King and Peasant

The Game

King and Peasant is a local Malaysian game, designed by Poon Jon. It is a 2-player-only microgame, which uses only 18 cards. This is a limited edition, and in fact it is out of print by now. However Jon is working with a local publisher to release a new version of the game soon, with new artwork and a new name. 

One player plays the king, and the other plays the disgruntled peasants. The people are unhappy and are close to open rebellion. They are plotting to assassinate the king. The king knows something is brewing, and tries to catch the assassin. 

The game is played over up to five rounds. The first to win three rounds wins the game. Within the same game, you play the same role - king or peasant. No role swapping. At the start of a round, each player holds 5 cards. The draw deck will only have 8 cards. Some of the starting cards are fixed. The peasant starts with the assassin and the decoy. The king starts with the sentinel. Players take turns performing one action, until one of them achieves the winning condition, or the draw deck runs out. If the deck runs out, it means the peasant has missed the opportunity to assassinate the king. So the king wins. 

These two cards are the decoy and the assassin. They always start in the peasant player's hand. The player has to draw three more cards to form the starting hand of five cards. 

As part of setup, the players may play cards before them. The king always plays cards face-up, while the peasant plays them face-down. The actions in the game are mostly straight-forward. You get to draw cards, play cards and use card powers. When the king uses a card power, that card is discarded. For the peasant it works differently. The peasant reveals a face-down card to use its power. Once revealed, the card cannot be used anyone. However it can be taken back into hand, and then played again, in order to be used again. 

After the king performs his action, he always draws a card. In fact that's the only time he draws a card - at the end of his turn. The peasant may use his action to draw a card, but he doesn't get a free card draw. So the king always performs an action then draw a card, while the peasant only performs one action, which can be drawing a card.  

So how do you assassinate the king? If the king draws the assassin from the deck, he is killed. The peasant has ways to insert the assassin card anywhere in the deck. Since the king must always draw a card at the end of his turn, seeding the assassin in the deck is one way to kill the king. Another way is to activate the face-down assassin when the king has no guards protecting him. The king wants to find the assassin and discard it, but not to draw it. The king also tries to get through the deck. One special action the king can perform is to condemn. This is a life-and-death decision. The king accuses a specific card to be the assassin. It can be one of the peasant's face-down cards, or the top card of the deck. If it is indeed the assassin, the king wins. Otherwise, the peasant wins. 

The Play

I first played King and Peasant when it was still in development. I found it unique and refreshing. When I saw that it was going to be released, and it was a limited edition, I quickly ordered a copy. This time playing the production copy I did not have the designer teaching me. I had to read the rules myself. It had been a while since playing the playtest version, so I had to read the rules all over again. I asked younger daughter Chen Rui to play with me. 

This time round, my impression is there's a lot of text to read. There are only 18 cards, but every card has a different power. In fact most have two powers, one for the king one and for the peasant. We played rather slowly because we were still learning the card powers. This is a game which requires some effort to learn and digest. 

Playing king and playing peasant are very different. One is in the open, the other is hidden. The king has more resources, because he always draws a card for free. Drawing that card can be risky, because it might be the assassin seeded by the peasant. The king is always on the hunt for the assassin. He needs to protect himself with guards. He needs to avoid being forced to draw the assassin. The peasant needs to strategise how to use the assassin. The peasant knows where the assassin is, and hopes the king doesn't make the right guess. To do something, the peasant usually needs two steps - to first play a card face-down, and then to reveal the card to use its power. This is often a nervous moment. You don't know whether the king has something up his sleeve to discard or neutralise your card after you play it and before you can make use of it. You are hiding in the shadows and the king is out in the open, but you are constantly being hunted. 

A round of play is short. The deck has only 8 cards, which means the king will play at most 8 turns. For the king to make a decision, sometimes it's down to luck, because you don't really have enough information to make a sure-fire deduction. Yes, you can try to read your opponent. That can help. For players new to the game, there may be a feeling of lack of control. There seems to be not enough information to make sound decisions. Only after you get more familiar with the game and with your opponent's play style will you have a better basis for decision-making. 

I may be making the game sound more strategic and complicated than it actually is. This is a microgame with a fair bit of luck. You probably don't want to overthink it. Just play it in a relaxed manner. This is not exactly a deduction game. Go with your gut. It is not simple, so be prepared for a bit of learning curve. 

Most cards have 2 powers, one for the king and one for the peasant.

Chen Rui struggled a bit with learning the game. 

The Thoughts

King and Peasant is a little unusual. I don't have a good grasp yet so I don't know yet whether it's a yay or nay for me. I still want to explore more. The two roles play very differently. The asymmetry reminds me of Android: Netrunner. One side is in the open, the other in the shadows. However this is a much shorter game.