give the game substance without putting more thought into making thematic actions.Also, the graphics aren't that amazing. I think there is a video reviewer who said the art was amazing or whatever...the animal draws themselves are fine...but the images on the tokens are dated, the map of the "food chain" is outdated and could have been done way better. The game is older and it shows.If a friend were to ask me for a game recommendation, this is not the top of the list. I would definitely recommend the newer edition of the Love Letter game. Love Letter is simpler, but more fun to play, because it's easier to get into character.

This is a great game of trick-taking and outmaneuvering your opponents. In Brutal Kingdom you fight for power while avoiding making yourself a target to your greedy opponents. Playing powerful cards can bring great rewards, but also puts you at greater risk to fall. The game contains some great rock-paper-scissors mechanics which often lend themselves to fun take-that action. The game is easy to learn and teach and plays in about half an hour. It plays in 4 rounds, called chapters, and even if a player makes mistakes in the first couple rounds they have a chance to come back and win big. Like most trick taking games, it plays best with 4 players, but works okay with three. The artwork of the game is beautiful, filled with remarkable animals playing the court to their own advantage, which was a big selling point for me. I would highly recommend this game for family game night or any other get together of people who enjoy the thrill of backstabbing their friends just as the friends were about to win big.

Brutal Kingdom is a really good card game for those who enjoy games like Coup (and/or Love Letter). It's basically a combination of those two games... It's both a deduction game (where you try and figure out who has what cards) and a strategy game. The strategy especially comes into play when trying to determine which "influence points" (multi-colored victory points) to go for. The game box says 14+ but my 12 year old had no problem picking it up after a round. I'd very highly recommend this game for the price point! PS-- We absolutely love the artwork as well, it's fantastic and the cards are large size which is great!

Pros:I really like the artwork.Builds on a solid paradigm (Love Letter), with a few more layers for added depth.Price is good at $10-12Cons:Unlike LL, will take several playing to assess best card combos, and may not be enough fun to keep interest longer than that.The greater amount of player interaction really only works well with four players.Too heavy to be a 'filler'. too light for a 'feature'All in all : Buy it if you like this type of game. It only takes a few playings to get your money's worth.

If you like Love Letter this is a somewhat more advanced version.

Great game! The instructions seemed a bit wordy/complicated, but watched a youtube video on how to play and it's really pretty simple. Each game consists of 4 rounds ("chapters"), and takes 10-15 minutes.Like the other reviewer said, it is similar to Love Letters.The artwork is great, very nicely done.I've been pretty impressed by the games Kosmos is putting out.

I'm a hardcore board game fan and love this small little game. It's a bit difficult to grab the sense in the first game but afterwards, everyone should form their strategy already. Needs a lot calculation and memory but still fun! If all the players played this before, the game time will be less 20 minutes.

Estratégico. La experiencia de juego que crearon es muy buena. Es un juego que disfrutarás mucho si te gustan juegos como Beasty Bar, Mascarade o Citadels. Aunque no es de roles ocultos, el drafting y la duda dan una sensación similar.