Königsblut

In BLOOD OF A KING, the goal of the game is to wound your opponent's King three times.

Each player starts with a deck of 12 cards: 10 Warrior cards numbered 0-9, 1 King card numbered 10, and 1 Witch card numbered 11.

Gameplay

A round begins with each player laying out five cards from left to right onto the playing field.

The cards show either an axe or a shield silhouette along the long edge. When the edges of the cards meet, they result in either axe, shield, or no matches. The number of axe matches is your attack strength, the number of shield matches is your defense. If you have more axes than your opponent has shields, you have wounded their tribe.

Look at the highest number on your opponent's cards. If it's a Warrior, the card is removed from the game. If it's their King, you give them one of your matching Wound cards. If it's their Witch, their Witch is removed from the game, but you also remove your lowest Warrior card.

If the initial card draw ends in a tie, each player plays another card to the right of the last played card. Count axes and shields again and proceed as described above.

If your tribe is in danger of being wounded by your opponent, you can CALL THE BERSERKERS! When you call the Berserkers, you may draw a card and attach it to either end of your card row. You may only do this once per round, and the Berserker card is removed from the game after the round.

Continue playing until one player has received all three Wound cards from their opponent.

For a bit more strategy and decision-making, play the advanced variant. When drawing and playing cards, each player must announce "Left" or "Right" and attach the card to that side of their previously played cards. This gives you more options to hit the resource (axes or shields) you need.

"Until the blood on your sword is the blood of a king! Until the blood on your hands is the blood of a king!" – Manowar