It is October, 1777. The Continental Army has just won its first major victory at Saratoga, and the British “Redcoats” are furious. Looking for retaliation, Lieutenant-General John Vaughn is leading forces to New York's current capital, Kingston, with orders to burn it to the ground. And, although most of the town's soldiers are away fighting in the south, a few brave colonists have stayed behind to salvage what they can before the town is destroyed.
This is our history. This is the story of our game.
Overview
In the Burning of Kingston Card Game one player will play as the Kingstonians: everyday people who, upon hearing of the British ships docked at the Rondout, race to rescue valuables, keepsakes and important documents from the doomed town.
The other player will play as the Redcoats, British soldiers, who have been ordered to march on the town and burn down its buildings.
Assymetry
Because this event was not a conflict, but a forced evacuation, this game is meant to capture a very different feel from each perspective. Playing as the Kingstonians can feel desperate and reactive, while playing as the Redcoats feels heavy and aggressive.
Setting
Each of the five building cards represents a real-life building that was damaged by British arson in 1777. However, because of their stone structure, each of the buildings is also still standing in some form today. If you're local to the Hudson Valley or have visited Kingston, some of them should look familiar.
Click on a building to learn more.
How to Play
Setup
Separate the deck into Kingstonian (Blue), Redcoat (Red) and Building cards. Place the reference card nearby, if needed.
Place the five building cards in a line in the center of play, with their un-burned sides face up. The order and orientation of these cards has no affect on gameplay.
Kingstonian CardRedcoat CardBuilding Card
Give one player all of the Kingstonian cards, and the other player all of the Redcoat cards. These cards will form their starting hands.
Gameplay
Gameplay occurs over multiple hands, repeating the following three phases in order:
I. Placement
Starting with the Redcoats, players take turns placing cards face-down and next to the un-burnt buildings. There is no limit to the number of cards that can be placed on one building.
Play continues this way until either all cards have been played, or until the Redcoat player calls "Halt! " after placing a card. After the Redcoats have called a halt, the Kingstonian player may place one final card.
II. Activation
Starting with the Kingstonians, the players then take turns "activating" one of their face down cards, by revealing it (flipping it over) and executing the action printed on it. Cards do not have to be activated in the order that they were placed.
With the exception of the BURN and RESCUE cards, once a card has been activated, it is placed in the player’s discard pile.
Once all of the cards have been activated or removed, play continues to the Scoring phase.
III. Scoring
Finally, both players check to see if any BURN or RESCUE cards remain.
If a RESCUE card remains, the Kingstonian player scores one point and removes the building where the card was placed from play.
If a BURN card remains, the Redcoat player scores one point and flips building where the card was placed, exposing its on-fire face.
If both scoring cards have been placed on the same building, neither player scores.
Note: A player’s discard pile is not automatically returned to their hand at the beginning of their next turn. A player must activate their REGROUP or RALLY card to pick up cards from their discard pile.
Special Rules
If they do not call a Halt, and they have more cards, the Redcoat player may continue to place cards even after the Kingstonians have run out of cards to place.
You may look at any of your face-down cards at any time, but you must return them in the same order in which they were placed.
You may ask to look at the cards in either discard pile at any time.
BURN and RESCUE cards can be activated (or discarded by card effects) any time during the Activation Phase, but they don’t score until the Scoring Phase.
Victory
Continue to play these three phases until one player has scored 3 points by either burning or rescuing three buildings. That player is declared the winner of the game.
Learn More
The Burning of Kingston is an actual historical event that took place in Kingston, NY. We encourage you to learn more by clicking on the following links, or visiting Kingston yourself.
Buy a Copy
If you would like to purchase your own copy of the game, please visit our Game Crafter Shop.
We rely on The Game Crafter to handle our printing and distribution, so each copy of the Burning of Kingston Card Game is made specifically for you. In light of this process, please allow 4-8 weeks after ordering for the game to be printed and shipped.
If you are interested in ordering the game in bulk or maintaining an inventory of the game, please contact us directly at info@bokthegame.com.
We also offer special rates to for not-for-profit organizations like historical societies or educational groups.
