Welcome to the strange and silly world of Kings & Things*
That little askerisk at the end is important and the cover of the box lists all the creatures represented by that little askerisk!

So begins the rulebook and you know you are going to enjoy this game. Take the first Historical Note:
Once the lands of Kadab were blessed with really nice weather. We mean really nice. It was so nice that people (and Things) came from all over the world to settle down and soak up the sun. Then an accident destroyed Yazilik University, the empire's centre of magical and learning power. Well, when the old school went boom in the year 250 it released several conflicting fertility spells which changed the climate and complexion of the land. Frozen wastelands are now in close proximity to steaming swamps and vast deserts are adjacent to verdant plains.

I know Tom Wham's humour isn't for everyone, but I love it!

As you can gather, the game doesn't use a regular board. Instead, as in games like Settlers of Catan, you make the 'board' yourself from tiles. There are seven different types of terrain (and the sea) over which you will battle over. On your way to becoming king (and winning) you must assemble armies of whatever creatures are willing to join your cause. Little racks are provided to store your Things on that are waiting in the wings, as well as storing your treasures and spells you've gained.

Before play, all the Things are placed into a large cup from which they will be randomly drawn from during play. (Don't forget to punch them out first). Also, the special characters, forts, control markers and gold are put to one side.

Next, the board is assembled by laying the tiles down to form a hexagon four tiles to a side. Each player then places 3 of their control markers on the board to start off their little kingdom. You also start with a tower in your kingdom, 10 gold and 10 Things, the latter drawn from the cup. These can then be placed in your kingdom, face down. The cup also contains special income counters, magic items and treasures.

During play, each phase is completed in turn order, before moving onto the next phase of play. These phases are as follows:

Gold collection - you get 1 gold for each land, gold equal to value of each fort, gold from special income counters ( such as Elephant Graveyard (3) and Peat Bog (1)) and one gold for each special character.

Recruit Character - Special Characters are the super-heroes of the game. Each counter is double-sided so only half of these guys are ever available. When one dies, the counter is flipped and the other guy gets a chance to play. To get these guys, you have to roll greater than their doubled combat value. Gold can be used to modify the die roll, which is just as well as the more powerful characters need you to roll 12 or more on two dice! The benfit of these characters varies. More of this later.

Recruit Things - This is a fantasy game and the creatures in the game for you to recruit are very diverse, such as Flying Buffalo, Dinosaur, Sphinx, Swamp Rat and Killer Penguin - each illustrated with one of Tom Whams wacky drawings.
You get a free draw from the cup for every two land hexes you control, rounded up. In addition, you can buy recruits for 5 gold each, up to 25 golds worth. You can also trade unused counters on your rack at 2 for 1. These are then deployed on the board.
Creatures are deployed face-down. Creatures need support. If you don't have its terrain type in your kingdom, it can still be deployed, but it is a bluff. If no-one notices its a bluff then it fights for you, but if a player notices its a bluff, then it goes back to the cup. If you gain its terrain type, then its no longer a bluff.

Random Events - Each player gets to play a random event chit they may have drawn from the cup. There are ten of these, such as Vandals who go and trash a fort level, or Dark Plague which can cause everyone to lose creatures in play.

Movement - Creatures move up to four hexes. In practice, creatures seldom do this, as moving into an uncontrolled hex halts movement. You then need to discover what defenders that hex has by rolling a d6. on a 1 or 6 its undefended and you can claim it. On a 2-5 there are that many Things drawn from the cup. Also, entering an enemy hex with creatures that have a combat value also halts movement.

Combat - You roll equal to or less than a creatures combat value for it to hit. Each player does this before losses. Then the number of hits are applied to each army and units removed. Each unit can only take one hit. Its a little more complex than this as each combat round has a Magic, Ranged, Melee and retreat step. In battle, creatures use magic, missile and melee in that order to attack. Thereis no blood-shed. Defeated creatures just wander back to the cup, to be called into service again when The Big Hand grabs them and recruits them again.

Construction - Got gold left? Now you can build up your forts. Forts begin as Towers, and for 5 gold can be raised a level to become Keeps, Castles and finally Citadels. Be the only player with a Citadel and you win, but you can't build it until you have an income of 20 or more (or 15 in a 2 or 3 player game).

Special Powers - Remember the special characters? This phase is when they go into action if they have a special power. For example, the Master Thief and an opponent roll dice. If your roll is greater, you get to steal a counter from his rack or all his gold. Lose the roll, and your Master Thief goes back to the Character pool. Not only that, the counter gets flipped over too, so he won't be around for awhile.

Other special characters use their abilities during play. Terrain Lords give support to creatures of his terrain type, the Dwarf King doubles the income of mines, Baron Munchausen automatically causes one hit on enemy cities, villages and/or forts before combat begins. These guys are pretty powerful, but not unduly so that they unbalance the game.

SUMMARY:
I've played this several times, and there is usually a pretty close end game. Seldom does one player manage to romp away with the game and win before anyone else gets halfway to winning. I've always regretted that this game was never made into a six player game, by adding more tiles and creatures. I believe the game is now being made in Germany again. See the review at Kulkmann's G@mebox for more on this.
It's well worth getting hold of.

Review by Brian