A Game of Heirs (and Thrones): 'Heir to the Throne'
Drama-fueled and royalty-centric media is all the rage right now, be it historically accurate or completely fictitious. And it is with good reason. Within the royal histories of the world, there is a lot of drama to be had, and drama, despite how we frame it personally, makes for good entertainment. Some say that the drama of the rich and famous is only more apparent because it is in the spotlight, but some of these things just don't happen in the lives of the ordinary.
Of note, there was Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, the Queen of Sweden in 1620, who bore her husband a daughter and then repetitively tried to kill her until she was taken away under someone else's care. When her husband died, she refused to bury his body and slept below a hanging casket that contained his heart. There was also Emperor Nero who had everyone who threatened or bothered him killed, including his own mother. He also married a man he randomly saw on the street that looked like his former wife (who he had murdered as well) and made the man dress in his wife's clothes and act like a woman. And of course everyone knows of Henry VIII who had a thing for beheading his wives. Honestly, one could easily write a large book about all of the craziness that happens in royal families throughout history, and if such a book exists, why, it would make an excellent accompaniment to have alongside Amber Palace Games' Heir to the Throne as you and other noble families in the kingdom of Wysteria race to have the first, legitimate great grandson come of age (and stay alive long enough) to be crowned the new King... at whatever cost.
Heir to the Throne is a 2-4 player game that utilizes set collection, strategy, and take that mechanics where each player is tasked with building their family tree and successfully producing a great grandson who meets the required conditions to become King. All the while, other players will be chopping at the limbs of said tree and trying to win the throne for themselves. They'll do this through a number of tactics from wooing members of your tree to wed into theirs, spreading rumors about your children's illegitimacy, rendering your husbands and/or wives infertile, and straight up murdering them all. So if you're not ready to be royally (insert desired adjective here), then this is not the game for you.
Everyone begins the game by taking a Noble House card. Noble Houses portray the Lord and Lady of the house through which the rest of the family tree will be built. The Lord and Lady both have 3 different traits residing beside them on the card. These traits come into play through births and other actions. They also provide some insight into the private affairs and personalities of the characters possessing them. Sometimes a tad bit too much insight. Slaying isn't the only reason that "Mittens the Slayer's" mittens could use some strong disinfecting alcohol and a wire brush.
Other types of cards in the game include Character Cards and Court Drama Cards. At the beginning of the game, each player will draw two Character Cards from the Character Deck and place those cards face-down underneath their Noble House Card. These cards remain face-down until the start of their turn and cannot be looked at. Each player then draws 5 cards from the Court Drama Deck, and play begins. There are no rules for who starts, but whenever a person has been decided, play goes clockwise. At the start of a player's turn, they will first turn over any face-down Character Cards. This symbolizes those characters "coming of age" and marks them as possible suitors for matrimony as well as targets for other deeds and actions.
On a player's turn, they MUST perform two actions. They can do the same action twice or mix it up. After those actions are resolved, they draw back up to five cards. Actions consist of playing a Court Drama card, discarding one card, or declaring a Mulligan. A Mulligan allows the player to discard their entire hand and draw 4 new cards, however, a Mulligan can only be done as their first action. Most turns will consist of players playing Court Drama Cards. These cards contain two effects on each one, but you can only choose one of those effects to perform. There are Unions, Births, Attacks, and Restorations, each marked by their own symbol and text.
Unions allow you to marry two characters. You can marry any eligible person from other player's families or even your own providing that they are not siblings, or direct children or parents of the person they are marrying because, although I'm sure it could be historically accurate, it is extremely disturbing. You can also not marry a person who is already married or has a child in another player's family. The person who marries into your family gets tucked under the character's card who is a descendant of your house's Lord and Lady and any illegitimate tokens are removed from them. There are specific Union cards that allow for regular marriages (an eligible female marries a son in your house) or matrilineal marriages (an eligible male marries a daughter in your house).
Births are mostly as expected. A child can be born by any eligible married couple who have no infertile tokens placed on them. When this occurs, a player draws a new Character Card from the deck and places it under that couple. Births will either take after the father or the mother of the family meaning that the traits on the Character Card will have to have one matching icon to that person. If the top card doesn't match up, then place it in the discard pile until you find one that does. As a reminder, this newly born bundle of joy stays face-down until your next turn when they come of age and you can finally find out whether you had a male or a female. Not sure why it took you that long to notice, but there you go! If a character is born into a family where the father or the mother had an illegitimate token on them, the illegitimacy passes down to that child as well. An eligible male or female who is not married can also have a child, but this must be done through Scandal cards and those children are automatically marked Illegitimate. Children born of a Scandal do not have to have any matching traits to their parent. If a parent is infertile and you still want to have a child and can't get rid of that token any other way, there are Miracle birth cards as well that can grant you that wish! Other birth cards include Spitting Image (which nullifies Illegitimacy) and Twins!
Attacks are used to hinder your rivals in the game. Attacks may only target characters with a trait matching the icon beside the Attack card text. Attacks can never target a character in your own house nor may they target a Noble House Card. Attacks can cause players to Discard a Character, Make a Character Infertile, Make a Character Illegitimate and even move children away from other houses and into your own!
Lastly there are Restorations. Restorations allow you to Remove an Infertile or Illegitimate Token, create a Special Union, and, despite the general positivity of the other cards in this category, be a homewrecker not only dissolving of marriages in other player's families and taking those marriages for yourself but also sending their former spouse to the discard pile alluding to their untimely and I'm completely sure accidental and not at all coincidental demise.
Eventually, someone's family tree will make it to a great grandson (or occasionally down to a male heir that surpasses the great-grandson or granddaughter spot by a generation or more which still makes them eligible to win the game). When that Heir to the Throne comes of age and is revealed to be a legitimate heir, you'll place a crown token on their card, conduct your two actions on your turn, and hope no one else has anything to throw at you. If it comes to your turn again and not a hair on the head of that hairy little heir is harmed, then you win the game and your family becomes the new royal family of Wysteria and all previous debauchery, scandals, and murders are overlooked and rewarded with devotion and gold. History is really screwed up. And so is your relationship to the other people at the table!
In conclusion, Heir to the Throne was a really fun play for my gaming group! Although there is a decent amount of Take That!, I do want to say I painted it on a bit thick in the review for purposes of humor. There were many turns in my playthroughs where players focused on marrying and birthing characters and other families would go unaffected, but suffice it to say when those family trees get closer to that inevitable heir, the gloves can come off.
WYLD Gaming enjoyed the game immensely and give it a HOOVES UP as a great card collection and Take That themed game. I would like to add that, due to the nature of the game, there is some text and actions that contain innuendo and may bring about questions from children who may be playing. I think it is solely for that reason that Amber Palace Games marks it as ages 10+. The game also contains six Noble House Cards, one of which feature a Baron and a Lord as the head of the House, so in terms of your political or personal beliefs as they may be, that is something to be aware of. As the game is intended for a maximum of 4 players, you could always choose to play without it if it bothered you. WYLD Gaming actually tested the game from a 2 player count up to the max and past the max with 5 players and gameplay didn't suffer, so take that as you will.
Please note, WYLD Gaming was provided this game for review purposes but was not otherwise compensated in any manner, nor were their words, results, or review judgement influenced in any way by anyone outside of the author's own opinions and perspective. If you've enjoyed this review, we encourage you to share it with others to help WYLD Gaming get similar opportunities in the future while also helping the game being reviewed get more attention for their product. Thank you!