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Vignettes of Death: The Killennium Butcher – A Review
🕑 Added 2024-03-29 10:00:09 +0000 UTC
In August of 2019 we received our first ever Vignette of Death; a small standalone showdown battle that depicted four survivors from the settlement of Deadrock fighting against a vicious White Gigalion. At $75; it was a somewhat expensive deal on the gameplay front. This is because outside of the showdon what it gave us was a small side-grade to the White Lion; one that made the Level 2 and Level 3 versions of that core game monster mostly; but not entirely, redundant. That original release had issues with the power level of its gear cards (now addressed in updated releases) and its AI cards (not addressed). It has remained available on the store, though it is now an unappetising $85.
The Killennium Butcher is the next release in this series; it is built in a similar manner as its predecessor, it comes with a stand-alone showdown, this time with more narrative. It also has uses in the main game's campaigns and we'll take a close look at what that entails later on in this review.
Contents
This $90 on release box comes with the following items:
1 x 35 page vignette rulebook
4x Vignette Survivors Miniature
2x Despairing Survivors
1x 100m Base Killennium Butcher Miniature
1 x Killennium Basic Action / Data card
3 x Killennium Butcher AI cards
1 x Killennium Butcher Trap! card
1 x Passive Aggression Killenium panel
4 x Vignette Survivor cards
4 x Gear Grids
1 x Survivor Status card
2 x Armor Set Bonus cards
2 x Strain Milestone cards
1 x Strange resource card
6 x Rare Gear cards (Strain Unlocks)
1 x Terrain card & Tile (Strain Unlocks)
1 x Novel Weapon Proficiency card
Production
On the miniature side, these are exceptional sculpts with a wonderful amount of detail and character; I'll take a detailed look at each of them in their own character section. But the overall takeaway is that these models are beautiful, but they are also more challenging to assemble than many miniatures. Something that is additionally compounded by Adam Poots Games (APG) not releasing the build guide for the models on their build site around the same time. This lack of instructions both in the box and online compounded the issues of assembling these models, especially the Killennium Butcher itself, which has multiple small elements with no clear place for their attachment. I expect new releases of miniatures at this level of assembling challenge to get that level of reference. It is worth noting that the two additional unarmored “despairing” survivors are an exception to this; they are really simple to assemble, being just in two parts.
The card quality and rulebook are of a good standard; the rulebook in particular has been greatly improved upon when compared to the Gigalion one; however it is an unusual set of dimensions, which makes storing it with other small rulebooks a bit awkward. Most frustratingly of all, there are at least two errors on the cards that I noticed on first playthrough. The survivor Red has a conflict between her card and gear grid as to how much head armor she should have (1 or 3, not clear) and the Dragon Armor Card in this set still has the error from the Dragon King box; an incorrect icon for the head gear card on one side. It's even the side which matches the armor style/form that Hollow is wearing. I expect better quality assurance from a company that brands itself as 'boutique'.
However, praise is due for the inclusion of this Dragon Armor and the Vagabond Armor set cards; the Gigalion omitted the Gorment Armor set card from its box (originally, not sure if that has been addressed in reprints) and that was not a great situation because it meant that the White Gigalion was not fully compatible for players who just owned the core box. So APG having learnt from this mistake in this release is good.
The Vignette
Now we shall move onto the vignette itself; the concept and idea of these is pretty excellent; it provides a pre-built one-off showdown that can be used as an introduction to Kingdom Death:Monster's (KDM) boss battling showdown system. I prefer this style of introduction for newer players because it gives them a better idea of what the tactics, strategies and gear are capable of. The White Lion Prologue Fight is a very good tutorial for an entirely new player learning alone, but the Vignettes are a better way to learn if you are being taught by an experienced player.
It is here that this box excels over its predecessor; not only does it give a better Showdown experience with a more interesting and engaging opponent, but the entire experience is better bookended with an introductory narrative comic and multiple different endings based around how the showdown itself ended. It makes the entire thing a more complete experience, it makes it a lot more fun for new/casual players and it is helped by the writing in the comic panels being a step up from earlier offerings. The four vignette survivors are easily brought to life through the combination of their miniatures, gear grids, survivor cards, this comic, and the fact that they're homages to the four lead characters in The Wizard of Oz. This is KDM's Dorothy, Cowardly Lion, Tin “Man” and Scarecrow off to get their Wish(es) granted. Their opponent here is just a very angry horror antagonist rather than the Wicked Witch of the West.
So, let us take a look at each of these five characters, starting with our protagonists; and unsurprisingly given his brash and foolhardy nature, it is Brave who volunteers to be assessed first.
The Cowardly Lion - "Brave"
"If I only had the nerve."
Brave's miniature is an absolute masterclass of a sculpt; it combines Kingdom Death, Nintendo RPG Protagonist and Lion all in one. From the pose to the expression and all the way to his gear, Brave comes to life even in just bare plastic form. I feel that Brave is a new character due to the unique nature of his design, but I am also confident that his backstory references the Crimson Crocodiles directly, and his persona is crafted in opposition to the way that the Crocs make their victims terrified before devouring them. He is an extraordinarily brave young man, that enough is clear, but it also seems that his courage is forced, not naturally innate.
Brave's gear grid is constructed around his Heart of a Hero gear card; this centrepiece card that gives him the ability to be encouraged even when standing (meaning he can also encourage himself – unless that has been errata'd after the time of writing this). When he reaches a threshold of 3 Heart Tokens he will gain +1 survival at the start of his act and he can then use that survivor to encourage himself, generate another heart and spend them for one of the three options he has. He can use a Heart Token to get +3 strength on his next attack, meaning he is base 10 strength vs the Killennium Butcher's 13 toughness. Without that he is at 7 strength, which is a point below the accepted minimum. The other options Brave has is spending a heart token to get +1 speed in his next attack or activating his Braveshield to get Block 2. This dynamic of Brave constantly encouraging himself to be faster, stronger or more defensive is a very thematic piece of storytelling and I absolutely adore it.
Brave's position in the quartet of Wish Seekers is that of the Flex or Off-Tank; he is not the best frontline “tank” because there is another survivor that can perform that role. Instead he can focus on growing Heart Tokens; handling bleed on Red or Forget (Hollow doesn't have time to bleed) and stepping in to take the odd hit where required.
Brave has two large defensive weaknesses which is more reasons he can't be the main tank; first of all he has zero armor on the head, and some Butchers like to bite faces directly. While Brave has a life potion for that first death, this isn't a sustainable form of protection. Secondly he has a really unfortunate “auto-death” mechanic built into him if the Butcher catches him with its new AI card. This is not a permanent issue in the showdown, sufficient disorder gains will remove it from him, but early on it is something to be very aware of.
The lone, very mild criticism I have for Brave is that not getting specific tokens with a Heart printed on them is a missed opportunity. Yes we have generic tokens we can use, but this is a showcase fight to wow players and presentation matters. Otherwise, Brave is an excellent and interesting survivor; a wonderful parody of the brash hero (Link) and internet White Knight that I find endearing even if he is a bit of a terrible chivalrous idiot.
The Tin Gal - "Hollow "
"If I only had a heart."
Next up we have someone who is sure to become a community favourite; it is Hollow. Hollow's whole gimmick is that she is effectively an animated suit of dragon armor possessed by a survivor sacrificed at what appears to be a (the?) Tyrant settlement. It is an interesting question how she has Dragon Armor given that the Dragon King is the Tyrant and doesn't normally battle his subjects in Dragon form, but she is the third “dragon” survivor we have had released in Dragon Armor. The previous two both came in the Gambler's Chest Expansion and at this point I'm assuming we'll see some update to the Tyrant's story lore in Campaigns of Death in order to explain why this is happening (in the Official Rules People of the Stars cannot hunt a Dragon King, which makes thematic sense).
Hollow's miniature is nothing short of gorgeous, projecting a mixture of toughness and vulnerability that is usually only seen in Lucy's tomboyish sculpts (though I am pretty sure Hollow was not best girl Lucy before the sacrifice, I think it is more likely that Hollow is the Dragon Sacrifice miniature in a new form, they share a lot of similarities in the miniature pose, style and general demeanor).
Here you can see the similarities in pose, design, artistic feel and general personality that brought me to the conclusion that Hollow = The Dragon Sacrifice.
On the showdown board, Hollow is this quartet's main tank, she has the Empty Vessel status card, and that means she is immune to bleed, doesn't suffer severe injuries (instead losing 1 armor to all hit locations), she isn't knocked down by heavy injuries, she has two gear cards that will replenish armor and a third that not only replenishes armor but also gives her the Priority Token at the risk of losing all survival (Bird Bread). She is also the fastest and most manoeuvrable of all the quartet which is incredibly useful as a tank because she can get where she needs to be more easily.
Not the most complex of survivors to manage if you are good at positional play and tanking well, but she is a very satisfying no shield survivor to play if you are a tank main. Also she is freaking adorable.
The Scarecrow - "Forgot"
"If I only had a brain."
Forgot is our Support survivor, and she is, as her glasses and appearance confirm, Laurie the Twilight Order Archivist. Forgot is honestly the best of the four gear grid/survivor designs by a long margin as she offers a form of active monster control through her Glasses, book and sword. Despite being heavily specced (get it? Specced? Spectacles?) into hit location control, she offers a lot of decisions without feeling overwhelming. At the start of her act she can put the top HL card from the discard pile on top of the deck (something made possible by the changes to the Killennium Butcher, more on that laters); and after she attacks (regardless of if she hits or not) she gets a superior Trash Crown effect where she looks at the top 3 cards of the Butcher's HL deck and gets to discard any she doesn't want (trap excluded) and reorder the others. This helps filter away Impervious hit locations while also providing information for later attackers.
Also quick praise for the Tattered Archivist Robe helping Forgot regain insanity to activate the Locking Tome, that gives a fun “Hold. Hold!” feeling of waiting for an “ultimate” when you're trying to get to that 3 insanity in order to activate Memory Lock.
On top of that, Forgot gets access to the Locking Tome; something that, once you've gotten over the first activation, becomes an incredibly useful tool during the showdown. I won't get into details of it here, but I will say without spoilers that it is a fantastic mechanic that I really like. I would also like to mention that while it has zero mechanical effect on the showdown, I love that Forget has Gloom Cream equipped and active. Superb show, don't tell storytelling that gets even better when you learn her entire story in this showdown.
"Red" aka Dorothy
"We're not in Kansas anymore."
Last of our Wish Seekers is Red; this is Aya the Survivor; same one as in all the releases like Summer Aya (she has the same spear); Before/Beyond the Wall; the comic at the back of the KDM rulebook and other releases (like this one, but clicking on it is a spoiler for the Killennium story). We have here the best sculpt of Aya to date (except for maybe Death High Aya). I will straight up praise Team Death here for their continuing narrative about this particular individual. It is engaging, interesting and wonderful to see her bounce from one bad situation to the next and continue to deserve the title “the Survivor”.
Aya's role in the Wish Seekers Quartet is the primary Damage Dealer; her combination of Spear Specialist, plus Vagabond Armor, plus Protean Charm means that she has a Spear/Sword with a better attack profile than pictured on the gear grid itself. Otherwise her gear is the same as we have seen at the climax of the comic, but with the addition of monster meat (meaning she's killed a Dung Beetle Knight), spear and the aforementioned Charm. Defensively, she has weak protection on her head, but decent elsewhere and the Hard Breastplate, while not as good as a life potion, does help make up for her lack of head protection somewhat. She is also resistant to bleed thanks to her Cloth Leggings and gains back survival when encouraged due to Romantic + Tabard. This gives her a solid synergy between Brave and herself in respect to encourages.
Offensively Red's main goal is to perform survival actions in order to gain enough strength tokens to make up for her 3+1 base weapon strength. You can do this via a mix of Encourages onto Brave and eating the Seasoned Monster Meat. The general idea is to get to around 8 total strength and then stop scaling (because eventually the Butcher might be coming for those lovely tokens). She can also reduce the Butcher's evasion when she is in its facing via her lantern, which helps overcome the -1 accuracy the Butcher's mechanics deliver.
Red is REALLY interesting damage dealer; her token based scaling, partnership with Brave, spear and sword proficiencies all combine together to create a lot of decision points. But she also has the most interesting interactions with the Butcher outside of Forget. She's your best shot at solid, repeatable damage outside of Brave + Heart spam, but the Butcher really wants those delicious tokens, so everyone needs to be smart in order to avoid that happening. I really like just how many management tools the players are given to walk this line.
The two extra survivors in the box, they are well tooled but I do not currently have any use for them. I am sure diorama builders will find great places to utilise these two.
So that is the four Wish Seekers, and before we get to the Butcher I would like to provide some constructive criticism. The gear grids really should have any irrelevant or nonactivated affinity abilities faded out a bit. Newer Players get a bit overwhelmed at times with all the text and it does (rightfully) generate some incredulous questions of “Why did they print this on the grid if it does nothing?” questions. It would be a lot cleaner to be able to say, ignore anything that is faded, that is there to show you what the gear's full abilities are in game. As it stands, be prepared for questions about Sideswipe and confusion over things like Forgot's movement and Gloom Bracelets. I'd even go as far as to suggest that the Gloom Cream ability could have been faded out as well because it has already been taken into account.
The second constructive piece of criticism is that these gear grids should have the left margin print on them, the same one that is on the basic gear grids. This works well as a reference for players and would make this even smoother in respect to teaching the game or showcasing it at conventions. Yes you can put them over the basic normal gear grids, but it does not look great and as mentioned above, this is a premium brand and attention to detail helps justify the price.
A final piece of constructive criticism would be that I think we should have the Gear Grids extended a bit further to include any fighting arts, disorders and abilities that the given survivors printed with full text for ease of reference. That helps with the “completeness” of the characters while also reducing the memory load for players and there is certainly enough space in the box for the extra length board these extensions would require. A reference sheet for each different player would be an acceptable alternative.
Those criticisms aside, I think this group of survivors is RIDICULOUSLY well designed, they interlock with each other and their opponent in a deep and engaging fashion. They also have gorgeous sculpts with very few gaps when assembled that express masses of character. Also their individual showdown ending stories are well written and satisfying; holding a lot Adam & Anna did some superb work here (I briefly corresponded with Adam on this and it is they who were the leads on this box, with Adam doing the rough work while Anna polished. Adam also told me a bit about how the idea came together and if I get permission I'll share that in the future).
These guys all genuinely make me feel happy in a way that Gadrock from the White Gigalion does. I love them all.
The Killennium Butcher
The final cast member (apart from the two Unarmored survivors who are optional decorations). The Killennium Butcher is a glorious three dimensional sculpture of the Butcher's showdown splash art page. The detail in this piece is intricate and the overall mood is menacing and grim. I will note that while I adore this piece from an artistic standpoint, I think it looks a bit silly on the showdown board. The Butcher is somewhat dwarfed by the overly large base, and his pose, while really well rendered, is not the best at evoking the actual mood of the showdown. He should be chilling, imposing and full of barely contained rage. Instead he looks like he's constantly obsessing over bodies and lanterns, unable to tear himself away from that activity even though he is being challenged for the Wish by four dangerous individuals. I wanted more anger and power in this sculpt, it is better than the Original Butcher pose, but it also doesn't look quite right on the showdown board either.
That though is where the complaints about the Killennium Butcher's design come to a stop. The Mechanics of this monster are just a chef's kiss level of ingenuity. The first significant change is the removal of Fast Target from its status cards. This means that no longer does the Butcher constantly refresh and reshuffle its Hit Location cards; instead that deck now functions like a normal monsters would. That in itself has a huge impact on the Monster's feel and texture.
If that was all though, it wouldn't be enough. Instead we also have a variation on its Dreaded Trophy mechanic, where instead of getting Stronger as survivors die, it instead seeks to steal +Speed and +Strength tokens from survivors and convert them into extra power for itself. The process in which it does this involves its basic action, which the new trap card and status card (Self Aware, which replaces Berserker) now utilises. This takes advantage of the way the Butcher frenzies the other survivors in the showdown, but instead of scaling their speed and strength endlessly (until they can't attack with melee out of fear of hitting the trap card automatically), it sucks all of the tokens out of the survivor and removes their frenzy. It is a really cool (haha!) mechanic and creates a kind of natural ebb and flow. It also provides a lot of tension if a survivor gets frenzied too many times, because then the Butcher will become more dangerous – eventually reaching the point where it will cut through any level of armor.
It is just five new cards, one of which is the Basic/Data card and another of which is shuffled into the AI deck, but the way that these status cards interact with each other, the original Butcher cards and the new Scorn status is genius. This is so complete and deftly done that it makes the White Gigalion's adaptations look clumsy in comparison. I am incredibly impressed with the Killennium Butcher's new feel, it has refreshed an already great Boss opponent and crafted something that feels new despite being mostly old parts.
Effects on the Campaign Games
I only have brief initial impressions on this one; I think that the showdown is great, it is a much better “boss variant” than the White Gigalion is for the White Lion. But it does suffer from some of the same issues; first of all while there are mechanical benefits to it being a 3x3 monster that I do appreciate, what it has done is eliminate the miniature's potential to be also used as the Level 1 version. Something that the game sorely needs, because that shop manakin that is the original Butcher needs replacement. In fact I am at the point where I mostly do not use any of the original waves miniatures if I have suitable replacements (we fight the Pin Up Butcher instead of the original one now).
The second issue is the same one that the White Gigalion has; only more overt, once you have the Killennium Butcher unlocked, it will completely replace the L2 and L3 Butcher encounters in a campaign. This is intended to be a permanent unlock replacement forever and ever (though of course you can decide on a campaign by campaign basis). Now in the case of the White Lion, there are edge cases where the original version is more preferable to the Gigalion; but that is not really an option for this nemesis monster. It is one or the other.
A separate issue surrounds the Cleavers and Cleaver Mastery. The earliest you can gain Cleaver Mastery and a Killennium Cleaver in a typical campaign is Lantern Year 16. Before that the normal Butcher may have dropped a single Butcher's Cleaver, but it is frankly useless now. The reason I write that is because the Original Cleaver didn't get an update with the Cleaver keyword and even then, it cannot pair with a Killennium Cleaver because they do not have that ability. That means in LY 16, you are getting a weak weapon and undercooked Novel proficiency that does not hold up to the kind of weapons survivors are now using in lantern year 16. The second cleaver being received in LY23 is in an even worse situation, because at that point even a strength 9, non-sharp weapon is not cutting the mustard. This means these cleavers and their associated proficiency/mastery are dead on arrival. Which is a shame, because when fully levelled up, Cleaver Mastery is excellent and unique. It's just too difficult to get there without making compromises or having a high strength Gigachad survivor wielding one (or two).
I would suggest that these cleavers need more base strength to reflect the relatively period they are gained in, and would also benefit from having the ability to be paired with the basic Butcher cleaver (which should also be redesigned at the same time). I would also suggest that letting 1x survivor getting Cleaver Proficiency after the L1 Butcher showdown is worth exploring, it is a strong Mastery for sure, but it will require many years grinding with a Sentient zero affinity weapon and if that survivor dies progress will be reset (or lost if they didn't have Family inheritors).
The Lanterns on the other hand are all absolutely excellent rewards, each one has a thematic link to the survivor it is made from (grim). Brave is fantastic for a damage dealing survivor, especially one who works alongside survivors like one with Orator of Death and/or Rawhide Drums. Forgot's Light is a tight little package that gives opportunity to score excellent crits and have perfect information, but is limited to just 3 activations. Hollow's Light is probably the weakest of the bunch as it is mostly going to be used in Green Affinity spam builds (Acanthus Doctor, Green Savior), but Red's Light is really cool and desirable because of how it can double the speed of Weapon Proficiency gains, helping soothe the age old push/pull friction of Hunt XP vs. Weapon Mastery.
I will briefly as an aside note that I have come to wish that survivors in general had a lantern specific additional slot on their gear grid (the way that Fist & Tooth gets its own slot); because for a setting with that takes so many steps to emphasize Lanterns; they are very incidental to most gear grids outside of People of the Lantern's end game. I would have loved to see one with a starter lantern pre-printed on the gear grid, and a rule that you can only put gear cards with the lantern keyword into that slot. (Left side, middle please, possible affinity connections would also be super interesting). But this is often the case with a game that has a tight 9 slot gear grid and armor sets that typically eat up 5 of those slots.
There is also an additional strain unlock for an alternative ending, but I have not managed to interact with that in a campaign setting at this time, as such beyond the interesting lore tidbits that it suggests at I can't comment much further without having to spoil some of the vignette's narrative and I don't think that is worth doing.
Final Thoughts
There is a lot to like about this Vignette release and I think that this is an exceptional piece of art, storytelling and game baked together into something that makes for a wonderful teaching/demoing experience. Kingdom Death really shines in these shorter formats where the stakes can be super high, with survivor deaths feeling appropriate, earned and dramatic (Except for those games where Forgot self destructs or Brave has his face bitten off really early on). The showdown when the 100% or nothing situation of survive and grow or die and stagnate your progression is ostracised is gripping and exciting.
I also just called this box art, and yes, I mean it. I've been thinking about this one a fair bit and it is to my mind absolutely a work of art in all sense of the matter. It is not perfect, but that is not a requirement to be considered art. Instead this is a self contained piece with many interlinking elements that come together to allow for varied stories to be told. Both in the overarching narrative of what happens at the end of the showdown (which depends on who the victor is, who struck the final blow and who else is still alive) is both satisfying while also giving little insights into the world these survivors live in. There's a bunch of stuff for experienced players to nod sagely at, but there's also so much for new players to grip onto.
I hope that soon in the future we get a “The Queen” vignette with survivors battling against an Alternate “The King” (Gambler's Chest Quarry Monster) based around Alice in Wonderland. That would be a delight.
So that just leaves the final question, is this one worth the price? Well, it is quite the high MSRP at $90, a price range which can let you pick up one or two other really good board games for the same amount and perhaps have a little left for snacks. But the miniatures are gorgeous and the Showdown is one of the most engaging that Team Death have ever put together, which is really impressive given how it is in essence just a few twists on the original Butcher showdown and some new characters with a sprinkling of fresh gear. The thing is, changing that Hit Location interaction and having Forgot so intertwined with the Killennium Butcher's mechanics does a massive amount towards making it all feel fresh despite being a graft onto the original Butcher's mechanics.
As such I think this is a great product, something I will compare future releases (especially vignettes) against and it is absolutely a better purchase than the White Gigalion, but the market for this item is mostly lifestyle gamers and those looking for a really solid demo to hook new players into the game by giving them a taste of how intricate showdowns can become. If you are just looking for stuff to add into your campaign only, this is not as good a deal, because the best portions are in the vignette.
For myself I am glad that I purchased this product, it has become a fresh part of my 'new player introduction package' pushing the White Gigalion out to pasture for good. A really engaging and fun first step; and it is quite the hook to tell someone 'Want to try out this boss-battling board game? We can play a single fight that is themed around the characters from The Wizard of Oz in a life or death combat against Jason Voorhees.'
Available for Purchase here: https://kdm-collector.com/models/vignette-death-killennium-butcher
Comments
Pablo
Great analysis Fen! Excited to finally buy the vignettes this Black Friday
Matthew Nola
I hope kdm introduces more interesting gear like braves heart and forgot tome. It was really fun to play!
