In early Spring, the new markets along the Great Road of the Kingdom open for business, filled with trinkets and tools, armaments and secrets. There’s a different, nervous energy this year as tales of mysterious fog and unnatural, unwelcome beings spread from stall to stall. Intel, influence and might are commodities not to be ignored as a looming threat of the unknown gets closer and closer.
The Clans, a “people of the steppes and sea”, who migrate and sail to all corners of the Kingdom, send their Captain Lethe to represent them at the market. Unbeknownst to them, a strange figure, cloaked and concealed, has already been perusing and forming allegiances with easily swayed merchants. In a sign of things to come, a bidding war ensues.
The bidding strength and sway of the disguised visitor is too much for the out-of-water Captain and they acquire the Old King’s Lantern. Not just interested in the shiny trinket, the figure uses the lantern’s hidden power of knowledge to infiltrate the Council of Secrets and gather Lore.
Lethe doesn’t leave empty handed and negotiates with a trustworthy seller for a map revealing the location of the legendary Glittering Caves. They will hold on to this intel and keep it safe for now.
Mere days later news reaches The Clans of a towering mechanical Herald spotted in the Wilderness. A proclamation revealing the true horror and intent of the once only rumoured Simulacrum.
In response, The Clans send their own Herald on the trail to the same location high up in the mountains and the siren of a now inevitable new conflict rings out.
Replicant forces of wood, metal and stone spread themselves across the regions of the Kingdom setting camp in Highlands, Lowlands and the Plateau.
The Clans react swiftly, sending their own party into each region. The teetering Kingdom tips into a theatre of war.
An unsettling fog rolls down over the hills of the Highlands and into the basin of the Plateau, surrounding the unidentified automations in deadly cloud. Throughout Spring, armies are bolstered and additional supporters of the Simulacrum cover all three regions. The Clans deploy their own support in the Highlands and Plateau, recognising the potential menace in the layers of toxic gloom.
Tacticians burn through the remaining peaceful hours of Spring devising a plan of attack. Factions will advance first on the Plateau, then the Lowlands and finally those crucial Highlands where the Heralds sit. Will this prove to be the right strategy or have the Clans got it horribly wrong? In any case, Summer arrives and the stage is set.
Clash I
The SIM’s Agent Poppet pounces out of the fog swirling round the Plateau, lethal dagger drawn. Clans have sent their own Agent, the Nixing Knife to counter and a messy, gruelling duel takes place in the night. So evenly matched blade for blade, the two deadly Agents are, they eliminate each other, lost in a pile of ruin.
As the dust settles on the clash, only the loyal supporters remain. Clans, outnumbering the Sim 2 to 1, take control of the region and so to the victor go the spoils. One Influence is secured and a watchful eye in the windmill of the Harvest Field, grants the Clans a boon. This will earn them services of the Kingdom as long as they still hold favour.
Clash II
The second major clash of Summer takes place in the Kingdom’s Lowlands. The Sim unleashes their Captain Sculptures, and the Clans swiftly send in the cavalry of Shore Runner Sleds. Knowing the battle will be lost, Clans can utilise the speed and agility of their transport to flank their crew out of there into another contested region. Perhaps wary of the deadly smog elsewhere, or perhaps locked in frozen gaze with the piercing golden mask of the sculpture, the Sleds remain rooted to the spot and the Clans concede the fight.
Carved on a tomb in the Necropolis of the Lowlands is an inscription, barely legible, that grants its interpreter a powerful blessing. Sculptures uses its own classical expertise to translate and the Simulacrum gains strength and claims their first Influence.
Clash III
Another deadly Agent of the Sim rises up from beneath the obnoxious gas pools between the rocky outcrops of the Highlands. The automation raises their blade to strike but wait, it’s a Ruse! Hiding behind the very same rocks are the Creel Haulers, followers of the Clans, immune to any poison dripping from blades or dispersing in the air. They ambush the Poppet who collapses by the weight of their own design and they fall in pieces crumbling down the mountainside.
The Sim’s single stranded and abandoned supporter is no match for the bolstered squad of the Clans and victory in the 3rd and final clash of the year is assured.
With Heralds posted in the Wilderness, the Clans gain two Influence and steal one more from the Sim’s own cache. Being so high in the Kingdom, the peaks of this location act as the perfect lookout post and Shore Runner Sleds, no longer petrified on the spot, journey back via the Glittering Caves collecting yet more Influence and lore to bring home. A fruitful end of the season for the Clans.
The Summer of skirmishes ends, and shifts into an Autumn where governments form and travellers roam.
After such a heavy defeat, the Simulacrum invests further into research and takes another seat at the Council of Secrets. The whispered knowledge gained speaks of territorial claims from marks in the land. Stirring into clanking automated gear, they place two Faction Markers on the Wilderness looking to make gains in the future years of this developing war of attrition.
For the Clans, though the Summer has been rewarding it has also been taxing with the Faction diluted and spread thin through the Kingdom. The heads of the Clans initiate the tactic of Salt Toughness to muster up the troops and they return home.
Their Heir – Saga The Unifier takes a seat on the Council of Oaths to further her claims to the throne. This act gains supporters but is the Monarchy meddling with Government too risky a move or a genius tactic in this early era of the conflict?
Meanwhile, Shore Runner Sleds, knowing the location of the Glittering Caves once again journeys off into the early setting sun of late Autumn and collects further rewards for the grateful Clans.
With the lore gained from this mission, the Clans summon their Champion – The Storyteller, a hero of tale and song, to play us off into Winter.
The crisp coldness of Winter eases the fog, covers the tracks and buries those that were left behind. Anyone and anything still able to stand slowly meander back home to thaw and heal.
The Clans end the year with 6 Influence to 0 for the Simulacrum. A brutal victory then, but have the Clans peaked too early and is their Heir up to the challenge with such lofty ambitions of throne and parliament? Will the Simulacrum take advantage of split priorities and can they repair, regroup and recover in the fog of years to come?
The Old King’s Crown is a game designed and illustrated by Pablo Clark of Eerie Idol Games, with solo mode game design by Pablo Clark and Richard Wilkins.
The above synopsis is my own interpretation of one round of the solo mode included in this really beautiful and intricate board game, played out via the preview mod available on Tabletop Simulator (all images are taken from this digital version).
In the regular game, two to four players of warring factions compete to earn the most Influence and claim the titular Old King’s Crown. In the solo mode, the player chooses one of these factions to compete against the automated Simulacrum (Sim). I have played against the regular Sim a handful of times now and have grown to love how the game unfolds and the way this opponent is handled.
The card design is the immediate draw here. Absolutely stunning pieces of art on every single one. Each faction card is vibrant and frame worthy, so too are the board, the box and well pretty much everything. What’s really cool here is that every faction in multiplayer starts with the exact same cards with the same strength and abilities but the art is all unique, extremely detailed and gorgeous. Truly a great feat of artistry.
While factions start with the same cards, how you use them, what you gain and what your faction can do with them quickly show the asymmetry here, as well as the intricacies and difficulty in the rules. Bid with your 8 strength Captain? Well, you might not see them again as they guard the prize. Bid low though and risk your reward being stolen next time. Place 1 card face down in each of the three regions, begin clashes comparing cards played by all players and activate anything you can do to help swing the victory in your favour. Everything you do reveals a little more of your game plan to your opponent. There’s loads of fun strategy and misdirection to utilise too though, and it can be ruthlessly cutthroat. Played a Ruse? Then ambush in another card to take the victory or retreat and get out of an unwinnable situation.
The theme and gameplay loop takes players through seasons of the year over multiple years (5 years or rounds in a regular game) and there are actions and commands available in each season both to help set up the clashes, resolve them and wind down afterwards. Essentially you bid for kingdom cards, play faction cards and supporters into regions, resolve those regions in clashes, claim location rewards and then boost your faction by governing and journeying to gather Lore to spend on more cards … and repeat.
Initially the amount of information and actions (and their order) the game throws at you can be quite daunting and one thing I did to mitigate this was to screenshot all the sections of the rules that mention the symbols for quick reference. There’s also a useful sequence-of-play page to guide you through the top level steps. For edge case rules and interactions there’s a bit more logical thinking to do and there will be FAQs and community support for anything still unclear.
Given that you go through the seasons multiple times a game it shouldn’t be long before it all clicks though. Maybe your first few rounds, or game or two, will be throwaways (mine were) but after that I feel like the game opens up to at least identifying potential deeper strategies. Pulling these off though is another thing entirely. You might end up making a Hail Mary play that completely surprises you when it works or your entire plot comes crashing down on a failed attempt to steal. The risk and reward are great and exciting time and time again.
As you learn these complexities and strategy, playing against, and running the automated opponent becomes second nature. It doesn’t do anything hugely more complicated than the multiplayer game itself. Some extra fog cards add random effects and Sim reward rules are slightly different but essentially you are playing against a well crafted 2nd enemy and again, I copied the relevant rules differences into my own reference page.
Of course, the Sim cannot take reactionary steps and instead follows ambition and scheme card decks to dictate its plays. This informs the player of their intent but all isn’t always as predicted. Sometimes a curve ball is introduced through the fog cards or misinformation on the backs of their decks. All this leads to a version of the same misdirection and hidden schemes that can be found in multiplayer games and the big reveal in the clashes of Summer still gives you that thrill of success or abject, hilarious failure.
There’s more to keep the solo mode balanced to your own skill level too with Forge cards increasing or decreasing the difficulty in lots of cool, varying ways. So, as long you can keep on top of all the steps and actions and sequence of play, you’ll be grand in this extremely impressive solo experience of an absolute magical beauty of a game. I cannot wait for my physical copy to arrive.
The Old King’s Crown will be available to backers and in retail in 2025.
Sidestep To Your Left 
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