Kemet

In the mystic land of Egypt, weapons will give you victory! Raise your armies, unleash your divine powers, summon creatures, take control of temples and join the battle!

Let’s face it, if there’s one thing better than ancient Egypt, it’s ancient Egypt plus warriors mounted on giant scarab beetles charging into epic battles. From the company that brought us the excellent Cyclades comes Kemet, a no-holds-barred, confrontational arcane Egypt battle game packed with plastic, cardboard and fantastic illustrations. This is a game that rewards you for getting out and amongst it, preferably with a teleporting army with some giant snakes and sphinxes backing you up.

This is kind of game the EOG loves: great production, relatively easy rules but lots of options for strategy, and a fantastic theme just dripping with atmosphere.

One thing I find slightly annoying, however, is the resolutely multilingual nature of the game. While I realise Matagot is saving considerable money by creating one game in six languages and without a word of text on any of the cards or tiles, it can also be a bit frustrating when there is such a variety of powers and special effects on offer. Also the English rules translation could be better. Hopefully this rules summary (which includes information from the FAQ) and reference fixes those small problems and makes the game faster and easier to play.

I’ve also provided a rules summary of the new version of the game, Kemet: Blood and Sand. Incredibly, despite the rework of the game (I’m happy with my original version), I found the new rulebook even worse than the original.

Update Log

Rules Summary & Reference

Date Version Changelog
Aug 2021 1 Kemet: Blood and Sand summary
Mar 2018 3.4 Fixed Retribution DI card on Ta-Seti reference sheet
Mar 2017 3.3 Slight clarification to Recall rule on reference sheet
Jan 2017 3.2 Fixed Ta-Seti Level 1 Mercenaries error
Jan 2017 3.1 Fixed Ta-Seti errors (Divine Intervention card images, Devourer tile name)
Aug 2016 3 Added Ta-Seti expansion
Oct 2015 2 Added C3K expansion
Jan 2014 1.2 Blue power tile ‘Divine Will’ clarified on reference sheet
Jul 2013 1.1 Errors fixed and clarifications made (of the Power tiles sheets only the blue sheet has been changed)
Jun 2013 1 Original release

Foamcore Box Insert Plans

Date Version Changelog
Oct 2014 1 Original

22 Comments

  • Will Belford says:

    The foamcore photographic illustration is brilliant, I can see I’ll be wielding my X-Acto knife this weekend! Or perhaps I should finish painting the figures first? Hmmm…

  • WonderSlug says:

    LOVE LOVE LOVE this format!

    One question though. How do you prevent the tokens in the small tray from spilling over into each others’ slots?

    Perhaps a clever spacer implementation to raise the tray flush with the top of the insert? 🙂 Just sayin.

    • I designed this before I’d seen your ingenious idea! I usually rely on just keeping the box level at all times, but your idea is great. Or, you could make two shallow trays of two spaces each instead of just one. This is just a beginning!

      Glad you like the new format. Thinking I’ll go with a white background next time for ease of printing though.

      • WonderSlug says:

        True. And white background would also fit the aesthetic of the rest of the site better. Cleaner, crisper.

        • WonderSlug says:

          On the other hand though, the black allows for a defined border in the headline space where white would not. . .hmmmm.

  • Luc Jacobs says:

    As always, nice summary.
    I just posted on BBG:
    Using your excellent summary, I was adding the TA-SETI rules to make an easy overview for my game mates. Then I read the following line: If he winner of the battle has no units left and the loser does, the loser does not have to retreat. The original rules say:
    RETREAT
    The defeated player must decide between recalling his troop (see below), or retreating. If he decides to retreat, the battle’s winner has to choose the adjacent space, free of any units, to where the opponent’s troop will be repelled. If there is no adjacent space with no units on it, then retreat isn’t possible.
    The way I understand this ruling is that the loser has to retreat or recalling his troop is he loses. Even when to attacker has no troops left!
    Maybe I missed something?

    • The clarification is from the FAQ: ‘The winner of the battle does not receive a VP, and he does not retreat the losing units. The loser can choose to either recall units or stay in the current space.’

  • Magnus says:

    Now when the Ta-Seti add on is out in the wild—got my copy yesterday—any plans on updating this one to include it?

  • Andy says:

    Hey thanks for this! Your work is absolutely beautiful and so refreshing to look at. I wish companies would use you to design their rules and organize their games. Great work.

    I also had an idea i think you should add: a sort feature to find all the games for which you have foam board designs.
    Keep it up!

  • Hi!

    I noticed that the player aid for the Ta-Seti expansion is missing the section with the DI cards!

    Any chance of having an update on this?

  • Andrew Conant says:

    Are there plans to update this reference for the v1.5 rulebook?

  • zephseven says:

    Any plans for a new version incorporating the new Kemet 1.5 Rules?

  • blove says:

    Is this game difficult for beginners?

    • I can’t really answer that as I don’t know your definition of beginner, but I would say not really, no. Certainly not for someone who hasn’t played boardgames beyond the ‘mainstream’ ones.

  • Robert Sundqvist says:

    So will you guys do one for Kemet: Blood and sand now? Ive only recently discovered this website but its quickly become one my of favorites for learning games and providing superb player aids!
    Great work mates! Cheers and thanks for all the massive and yet excellent work you’ve done!

    • Just me here. 🙂 Since I already own Kemet and have no plans to get the new version, it’s not a high priority just now, but you never know I may get around to it one day. And please check out my Patreon page if you appreciate all my hard work! 🙂

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.