Board Royale: The Island and Secret Weapons Expansion – Kickstarter Edition

I’ve got to be honest, Board Royale style computer games have always left me a little cold. Maybe due to my aging reflexes and a general lack of quick thinking, I am uncompetitive to say the least. In fact, my role in most games is basically to serve as a mobile stash for whichever teenage hotshot finds me first. If I’m lucky, they may not be dressed as Thanos, the Easter Bunny or something equally humiliating as they put me out of both of our miseries.

So it’s fair to say that I approached Board Royale, which tries to bring this format to the tabletop, with skepticism and a large dose of trepidation. Honestly, if it hadn’t been bought for me as a present I would probably have overlooked it. But you know what, it works. And since it doesn’t rely on the heightened reaction times that only hundreds of hours of practice and a gallon of over- priced Energy drinks can provide, it is a bundle of chaotic fun to boot. So if you want to know whether a Fortnite on a cardboard island is for you, then pull up a sun lounger, pour yourself a tropical drink and try to keep your head down while you read on.

Gun, Sea & Sand

Board Royale: The Island is a Card game for 2-6 players that sees opponents competing in a ‘last person standing’ survival contest familiar to anyone who likes online multiplayer shooters. The rules are straightforward enough. Players are Castaways on a desert island and must craft items that will help them to survive long enough to escape or to help them eliminate all of the other players. So pretty sociopathic castaways then. There are two decks of cards, one for items and one for resources.

Players hold a hand of resources and gain more either by drawing two cards from the main deck or stealing from another player’s hand. A display of 5 face-up item cards is always available for players to craft on their turn. Typically these are weapons, ammo and medicine but also tools that will provide more resources. Some items are escape cards that are only useful to create a route off the island. Card costs vary in terms of the type and amount of resources as well as whether they provide one-off or continuous effects. Once crafted items are placed in front of the player for all to survey with envious eyes, although some cards may have instantaneous effects.

Some can even be played out of turn for added shenanigans. Players can craft as many items as they wish, and have the resources for, on their turn, but must be careful not to over-stretch themselves. In a stroke of ingenious simplicity and fiendishness, a player’s hand of cards represents not only their resources but also their health. If your hand runs out, you are dead and out of the game. This also simplifies the way the items work; “Health” items simply allow you to draw more cards, while weapons and ammo will force the defending player to discard cards from their hand as you attack them. And why would your opponents do a rotten thing like that? Well firstly, it’s very funny. But also, every time you eliminate a player, you get to keep all of their sweet, sweet loot. Which of course will make you a bit of a target for the other players at the table…

Know Your Frenemy

While Board Royale is certainly cutthroat it doesn’t pay to go it alone the whole time you are on the island and in fact, it is difficult to win without forming some kind of alliance with other players, however short-lived. The game encourages players to negotiate on their turn as resources are dealt randomly and a scarcity of one particular type can prevent you crafting the items you want or even using the items as many have a cost. Players can also trade items or even borrow them to use on their turn. In fact, the game encourages fluid alliances and agreements about pretty much anything, although these are usually tenuous to say the least, for example giving someone resources when they are attacking another player.

The emphasis is again on a light touch when it comes to rules and restrictions. Basically, you can negotiate about anything as long as you stick to three basic rules:
1. You have to do what the text on a card says card says (for example you can’t negotiate so that the weapon only does two damage if the card clearly states it does three).
2. You have to abide by the agreement you make- you can’t just bare-faced lie. Although of course, smart players will word their agreements very carefully to allow a little wriggle room.
3. While you can help out on someone’s murderous rampage, you can’t offer resources to someone when they are attacked. It is ‘dog dismember dog’ on this island. Although the unfortunate victim will undoubtedly appreciate your heartfelt words of encouragement and best wishes instead #thoughtsandprayers.

Isle Of Manslaughter!

The intent of Board Royale is to keep things quick, chaotic and light-hearted in a bloodthirsty kind of way and it does a very good job of achieving this. Games with “take that!” mechanics that can eliminate players are very much on the wane in modern board games and with very good reason. It sucks to have to sit watching your friends play a game out to the bitter end, especially if you just got unlucky with a dice roll. Nowadays games aim to give everyone a good time and include catch-up mechanics and balancing so that players feel included to the end. Board Royal eschews this approach and leans heavily into the old-school vibes. Once the initial tentative few rounds are out of the way, any feel-bad factor is replaced by fast, chaotic, gameplay and it is hard to take losing personally when things are so silly. Besides, the satisfaction of watching the player who offed you get set upon by the rest of the table tends to mitigate any feel-bad moments.

One feature to keep combat unpredictable is the hidden items mechanic. These are basically defensive or counter-attacking items that are disguised as resources. They sit in your hand until you are attacked and can provide a nasty surprise to anyone who tries to take your cards, either ending their attack or turning it back on them with interest. Just the knowledge that these exist can be enough to make an assailant who is low on cards think twice, so bluffing is definitely to be encouraged. With hidden items, even if you end up going out of the game you can give your assassin something to remember you by before bowing out and may even hasten their demise. And that always feels like a nice consolation!

Island Paradise?

Board Royale comes with two decks of cards, a board, a rulebook, a beginner’s tips book, and a sticker set, all in a neat little box. The version I have also comes with an expansion, the Secret Weapon deck, which adds some frankly insane added elements to an already pretty swingy game.

Once you’ve learned the game, however, the two decks are all that is required to play. The board is pretty enough to look at and will keep your cards clean for longer, I suppose, but is surplus to requirements. On the plus side, this makes Board Royal a game you can put in your pockets and play anywhere with a small table.

The cards are good quality and the artwork is pleasant enough- reminiscent of Fortnite without overstepping into trademark infringement territory.
The sticker set is a very nice touch. The booklet and stickers are basically achievement rewards, allowing players to place stickers when they have accomplished certain goals, familiar to anyone who plays computer games. So for instance there is an achievement for winning a game in under 15 minutes or for winning without knocking anyone else out. It is again totally unnecessary but a fun little extra for more competitive-minded players.

In terms of the gameplay, there are definitely some issues, though. The game can take a little while to warm up as players take their resources and try to set themselves. This isn’t helped by the random item draw- if the cards in the display aren’t being taken or the right resources don’t come up to craft them it can be slow going. While there is a way to wipe the display of cards called, “call for democracy” this involves, as it suggests, a majority of players agreeing to it. Unfortunately, the atmosphere of suspicion and paranoia on which the game thrives does not exactly encourage such group solidarity.

Also, some of the item cards are just straight-up overpowered. It is probably missing the point to complain about balance in a genre of gaming where getting the cool heavy weapon to terrorise the competition is part of the appeal. But ultimately, Board Royale is not a video game played at breakneck speeds where powerful items lead to often instantaneous kills and quick victories. Losing to someone with a powerful card or combo they lucked into can be frustrating as their eventual triumph is likely to be much more drawn out, though probably just as inevitable.

Another issue is that despite the light and breezy nature of the gameplay, it is certainly not a filler game. A 6 player game can play over a couple of hours depending on how aggressive your playgroup is feeling. And while it was an enjoyable experience, I don’t think that I would choose to play another game of that length again as I prefer longer games to be more thoughtful, strategic experiences- but of course, that is personal taste. I would suggest that Board Royale will play best at four players to give the maximum chaos without dragging out the game time.

Final Thoughts

So would I recommend Board Royale? Absolutely I would. It is fun, silly and has just enough elements of tactics (strategy is maybe pushing it too far) to make it an engaging way to spend an evening. But there are caveats. Any game centred around two large decks of cards is going to have a high degree of randomness baked in and that just isn’t going to appeal to everyone. It also means that a game can be over in a matter of a few minutes- especially head-to-head duel matches- or take hours. And in the case of the latter, if you happen to be the first person out? Well, I guess that’s what smartphones were made for. But the prospect of this, albeit fairly unlikely may be enough to make some gamers give it wide berth.

But if you are happy with some swingy gameplay and silliness mixed with a healthy dose of skulduggery in your games, then I would definitely consider giving Board Royale a go. Who knows, you may discover a potential for mayhem and murder that has gone hitherto untapped. The Easter Bunny costume is definitely optional.