Matagot SARL | Kemet - Blood and Sand | Board Game | Ages 12+ | 2 to 5 Players | 90 to 120 Minutes Playing Time

Product Information

In the mystic land of Egypt, weapons will give you victory! Raise your armies, unleash your divine powers, summon creatures, take control of temples and join the battle! On each turn—early game rounds include five turns for each player, though that can change—you choose and execute one (1) of several actions on your player board. These include moving, praying, recruiting, purchasing power up tiles, and constructing a stage of your pyramid. That’s it. Like I said, it’s much more approachable than it looks. A player board.

Before the morning, reset your action tokens and determining who goes first. Going first is a bonus but it means you are not as popular as the other Gods. Is It Worth My Time Playing God? Victory points were scored by winning battles, claiming pyramids and temples, performing sacrifices, and gaining access to certain magical powers. Once a player gathered between eight to ten victory points - depending on the total number of people playing - they were declared the winner.

Wrap Up (Cos, like, mummies, they’re wrapped up. It’s a joke.)

The publisher of Kemet and Kemet: Blood and Sand is Matagot, which has previously released titles such as co-op board game Captain Sonar, as well as the spiritual prequel and sequel to Kemet, Cyclades and Inis. Together, the three individual games form an unofficial ‘legendary’ trilogy. One of my favorite parts of developing strategy for the game comes from the theory-crafting with the Power tiles, which I interchangeably call upgrade tiles.. There are TONS of Power tiles to choose from, allowing you to go wide with cheaper upgrades, or choosing to go tall with the more expensive, more powerful ones. Both are viable strategies, meaning that you always feel like you can sculpt your gameplan and adapt to the changing conditions on the board. Also, if you’re into the Egyptian theme or wargames, you’ll find a lot to like here. That goes for anybody who enjoys games like Risk or Smallworld, but who want a some more crunchiness to sink their teeth into. The game itself is mildly complex due to all of the options that you have, and the action lists seem quite lengthy. I’d also say that in today’s age of playing many board games once and putting them up on the shelf, you’d want to play this one a few times to really get the feel of its breadth. Mood The cities available on the mainboard are determined by the number of players. For 2 to 3 players, only use the area on the east side of the Nile. Sandstorms cover the uninhabitable cities.

Kemet: Blood and Sand is played over a series of Rounds, each of which consist of a Day and Night Phase. During the Day, players are taking a total of 5 actions that can consist of the following: I won’t go through the entire combat resolution process, but it boils down to comparing the Strength of cards played (with any bonuses), and inflicting casualties accordingly. Winners get the option of staying and the loser must recall or retreat their Troop. The miniatures are beautifully designed and the whole production is outstanding. The rulebook needs work and there were times when learning, it wasn’t easy to find an answer to the question. I found the board bland. This may be deliberate so that the miniatures stand out on it. Why do you only use half the board in a 2 or 3 player game? I want to play on the whole board every game. Troops don’t automatically get removed from the board in Kemet combat. It may just be that they retreat. One of the strategic nuances in Kemet, as both aggressor and defender, is figuring out your goal. Do you want to prioritize winning the fight and taking/holding the territory, or are you more interested in keeping your troops around to fight for the same scrap of land again? Are you trying to win or are you trying to thin out the opponent’s ranks, regardless of outcome? Do you want to have the space when the dust settles, or do you just want the other player not to? Different cards serve different goals. The areas on the mainboard are clearly defined and look okay. The temple and city areas are easily identifiable. Any iconography on the board clearly shows your reward or option when controlled.

Veteran Tokens

I like the look of that power tile.” Put your token on the ‘Buy A Power Tile’ space. You can buy a power tile up to the level of that coloured to Pyramid but it will cost you.

Kemet is a game about Egyptian gods battling each other using human troops and mythical monsters, so players who are averse to other religions should stay away. There is one Power Tile with an underdressed female, and several pieces of art show shirtless men. Of course, the game is also depicting violence on a grand scale. Review A few provisos if this is your first Big Game Rodeo, born out of my experiences with my play group:Kemet: Blood and Sand has tension in droves! The map is only so large and all of it feels decently accessible at any point in the game. So the threat of warfare is immediate and constant. There’s no escaping it! Partial build pyramids are placed in 2 districts of your city. The pyramid tops must match the power tiles used in the game. Any pyramid on the board must have a coloured top, the tip pointing down. So, choose wisely. If you want to play a larger board game, but you’re worried about being overwhelmed, Kemet: Blood & Sand is a pretty good entry point. This is especially true if you play with someone who can teach the game. The manual is good, but it makes Kemet seem less approachable than it is. Like most of the heavier games I love, the real weight here is not in playing, but rather in trying to play well. The first thing you notice is the miniatures. The creatures are outstanding, beautifully designed and detailed. I wish I had the time and the patience to paint them. The most attention-grabbing powerups are the various creatures, which add a mythical beast—or, you know, an elephant—to your army. These are represented on the map by big, chunky minifigures. From a sculpting point of view, the scorpion is the best one. We can all agree. That’s why it’s on the box art. They knew. They knew.

Maybe that’s forgivable if the gameplay is premium. Kemet: Blood and Sand is a very tightly designed game, and definitely one that promotes interaction and combat. I love how winning a battle is distinct from winning or losing troops, and the bluffing of the card-battle system always led to deliciously difficult decisions. For new players, revealing the 48 power tiles right from the start is overwhelming, but most are not immediately accessible, and several are repeated. By the end of the first game, we had those down without a problem. It always felt like you had several things you wanted to do and not enough time to be doing them, in a good way – decisions need to have tension to be interesting. Once Night hits, players go through an extensive series of ‘cleanup’ steps, in which they can gain additional Fame Points (FP), Divine Intervention cards, Prayer Points, and more.The scarab beetle, temple and battle fame tokens are nicely designed. A tray is included to store these tokens. The cards are either smaller or bigger than standard and the icons are simply designed. And What About The Boards? So brush up on your hieroglyphics because it’s time to dive into Kemet: Blood and Sand! Kemet: Blood and Sand Gameplay Of course, there are a lot more details to each of the actions and phases of the game, but in a nutshell this is a very tight wargame that rewards risk-taking. There are going to be a lot of battles going on! Staking OurC.L.A.I.M. on Kemet: Blood and Sand! Components If a player has at least 9 Fame Points at the beginning of their Day Phase, and no other player has more Fame Points than them, they immediately win the game!