After years of tension, the Orcs, Dwarves, Elves, and Hobgoblins are finally at war. The year will be full of conflict and battle.
This is great news to you. You’re an arms merchant. And business is about to boom.
Battle Merchants is an economic strategy game where four fantasy races fight in a fantasy world. As a player, you take the role of a weapons dealer, forging and selling weapons to the participants. You don’t have any allegiance to a single race, though the more you sell to someone, the more money they will give you.
The race that wins the game is irrelevant. The richest player at the end of the game wins.
The New Kingdoms expansion replaces the Kingdom Card deck in the base game. It offers new strategies and more replayability, but it's easy enough to learn that a new player can just jump right in.
Kingdom Card Almanac (base game)
Kingdom Card Almanac (New Kingdoms expansion)
Dice Tower review by Tom Vasel:
Dice Tower review by Ryan Metzler:
DriveThruReview:
Undead Viking review:
Let's Level Up review:
"Battle Merchants successful merges an economic game into a fantasy theme that, in my opinion, fits it really well. The artwork is great, the game play is balanced and overall we just had fun with it. I think anyone who is a fan of eurogames should give this one a try. It’s something different and will keep you glued to the board for the whole if its 90 minute play time. The games easy to learn rules and minimal down time will also make it easy to get to your table often." - Board Game Quest
"Battle Merchants is a deceptively rich game about money management. Players may not be directly involved with the demands of the game’s warring factions, but there’s still plenty of room for conflict all the same. The game’s unique arms merchant theme works on two distinct levels: both as a refreshingly different style to economic games and a proper representation of who the players are portraying... the combination of flavor and mechanics that this middleweight game brings makes Battle Merchants a worthwhile addition to a player’s gaming arsenal." - Cardboard Republic (Battle Merchants was Cardboard Republic's Indie Game Spotlight for September 2014)
"I think Battle Merchants is a charmingly-themed, mechanically streamlined game that fires up my entrepreneurial spirit. It plays in around 90 minutes and gives players a very satisfying sense of strategic freedom; every time I play I'm able to think about how I want to approach THIS game, and how to react to other players' actions, rather than being railroaded down one strategic route. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go hawk this backpack full of rusty forks to a gang of belligerent merfolk." - An Even Weirder Review
"Battle Merchants is the rare economic game that does not feel like a spreadsheet. The theme is plastered all over this game and the board is colorful and fun to look at... Battle Merchants keeps the main mechanics simple and easy to understand and the more you play the more layers are added. I really enjoyed this game a lot and it might be one of my favorite games. This could be a great gateway to mid range economic game. The game never felt stale and never felt boring. Even though I knew we were playing an economic game, it never felt like it. That is a huge plus for most players... Keeper" - The Purge
"You will never have so much fun fostering warfare! 95%" - Throat Punch Games
"While other games have included weapon crafting, this is the one where I really feel like I’m a blacksmith and selling my fine-honed (or shoddily-made) weapons to make a living. The artwork is a very fun take on fantasy art and a good reminder not to take the game too seriously. Yet, all the choices lead to a deeper strategy and competition can get a little cut-throat... Overall, I think this game is a solid euro-style game with a strong theme that I highly recommend checking out." - Sarah Reed, designer of Project Dreamscape.
"Battle Merchants was the delight of Gen Con for me. Most of the other games I got there were things that were already solidly on my radar. It came out of nowhere to be one of my favorites, and the only reason I didn't buy it on the spot was that my luggage was already jam-packed. Instead I waited until I got home and then immediately ordered my own copy. It's a great title that deserves some more attention." - Dave Lartigue
"Seriously, buy this game!" - Rik Van Horn
You can reach the designer by email here!
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