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Kemet: Blood and Sand as you know is a game of area control using power tiles, divine intervention cards and mythical creatures. All whilst supporting your loyal troops, but what if you could sacrifice those troops to become stronger to summon Divinities to your side……………….. enter, the Book of the Dead.
Game Play
In Kemet: Blood and Sand – Book of the dead, you’ll get to explore the dark and terrifying Underworld.
Besides having a new set of emerald tiles to play with and explore, you also have a new board to keep an eye on, which is where your Honor and Putrefaction track is kept.
The Honor and putrefaction tracks will tell you what bonuses or losses you will be receiving for sacrificing your units even up to the point of losing permanent Fame Points, so you need to be careful.
Sacrificing your troops is key to making the emerald tiles work, however it does come at a heavy price as these troops are then banished to the underworld, not to your supply. You can raise them from the underworld to your supply however this could be costly in prayer points.
There are of course the Divinities that can be summoned to the board, Apophis and Thoth, both of which are powerful allies to your war on the black earth. They can be summoned on their own, or if your putrefaction level is a little higher, they can be summoned with some followers to boot, increasing the Divinities combat strength even further, as well as your strength in the land.
The miniatures themselves are of high quality and look amazing, Apophis comes in two sections as he attacks from the Nile. If my painting skills were as high a level as the prayer point cost for them, they’d also be painted, however I digress.
Having trialled this out as a two-player game with the expansion, I would say that more players are needed. Both of us first went for the Divinities straight off the bat and left them to guard two spots. After that we reverted back to older strategies and built our little empires and continued fighting with our loyal troops.
Conclusion
To sum up, Kemet: Blood and Sand as a game is more fun with 4 or 5 players, as the player interaction (or as we might call it War!) is far more enjoyable and what makes this game. The Book of the Dead expansion adds another layer that is completely different to the previous power tile sets and makes for an interesting and even more carefully devised strategy. Do you sacrifice you loyal followers for power and glory, or do you keep them close to attain that victory? This I leave for you, enjoy.
On a side note, if you enjoy Kemet: Blood and Sand then I would also recommend Scythe, which offers more in-depth strategy with less combat.
