King of Tokyo/New York: Monster Packs 01 Cthulhu and 02 King Kong are mini-expansions for IELLO’s King of series of board games. Both packs, which were released in 2017, require the Power Up expansions to fully integrate into the games. They come with a monster in each pack, evolution cards for said monster and a unique new mechanic. Players can use each monster to expand both King of Tokyo and King of New York, though for this review I have utilized them with the prior. Who wouldn’t want to see a Cthulhu and King Kong taking on a Space Penguin and Mekadragon for domination of Tokyo?
Starting off with the first monster pack and a Cthulhu has surfaced to dominate other monsters, with its slimy tentacles. As expected it brings with it a whole host of unique Power Up abilities, which have a consistent theme of keeping the monster alive. Cthulhu is certainly a tanky opponent to come up against if the player can roll a few hearts to trigger getting evolution cards. For example, one permanent evolution enables the Cthulhu player to spend an energy token instead taking 1 point of damage and increases the monster’s max health to 12!
These monster packs don’t just add in a new character to play as, alongside the Cthulhu are Cultist/Temple tiles for Tokyo/New York respectively. When playing King of Tokyo whenever you roll four identical symbols you gain a cultist. At any point you can discard a cultist to gain 1 health, 1 energy or 1 additional re-roll. This doesn’t change the dynamic of the game too much and almost feels like it is just a way to get Cthulhu cultists into the game. In King of New York these tiles are flipped over to their Temple side. These are used in the stacks for buildings and are destroyed as normal. Once destroyed they become cultists, similar to the infantry of New York where whenever you roll an Ouch! they damage your monster. Destroying a cultist will then grant you the tile to use in the same way as in King of Tokyo, as health, energy or a re-roll.
The second monster pack sees King Kong roll into town. Clearly gone are the licencing issues that stopped The King from the base game being called the iconic character’s name. While very similar in appearance, as with all the Power Up abilities, the evolution cards make the two feel somewhat different. While both have strong ability links to Tokyo there are nuances with The King able to force an opponent to retreat from Tokyo when attacking, while King Kong can actually win the game outright when in Tokyo by rolling 6 1’s.
On top being able to include King Kong into the roster of monsters, Tokyo tower or the Empire State building are added into the mix, depending on the King of game you’re playing. Both work mechanically the same way, seeing a three-tier building constructed by someone holding Tokyo or Manhattan. When in these locations rolling four 1’s or Ouch!’s allows you to gain the next lowest building piece you need, either from another player or the box. These give bonuses for owning them and by completing the building you’ll automatically win the game.
In King of Tokyo this can drastically increase the aggressiveness of the game. All of a sudden holding onto Tokyo to build that building is another viable route to victory. Players will start to try to slowly but surely damage players in Tokyo to force them out of the city. The dynamic isn’t completely different for groups that normally aim for last man standing. Conversely, for groups that often see victory via points the buildings can shake things up quite a bit.
King Kong comes with a special double-sided Beauty card that is earnt via an evolution card, aptly named Beauty Killed the Beast. Once the card is in play King Kong gets an additional dice to roll until another monster lands an Ouch! symbol on him. At this point the beauty card is flipped and handed to that monster. They gain no benefit but when that monster takes damage the card is passed to the damage dealer, potentially seeing the card go back to King Kong reinstating the bonus die. Whenever a monster is killed with this card it is returned to the King Kong player, and if King Kong perishes the card is simply removed from play. It’s not much but it is something that is unique to King Kong that helps him feel different to play with or against. The extra die can be extremely powerful but it is also easy to lose, and ends up seeing King Kong almost chasing whomever has stolen beauty.
The boxes are great for being on the shelf, they visually pop, showing off the standee of the monster inside. Alas, their shape isn’t the best for stacking on a board game shelf, so I decided to take matters into my own hands… or in this case a different box. Removing the insert of the Power Up expansion allows both new monsters, and their additional components, to fit into that expansion box alongside all of the original content. This is great for those whom are tight on space and also it makes sense as you’ll need the expansion content from Power Up to get the best from the monster packs.
It does seem an odd decision to have these first two monster packs feature monsters similar to previously included base game monsters. The Kraken was included in the original version of King of Tokyo, though was removed in the latest version, and The King is still included in the base game. Cthulhu and King Kong are very similar in appearance, to the extent it visually looks like your battling the real deal with a stunt double. With many mythical creatures or huge monsters to choose from it’ll be more interesting to see what completely different monsters come in future packs. As mentioned via the evolution cards the monsters will play differently but it is hard to get past the visual similarities.
Both monsters fit well into the core game plus Power Up roster, though it is slightly odd to have both King Kong and The King present. What they add aside from the monsters is a nice touch to make games have a unique twist but they don’t affect the core game to anywhere near the same extent adding in evolutions did. These monster packs will be perfect for those looking to add more variety into their King of franchise experiences, with increased choice being their main strength. I’m sure many will be happy to grab these new monsters for the new content they add, you’ll just have to weigh up what the variety is worth for your gaming group.
[Editor’s Note: King of Tokyo/New York Monster Packs 01 Cthulhu and 02 King Kong were provided to us by Coiledspring for the review.]