Historical Board Game Spotlight: Bring Out Yer Dead

Bring Out Yer Dead

Designed by Aaron Watts

Published by Ginger Ale Games, Upper Deck Entertainment

2-5 Players ... 30-45 min ... Ages 12+

The head of your family is dead.  The will has been read, and you're last on the list.  The only way for you to get your share is for your family to find their final resting places in the most exclusive cemetery in the city.

Bring Out Yer Dead is a surprisingly upbeat game about the Black Plague in 14th century Europe.  As the only person left in your family, you have to clean out all of your late relatives from your hovel.  Depending on which cemetery plots you are able to bury them in, you will gain more influence in the city and more victory points.  You will need to negotiate with the gravedigger to get the best plots.  You will need to search for (and steal) valuables that the dearly departed have left behind.  You may even need to enlist the help of grave robbers, plague doctors, and fortune tellers to help you in your goals.

The board depicts the cemetery that lies just outside of town.  Grave plots are each associated with an amount of points that you will gain if you can bury your family in them.  Some plots can only fit one coffin while others can fit a pair of stiffs.  You will usually want to bury your kin in the highest valued plots, but you will also have to pay attention to gaining majority in certain areas and keep in mind that your opponents may dig up and move your coffins to less favorable areas!

The game board toward the end of the game.  Most grave sites are filled and some coffins ended up in the river.

Each round, players will play cards from their hand that either depict death certificates, valuable treasures, or special events.  Once all cards are played face down, they are revealed and they go into effect in order of their number.  Brown death certificate cards allow you to place coffins on the gravedigger's cart.  Green treasure cards gain you victory points.  Purple fate cards allow you to do many different things to mess with the current layout of coffins.

Some fate cards (top) and treasure cards (bottom)

The sooner you are able to get to the gravedigger with your recently deceased, the better your chances are of getting them into valuable cemetery plots.  If you wait too long, there may not be enough spots on the cart and the gravedigger may toss them in the river!  Caskets in the river deduct points from your point total.

Death certificate cards and the gravedigger's cart.  There aren't many spots left!

Play continues for a number of rounds.  After these rounds, players total up the points of their occupied cemetery plots and any bonuses they received from treasures.  The player with the most total points wins.

Bring Out Yer Dead is easy to learn and contains aspects of bluffing and reading your opponents. There is some strategy in deciding which cards to play.  You want to play your cards in such a way to ensure you bury as many of your coffins as possible, but if you push your luck too far, you may accidentally dump them all in the river.  The theme sounds dark, but the game pulls it off in a comedic way akin to the Monty Python skit that it is likely named after.  

If you like light strategy games, bluffing, and fun themes, give this game a try!

Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

Historical Board Game Spotlight: New Bedford

New Bedford, a Game of Historic Whaling & Town Building

Designed by Nat Levan

Published by Dice Hate Me Games

1-4 Players ... 30-60 min ... Ages 13+

Set in the mid-1800s, the historical age of whaling, New Bedford gives 1 to 4 players the chance to build the Massachusetts town of the same name into a thriving community.  Gather resources to add buildings with new actions, and launch ships to go whaling.  Go out longest for the best choice, but wait too long and the whales become harder to catch.  And don't forget to pay your crew when ships return!  Carefully balance risk management and timing to become a leader of industry in this medium-weight worker placement and resource management game.

New Bedford, Massachusetts was one of the prime whaling communities of North America in the 1800's.  The whaling industry allowed cities to crop up along the Atlantic coast and drew cunning business moguls and gruff tradesmen alike to the salty shores.  Whale carcasses were used for many things, the most important of which was the oil obtained from rendering the fat.  This oil was used to light houses and street lamps until the more efficient and environmentally friendly kerosene was discovered.  Many different species of whales were targeted, including the peaceful and blubber-dense right whale, the larger bowhead whale, and the sperm whale, whose head cavity was filled with a valuable liquid form of oil.  As time wore on, whaling ships served to drastically reduce whale populations and drive the animals further and further from the shore.

The game of New Bedford seeks to replicate the whaling and town building process that took place around these times.  Players adopt the role of business men in charge of whaling ships.  Using money and resources, they build and launch ships to collect whales and use their reputation and funds to construct buildings in the town and gain dominance over New Bedford.

Your Whaling Empire

You start the game with an individual player board.  This contains a warehouse to store your goods, depictions of ships where you place whales they have caught, and a scoring area where you place whales that have been returned and successfully harvested.  Each player also starts with two workers and two ships in their supply, which they use to complete certain actions and catch whales.

A player board mid-game, along with the ocean bag where whales are found

The Sea Side Town

A central board depicts the town of New Bedford.  At the start of the game, it is very small and houses only the most simple structures.  As the game progresses, players build more districts and expand its borders.  Each building represents and action that can be performed which will progress your whaling venture.  For example, the farm allows you to collect food, the forest allows you to collect wood, and the town hall allows you to build new buildings.  Players take turns placing their workers on the board and taking actions.  The player who uses an action first usually gains a bonus, so it pays to prioritize your actions!

The town board has been expanded and workers have been placed to take actions

The Open Ocean

Once you collect enough resources, you may construct a ship, hire a crew, and launch it into the ocean to seek your fortune.  The further into the sea you wish to send a ship, the more hardtack (food) you need to spend.  However, the best whales are found further out.  Every round, the ships you have sent out sail closer back to the harbor, and collect whales as they travel.  Tiles are drawn from the ocean bag which represent varying whale varieties as well as open ocean.  If your crew finds only ocean open and no whales, it will negatively affect your future earnings.  As the game goes on, there is a greater chance you will draw open ocean from the bag.  This mirrors the fact that historic whaling severely threatened whale populations.  When your ship, laden with whales, finally returns to harbor, you will need to pay the lay, which is a term for the wages of your crew.  If you can pay your crew, you can collect victory points for the whales they caught.  If you cannot pay the crew, you will sell the whales to your opponents.  You will get money, but they will get the points.

The whaling board, depicting players' ships returning to town

The game lasts 12 rounds.  At the end of the last round, players total up their victory points.  Points are earned primarily by bringing in whales, but can also be earned by building up the town as well as collecting and amassing a fortune.  Whoever has the most points wins!

New Bedford is a great game in that it combines strategic gameplay with historical value.  The rise and fall of the whaling industry was an important event in the history of the United States and the world, and this theme has never been explored in the form of a board game.  This game is relatively easy to learn but there is strategy behind every decision.  Even people who are not "gamers" will be able to find enjoyment in playing out the historical aspects that New Bedford brings to the table.

In a pinch, the box can be used as a cat bed!

Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

Game Review: The Castles of Burgundy

I have another historical themed (albeit only slightly) game review to share with you today.  Our collection at home is growing!

   

    Title:  The Castles of Burgundy
    # of players:  2-4
    Play time:  30-90 minutes
    Age range:  12+

 

 

 

 

In 15th century medieval France, players take on the role of wealthy aristocrats trying to improve their lands and holdings.  By clever use of dice rolls and workers, players accrue mines, castles, pastures, cities, and establish shipping routes.

The Castles of Burgundy is a "Euro" style board game, which means that players start on equal ground and only minimally interact with one another.  Each player rolls two dice during his or her turn, and use those dice to either buy or build:

1) Castles, which give additional actions
2) City buildings, which allow for efficient use of future actions
3) Pastures, which allow players to collect many points depending on the animals they choose to care for
4) Silver mines, which provide money each round
5) Ships, which allow players to buy and sell goods
6) "New Rules", which open up additional ways to score points

The large central board serves as a market place and a score tracker.

Literally everything you do in the game gives you victory points, and the player that obtains the most points by the end of the game wins.  There are multiple strategies that you can employ (some better than others), and there is always something to do.  As I said earlier, there is very little interaction between players.  As such, it feels more like a single player game that all players play at once, and then they compare their scores at the end.  There is a lot of strategy to consider, but there is also a lot of luck.  Because the actions you can take are at least partially dependent on the dice results you roll, there may be times when you simply can't do what you want, and your momentum slows down.

The theme of the game, though potentially interesting, just doesn't show through the poor quality of the components of the game.  The cardboard pieces feel very cheap (akin to puzzle pieces) and the art on the game board is terribly boring.  The concept only vaguely represents the workings of a duchy.

The smaller player boards provide rule summaries, as well as a map that the player places their buildings and ships.

Even with it's flaws, The Castles of Burgundy is a lot of fun.  There is a perfect mix of strategy and chance which allows anyone to quickly learn the rules and play.  Heather loves this one, and for good reason.  She beats me nearly every time we play!

If you're looking for a game that evokes the feel of 15th century France, you won't be pleased with The Castles of Burgundy.  However, if you want a great family game, give it a try!

 

Copyright © 2014 by The Maiden’s Court

Card Game Review - Jaipur

Title:  Jaipur

# of Players:  2
Age Range:  12+
Play Time:  30 min

Jaipur is a simple card game set in Rajasthan, India.  Each player assumes the role of an esteemed trader who is tasked with making the largest profit at the end of a long day at the market place.  Players must buy and sell six different goods at the most opportune times in order to maximize their profits and gain the admiration of the Maharaja's court.

Jaipur includes a deck of cards representing six goods.  These are jewels, gold, silver, silk, spice, and leather.  A seventh type of card, the camel, is not worth any points, but it used to increase your buying power and is traded for other more valuable goods.  During a player's turn, they can either buy goods (draw them from the "marketplace", 5 face-up cards on the table) or sell goods (discard sets of matching cards to gain points in the form of cardboard tokens).

This game plays out like a strategic and colorful game of Rummy.  Players attempt to make sets of matching cards while determining their opponent's strategy and trying to counter it.  The beauty of Jaipur, however, comes down to the many decisions a player can make during the game.  Do you buy goods in order to make larger sets of cards, or do you sell the cards in your hand?  Do you acquire more camels to increase the number of goods you can buy in subsequent turns?

Goods are worth the most points earlier in the game, so you may want to rush to make a quick sale and snag the most valuable goods.  However, you get bonus points if you sell many of the same goods - which takes time.

Left:  The person with the most camels at the end of the game gets bonus points!

Right:  Trading in multiple goods at a time will net you sweet bonus points!

Jaipur walks a fine line between light fun and tension-filled decisions.  It is simple at heart, but contains limitless possibilities.  If you want a fun, easy to learn game, with a great theme, check out Jaipur!



Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court

Game Review - 7 Wonders

My boyfriend and I love playing board games and one that we have loved recently is 7 Wonders - and it is history related too! Today Nick is going to share a guest review of the game with us today! Take it away...
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Title:  7 Wonders
# of players:  2-7
Play time:  30 minutes
Age range:  10+

Board games have come a long way from Scrabble and Trouble.  There are games based on so many different themes that someone with any kind of taste can find something they enjoy.  I have recently started to enjoy ancient cultures and ancient history, and 7 Wonders fits perfectly!

7 Wonders is a card game for two to seven players.  No matter how many players you chose to play with, the game usually only lasts about 30 minutes.  This makes it a great option for both small and large groups of people.

In 7 Wonders, each player takes on the role of a leader of an ancient civilization.  As such, they strive to build up their cities, make bold advances in science and technology, bolster military might against their neighbors, and construct their magnificent wonder.

Just a few of the available civilizations that players can rule - Olympia, Babylon,
Halicarnassus and Ephesus

The first thing that you will notice about 7 Wonders is the beautiful artwork on the cards.  Each card represents a structure and each structure is vibrantly detailed and colored.  As more and more cards get played, the table that you are playing on starts to bloom with color.  The game is just beautiful to look at, and although that doesn't say anything about the game play, it definitely goes a long way to making you want to play the game.

Speaking of game play, at the heart of 7 Wonders is a mechanic called "card drafting".  Each player is dealt a hand of seven cards, and they each choose one to play.  This card is laid in front of the player and the structure it depicts is considered to be built in their civilization.  Each player then passes the remainder of the hand to the player on their left, and everyone chooses another card from their smaller hands.

An example of a hand in 7 Wonders

The fact that you can only choose one card from each hand means that you need to make some very tough decisions.  Do you take that blood-red military card that will help you defend your city, or do you take that science card to become more technologically advanced?  The cards that you don't choose will be passed to your neighbor, and you may not get another chance to play them.

This mechanic is quite enjoyable, and gives you the feeling that you really need to weigh the pro's and con's of each card.  Each type of card (red military cards, green science cards, blue civilian structures, and purple guild cards) give their own type of benefit, and victory can be attained by using any combination of them.

As the game progresses, players put structures they have built in front of them,
growing their empires

In terms of theme, 7 Wonders is great in some aspects and O.K. in other aspects.  As noted earlier, the artwork on all of the components is beautiful, and this makes playing cards really feel like building the structures that they are meant to represent.  The player boards that represent the civilizations are especially detailed and are a joy to look at.  The one thing that distracts from the theme of the game is the drafting mechanic itself.  Selecting buildings and passing the remains of the hands along may be a great strategic element, but does not necessarily capture the essence of managing an ancient civilization.

All things considered, 7 Wonders is a very enjoyable experience.  The rules are easily understood and the game plays quickly enough to be accessible to all, regardless of your gaming experience.  The components are of excellent quality and the game feels very tight and balanced.  

Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court