Kingdom Death Monster Blind Playthrough Part 1: Setup

Going In Completely Blind

I think with the way the world works, it’s really hard to go into something like a game blind. It’s very hard to not just look up reviews before you buy something.

Today I’m sharing me going completely blind into Kingdom Death. I originally bought it for the miniatures—I didn’t have any plans of actually playing it. So I didn’t look at gameplay, didn’t look at anything else in the box. Just thought “those look like very cool miniatures to paint.”

Building the Miniatures

The Survivors

The survivors were awesome to build. High quality models, very cool sculpts—10 out of 10 on the figures themselves.

If you’re a modeler though, be aware:

• There are some gaps that need filling
• I had to use a ton of sprue goo and resin glue to cover mold lines
• Plan for 2-3 hours if you want to really gap fill
• About an hour if you just want to throw them together

The two-part bases are pretty cool—you can pop in an insert of faces (not skulls) which is a nice touch.

The White Lion

The lion had more challenging gaps, particularly on the wrists and back. I used Tamiya resin glue for gap filling throughout.

What’s In The Box

This is the box—everything except the miniature parts. It’s a very thick, very high quality box.

I’ve organized everything:

• Sleeved all the cards
• Used coin protector pages for tokens (fit perfectly)
• Put everything in a binder system
• Used the included hard card dividers

There’s a LOT of components. They come with dividers for the different boss fights, settlement cards, gear, and more. The spaces originally designed for coins don’t quite fit once you add trackers.

Table Space Requirements

My desk is 5 feet across and 30 inches deep—a big craft desk. I can tell you right now this game won’t fit on it.

What you actually need:

• About 45-46 inches wide (not including rulebook space)
• About 32 inches deep
• A 4x4 Warmachine table works perfectly
• A 6x4 definitely works

I’m going to have to move this to my gaming table.

Setup Observations

• Uses cards for monster AI
• Characters start 6 spaces away from the monster
• Movement is cardinal directions only (no diagonals)—makes the game simpler
• The first encounter has specific cards that go on top of the shuffled decks
• Once I knew what I was doing, setup only took about 10 minutes

My Opening Strategy

I haven’t read ahead and don’t really know how combat works, but I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket. My gut tells me to split the party up and maybe divide and conquer.

This could be a terrible mistake. I don’t know what’s better, but I’m going in blind, so we’ll see.