Readers familiar with England in the late Middle Ages are familiar with the Wars of the Roses in which supporters of the Lancasters fought against supporters of the Yorks to win control of the English throne. Both sides descended from the same family of monarchs and both had a rose as part of some sort of insignia (which they carried alongside their family arms). The Yorks carried a white rose and the Lancasters carried a red rose. This very complex family feud is an important part of British history, but it is not easily explained on a single A4 The. Fortunately, The Rose King is a very manageable and abstract account of the conflict.
The Rose King is part of the LBoard series by Korean publisher Playte. We wrote reviews about these particular releases of games before. With the LBoard series, the game box is an inseparable part of the gaming experience. The boxes fold out into an L-shape that can be used as (among other things) the game board as in the game Can’t Stop. Playte also provides reissues of classic games with their LBoard series, but with the special game material.
The Rose King is also a reissue of a classic game. The game distributor has previously published the above-mentioned theme (without the handy LBoard, of course), but also previously published the game Texas, where not English princes, but farmers/major landowners in Texas make life difficult for each other.
The Rose King is an abstract strategy game in which players must conquer territories to score points. The larger your territories are, the more points you earn. In fact, for each area of orthogonally connected squares, you receive as many points per square multiplied by the number of squares. Thus, for an area of 5 squares, a player receives 25 points.
At the beginning of game, players unfold the game board (a.k.a. the game box). They unfold the small game board as well, and it snaps onto the large game board thanks to the magnet to form a larger board together. Players place the crown in the center of the game board, shuffle the action cards and place the double-sided chits in reach. Players receive 4 special cards and draw 5 action cards. Action cards players always place open in front of them in the orientation of the crown. During a turn, a player can take one of three possible actions: play an action card, draw an action card (if a player has fewer than five action cards in front of him) or discard an action card along with a special card.
By playing an action card, players move the crown as shown on the cards. The crown must be able to complete the amount of steps depicted and may not be moved from the game board or placed on top of a token. At the spot where the crown lands, the player places a chit in their color to show that they have captured the square. If a player cannot or does not want to play an action card, they can draw an action card during their turn. Players can also play a special card and discard an action card to turn over a tile on the board and then move the crown there.
The game is over when on the board or when both players cannot use action cards and each player also has five cards in front of them. The player with the most points wins. The Rose King is a surprisingly tactical and abstract puzzle. Players try to thwart each other, but at the same time puzzle together a large field. Because the cards are face up, you know what the other player might play, so you can anticipate. A tactical and smooth game!
