Introduction

Soldier Kings: The Seven Years War is a great new board game from Avalanche Press. The primary focus is on Frederick the Great's effort to protect Prussia from domination by a host of other major powers in Europe. Britain's alliance with Prussia and her expansion as a global power are key in the campaign game. The game is a strategic interpretation of the era, with the major forces being either fleets or armies. Leaders are also present, and have a command rating reflecting their effectiveness in battle. Players manage each state's resources and manpower, adding an element of economics. The key to achieving victory is control of land areas, which is the only way to acquire victory points. In many ways, Soldier Kings reminded me of Empires in Arms, but without the extra complexity and detail. By no means is this a bad thing, as Soldier Kings is easy to learn and has great replay value, especially if a large group of players can be assembled for the campaign game.

First Impressions

Soldier Kings is a visually impressive game. The information on the game map is easy to locate and understand. The game is zone based rather than hex based, with each land zone representing a minor power or part of a major power. Each zone has a symbol of the state that initially controls the territory, the resource and manpower factors that a player receives for controlling the area at the end of the year, and the siege value of the area. Areas connected by regular land routes have thick white lines while thick yellow lines symbolize access over mountainous terrain. Sea zones adjoin each other, although there is an area where worldwide movement is shown for use in the campaign game. This shows paths to individual parts of the world such as South America or the Spice Islands.

Marker, possessions, and leader counters.	Army and fleet counters.

The counters are equally attractive. Leaders and units have a symbol corresponding to the country that owns it. These are easy to read and distinguish units or leaders from each country well. A nice touch is added by the size of armies being represented by different counters; for instance, a 4-3 army (large) has nearly a full complement of soldiers, while a small army (a 1-1) has far fewer men.

Event cards, which are used to influence game events, are easy to read. Cards that can only be played outside of Europe, and used only in the campaign game, are distinguished with the outline of the globe on the front of the card clearly distinguishing them. Player aids are clear and contain much information to smooth the flow of play and reduce references to the rulebook.

One embarrassing slip in the game's presentation relates to the "Royal Betrothal" event card. Unfortunately, the counter that is used to indicate the minor country affected is abbreviated "Royal Brothel".

A sample of the event cards.	Part of the great-looking maps.