In this game, each player has to gain favour with the King by winning control of various parts of the castle. To do this, each player places his pieces in turn, but the pieces’ identity (and, thus, their scoring potential) is kept a secret until the end of that round. Then, once everyone’s pieces are identified, it’s possible for each player to send in their henchman (in the form of cards you have in your hand) to try and tip the balance in one area. A cross between Stone Age and El Grande, really. The King is dying (yet is still surprisingly mobile) and the winner gets to be the King’s heir!
Once we started, we soon ironed out any unfair, incomplete or unworkable rules in the first round so that the rest of the game ran pretty smoothly. Once I got into it, I started to enjoy it and I liked the idea of just sending a single weak piece into one area with the hope that your Henchmen can force a win. When I was starting player, I had the chance to place the King, so I put him in the Throne Room, hoping that the lure of maximum points would entice the other three players into a big fight while I scored points in the other areas. As it turned out, that didn’t happen and I was able to win it quite easily, giving me a healthy score for that round which carried me through to the end of the game.
Andrew 84
Adam 81
Jonny 62
Sam 45
Sam’s distant last place made him cry out “I’ve invented a game I’m shit at!” which means that he joins Dr Frankenstein (creator of his monster), Dr Faust (his deal with the Devil) and Simon Fuller (the Spice Girls) in creating something that quickly grew out of his control.
But I’m sure that with a little fine-tuning, there’s definitely a neat little game here. There is a dungeon area on the game board, but no real way to send pieces there. If you could do that, then it may add a little spice, as those in the lead get pegged back by those desperately floundering in fourth.
After this, Jonny left and the three of us decided to have a quick leaderboard game because, God knows, we don’t have enough points on there already. Sam and Adam chose Trans America and although I’m shockingly bad at this game, I agreed. For a while (ie, the first round) it looked like my fortunes may be changing as Adam kindly helped me link all five cities. But following that, the game fell back into a familiar pattern as I crashed out in two rounds (scoring eight and six points).
Sam 3
Adam 10
Andrew 14
Meanwhile, the leaderboard continues to reward those who have nothing better to do with their weekday evenings so for just one day, I've decided to order it according to points ratio.
The leaderboard...
| Played | Points | Ratio | |
| Sam | 12 | 54.5 | 4.54 |
| Sally | 1 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Adam | 10 | 44.5 | 4.45 |
| Dan | 2 | 8 | 4 |
| Andrew | 12 | 41.5 | 3.46 |
| Joe | 5 | 16.5 | 3.3 |
| Jonny | 1 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
Thanks for indulgence, patience and feedback on 'Henchman', chaps. I knew something was amiss with the scoring but I think we cracked that. I do think it needs a little more variety for what you can do each turn, and a little development as the game progresses. But overall I feel pleased - at least it functioned as a game. Next time we play it'll look a lot nicer!
ReplyDeleteI've got more ideas:
ReplyDeleteIf you win by more than an arbitrary amount in some rooms then you get to pick up goodies or the loser gets sent to the dungeon?
To get a new merson you have to use an equivalent merson.
I agree with what Sam said at the end about it being hard to engage with a game that doesn't look great but there was definitely something good in there. I say a hundred hours of playtesting and it'll be above Agricola...
Wow — I'm dead impressed, Sam. I know, I haven't even played it, but I'm impressed that you've got it to a playable point, and that you've created something that holds together — impressed and a tiny bit jealous.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to have a go. And happy to help make it look nicer too, if you need any help in that department.
Thanks Joe. And Adam - the point about picking up goodies (either more meeples, or henchman cards, or x) is a good one. As I said on the night I was wary that the game was too repetitive, and I think that kind of variety would help.
ReplyDeleteAdam also suggested a limit on the character placement and that would help too - certainly that could be the case in particular rooms, whereas elsewhere (the cloister, probably) would be more of a free-for-all. I'm currently designing a board so I'll try and leave room for variation in it.
Also what do we think about dropping the 'bonuses' for characters in a specific area? Tactically I like it but it made the scoring a bit of a pain in the arse. However that could just be down to design and labelling...?
ReplyDeleteIn theory I think they are a great idea, but they didn't quite do the job - you just ended up with people drawing a lot. Maybe thats because we didn't play it right and we'd be better at bluffing with more practise?
ReplyDelete