New year new me, same old plan 12 games 12 months so here we go!
First post is a bit late in this topic since we have the end of March, though I already played some new games so hopefully we will catch up!
Bunny Kingdoms
Components
Everything is nicely done and give off a premium feeling, even though the game is at a standard price tag. The box easily holds the base game, all cards in sleeves and the first expansion (and hopefully the second mini one too). However if you don’t have the expansion the box feels a bit empty and components tend to mover around when carrying the game since there is too much of free space. Thankfully one of the dividers is lower, so at least the game board stays in place inside of the box and keeps the components from falling out.
When it comes to cards they are all standard size, of good thickness (3.2mm) and quality, however since you use them a lot I personally would suggest sleeving them as soon as possible, since being able to tell which cards are where takes a lot from the gameplay. Tokens and “cities” are quite creative and thanks to them kingdoms look really good at the end.
Set-up
Set-up is quite fast you just fold out the game board, place the starting cities and your bunnies on the score track. Afterwards just put the tokens and castle next to the board and you are done with it. Most time will be lost on card dealing for each round, especially if you play in two.
Rules
You would expect a quick and small rulebook for such game, but due to examples and many graphics its actually 12 pages long. Rules of the game are quite simple you deal the cards, draw one discard another. After this phase you build and score points and repeat the whole process three times. However there are some constrains that you need to understand like what’s a kingdom and what’s a territory etc. for scoring and especially for the end game parchment cards. Because of those I would actually say it’s a learn as you go type of game.
Expansion adds additional board, with also tax coins as additional resource, which actually have a really mundane set of rules you need to remember.
Gameplay
There is a 45 minute mark on the box, however I would say it only works this way if you have a party that understand the rules. There are too many parchment cards that might need explaining. Apart from the downtime while deciding on the cards there is no really other things that would extend the gameplay.
As mentioned in the rules section the gameplay overall is quite simple after drawing a card and passing the stack in clockwise or counterclockwise (unless you play the 2 person variant). After the passing deck is empty, you reveal the cards (unless they are parchments those you leave till the end) and do the action assigned to them. Next you score the points and prepare for the next round. There are no additional actions or moves that can be made during those phases unless a card you picked say so. Because of that the gameplay tends to be strategic in two totally ways – you either take the cards that might be good for your opponents and obstruct them, or you concentrate on following as many strategies as possible scoring the points as early as possible. Of course there is also a mix of both and some other minor strategies, but those two were the main ones in our games.
There are no characters/leaders or powers in the game, so the strategy in never predetermined at the start and it is always unique per each game played due to how the cards rotate.
There is no negative interaction in the game, apart from being able to take the land, where someone placed a camp or by simply taking cards they need on your turn.
Expansion adds several new things to make the gameplay fresh. First of all it extends the game board with new spots to colonize. However it also adds new parchments making new strategies possible, some more resources to make the combos bigger and thanks to all of that also a possibility of an additional player.
Game is designed for 2 to 5 people with the expansion (2-4 base game). I played it in 2, 3 and 4 player configuration and in my opinion the more players the better the game gets. There is a bit more positive chaos and much more strategic thinking while picking cards, since there is a smaller chance something will come back to you if you pass it on. Also there are more bunnies on the map, which add a nice visual aspect to the whole thing.
Score
- Overall 8/10 – If you play this game from time to time you will never get bored. If there were some more mechanics to interact with other players or the map could be a random/modular it would be a 10.
- Coming back 7/10 – There are many possible strategies to follow and you can mix them or even pretend to play while doing something else, which keeps the game fresh.
- Fun factor 8/10 – There is a satisfying feeling when connecting all of those kingdoms and seeing those points amass
Will it stay or go? – It’s a stay, and hopefully a new addon will upgrade the score.
