It’s no secret that I’m a fan of card games! So when I was asked if I wanted to review the upcoming game Cover Your Kingdom.

Cover Your Kingdoms is from Grandpa Beck’s Games! The makers of Skull King, The Bears and the Bees, and Cover Your Assets! So I knew it had to be good.

What is it? 

Cover Your Kingdom is a spin off to the very popular Cover Your Assets from Grandpa Beck’s Games.

In this game, rather than trying to become a millionaire by acquiring high valued assets, you are all Rulers of your very own Kingdom. To win, you must recruit clans of Magical Creatures to your Kingdom. The more magical creatures you recruit, the more magic is added to your Kingdom. 

The player with the most magic in their Kingdom at the end of the game becomes the Most Noble and Supreme Majesty of Magical Might!
A mouthful? Yes. Worth playing for? Absolutely!

I bet you’re wondering if this is just a re-themed version of Cover Your Assets. 

Well worry not, for this game is far more ruthless, cut throat, and strategic! Cover Your Kingdom offers far more game play for those looking for a greater challenge and a bit of humor as well!

How do you play?

Every Ruler is first given a Kingdom. This play mat features two regions where you will collect your creatures: The Mountains and the Valley.

In the game, there are 10 kinds of creatures that you can recruit to your Kingdom. In the upper left hand corner of each creature card is a jewel that shows you their magical value, and below that their region symbol. Creatures can only be recruited into their specific region. Two creatures, Pigxies and Hentaurs, are flexible and can be recruited into either region.

There are also two types of wild creatures. CerbeRussel Terrier, and Spydra. These can be paired with another creature to start a clan or used to recruit or defend clans during the game. 

CerbeRussel Terriers work just like any other creature would, however, Spydras are much more powerful, if used to recruit or defend a Clan, they must be countered by TWO creatures or another Spydra. (more on recruiting/defending below.)

When recruiting creatures, each clan is stacked crosswise of the previous clan, alternating with each new clan recruited throughout the game.

In addition to the magical creatures, there are also cards called Free Creatures. These cards cannot be recruited but their abilities can be used by players who choose to play them on their turn. 

These cards allow you to move a clan from the top to the bottom of a stack, or visa-versa, take three cards from one Ruler giving any three back, trade clans between Rulers, skip a Ruler’s turn, or, most ruthlessly, remove a Clan from the game entirely. 

These two of each of these five creatures in the deck. 

The game plays with players each taking turns around the table until all of the cards in the draw deck and in their hands are gone.

Turn Actions

Deal out six cards to every player, placing the remaining cards in the center of the table to use as the draw deck. Do not flip over a card to start a discard pile. 

On your turn you may take one or two actions. Repeating the same action twice is allowed. 

You may:

1. Start a Clan by either:
a.) pairing two Creatures of the same type from your hand
b.) Pairing the Creature atop the discard pile with a matching card in your hand.
2. Attempt to recruit a Clan from another Kingdom
3. Add a Creature to one of your top existing Clans of matching Creatures (wilds may not be added this way)
4. Employ the service of a Free Creature. (These creatures are discarded to the opposite side of the deck from the discard pile)
5. Discard and draw a card.

Recruiting clans

This is where the bread is buttered. You can begin to recruit clans once a couple conditions are met. 

-You have started a Clan of your own
-Your targeted opponent has at least two total clans in their Kingdom

On your turn, attempt to recruit another Ruler’s Clan by showing a creature that matches a Clan on top of one of their stacks, or a wild creature from your hand. 

Then the challenged Ruler has the chance to defend their Clan by showing either a matching or Wild creature of their own. 

The challenge continues in a back-and-forth manner with each Ruler countering with another card until someone can’t continue or chooses to stop. The last player to reveal a card wins the challenge and takes ALL of the cards used in the challenge and combines them with the contested clan which is then placed (or remains) on the winner’s stack.

Ending Your Turn

At the end of your turn, all Rulers will draw back up to six. The Ruler whose turn it was draws first, followed by other Rulers in a clockwise order.

End of Game

Players play through till all players are out of cards. 

Once the draw pile is gone, play continues as before, except now players will no longer be able to draw cards to replenish their hands.

If you run out of cards before anyone else. Your Clans are still vulnerable and can be recruited by other Rulers. Bummer for you.

Once all of the cards are used, the round ends. Players then gather all of their creatures and add up their value which represents how much Magic is in their Kingdom.

The player with the most magic earns the title of Most Noble and Supreme Majesty of Magical Might!

In short, they win and earn the right to gloat in as respectful a manner as possible. 

What do we think?

If you’ve been a reader around here for a bit, you know that we are big fans of Grandpa Beck’s in our house. 

Cover Your Assets is one of my favorite games because not only is it addictive, it is extremely accessible for all players. You don’t have to be a big gamer to love Cover Your Assets. You can play it with just about anyone, young or old, and everyone is going to have a great time. 

Yet, as a gamer, while I love Cover Your Assets and the player interaction involved in the game, I still craved a bit more control and strategy. 

Cover Your Kingdom gives me exactly that. 

Having two regions to defend is far more tricky and I find myself being far more picky about how and when I place creatures into my Kingdom. The dual regions also offers far more selection on the table when it comes to recruiting creatures. If you’re playing with four or five others, you now have 8 or 10 stacks to look at, giving you a far greater chance of matching up with someone else’s Clan to recruit to your Kingdom.

The Free Creatures are absolute, complete game changers here. They bring so much to the game from a strategy stand point and make the play experience more exciting with their brutal (yet awesome) powers. These creatures will have you laughing maniacally as you employ them against an opponent, then later crying as they are used against you in turn.  

Having the ability to take a second action if you’d like to also allows players the chance to pull off some pretty great moves. If you recruit a valuable Clan on your first action, you can then bury it under another clan from your hand, making it that much harder for opponents to snatch it back. It’s also risky, the more moves you take, especially towards the end of the game, the less cards you will have to defend your Clans once the draw pile is exhausted. 

Let’s talk about the art for a second! The illustrations, colors, and creatures all just pop off the cards in the best way. The artist, Apryl Stott did a fantastic job combining these creatures and giving them life. I love how everyone who has played this with us has found a favorite card too. (Mine are the Bragons if you’re interested!)

The cheeky sayings and creature designs are just so fantastic and add a lighthearted, whimsical, punderful personality to this game. 

I think the personality of the game itself is very important. This is a funny game. It’s so silly and ridiculous with these creatures that you can’t help but laugh. That aspect is very important because it keeps everyone in the right state of mind and keeps everything friendly, even if someone steals an incredibly valuable clan. 

It’s pretty much impossible to get angry saying, “UGH! You stole my River Clackins!” Seriously, I can’t even type that without chuckling. 

Some players may not like the amount of luck that is involved in the game. Due to the nature of drawing cards from a deck, there will be an element of luck involved in what you draw and what others have in their hands and choose to play. However, the strategy you employ with the cards you do draw is entirely up to you. You can choose to play it safe or make bold moves. There’s a lot of strategy involved in knowing what cards to hold on to and when and how to use them that makes that strategy component very satisfying and rewarding. The more you play, the better you’ll get at knowing how to use the cards in your hand. 

With all of the above mentioned, my favorite aspect of the game has to be, hands down, the way that it has added all of these new elements, yet still manages to keep the addictive player interaction that has made my whole family fall in love with Cover Your Assets. It’s the perfect amount of take-that in a game that doesn’t leave you wanting to choke the other players when things don’t go your way. 

Everyone takes a trip on the up and down journey of the game. Sometimes smirking smugly after pulling off a great move, then watching aghast as another player returns the favor and swipes a huge clan from them, or everyone’s eyes going wide as two players battle it out over a clan, dropping wilds left and right, while everyone else salivates over the thought of recruiting it to their Kingdom on their next turn. 

The game builds into this rhythm, a ridiculously fun back and forth between all players where everyone is both hero and villain.

Summary

Cover Your Kingdom is a hilariously punny, surprisingly strategic, and completely addictive card game. The zany creatures had us all laughing around the table, even as they turned us into brutal Rulers of our Kingdoms ready to ruthlessly recruit clans from family and friends alike. 

As a gamer, I’m always looking for a game to hit that sweet spot where it is fun for both new and experienced players. Cover Your Kingdom is easy to teach to a new group of players, offering a ton of fun that gets everyone excited to keep playing. It is quickly becoming a favorite for our game nights. 

If you have Cover Your Assets, you may be wondering if you need to have both games. 

As mentioned, Cover Your Kingdom isn’t just a re-theme, but rather a fully unique, stand alone spin-off of Cover Your Assets with its own distinct feel.

I’ll always travel with Cover Your Assets because of just how accessible it is for such a wide variety of ages. It also has some of the best take-that style of game play you are going to find in a card game.

Cover Your Kingdom, however, is the game that I will be pulling out when my friends come over. That’s not to say that it can’t be taught to younger or older players, it certainly can! Our 7 year old loves it. But the more ruthless style of game play and added strategy is perfectly suited to open or close out a fun game night with our friends.

To recruit a copy for you and your family, check out the Grandpa Beck store on Amazon since the game will be releasing in late 2019.

Thank you so much to Grandpa Beck’s Games for providing us a preview copy of Cover Your Kingdom to review. As always, our thoughts and opinions are our own.

If you like this post you may also like:

Cover Your Assets
The Bears and the Bees
Skull King

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