Kingdom Death Cult

You’ll normalise a lot of things in the Kingdom Death...

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Great stuff. Thanks for the write-up.
As a horror hound with a wee wallet - I chose to invest in one big horror system. I chose Cthulhu Wars instead of Kingdom Death.
For the most part, I'm pleased with that decision.
Though I didn't realize the true terror of CW until I had to store it: it's the bloat. So. Much. Bloat. In hindsight, I think I would have been happier had I just stuck with the core game. The extra factions, maps, independents, variants... It's all neat at first. And then.... It's not.
Does Kingdom Death really need the expansion material?

Sounds like glorious madness.

The expansions aren't necessary but they add a great deal of variety, especially early on in the campaign if you're running your third or fourth attempt. It's the kind of game that attracts and engulfs obsessives though so you'll find a lot of people are enamoured enough after taking the initial plunge to go deeper into both the game and their wallets.

Cthulu Wars looks cool I must admit, and i'd be keen to give it a shot however to me it seemed like another entry in a seemingly endless parade of games that crib from Lovecraft (at least at a surface level), whereas KDM is wilfully and defiantly it's own thing. For better or worse. Better=unique, memorable world. Worse= Cringey side gig Pin-Up models

Well given 'Insanity' is one of the primary character attributes (and a largely beneficial one at that) I'd say you're right on the money!

KDM was in a lot of videos and articles I saw over the Christmas break about miniatures painting. That's not a game, that's a lifestyle.

My brother spent a pile of money on both Cthulhu Wars and Too Many Bones over the summer, simultaneously. For sheer cool factor though, he should have went for Kingdom Death.

The KDM fandom reminds me of Twin Peaks fandom in some ways... just open to goddamn anything, and I love it.

Very nicely written article. Thank you!

Aside from the painstaking putting together of the minis, I enjoyed the play and ridiculousness of this game more than Gloomhaven. If they had a cardboard version for half the price, I'd probably be on board.

Yeah it certainly invaded my life. I never thought I'd be a 'mini's guy' and yet here we are with a stained tabletop and frayed brushes. It has a presence like few others.

It reminds me of the Dark Souls community as well. There's a lot to get your teeth into and at the same time, a lot of room for speculation so people just go hog wild in plastering the cracks with their projections. It's awesome.

Well Gloomhaven was the game that actually got be back into the hobby after a sizeable absence, but it was KDM that cemented it. It occupies a pretty lofty perch in terms of the ridiculous factor (on all fronts) and that's a huge part of the appeal. It;s also way less repetitive than GH. I totally think it could work with standees. I enjoy games with chits as much as i do minis if the atmosphere is there. But you have to admit, as far as mini's go, KDM's are spectacularly badass.

Can it be played solo ?

Yeah, it just means you get to do all of the bookkeeping

Yeah man there's a lot of people who play solo. The book-keeping (which is already pretty intense) would be increased but it would mean you could really dig into the strategies without compromise and there are also apps like KDM Scribe that can take care of it for you. Personally i think it would lose something without people to share the stories with but there's a big community out there.