A Wargamers Needful Things: Neither King Nor God

Neither King Nor God

Sound of Drums

This is some information from Sound of Drums about its newest release.

"Dear friends, supporters and grognards!

I hope you all do well and enjoy autumn, the long evenings around a table with family and friend playing board games.

Designing Neither King Nor God: The Story Behind Its Creation and the Pilot Edition

First and foremost, I’m a gamer - and have been since I was a kid. Some of my favorite moments are when fellow gamers reach out or when we meet at conventions to talk about games, history, and those wonderful cardboard boxes that bring the two together.

I had been keeping an eye on Europa Universalis for ages. Back in the early days of Sound of Drums, I even reached out to AEGIR about possibly doing a German edition. But since AEGIR, like us, is a small and passionate team, they were understandably swamped getting the project off the ground, so our contact remained casual.

For years I kept going back and forth, asking myself, “Should I back it? Shouldn’t I?” Each time I decided, “No, Here I Stand is already on the shelf, and let’s be honest, you’ll probably never play EU anyway.” That internal debate lasted far longer than I’d like to admit.

At heart, I’m a wargamer, mostly drawn to the Napoleonic era. But the Renaissance, with its politics, intrigue, and shifting alliances, has always fascinated me.

So, while I was busy dithering between Europa Universalis and Here I Stand, my desire to play an epic game set in that period only grew stronger. Then, after reading a historical novel that captured the era’s drama and complexity, I thought: why not design one myself? And that’s when the idea was born: a game built on the design philosophy of Sound of Drums.

The important thing was that it had to be accessible, and yet epic. Or perhaps better said: epic, as the theme deserves, but still accessible. In other words, the exact opposite of Europa Universalis and Here I Stand in that regard.

The novel also sparked the idea for the game’s core mechanism - one that would ensure a high level of player interaction, something I consider absolutely indispensable in any design.

Sorry, I posted the old meeple sheet along with this new one.

How can I bring the game to a wider audience? And how can I reach the full potential of the player base that might love it?

We’re gradually making a name for ourselves, but the market - and the competition - is brutal. I know from experience how much my beloved series History of the Ancient Seas has flown under the radar. I’m thrilled that it’s now slowly finding a wider audience, but it takes time and persistence.

With our rhythm at Sound of Drums and the way we work, I can’t simply produce eight or nine advanced prototypes, send them out to reviewers, and launch a massive marketing campaign. That’s not realistic for a small studio.

We do, however, have a loyal base of players who appreciate the quality, artwork, and game design we deliver. But the market moves fast. Players rush from one novelty to the next. And I always remind myself, with every project: we only get one chance to do this theme. One bullet in the chamber. It has to be right, because we won’t revisit the Renaissance or Mediterranean civ-building theme a second time. It has to be the ultimate game.

That’s when the idea came to me: what if we created a “light” version, focused on the core mechanism - the Courtiers? I asked my friend and fellow gamer Chris Synatzschke to lead the development and Andrew James to take on the role of editor. Both had very little time to work with, and the challenge was enormous.

The goal was to scale down the original design: only four factions, a smaller map, and just 300 wooden pieces. We’re producing this Pilot Edition in a very limited quantity - once they’re gone, they’re gone.

It will be available from October 11 to 31, 2025, priced at EUR 29 instead of EUR 69. Production finishes on October 14, just in time for Essen. We don’t expect to sell out instantly; some retailers have already shown interest in taking remaining copies. We’ll also be generous with YouTube reviewers and influencers.

The goal of this limited edition is simple: to showcase the unique, intelligent Courtiers mechanism and to build anticipation for the epic version. I hope many players will say, “For 29 euros, I’ll give it a try,” and later, “Wow! That Courtiers mechanism is brilliant.”

The full epic version will offer much more: a rich diplomatic subsystem, a non-player Ottoman Empire, deeply asymmetrical factions, additional courtier types, and plenty more. Yet it will still remain accessible - far more so than Europa Universalis or Here I Stand, both incredible games that are admired more often than they’re played.

My plan is to reach those same players through this Pilot Edition campaign. And thanks to our talented graphic designer Marc von Martial, along with our signature wooden components, I’m confident we can achieve a production quality that truly justifies the effort.

We’re also expanding thematically. We’re about to sign another historical title alongside Neither King Nor God: The Collapse, designed by Daniel Iniesta Hernández, set during the Thirty Years’ War."