Adventurer Kings Games

by Nick Palmer

edited by Roberto Flaibani

The Flagship Guide to Adventurer Kings was printed at the end of 1991. It was made up of 4 articles: a review by Rich Eisenmann and a long diary by Nick Palmer, very suitable to newbies, that I have already assigned to the AK outpost on BoardgameGeek; a short interview to Dave Snell, and the following anthology of hints & tricks, devoted to the experienced players. In my opinion, several Nick’s advices are questionable, some of them wrong. Let’s talk about that!(the editor)

FIRST a disclaimer. This section contains a large number of very good ideas which should make a considerable difference to your game if you’ve not been following them already. However, most of them were not thought of by me. I’d particularly like to thank Gus Smedstad and Rich Eisenman for showering me with advice in my first game, as well as Andy Davidson, Al Tabor and other friends and foes too numerous to list here, for all the tricks they taught me, some by advice, some by impaling me on the pointed end (the author)

1 – Born to be king

Some crucial choices occur in the setup! First, race. You will probably want to be human most of the time, for the reason given in the rules, though it’s worth considering being an orc (you will probably get the very useful all-terrain cavalry Warg Riders as a home unit) or even one of the other races: in the Super variant, each race gets an office for its most prominent leader, so you can get a small edge from being, say, best elf. If you decide to try being a dwarf, go for extra druidism, since dwarven strength in mountains will give you an early shot at any eagle province you come across; with good druidism the birds will actually fight for you as front-line reinforcements instead of just being feathered taxi-drivers.

Temper is easy: be brave or berserk. Having a king who runs from duels and monsters is bad enough; the killing objection to cowardly kings is that many brave heroes regard you with a curl of the lip, so either you can’t recruit them or they charge more for their services.

Sex is a matter of whim in this game, with no effect except the appropriate variation in turn reports (‘she sallied forth…’). The hardest choice is skills, and your choice should be made to reflect the sort of game you plan to play.

If you aim for a fast start, Tactics and March are the obvious choice. Having these can often enable you to take an extra province or two in each of the early turns, giving you a momentum carrying you out ahead of the pack. You will tend to accumulate tactical and march skill (as well as explorer skill) gradually anyway, just by moving around and fighting neutrals, but having it at the start is a definite major asset. Having Naval does the same at sea, with the advantage that the one skill will boost both movement and tactics, but the disadvantage that most sea provinces are poor. The most useful military magic is Elemental and Necromantic, though Illusion and Psychic help too; White is really only useful to generals because it helps them fight duels, since Part Sea is rarely used.

A good military-oriented setup, then, is simply March-2, Tactics-1, and probably Druid-1 for the ‘foreign’ armies; if you are primarily military but willing to expand more slowly, go for Elemental-1 and Necromancy-1 instead of March-2, and work up the skills by trying spells each turn.

Monster-killing (and duel-fighting), on the other hand, naturally benefits from melee expertise, but don’t neglect white magic, whose two anti-monster spells will enable you to shatter some quite serious demonic and undead nasties. Elemental is nice too, for the fireball and telekinesis. A good mix is probably Melee-2, White-1, Elemental-1: here again, it’s good to have a point in at least two different branches of magic, to enable you to learn by experience of casting (level 0 magicians can only practice without actually casting anything).

Rarely-chosen initial options are archery (OK, but when the range is closed that’s it), spying (useful but more commonly a task for a minor hero), sagedom (a long-term project for specialist hero-scientists) and thievery. I’ve never tried a theft-oriented strategy: a mix of Thievery-2 and Illusions-2 (for invisibility) would be interesting, with the hoped-for gains being treasure from monsters too good to fight.

2 – Force of arms

The majority of players, perhaps influenced by other PBM games, stress military strategy over adventuring, and this is probably the easier way to play. Some tips:

* Go for a fast start and keep on rolling till you meet other players. Since other players have to break treaty explicitly to fight you over a neutral province which you’ve already taken (there are no ‘accidental border wars’ in Adventurer Kings), they will often accept a fait accompli, so get as much neutral ground as possible before they have time to meet you half way.

* Although the rules state a 4-1 edge is needed for a sure win, a 2-1 edge is normally enough, though you might have to fight over two seasons to knock out the defence. If you know what you’re likely to face, you can work it out exactly. If a non-player province is too tough (as eagles in mountains usually are at first, for human players), try to knock out the defenders with plagues and tornadoes: neutrals do not rebuild.

* Pick up exotic optimal unit types when you pass through their provinces when you get the chance. Every good empire should have some elven bow and some dwarven axe, for instance, and if you can afford it you want lots of eagles and dragons for transport.

* Try to recruit non-player kings the phase after you defeat them. They often don’t bear a grudge, especially if your alignment is similar, and next turn they will usually have moved off to another province.

* If a monster lets you wish for one object, go for one which boosts leadership for your main troops: if they are humans, this means Excalibur. You’ll see why when you get it!

3 – Into his murky lair...

For duels, note the precise words referred to in the rules for monster descriptions. If a monster is described as ‘horribly fearsome, extremely evil and strong’, the word ‘strong’ is the key, showing 20-29 hit points. Being evil is relevant for some magic and for the chance of successful deals with him; that the monster is horribly fearsome is merely the fevered opinion of the villager who’s talking to you. Watch for signs of magic (probably requires intelligence, for instance): Dryads, for instance, are delicate, lovely creatures who can’t hurt a fly…except that they have a level 4 charm spell, so all your best heroes fall in love with them before they see the treasure. Build up a file on the monsters you meet, for future reference, as any good adventurer would do.

If you are concentrating on monsters and get a wish, consider the Invisible Sword (gives you invisibility, one of the rare ways of improving your defence), the Shadow Sword (which recovers strength for you by draining it off your foe) or possible the Flaming Scimitar (which has a small chance of killing your enemy instantly on each strike: if you expect a long struggle against a big monster, this should decide the outcome). Naturally, if you see one of these in a lair, try hard to take it!

Talk to monsters if you can, if only for the druidism practice, and because you will otherwise miss out on wishes and the occasional fulfillable request (usually they want you to find a treasure you’ve never heard of, or explore all round the world, or some other ghastly project). Even evil monsters rarely attack unprovoked, unless they are unintelligent or unable to understand what the devil you’re saying (check your druidism level). Having a white-magic specialist near your main Defender candidate is always a good idea, since it enables you to take more risks and let him resurrect the sadder-but-wiser hero if necessary.

4 – We will fight them on the beaches…

Some ideas for fighting back if things turn bleak.

* Don’t drop out! Once you get a reputation for doing this, people will queue up to be the one to push you out and inherit your empire. And unlike many games, Adventurer Kings offers lots of interesting options even if you are almost wiped out.

* When you think you may be invaded, try to put two garrisons in the key provinces. This prevents enemies with lots of heroes from swamping you with one-unit armies.

* Use Defend orders to cover all approaches, rather than trying to outguess the enemy. The computer operates Defends very well, and will split your force only if it’s fairly safe to do so.

* Avoid fighting repeatedly at poor odds if you can: this merely trains the enemy armies and tactic skills. Instead, choose the ground which suits your forces and watch the superior enemy force smash itself against your dwarves in mountain caves, or elves in forest.

* If you suspect a big offensive is coming, watch the enemy king with Clairvoyance. I once had an elaborate invasion entirely destroyed because Rich Eisenman had watched the preparation for two whole turns before it set off, and knew where to intercept and with what.

* If you lose your whole empire but still have some heroes, race into your conqueror’s terrain and mix plagues and skeleton-raising: skeletal armies are only paid at the end of your turn, by which time you’ll perhaps have captured the terrain to pay for them! If not, and they desert or deteriorate in quality, so what raise some more next time.

* If you run short on money to pay the heroes, do a variety of monster raids: about a third of monsters seem to have gold hoards.

* If you start to run low on heroes, concentrate on charming them into your employ till you get enough to work with: running out of heroes (and hence of actions) is the one thing which is fatal to a position.

5 – I follow the creed of…

A few words on the alignments. Possibly the most alluring is Undead, since (in addition to the illicit thrill of being an evil vampire) you get both skeletal fanaticism and the evil-break ability to stab rivals at the start of a turn, plus the chance to turn heroes into 1-tax undead by biting them. Undead kings should concentrate on military triumphs, and try to build skeletal armies: they can afford to take more risks in battle, since often they can revive the dead of both sides in a later phase and raise the phoenix of victory from the ashes of defeat. One way to fight undead kings is to study necromancy and challenge all the undead generals to duels: if they accept, Control Undead and they’re yours to kill.

Druidic kings should use their ability to ally promiscuously to everyone on turn 1, forcing enemies to show their hand by breaking explicitly. Some players resent this and insist on breaking anyway to keep their options open, but most accept seduction and stay allied until they or you really want a war.

Neutrals and Pagans should emphasize monster-killing with their special advantages in personal combat, and neutrals of course have special advantages in diplomacy, especially in the endgame when they may well be an acceptable compromise emperor.

White and Divine kings are normally more militarily-inclined, because of the fanaticism bonus, though their aptitude in white magic should give them all-round options.

I do recommend trying at least two different alignments, say druid and undead: you’ll find the game changes very strikingly!

6 – I come in peace!

Finally, a few thoughts on diplomacy in Adventurer Kings.

* Don’t be hypnotised by alignment considerations. A difference from the emperor doesn’t mean his alignment buddies have a better chance of winning offices, merely that your score for the same offices will be lower than theirs. Far better to have a good ally two alignments away than an idiot who shares your view of heaven.

* The game makes really nasty stabs possible if you are so inclined, especially with evil-breaks. For maximum annoyance, negotiate a training session for lots of heroes in province X, then use your best psychic magician to charm them, your best elementalists and necromancers to reduce their armies, and your best generals to waltz round taking provinces on either side. Conversely, reputation and trust are important: try to keep some good game-long alliances so you have someone to vouch for you when your enemies rant and rave about what you did to them in game AK54 back in 1990.

* A typical endgame deal will give one player the throne and 1-2 offices to each ally.

• If you spy an ally extensively, kill his monsters without permission, or grab his bordering neutrals first, expect a rapid stab!

Courtesy: Flagship, the Independent Magazine for Gamers