The Queen’s Dilemma will expand the narrative legacy framework of its board game predecessor
Punting the patriarchy.
A followup to The King’s Dilemma, 2019’s board game of monarchical decisions, has been announced. The Queen’s Dilemma reunites the original designers and expands on the mechanics and storytelling potential of its predecessor.
Announced as part of The Dice Tower’s Summer Spectacular, The Queen’s Dilemma comes from Hjalmar Hach and Lorenzo Silva, both of whom created the original together, and published by Horrible Guild. A video teaser showed designers Hjalmar Hach and Lorenzo Silva sitting at an outdoor table as they discussed details about the upcoming board game.
“It’s a game really focused on a map, and a player will take control of the different regions,” said Silva, immediately contrasting this sequel to the original’s more conceptual board. Hach continued by explaining the resource gathering, trading and investing that empower players to meet challenges and pass decrees for the benefit of their family or kingdom.
“The Queen's Dilemma will feature tense voting sessions and tough decisions to make, but this time around there will be more than just resource trails to go up and down,” reads a post on Iello, which handles Horrible Guild’s French localisation. “In addition, event cards will have more varied effects.”
The first game invented and introduced the Dilemma Deck system, which powers the narrative framework of the game as players don the mantle of royal scions from the Kingdom of Ankist. Each helps the king pass decrees on statecraft, warfare, foreign relations and the good of the commonfolk. These decisions only happen once in the entire game, lending weight to where the council places its influence in the form of bribes, favours and perhaps even threats.
As history unfolds, the fate of players’ houses and the kingdom at large will shift depending on the outcome of their collective will - feast or famine, peace or embittered conflict might hinge on a choice made early in their reign. Balancing the needs of each royal house against the duties of the throne keeps the story constantly shifting, and The King’s Dilemma has found popularity for the strength of its legacy design.
Horrible Guild has not yet announced a retail date for The Queen’s Dilemma, though the designers did premiere the box at the end of their reveal, which features illustration work from Martin Mottet. Perhaps it will eventually replace its older sibling on our list of the best legacy board games.