BoLS logo Tabletop, RPGs & Pop Culture
Advertisement

Street Masters: Rise of the Kingdom – A Board Game Brawl

4 Minute Read
Jun 16 2017
Advertisement

Relive all the guts and glory of arcade fighting games in this awesome new miniatures game.

If you loved games like Double Dragon, Final Fight, Street Fighter, and/or Dynasty Warriors–this is the game for you. Street Masters: Rise of the Kingdom is a miniatures-based board game that seeks to recreate the feel of a well-crafted arcade beat’em-up. From the font to the mechanics, everything is dripping with that flavor–there are two modes of play, Arcade Mode and Story Mode, each of which pit the players against an enemy “boss” and accompanying horde of minions. Gameplay happens over the course of a stage–and you can already here the late 80s/early 90s rock backing track starting to play as two impossibly oversized dudes square off against each other.

Let me just say I love the ideas presented here. I have some fond memories of those games–as do the designers–and you can see that that love and attention to detail is on display here. You play as a fighter who clearly could star in a video game of their own, and you and up to a team of 4 can chase down one of the boss characters across the various stages to try and take them down and win. Gameplay is carried out through a deck of cards which detail your characters special moves. I’ve only seen a few of the move cards up close, and they look like something right out of one of those games. There’re flying knees, dodge rolls–the works.

Ad the game play looks involved–they want to make a fun game as much as they want to emulate their source material. You can find a demo game video at the end of this article–it’s worth checking out if you’re considering donating to their campaign. There are 7 days to go and they’ve already blown well past their funding goal, so this is the perfect chance to grab the game (and all its planned expansions) for an discounted rate. Especially considering you’re getting 60+ minis in a single reward set.

via Black List Games

Street Masters: Rise of the Kingdom

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blacklistgames/street-masters-rise-of-the-kingdom

Street Masters: Rise of the Kingdom is a 1-4 player miniatures, board game that includes over 65 highly detailed miniature figures! The game combines the concept of a tactical combat board game with the flexibility of an intricate card game. Acclaimed designers Adam and Brady Sadler (The Walking Dead: No Sanctuary, Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game) have developed a streamlined system that focuses on modularity and action, with fighters, bosses, rivals, allies, and stages forming a “sandbox” for players to mix-and-match, creating their own epic showdowns.

Advertisement

The game offers both an action-packed “Arcade Mode” where players completely customize their experience with any combination of fighters, bosses, and stages, as well as a narrative campaign “Story Mode,” where the fighters’ victories, defeats, and choices help unravel the lore of the game. In “Story Mode,” victory means helpful perks, while defeat inflicts dangerous penalties. Game plays in approximately 45-120 minutes.

 

With Arcade Mode, Street Masters: Rise of the Kingdom offers a quick-playing game with a ton of variety. Setting up a game is as easy as choosing your fighter, an enemy, and a stage. This gets you in the game right away, without having to build decks or read up any special rules ahead of time.

Advertisement

Want to link your games together and progress an ongoing narrative? That’s where Story Mode comes in. Fortunately, Story Mode simply adds game elements to Arcade Mode, so linking several stages simply consists of the players choosing a Story Deck to play through and kick it off with Stage 1.

While Story Mode doesn’t over-complicate the basic rules introduced in Arcade Mode, it allows for dramatic events to shake up your games. Did you defeat a foe in Stage 1, but refuse to chase him down because it would have resulted in a more difficult Stage 2? Watch out! That same foe might return as a recurring nemesis, plaguing each future stage of the story until you ultimately shut him down. Similarly, your fighters might go out of their way to save a hostage, who then turns out to be a pivotal ally throughout the rest of the story.

Story Decks contain various card types, including Story Stage cards, double-sided Ally/Rival cards, Penalty cards, Perk cards, and more!

There are a number of cool backer rewards still up for grabs. So head on over to their kickstarter page and check them out!

Advertisement

As a bonus, here’s a demo of the game from Man vs. Meeple:

Back Street Masters: Rise of the Kingdom Today

I can already hear the 16-bit soundtrack playing.

Avatar
Author: J.R. Zambrano
Advertisement
  • Tabletop Spotlight: Dark Souls The Board Game