The King's Guild

Run a fantasy guild, craft gear, send heroes on quests and out-prestige your rivals before the king dies.

Designer: Matthew Austin
Published by: Mirror Box Games

The old king is dying, and the realm of Greycastle will be ruled by a guild, not by a family. In The King's Guild you lead one of those guilds and try to become the most renowned one before the Council of the Wise convenes. On your turn you pick a single action: gather resources for your warehouse, craft gear for your heroes, send those heroes on quests for treasure, or upgrade the guild by hiring unique specialists and adding rooms. Each choice feeds the next, so it is an engine that you build around the characters you recruit. It plays from solo to six, and a full session takes a couple of hours around the table.

One action per turn, each feeding the nextHeroes, gear and quests for treasureGuild upgrades with unique characters and rooms

Who it's for

You enjoy a medium-heavy fantasy management game and like to plan a few turns ahead, solo or with up to five others.

Not for you if…

You want a quick game or tense player conflict. This is a two-hour build-up where you mostly optimize your own guild.

Vibe's take

A steady build-up where each turn is one clean choice, but the choices connect. You spend the first hour laying groundwork and the second hour watching it pay off.