In the Hall of the Mountain King: Rush to Rebuild!
Intent: Inspire you to try playing In the Hall of the Mountain King!
Recruit trolls to dig glorious tunnels to reclaim and rebuild the great kingdom under the mountain. Do you have what it takes to lead your troop to glory? In the Hall of the Mountain King is designed by Jay Cormier and Graeme Jahns, illustrated by Kwanchai Moriya and published by Burnt Island Games. In this 2-5 player game you will recruit trolls, creating a cascading pyramid of resources that will progress your journey into the depth of the mountain trying to claim the crown of the Mountain King! After the second player recruits their tenth troll the game ends, the round finishes, two more turns are taken by everyone and then the player with the most honour wins! This game takes 75-90 minutes to play. *Hums “In the Hall of the Mountain King”
Overview
Well your objective is quite simple, recruit trolls, dig into the heart of the mountain and earn honour to claim the throne and crown!
Before you can be the new Mountain King, you’ll have to start on the outskirts of the tunnel and with each turn, make a decision to dig, which means spending resources to claim honour and place tiles into the playing area digging into the mountain or recruit, which means getting trolls to join your pyramid, which produces resources.
As you build your pyramid of trolls more resources will be available to you and as you dig you’ll acquire statues and pedestals, which ultimately will earn you honour based on their positioning during game end. Your primary objective will be to balance the resources in order to maximize the honour you’ll earn throughout the game.
Will you be the most strategic digger and earn a Great Hall? I sure hope so because there needs to be a Mountain King!
First Game Impression
It’s funny because the first time I played this game was actually not with Tylor. Oh the before COVID-19 days…
The production quality, the components and every aspect of this game excited me as we began setting up. The cascading card system that produced resources particularly got me interested because I quickly began to see the possible combinations and why certain cards should exist in certain spots within the pyramid.
The two player game was a wonderful experience, there wasn’t as much player interaction as I would have thought but the balance between digging and recruiting was certainly interesting, creating space for the great halls, and knowing what to prioritize wasn’t clear and I really appreciated discovering the variety of angles I could have taken in this game.
My initial thought was to obviously dig towards the middle as that’s most beneficial to the points and it certainly helped as I managed to snag a close victory in the first game. We had a ton of fun, but we were immediately excited about the potential this game has at the higher player count so it wasn’t long before we dove into a game with more players.
Thoughts After Five Games
Playing this game at higher player count and again at two players left us in awe. At first it does seem like there’s quite a long going on but in it’s bare bones it’s a really clever resource management game that really allows you to bathe in the theme and enjoy the story and the race to build the Greatest Hall!
What particularly stood out after many playthroughs is that no game felt the same, because of the differing priorities, how others and I’ve played each game felt unique, like a new story being told for the first time and it was genuinely tough to put the game away because we always wanted to keep playing. There were just so many elements that elevated the game for me, the unknown pedestal points, the spells , and the various workshops really left a good impression on me after at first overwhelming me.
It’s funny because you can tell a lot of thought went into this game, the designers could have easily left it at digging and recruiting, it’s the extra elements that really make the game shine and truly something special, so if you’re playing for the first time really take it all in and try not to be overwhelmed by all the components, it’s all intentional and it serves a purpose.
I feel like I could say much more here but all of it would be me gushing at the wonderful experience I’ve had with this game.
MERIT Report Card
Overall Letter Grade: B+
Strengths: An immersive, thematic and engaging game. Many mechanics that can act as a great point of discovery for newer players. Plenty of variability that leads to a unique experience each time. High production and quality design.
Areas of Improvement: Slightly overwhelming at the start, would love a thematic tutorial session to ease players in. Although I understand why there’s so many components, it feels busy and quite an ordeal to setup, which can at times be a deterrent a high quality organizer is something I’ll certainly look for for this game.
Memorability: A-
Did this experience stick with me after playing this game? Absolutely, there’s so much memorabilia in this game. The production quality, the memorable mechanics and your own tower of trolls. I found myself thinking of the various strategies I would try quite often after playing this game.
How does this game resonate with the folks we introduce it to? The table presence is spectacular. It’s a game that will certainly be talked about after your game night, especially with the unique resources and fun storyline behind it.
How many memories can be built from this game? Plenty. There’s definitely lots of room for big moments, finally getting your statue in the centre AND on a pedestal! Now that’s worth celebrating. It’s a game that truly shines at the table.
Education: A-
This game has plenty of useful educational elements, but I’ll start with the one that really stuck out to me, the planning of your cascades and troll pyramid. Where you put your trolls essentially is a game in itself because you will need to figure out which resource you would rather produce more often than others as the trolls in the centre yield multiple productions than one on the side. It seems quite obvious but strategic placement, and because resources don’t stack makes for a thinky puzzle, not only will you have to consider placement but also understand which resources you’ll need so you can maximize during the cascades.
With that said, this leads me to one of my favorite educational elements that can be seen in many board games, balancing your actions and multitasking appropriately. Every day in life we often have to make decisions and prioritize our actions whether its in our family, home life or work life. This game certainly helps you practice that decision making as you are always balancing that line of whether you should dig or recruit and those decisions are crucial. Whether you believe it or not, each time you make that choice, it leads to you being more and more comfortable with making decisions and being able to prioritize properly, yes, it definitely makes sense to finish your dinner before you end up washing all the dishes piled up. We don’t notice a lot of these elements but I’m telling you board games certainly contribute to it.
Last but certainly not least, let’s talk about adapting. In this game you’ll have to adapt many times, based on troll availability, time crunch to move your statues or even some of the pieces left. Again building that comfort with changing circumstances and being able to quickly adjust your strategy and adapt to the circumstances is such an important skillset to have and this game certainly allows you to fire off that specific brain neuron to keep developing this skill.
Replayability: B
Remember variability doesn’t always mean replayability. Chess for example doesn’t have a ton of variability but has so much replayability.
However, having said that, the variability in this game really fuels the replayability, like I said before having different Spells, workshops, varying trolls and points you can get from pedestals certainly provided replayability as each game felt significantly different as we attempted different strategies. That variability does come at a cost: many many components.
I don’t see myself playing this game over and over and the simple reason here is that it’s a lot of setup with so many moving pieces, it’s certainly a deterrent to the replayability as the game isn’t super long.
If somebody set it up for me, I would certainly play but I think it’s fair to put this deterrent here, an organizer or trays for components would certainly elevate this game.
Imagination: A-
This theme and storyline behind this game certainly excites me. The fact that there’s a universe around it too with The Fall of the Mountain King coming soon always gets me hyped and energized.
You’re taking the time to rebuild the tunnel from the gnome attacks in the past, how neat is that? The precision in creating the Great Halls certainly leaves for not only a memorable experience but an immersive one as well. Everything you’re doing from creating tunnels, to recruiting or even using a spell or a workshop makes sense in the game setting.
It’s all believable and you really want to be the one who succeeds the race to claim some of those centre tiles and become victorious! The potential for in the race, the conflict and the overall tension between the players certainly fuels in the atmosphere as well as each troll taken and tunnel built leads to one step closer to claiming victory.
Target: B
There’s so much I love in this game, from the simple tile placement, cascading actions, resource management, indirect conflict and a fun use of pick up and deliver. This game sprinkles in so many mechanics and theme and leaves for quite a memorable experience, which is why I truly believe the primary audience of this game is someone who really enjoys board games.
However, having said that, this is a FANTASTIC game to introduce to newer players who are excited and have the capacity to learn as because there’s so many varying mechanics in this game upon reflection you can pivot and say you like tile placement, well let me introduce you to a plethora of polyomino games, card drafting well I got some games for you. It certainly creates space for those conversations and I would love to hear some stories if you’ve used this game to help your friends identify what they like and don’t like.
This game is slightly overwhelming at first though and a lot to take in and although easy to understand and quick to play once you know what’s happening I do feel like there’s a barrier to entry with this one. A tutorial session, or even a thematic breakdown of actions would have gone a long way for me for this game, however, definitely not a reason not to play it. I would encourage many to try this one out.
Tylor’s Stars ⭐⭐⭐1/2
This game is fun! At first it seems like there is a lot going on because there are so many different components but the player board lays a turn out quite well. It surprised me how short the game took but it definitely feels like a race to the finish. I particularly like that there are different things you can focus your strategy on. In general, anything that has a chain reaction type feel to it, is right up my alley.
Overall, I really enjoyed playing this game and think it deserves more table time than we give it. I think I would be more inclined to play this game at higher player counts to have more intense thinking around placement and messing with other peoples board state. Also, the game has a lot in it, which makes playing it at two-players a little less rewarding as the game just flies by. Either way, I look forward to playing more of this one!
Final Thoughts: A game I’m certainly keen to play and introduce many times over and over. The dynamic decision making paired with an immersive and tense theme leave for many joyous and memorable moments between you and your friends as you attempt to earn honour and claim the crown as the new Mountain King. The production quality is phenomenal and this game is bound to steal the attention of your game night once the enter the Hall of the Mountain King.
MERIT Report Card Letter Grade: B+