Review
THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIfE TO THE KING
MAJESTY
FOR THE REALM
Marc André follows the success of his “Splendor” with this new game where you should acquire cards in order to get the best “combos” at the end of the game. It is easy enough to be explained and learned in a few minutes with the “simple” version, but bitter and competitive if played with the advanced rules. Its length (around 30 minutes) is perfect to start a long evening with a short game or to make … revenge play more than once.
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Picture 1 shows all the components: 4 series of 8 “building” cards (one for each player), two decks of smaller cards (the Personalities), a handful of white wood meeples, and 70 tokens in different values (1-2-10-50-100) to be used as Victory Points (VP). All those components are strong and easy to use: probably it should be better to protect the cards with transparent sleeves as they are manipulated a lot.
The players lay on the table their 8 “building” cards in order and in a single row: if you look look at Picture 2 you may note that on the bottom left of the cards is printed the letter “B”, for use in the advanced game. Side “A” of the buildings is usually played in a family game or with children.
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Bitte so groß wie möglich
As you see, every card has a “NAME” (on top, printed on a wooden board) a “COLOUR” (orange, grey, violet, light blue, red, green, yellow and brown: you have them in this order on the picture), a drawing that shows the “picture” of the building, a bonus/malus (VP gained or lost, etc.) a number from 1 to 8 (for the initial set up) and another that tells you how many VP you will get at the end if you have the majority of the appropriate personalities under that card.
The personality cards come in two different decks (named “1” and “2”); you first mix deck 2 and you place it on the table. Then deck 1 is formed (the number of its cards depend on the number of players), mixed and superposed to deck 2. Then SIX cards are turned and placed in a row near the deck.
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Every player now receives a “workers” card and 5 meeples: the card with the red flag determine the First Player. Finally, the remaining meeples and the VP tokens are placed in the middle of the table, easy to reach for every player.
We are ready to start, and the table will appear as in picture 4
Picture 4 – The table after the set up
On his turn, the player MUST take one of the six exposed personality cards, placing it under the related building. The first card on the left of the row is always “free”, but if you wish to take another card you must place one worker on each preceding one: taking the third card, for example, will cost you TWO meeples, one each on the first and second. One you placed your new card under the related building you take its bonus (if any) and then you move leftwards the remaining cards in the row before filling the gap with a new one from the deck.
Some cards show two personalities and you decide which one you will use: once decided you cannot change that decision anymore. If you can take those “double” cards you surely gain in flexibility, of course, and you avoid giving this advantage to your opponents. Note that you may add as many personalities as you wish under each building, and this means that you will have increasing bonus and a better chance to obtain a majority at the end of the game, too.
But the rules also state that you may be rewarded with extra VP if you place cards under the maximum number of buildings: with five buildings, for example, you will get 5x5 = 25 VP; with 6 buildings 6x6 = 36 VP, and so on. Therefore, the most used strategy (at least during our tests) was to try to place one card under all the seven buildings in the first half of the game, then try to reinforce some of them to get a majority there.
Building Nr. 8 is the Infirmary (grey) and is not used like the other: here the “wounded” personalities (see below) will be displaced during the game, waiting to be treated: every card here at the end of the game will cost you 2 VP and if you have the … majority you will also lose an extra 10 VP.
Even if the Realm is quite calm, in general, it may happen that some of the pretenders become aggressive: in game terms this means that every Knight placed under the Barrack (red building) will immediately attack all the other players with an ATTACK STRENGHT equal to the total number of knights in that barrack. The opponents must compare this attack to their DEFENSE STRENGHT (the number of Guards that they have under their tower). If the Attack Strength is higher the player will lose the leftmost card (wounded) and must move it to the Infirmary; usually Miller or Brewer. If the attack is equal or lower the nothing happens.
This means that it is often necessary to try to get 1-2 Guards in the first phases of the game, just to avoid problems …
To treat the wounded personalities, you need to place a Witch in the cottage: every card here will give you 3 VP and will treat a wounded, that will come back under the related building.
The game ends when all the players have 12 personality cards under their buildings: you add now the VP for each majority and subtract those for the Lazaretto cards. The higher score wins the game and the owner will surely become King.
As we have seen Majesty: For the Realm is not a complex game and may be explained to a wide number of players without having to read long rules. The box states that the game is also for children from 7 years on and I agree with this information: we tested it in a table with only children and after a first game to learn rules and mechanics they were quite interested. Of course, initially they played mostly to attack the opponents with the Knights, but in second game they already changed strategy and searched for the best combinations of cards. Anyway, if you wish to play with children I always suggest starting with the “A” side because the “combos” are easier to memorize and resolve
A few suggestions: during the game try to place at least one personality per building because if you succeed you will get 49 VP at the game’s end (not bad at all !!!). Then try to have the majority in at least 2-3 buildings (24-30 VP) as it is very unlikely to succeed to get more than then WHILE having also a personality in every building.
Possibly take a Guard on the first couple of turns (just to be safe is someone else will attach with a Knight) and eventually a second one if you feel that one of the opponents will try an aggressive strategy. Losing too often a personality because of the knights is a loss of time (to recover them from the Infirmary) and will reduce your chances to proceed with your initial strategy or to get majorities.
Of course, the opposite is also valid: if you have to possibility to get a Knight in the first couple of turns take it: there are only two of them in the deck “1” (but seven on deck “2) and if they appear early you may give a very hard “lesson” to all your opponent.
In short: a very nice game for everybody, “bitter” enough (mainly with the advanced version) also for expert players.
Pietro Cremona
Players: 2-4
Age: 7+
Time: 40+
Designer: Marc André
Artist: Anne Heidsieck, Andreas Resch
Price: ca. 30 Euro
Publisher: Hans im Glück 2017
Web: www.hans-im-glueck.de
Genre: Set collecting
Users: For families
Version: de
Rules: cn cz dk de en es fi fr it jp kr nl no pl se
In-game text: no
Comments:
Short playing time
Good interaction among players
Good rules
Compares to:
Set collection games
Other editions:
My rating: 6
Pietro Cremona:
A nice game for players of all age, easy to teach and short to play, but with interesting combinations to realize.
Chance (pink): 1
Tactic (turquoise): 2
Strategy (blue): 1
Creativity (dark blue): 0
Knowledge (yellow): 0
Memory (orange): 1
Communication (red): 0
Interaction (brown): 2
Dexterity (green): 0
Action (dark green): 0