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It’s not often we experience the Coronation of a new Monarch. An event tinged with the sadness of the Queen's passing, but the hopefulness of looking to the future and the new King. For such an occasion you might want to gather together with friends or family to watch the events unfold, make it an event you’ll remember. But what about before? After? During…those ceremonies can take their time to warm up after all. Why not try a few of our Royalty themed board games to get you in the spirit of it all.
Royal Visit - Ross Coulbeck
For me there is no game more Royal than Royal Visit. I mean, it's there in the title. It's one of those games that's simple enough that you can just pick it up and play without too much thought, but has enough tactical depth to keep you interested and coming back for more. That's why it's ideal for playing during the Coronation celebrations.
In Royal Visit you and an opponent are trying to get the King to visit your chateau in your Dutchy. This plays out through artful wooden pieces on a gorgeous playmat divided into slices. Each slice takes a piece either a step towards yours or your opponent's chateau. The king has guards either side of him he can't move past, for we must always protect the king! And there is also a wise wizard and a crafty jester, who add some twists to an otherwise straightforward premise.
Gameplay is as simple as playing cards matching a certain type of piece on the board and moving those pieces according to the values on the cards. It's simple to grasp and can be easily taught to new players in 5 minutes. The perfect game to introduce to your Coronation friends.
Kingdomino - Hannah Blacknell
When games suitable for the coronation were mentioned, I immediately “bagsied” Kingdomino. This has crowns, King in the title and, most importantly, is absolutely brilliant. This is a domino tile laying game which has a little hidden mathematics in it. It is suitable for families, adults and kids alike, and takes only about 30 mins to play at the full 4 player count.
During this game you will be placing terrain dominos into your Kingdom trying to make large areas of contiguous matching lands. The kicker is that a big area will score zero unless it has crowns. Crowns are key here. They are your multiplier. If you have an area of five squares together with two crowns then this will be 10 points. In this game ten points is a good old leg up to the win. During the round you will be choosing your tiles but at the same time this will determine the player order too. The better the tile that you choose, the later in the player order you will go. This will mean you won’t get the choice of which tile you take next round. But what if that domino is worth it? It may well be.
If you want a game with familiar components that you can introduce to anyone this Coronation, then you cannot go wrong with Kingdomino. If you are looking for something more suitable to younger kids then have a look at the slightly less King-full Dragonimo.
Kingmaker - Pete Bartlam
In days of old when knights were bold, problems surrounding the Coronation of a new King didn’t just revolve around who was or wasn’t on the guest list. It was more to do with trying to chop the head off another Royal Pretender before he chopped yours off!
This is where Kingmaker comes in. Set against the backdrop of the Wars of the Roses – Lancaster v York, you take on the role of a noble roaming around Britain building up your forces and allies to your cause to get your Royal Heir onto the throne whilst removing the opposition’s candidates (and let’s not be coy about this, by removing, I mean permanently!). There are 7 Royal Heirs who can be King in a strict line of succession: four on the
Yorkists side headed by Richrd III and just three on the Lancastrian side, though their top man is already King – Henry VI. The House of York can crown their own King at the same time, meaning you can have two Kings simultaneously or one or none at all! Now that would complicate the Coronation celebration.
Other nobles can join your faction and get titles and offices with their all-important numbers of troops. But with rank comes responsibility, Noblesse Oblige and all that. Your trusted ally, with all his men, may be Warden of the Northern Marches and get suddenly dragged up north to quell a revolt leaving you a bit light in the field of battle. A noble who dies will also lose all associated offices and extra troops.
So go roving, picking up men and nobles, taking towns and besieging castles, giving battle to other factions and “rescue” a Royal Heir. Give Him, or in one case Her, a Coronation whilst another might be lying under a Leicester car park for the want of a horse!
Love Letter - Tom Foulds
A super simple and pocket sized game, Love letter sees you trying to gain the trust of your princess by gaining allies so that you can be her confidant and help her deliver her love letter to her suitor. How one does this is by eliminating the other players or having the highest value card in your hand when the deck is empty. The gameplay is easy to learn, everyone starts with one card and on their turn players draw one from the deck and choose which one to play. Each card has a written ability and a number count showing how many of that type are in the deck, with high numbered cards being few and low numbered cards having many. Simply play one and try to outplay your opponents, keeping high numbers and counting the cards to see what people have left, earning yourself a little royal seal if you win. Win yourself a handful (depending on player count) and you win! It’s a really nice game, with decent artwork and an impressive production quality despite its size, which I feel is its greatest selling point. So small, easy to teach and fun to master, this is one of those games you’ll take everywhere and play all the time. Perfect for coronation celebrations!
Monty Python Fluxx - Dan Street-Phillips
For the first time in a long time we are gaining a British King. It is so strange to hear that phrase after a lifetime of the opposite. It feels historical. It feels momentous. However, for me it also feels really stupid. And that, for me, comes from the ringing in my head of the iconic phrase, “I am Arthur, King of the Brittens”. Monty Python became the touchstone for so much as I was growing up and Holy Grail played around and around in my mind. Fluxx is one of those games that fits neatly into anyone’s game shelf, if nothing else, for its simplicity and replayability. The basic premise is to draw a card and play a card. From then on there are a number of different types of cards to play.
First there are Keepers. These green cards are placed in your own personal play. Then there are pink Goals. Goals are how you win. Each goal card will show a collection of keepers and if that goal is in play when you have the matching keepers in your play area, you win. However, there are other types of cards that will mess with this system. There are action cards that perform instantly, enabling you to steal keepers or draw extra cards. And the cards that give the game its name, the rule cards. New rules can be added at any point and change gameplay considerably. There are so many versions of this game to suit any fandom you might have, but at this time of regal coronation, while not celebrate as King of the Brittens with Patsy closely following behind!