I have played the My Kingdom board a few times. I like it. I understand basic movement, not attacking your own castle walls, etc. What I don't understand is how the characters work, what the dice settings for the characters mean, etc. I have mostly only played boards based on Risk rules on Wargear. I find the My Kingdom board pretty compelling, though, and I'd like to get better at it. I'd appreciate a brief explanation of the rules or strategy advice.

Wish I could help.  That board is SimulGear which I'm not that familiar with.

1p2 - you seem to have grasped the simulplay portion of it well.  That board, like most simulplay boards, favors the defender (default dice has attacker at 60% and defender at 75% to hit and this is modified in some spots to be even better odds for the defender)

For the special characters, from the board descrip:

Thrones also attack to each of the characters.

The Spy attacks to all 8 small kingdoms' Castles and Throne with dice set to A10%, D100%. The Spy has a maximum number of units of 3 (thus, can attack other thrones with 2 units max).

The Wizard attacks to the Crown's Castles with dice set to A80%, D75%. In the non-Classic Scenarios, the Wizard also attacks the Palace Grounds with an Artillery Border with dice set to A80%, D75%. The Wizard has a maximum number of units of 50.

The Assassin attacks to all 8 small kingdoms' Thrones with dice set to A80%, D75%. The Assassin has a maximum number of units of 50.

The Mercenary does not attack/fortify anywhere. The Mercenary has a maximum number of units of 20. The Mercenary is worth a bonus of +10.

Now, the key thing for a simulplay map (especially one where there is light or no fog):

• If you are the one winning - you want the game to be imbalanced. Try to keep in check the next biggest threat while you pick off weaker players.
• If you are not winning (ie - don't have the largest bonus), try to keep the game as balanced as possible until you can get to a better position. If you are the 2nd or 3rd biggest threat and you are spending forces against the other 2nd-3rd largest player, you are helping the player who is winning enlarge his/her lead.

There is a turn based scenario!

Thanks for the replies. I guess my specific question is about proper usage of the Spy, Assassin and Wizard (although I had been playing SimulGear this whole time without knowing that it favors the defender). I looked up what all of the A10%, D100% stuff means, and it still doesn't make any sense to me. I get that each of the three characters can attack spaces that the others can't, but what is the proper usage of those characters in terms of the dice modifications?

Whereas turn based games use die 6, die 8, etc., simulgear uses a die 100 scale - thus the percentages in the description are valid.

I'm not a particularly experienced war or tabletop gamer, so the descriptions don't entirely make sense to me. I'll use the Spy as an example. Does A10% D100% mean that when the Spy attacks, the Spy has a 10% chance of killing a unit for each unit with which the Spy attacks? Does it also mean that the defender in that attack has a 100% chance of killing every Spy unit used in the attack? Or does it mean that the Spy has only has a 10% chance of winning a 1-to-1 attack but wins defends 100% of the time? Either way, I don't really understand the usefulness of the Spy, so I must not understand the rules.

I think the spy may lift some sort of fog?

The Spy attacks the Thrones with only 10% chance of hitting (each attacking unit has a 10% chance to hit) while defending throne units have a 100% chance to hit. As MB suggests, the additional benefit of the Spy is that you can atleast view all the thrones and the number of units and ownership (if there is fog). It really only has a chance of success of taking a throne if the throne is occupied by 1 unit and even then, it's gotta be pretty lucky.

The Spy attacks the Thrones with only 10% chance of hitting (each attacking unit has a 10% chance to hit) while defending throne units have a 100% chance to hit. As MB suggests, the additional benefit of the Spy is that you can atleast view all the thrones and the number of units and ownership (if there is fog). It really only has a chance of success of taking a throne if the throne is occupied by 1 unit and even then, it's gotta be pretty lucky.

For  a concrete example, is this right?

Spy has 10 units & attacks a throne with 10 units.  All 10 units of the spy will die, 1 unit of the throne is likely to die.

Spy with 20 units attacks a throne with 5 units.  5 units of spy will die, likely 2 units of throne will die.

Is that right?  I don't simulgear much.

Thanks for that, Thingol. I think I have a much better understanding now. 

Per Ozy's post - Nope.

Spy has max 3 units, with abandon off, it can attack with at most 2 units. Those 2 units each have a 10% chance of hitting.

If Spy attacks a throne that has 2 or more units, the attacker will lose both units and not take the throne, regardless of whether he hit on 1 or both of his attacking units.

If the Spy attacks a throne with only 1 unit, it will lose 1 unit gauranteed. If it hits on 1 or both of it's attacks, it will take the throne.

so was I correct other than abandon being off? i.e. if my examples said spy had 11 and 21 units?

And max 3 units

Right. And one of the differences between SG and turn-based games is in the actual concept of the interraction with the enemy:

In turn-based games, there is a dice roll for both players and the losses are tallied by comparing attacker results vs defender results. If the encounter hasn't yielded the territory to the attacker, he can then reiterate the attack if he so chooses. Only the outcome of 2 umits at most is determined by each roll.

In SG, the entire encounter takes place in 1 roll. All the attacking units roll and all the defender's units roll. Losses are tallied to both sides and there is no comparison between attack/defense dice to determine losses. Both sides lose an amount based on how well the opposing side rolled.