Space Sheep!

Space Sheep!
Designed by Anthony Rubbo
Published by Stronghold Games
1 to 8 Players
20 to 30 Minutes

A Cooperative (w/ Traitor Variant) Puzzle Game

Background / Introduction

Like most people, I really enjoy Star Wars. So, when I see a game like Space Sheep for the first time, I'm already intrigued. A really smart move by either the game designer or the game's publisher, the parody on Star Wars really is an eye catcher. The artwork is even really cool. The actual game however is at its heart an abstract puzzle game. If you enjoy doing some sort of puzzle (let that be Sudoku, KENKEN, Rubik's Cube, or a good old fashioned riddle) I think that you will enjoy Space Sheep! Now, that isn't to say that if you don't like any of those puzzles, you won't like this game at all - you still may enjoy Space Sheep! But, if you enjoy those puzzles, I really think you will enjoy this interesting take on a cooperative puzzle game.

Components / Rule Book
Stronghold Games does a fantastic job with the components of this game. My only experience with Stronghold Games up until this point was with Little Devils and Crazy Creatures of Doctor Gloom. Not much to judge component wise as those are both light card games. With Space Sheep - an entirely different saga. This game is chalk full of great quality stuff. The game includes 8 sets of giant sized meeples in the shape of sheep and ships (a Millennium Falcon sort of shape) and a wolf silhouette meeple too. The game has 9 home planet mats and 23 different instruction tiles with 32 different colored chits to vary each instruction tile every time. The game also includes a cloth bag for randomization, a one-minute sandtimer, an eight-sided die, 90 tactics cards, 4 wolf strength tiles, and a few other cards and of course the rule book.

That is a lot of good stuff and all of it really contributes to the variability and customization of the game. The rule book is OK. There are some pictures included that help with visually learning the game and in all honesty, the game is pretty straight forward to learn. Now, that being said, there may be some confusion when first trying to grasp the game. This is easily remedied by reading the Strategic Space Sheep Commander Training Manual or watching a few of the videos on Board Game Geek (or my video found below). This will present the material to you so that you may understand it a bit better. If you are like me, it is really nice to see something played first before trying it yourself.

Gameplay and Thoughts
Swapping pieces around strategically to get all of the colors matching may sound like an easy task, but that can readily become very challenging when you have the wolf at your heels! I highly recommend playing the game at least once or twice through without the timing element of the attacking wolf. This allows players to get a feel of the mechanics of the game. Not too difficult: play a tactics card and move the ship of that color clockwise one space (swapping ships with that mat), play a tactics card and utilize the Instruction Tile on that colored mat/planet, or discard a card. The player then draws a new tactics card. What makes the game challenging is the different combinations of Instruction Tiles used in the game. This is the only way you can move your sheep around the board. If you have the same colored sheep and ship together you can move both of them using the Instruction Tile or you pick either the ship or the sheep and move them accordingly.

It is really interesting because in a lot of cases, these instructions will change how you can move pieces around the board depending on where the pieces are (or where they are in relationship to the other pieces). There is a lot of strategy to how you move everything around, and once you add the timing element of the wolf, you loose your precious time to think out 10 steps ahead and you must try and figure out what will work best for you with only a few steps in mind. You will also need to communicate with your partners so that you can work well as a unified flock of amazingness. Only then will you escape the grasp of the wolf and be victorious. Players win when all the sheep/ships of each color match on the corresponding color. The players lose when all the tactics cards run out.

Space Sheep is built such that it provides players many different ways to customize the game to their liking and change the difficulty. You can start of easy peasy with just a few colors, basic Instruction Tiles, lots of tactics cards, and a wolf with a little bit...then you can move up adding more colors, more intricate Instructions, remove some tactics cards, and make it so that just one attack from the wolf ends the game! I think Space Sheep successfully provides easy difficulty levels (especially without the timer) to extremely difficult and challenging. You can even add in a traitor element where you hand out secret roles and you play with some players actually trying to help the wolf and keep you from winning.

I am just amazed by how this game can be so different each time with the same game mechanics. Huge variability and customization - that is what makes this game great. Is it dripping with theme and related to Star Wars at all - not really, but it provides the players with a unique gaming experience that I have never experienced before and it provides ways to constantly change the game and continually challenge yourself. This game will stretch your mind and thought process. Space Sheep is an enjoyable game that will help you stretch and improve your thought process and decision making skills and with customization/variability out of this world, I think Space Sheep will provide you with a fun and unique puzzle solving experience and that is How Lou Sees It!

A big SHOUT OUT to Stronghold Games for providing this review copy of Space Sheep and making this review possible.

Crazy Creatures of Dr. Gloom

Crazy Creatures of Dr. Gloom
Designed by Michael Schacht

Introduction / Backstory
Scientists sometimes have a bad rap. Put on a white lab coat and forget to comb your hair for the day and what are you labeled? A "Mad Scientist" most likely. You have to admit that in our fictional world there are a lot of examples of scientists messing with something that quickly grows into a big issue creating all sorts of problems. Think of Dr. Frankenstein and Flint Lockwood (Mmmm....giant food). In Crazy Creatures of Dr. Gloom, you have your heart on becoming the greatest scientist ever! You want...nay...need to become the apprentice of the great Doctor Gloom (or Doom depending on where you live) to realize your dream. Rumors of crazy creatures in the forest surrounding the mansion of Doctor Gloom and colorful clouds coming from his chimney has really peaked your interest. Lucky you - he is looking for a select few to help him with his current project! Will you be successful? Stand out above your competitors on this project and you can become his apprentice and start your way to fame and glory (or at least win the game).

I am a big fan of Michael Schacht's Coloretto and Zooloretto. The game mechanic of those games is just fantastic. This game takes a different, very simple, game mechanic and makes a nice family card game that everyone can enjoy. I think that this game will appeal to those who like games such as Coloretto, Lost Cities, Pinata, Slide 5, Uno, Love Letter, and Little Devils. I can see a lot of different little elements from these games in Crazy Creatures (i.e. the points listed on some of the cards like in Little Devils/Slide 5, the Increasing and Decreasing sides to the machine cards like in Pinata, trying to get rid of your cards first like in Uno, the strategic thought process of trying to determine what your opponents have in their hand like Love Letter...). The game can be a great "filler" for those hard-core gamer types and it provides a very easy, kid-friendly game that the entire family can have fun with. The illustrations are really well done. The way that the monsters evolve and are depicted reminded me of Pokemon (yes, I grew up playing the first U.S. version on my Game Boy).

Overview / Components
You can play Crazy Creatures with 2 to 4 players. I feel that it does play well with just 2 players. The game takes up to 20 minutes to play but can be shorter with just 2 players. Kids ages 7 and up will be able to play the game nicely. Shuffling is required in between rounds but not during game play. Some of the cards are not used each round creating some good unknown element to the game. The game doesn't take up a lot of room and is very easily packed around. While the game may not offer deep strategy, it still offers more strategy than Uno. Players must decide whether to make another draw a card, or change the machine from Increasing to Decreasing. You will want to try and wait to play some cards if you think other players have a duplicate one. Really fun stuff.

The components are great quality all packaged in a nice tin. Instructions are easy to read and understand with helpful illustrations. Cards shuffle well and again, the illustrations on the cards of the creatures/monsters are really enjoyable. The game includes 4 machine cards, and 48 creature cards (1 through 6 in each color/creature twice).

Set Up and Game Play
Game set up is really simple. Place the 4 machine cards with the plus or increasing sign up (possible alternative house rule: place these cards on the table randomly increasing or decreasing side up). Shuffle all 48 creature cards. Deal 12 cards to each player (10 in a 4 player) and deal 8 into a side pile. The rest of the cards are not used this round (in a 4 player game, all cards will be used).

On a player's turn, they play one card from their hand if they are able to the side of one of the machine cards corresponding to the color of creature card (possible alternative house rule: you can choose to pass even if you are able to play a card). You have to play cards according to what the machine for that color currently shows. If the machine is showing the increase side, you must play a card equal or higher than what is shown (special rules for the DNA symbol type cards 1s and 6s). Play then proceeds clockwise. If you can't play, you pass (you may be able to play next time around). If a player is able to play an identical card onto another already in play, that person gets to choose between two bonuses. They can make any other player of their choice take one card from the pile of 8 OR they can choose to flip one of the machine cards switching the rules for that color/creature pile. The DNA symbol cards can be played on one another. This makes it possible to play a 1 on a 6 and vice versa. Pretty handy!

Round / Game End
The round ends when a player plays their last card. Other players then get one more turn if they can play (recommended house rule: end the round immediately and don't allow any further turns). Players then score what remains in their hand. You score one point for each skull and crossbones (cards either have 0, 1, or 2). This gets added to your total. The player who triggers the end of the round by going out first gets a bonus by subtracting 3 points from their total (possible house rules: you can disregard this bonus if you like, or you could allow negative points - in the actual rules, you subtract 3 not going lower than 0). For each game it says to play a number of rounds equal to the amount of players. I feel that for a 2 player game at least, it feels really short. So, you could create a a house rule where you just decide an amount of rounds, or you can always just play again! The winner is the one with the least amount of points.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts
The first time I played it, I honestly felt pretty indifferent about the game. Didn't think it was bad, didn't think it was mind-blowingly awesome. The more I play the game though, the more I have come to enjoy it - a lot. So, take that into consideration. Don't just play it once and make your conclusion about the game. I think a game by  Michael Schacht deserves more than that - this game definitely does. In fact, after a few plays, I have decided to give it a 4 fingers up or 9 out of 10 stars! Now, the enjoyment level for you will differ depending on what you are looking for. Those who like Agricola may not enjoy it nearly as much as one who enjoys games more like Uno, Little Devils, or Coloretto. The game is a simple one, but has plenty of room for strategy and is quickly taught and played. A great portable card game that everyone can enjoy and that is How Lou Sees It!

A big SHOUT OUT to Stronghold Games for making this review possible.

Little Devils

Little Devils
Designed by Michael Feldkotter

Introduction
I am a big fan of trick-taking card games, and they are definitely not in short supply. One of my all time favorite trick-taking card games is actually Rook. For those unaware of what a trick-taking card game is, it is referring to a game in which players take turns playing a card or cards from their hand until by some evaluation specific to that game (highest card, trump, etc.), a player wins that "trick" or "hand."

Personally, the theme of the cards being little devils isn't my favorite and I probably wouldn't have picked it up from the store because of the cartoon devil on the front (yeah, I judge things by their packaging or "cover"  occasionally). That being said, if you dismiss this game just for that, you will be missing out! I am a big fan of the game Slide 5 and I couldn't help but think of that game while playing this one. There is some good strategy that can help you out, but there is also a great luck element where you really aren't sure exactly what card your opponents are going to play. You will find yourself laying a card just hoping someone will play a card higher/lower than yours. A bit ironic that I am currently reading Dan Brown's new book "Inferno" as I am reviewing this game...

What's Inside The Tin
So, first of all, the game comes in a great portable tin. I am a big fan of the tin for its durability and visual appeal. All of the cards fit very nicely into the tin (I have some games that really don't fit everything well, and that is frustrating, but this one is great). You have 54 cards numbered 1 through 54 and the rules. The rules are very well explained and includes some example rounds which is nice.

Game Play
There is a little set up required for the game depending on the amount of players you are playing with. This can sometimes be a pain if you are constantly adding or dropping people, but it really isn't too bad. You just need to remove cards from the deck so that you have 9 cards for each player (no extras). So, for a 4 player game, you play with cards 1 through 36 removing cards 37 through 54 from play. I store my game this way since I will usually be playing with 4 people when I play.

The cards are then shuffled and dealt out. Play starts with the player to the left of the dealer and the role of dealer moves to the left after each round. That player picks a starting card and places it out in front of them. The player to the left then goes with play going clockwise. What makes this game so great is that the person leading or starting each hand AND the next player both make key decisions for that round. The second player then decides to play a card higher or lower than the starting card. If he plays a card higher than the first card, then all other players MUST play a card higher than the starting card as well. In this situation, the player with the highest card would take the trick. If a player can't play a higher card, they may then play any card, but they will be at risk for taking the trick. And if someone plays a card lower, then it becomes the player with the lowest card that gets the trick. May sound a bit confusing at first, but it really isn't it.

Likewise, if the second player plays a card lower than the first card, then all others must play a card lower as well if they can. If they don't have a lower card, they are forced to play a higher card with the highest card taking that trick. In Little Devils, each card either has 0 to 5 little devils on the card. These represent the point value of each card. Players are trying to avoid taking any points. Thus, avoiding taking any tricks or obtaining tricks with low points is your goal. Sometimes you will want to take a trick to get rid of a card from your deck, hoping to take low points now so that you can avoid larger point tricks later (lesser of two evils). The player who won the trick then starts with a new starting card. The starting card can't be a card with 5 little devils on it unless there is no other option. Game play continues until all 9 hands have been played, and then players add up their little devils adding it to their running total.

Game End and How I See It
The game ends when someone gets 100+ points with the winner being the one with the least amount of points. Simple game, for simple fun. There is definitely a pretty hefty luck element to the game, but there is also some great strategy that can keep the devils away. My friends really enjoyed the game, as did I. There is actually more strategy to Little Devils than there is in Slide 5 (which is nice). I do however like the 2 to 10 player range that Slide 5 offers while Little Devils you are limited to 3 to 6. Both games are different enough as well to warrant getting both. Besides the ability to strategize a bit more in Little Devils, that second player deciding higher or lower each round is really what I enjoyed most about the game. I give the game 4 Fingers Up, or 9 out of 10 stars. The game retails for $15 dollars which is pretty average for a nice quality card game like this. A big SHOUT OUT to Stronghold Games for making this review possible! I look forward to reviewing many more Stronghold Games (in fact, keep your eye out for another Stronghold card game review in the coming days)!

Avoiding little devils has never been so much fun! That is How Lou Sees It!

Voluspa Vampire Empire Contest

I make a 20 second-ish video in hopes of winning a new game. Either Voluspa or Vampire Empire. Both games from Stronghold Games look really fun. Wish me luck!