Advert: This game was loaned for review through the UK Board Game Review Circle. All opinions are our own.

Hear ye, hear ye, lovers of 18-card microgames! Looking for a 2-player quickie with tension? Allow me to introduce you to the asymmetrical card game King and Peasant.

Key stats

2 players | 10 to 15 minutes | 8+ years

Publisher: nPips Games
Designer: Poon Jon
Art: Chia Pek Fann
Theme/category: Asymmetric, 2 player only
Key mechanics: Hand management, Multiuse cards, Player elimination

Gameplay overview

As you might expect from the game title, one player takes on the role of the King defending his throne, and the other is an unhappy Peasant trying to take out the King with his Assassin friend. The King has his Guards to protect him, and the Peasant has the Rebels.

At the start of the game, both players play up to 3 cards from their starting hand to the table (the Town): the King plays Guards face up, the Peasant plays Rebels face down.

Each player has a different winning criteria. The Peasant wins if any of the following happen:

• They infiltrate their Assassin into the communal deck and the King is the one who draws it – the King is Dead, huzzaah!
• The King wrongly Condemns (discards) a non-Assassin card from the top of the deck instead of the Assassin.
• They reveal their Assassin when it’s in Town and the King has no Guards in play.

The King wins if they either:

• Condemn (discard) the Assassin from the top of the deck.
• Survive long enough until the deck runs out.

Both players start the game with special cards in their starting hand: the Peasant gets the aforementioned Assassin and a Decoy (who can also infiltrate the deck, and kills a Guard if drawn by the King), whereas the King has his Sentinel (who lets the King look at and rearrange the top 3 cards of the deck). The rest of the starting hand is drawn from the communal deck, which are the dual use cards that can have more Guards/Rebels or Actions.

Each turn you can only take 1 action from a choice of many. Both players can play a card into Town (Guards go face up and are capped at 3, Rebels are face down with no cap), activate a card in the Town and use its effect (Guards get discarded, Rebels reveal but stay in town) or play an action card from hand. Peasants can also infiltrate the Assassin or Decoy from Town into the deck, return a face-up Rebel in Town to their hand. or draw a card. Whereas the King can choose to Condemn and discard the top card from the deck, or pass and do nothing at all. Where drawing a card is an optional for the Peasant, for the King it’s a compulsory additional action they have to take at the end of every turn, after their normal action.

The rules recommend playing multiple games and swapping roles, until one player wins 2 games. Who will come out as King? (Or Queen!)

Our thoughts

Once again I find myself impressed with how much game someone can design into 18 little cards! King and Peasant is easy to learn – it’s one of those games where the explanation makes the game sound more complicated than it is – with gameplay that is fairly simple but fun and tense.

The tension from Schrodinger’s Assassin (is it in the deck or not? AND WHERE) is similar to the Assassin in Fight for Inheritance (a game where the last standing Royal wins) or the Exploding Kittens in…Exploding Kittens. We enjoy these games, but they are a much better gaming experience at higher player counts. So it’s great this ‘hidden threat’ tension applied to a dedicated 2-player game in a way that works so well. I think the asymmetric element helps, and the short deck/quick playtime means you aren’t waiting around for the action to kick off.

The asymmetric roles both feel different to play with their different actions and goals that make thematic sense. The unique names of the Guards/Rebels/Actions, alongside the minimalist but welcome illustrations, add that little bit of flavour to also help bring out the theme.

King and Peasant involves some light bluffing (for the Peasant) and reading your opponent (for the King). I’m not usually a big fan of either but I can get on board with it in games like this because (1) it isn’t the main driver of the gameplay (the tactical use of your cards are more important), and (2) the games are quick (so you aren’t maintaining a pretense or having to interpret someone for long). Being a good bluffer/reader can help, but in my opinion isn’t essential, especially when there are different ways to win.

What we like:

• Super quick, pocket-sized game for 2 players – perfect for us and our coffee breaks!

• Easier to learn that it is to explain.

• I like how each card has a name that relates to its effect.

• Asymmetrical roles that feel completely different to play, each having different goals and actions that make thematic sense. 

• Fun tension and tactics – I like that there’s multiple ways to win.

• Clever use of dual-purpose cards to make the most of the small deck.

Considerations:

• The only place to get a physical copy is directly from the publisher via an enquiry form (and shipping is a bit pricey to the UK). An alternative option is the pay-what-you-want PnP version, available on itch.io.

Verdict

King and Peasant is a smart, brilliant competitive 18-card game that we believe deserves more attention. For such a small, quick game there’s more tactics than you’d expect and we had a lot of cheeky tense moments. I sincerely hope it gets a wider distribution because that will help get on people’s radars.