Queen By Midnight was one of the most interesting board games to release last year. What first piqued my interest was its publication by Darrington Press, who until that point had only produced works adjacent to Critical Role. That, and the large clock tower structure in the centre of the table. It maintained my attention by flipping the damsel in distress archetype on its head, something that continues in the Quarter Past expansion.
However, when I first played Queen By Midnight, it didn’t stick the landing. The clock tower gimmick took too long to put together and playing in a group of six (the maximum player limit), all newcomers and some unused to more complex, tactical gameplay, it felt like a slog. The intrigue of the narrative was bogged down in slow gameplay, and the potential seemed squandered. Thankfully, I tried again.
Quarter Past Introduces Four New Princesses To Queen By Midnight
The second time I played in a group of three (the lower player limit, though you could house rules a two-player game), with a more… let’s say ‘attentive’ group, all of whom were part of the original six and thus had played before. This time, things felt much smoother, and the appeal of the game shone through. The premise is simple – six different fantasy princesses are vying for the crown, and must work together, form a winning strategy, and possibly stab each other in the back to get there.
Quarter Past is a standalone expansion, meaning it can be played right out of the box or added to the base game. It lacks the clock tower of the main game (replaced with a flat board, as the designer Kyle Shire told me was the original plan before Darrington spiced it up), and has just four princesses instead of six. While this limits it to four players, it also has the trade-off of being able to work with just two players without the need for some square pegs in round holes.
The four new princesses in question are Azil (With A “Z”) (yes that is her full name in the game), Elise LeKraken, Kahurere Skyfisher, and Qasima Al-Basar. These continue the variety, and overall inclusivity, that the base game featured. Azil is an East Asian forest elf, Elise an Ursula-esque oceanic goddess, Kahurere a Moana stand-in, and Qasima an Arabic warrior princess. All four nail the feeling of Queen By Midnight, making Quarter Past ideal whether it’s your first time playing or you want to mix it with the original.
Quarter Past’s New Mechanics Fit Seamlessly With Queen By Midnight
In terms of theme and basic mechanics, Quarter Past nails its primary goal – to look, feel, and play like Queen By Midnight. But what of the minor tweaks to the gameplay? There are some considerable additions here, and while some do add depth on top of depth at the risk of shifting it too far out of its semi-casual demographic, they mostly enrich the experience.
It seems like the two player mode is just an admission that this basically worked well enough in the first game that it might as well become official with a few rules shifted into a ‘big groups only’ box.
First off we have two new card types: Trap and Event cards. Trap cards are unique to Kahurere add a fresh element to things. Sadly unrelated to Yu-Gi-Oh!, these cards are instead ticking time bombs you add to the hands of other players, netting you rewards in the long run. These may be direct payments to you or disadvantages for them, and between ten total Trap cards there are four abilities for a solid but not overwhelming spread. That’s basically Quarter Past’s identity.
As for Event cards, they go in the general marketplace with all the other cards and let you do specific acts like ending the game earlier, adding an extra round, or searching your deck for cards, while the other cards (like those in the base game) are more about interacting with or attacking other players.
This is where another tweak comes in. My main gripe with Queen By Midnight, once the initial game of rule-learning and slow play was over, was the marketplace itself. Stored in the clock tower that dominated the table, it ended up being rarely used thanks to limited resources and luck-based pulls. As cards were restricted to certain character types (for example, Brawler), you couldn’t always buy the ones available. That still persists in Quarter Past, but now feels like a fairer part of the game thanks to Neutral cards.
As you might expect, these cards can be pulled by any character, giving you a greater share of the deck. This is not a problem for Azil however, as they are the only princess who is all three types… just not at once. Her Grow/Shrink acts like D&D’s Enlarge/Reduce spell and as well as changing her size, changes her type. It makes her more complex to play, but adds a tactical edge.
Quarter Past doesn’t try to shake up the Queen By Midnight formula, but as the first expansion (that’s also marketing itself as a standalone), that was the right move. It’s both the perfect introduction to and addition to Queen By Midnight, which is everything it needed to be. With some excellent princess ideas and some smart tweaks, it’s the perfect Christmas gift for anyone who wants to be a damsel without the distress.
