WBG Score: 8.5
Player Count: 1-4
You’ll like this if you like: Project L, Tiny Towns.
Published by: Lucky Duck Games
Designed by: Alara Cameron, Helana Hope, Sen-Foong Lim
This is a review copy. See our review policy here
There are not a lot of Tower Defence games out there. Board games wise I mean. There are thousands of Apps that use this system. But very few that have transferred over to cardboard form. I wonder why that is? Kingdom Rush is one of the more popular modern-day app versions of this system, and they successfully developed a board game version in 2020, with the release of Rift in Time. A million dollars later and just shy of twelve thousand backers, and the team at Lucky Duck thought it was time for a sequel, and now we have Elemental Uprising. But what's changed? Has it gotten better? Was it any good to start with? Let's get it to the table and find out.
How To Set Up Kingdom Rush: Elemental Uprising
Each scenario has a different setup that you can easily follow in the scenario instructions, but let me take you through the basics.
The first thing to do is set up the map for the scenario you are playing. There are a number of smaller and larger tiles that will make up each different level's game board. Piece these together as per the scenario's instructions, along with the exit(s) and starting hordes. There are a number of see-through tiles used to show which player can build on each area; place these on the main tiles as per your player count. Next, set up the hordes that you will be defending against this round. Each scenario will show you quite clearly which cards you need and which stack they will be placed into. Each stack will be numbered so you can clearly identify the order in which they spawn and move as you play the game.
Each player will now choose a character to play with, taking the associated player mat, miniature, and any other tokens used for that character as shown on the player mat. Take a player colour marker and place this next to your board as well as a player aid.
Now it's time to divide up the available defence towers. Each scenario will have a number of starting towers available to all players. You can decide who starts with what based on the number of players you have and which colour each player is and their available building sites. You may not keep what you start with, so take into account the upgrade process. More on that later.
Each scenario will have a variety of other elements rising up. Does the name of this game make sense now? Place these out according to the set-up. Volcanoes, flowers, all sorts. I won't spoil the surprises of the campaign here.
Finally, take your starting coins and gems and check your win condition in the scenario guide in the main rulebook. Place all the various damage tokens, separated into their groups and sizes. You are now ready to begin.
How To Play Kingdom Rush: Elemental Uprising
Each round begins with the hordes on the map moving. However, in the first round, you can skip this. But in later rounds, you will move all surviving hordes forwards one space towards the exit. Some hordes may move twice, based on the symbol shown on the horde card. If they move off the course, you will suffer one heart loss for each surviving fighter on the card.
Next is the main phase where players can place down tower cards and move and use their main hero. Players can only place their tower cards on the spaces matching their player color and need to consider the tower's orientation and abilities in comparison to the current location of the hordes on the board. There are four main types of towers, all similar to the mobile app version of the game:
Archer Towers - Fire arrows at your enemies.
Mage - Perhaps you prefer to send magical bolts their way.
Artillery - Or just bomb them?
Soldier - Some like to go old school and send in the troops!
As you place each tower down, deal the damage they inflict as you go. This is done by placing specific polyomino shapes onto adjacent hordes. Some towers and upgrades have the power to deal damage to any horde, but most of the time you will be working with one or more adjacent tiles. The Tower you are attacking will show you your options for damage; select the matching damage tile and place this however you see fit, position and orientation-wise, on the selected horde.
Each horde will have a variety of enemies you must cover with a damage token in order to remove that horde from the board. All hordes come in the same shape of a five-by-five grid, but a vast variety of layout of enemies lie in wait within that grid. Covering each enemy space with a damage tile is the only way to remove that horde from the board. If any enemies remain on a horde, the horde will advance in the next phase.
Some enemies are immune to certain attacks, and others require a different form of damage for each space. As in, a four-by-four enemy that needs each of the four spaces that make up its location to be covered by four separate damage tiles.
Players work simultaneously during this phase. You can place your towers down as you like, and whenever you see fit. It does not need to be in turn. But it obviously makes sense to work together to make the best use of the towers you have and the locations in which you can build.
If you don't play any towers in this phase, you can instead pass them to another player who can then upgrade the tower to the next level, ready to be used on the next round. Each tower has four levels. Not all levels will be available on each scenario, but you will have access to level one, two, and three. The more advanced levels offer more range and increased damage.
As the scenarios develop, you will encounter new enemies. Some will trigger certain actions and require specific ways to defeat them. I don't want to spoil too much here. Just know things ramp up in a really engaging, challenging, and interesting way.
The game gives you new and interesting ways to level up your own powers though. And this is where the Elemental Uprising of the game's name comes into play. Certain tokens will be placed out during set up for various scenarios that, when triggered, will give you bonuses, extra ways to cause damage, new events, and even ways to unlock new hero abilities.
Speaking of which, a huge part of this game is the heroes you play as and the asymmetric abilities they offer. There are five hero characters to choose from, and each brings new attacks and ways to cause damage. The heroes can unlock new abilities as the campaign progresses and will become a pivotal part of your strategy. Each round you can move the hero and activate their attacks to increase the amount of damage they do. The hero itself will count as damage. The enemies they cover on the horde are considered defeated. When you activate your hero, play your hero card from your hand to remind you that you have done it this round.
Once you have activated your hero and used or upgraded all your tower cards, you will now remove all fully destroyed horde trays. Simply take them off the board. Any hero on a tray that is being removed receives one damage unless any other powers contradict this, and the horde card is flipped to show what reward is given, generally a coin or gem.
Then, any remaining horde trays advance forward towards the nearest exit. Hordes closest to the exit move first. Any hordes blocked by another horde jump one space. Some hordes have double movement and can leap forwards. Watch out for that! Any hordes that manage to break free and escape through the exit will cause you one damage for each enemy still alive on the horde tray.
Players will now pick up all their previously placed towers and hero card back into their hand ready for the next round. Players are now free to discuss how best to use any collected gems and coins to buy upgrade mods for their existing towers with the coins, and new towers to add to either player's hand with the gems. The game then resets back to phase one, adding new hordes, drawing the top horde from each stack you placed during setup, and adding it to the nearest position on the board to the spawn point. If another horde blocks their way, move them forward towards the exit to the first free space.
The game then continues like this until the end game condition is met. Generally, this is to defeat all the hordes. But in later scenarios, you will have specific targets to defeat, actions to do, or quests to achieve. Again, I won't spoil that here, but it certainly ramps up the difficulty and interest levels! There are 13 scenarios in total to play, and you certainly will need to play more than 13 times to win them all.
Is It Fun? Kingdom Rush: Elemental Uprising Board Game Review
Let's start with the bad - because there is a lot of good!
Set up and tear-down is long and tedious. It's fiddly, there are not enough baggies, storage containers, and your table and box will be a mess. It's annoying and takes a good 20 minutes each time.
The rule book is not the best. They try to make it easy with an introduction scenario that has its own separate rule book, which you think will teach you the game if you read it. It does not do this. It teaches you about 75% and makes the rest seem overly confusing. I honestly think I could halve the size of this rule book and do a much better job given a few hours at the editing station! It's a real shame.
The solo game is a little lacklustre and feels devoid of any real emotion, character, or thought. Nothing changes really, and I think it needed to. Because celebrating wins on my own in this game felt a little hollow. I think it needed more of a focus.
OK, now, with that moan out the way, onto the good.
Oh my is this game satisfying! playing the game in a two is wildly enjoyable, and has created multiple moments of tension, joy, genuine cheers! And multiple tough but oh so tasty decisions to make.
We got stuck on a few scenarios for a game or two, but then when you finally beat a level it feels great! There was a quick and incredibly rewarding learning curve both in terms of our understanding of the strategy to the game and how to play it well, but also in how the game throws new things at you each scenario. It ramps up perfectly keeping each new game fresh and delicately balanced. No game ever felt easy. No game ever felt impossible. Winning this game always feels great! Losing just makes you want to try again.
Getting access to new powers and towers as the scenarios develop is very exciting too. I can see why they don't give them to you earlier on. It would make the game too easy. But also, it is nice to have an improved arsenal when you are up against tougher opposition. It feels you grow in your skills at a perfect pace to the enemies you are up against.
The different hero powers are all very interesting too. They feel balanced but varied enough to make trying each one out an exciting proposition. Developing their skills is a lot of fun, and as the scenarios progress, you will feel like a mighty warrior throwing different polyomino shapes down here there ad everywhere! Which brings me nicely to my final point. The tactile feeling of placing the various damage shapes down, and the puzzle of trying to decide where to put each one feels like a separate part of the game each round, but heavily linked to the overall experience. It just absorbs you each round, and when played with another player, creates some genuinely interesting debate. The strategy and tactics are crucial. You cannot just go off on your own throwing arrows.
If you are a fan of the mobile version, then certainly give this a try. You need to understand it won't have the same pace as the app. How can it? But the frantic nature of the real-time phone game is replaced by the strategic thinking of the board game version. Both work. Both are excellent. Each offers a different feeling, and you need to be mindful of that if you expect a direct port. But both deliver an enjoyable experience with a strong tower defence theme.