Shadows Over Camelot

Its been quite a while since I've put up pictures of people. Not that I didn't want to, of course, but rather I haven't been taking any pictures of people at all. Looking back at the pictures of my birthday about 2 weeks ago, I realise that I do not have a single picture of anyone, let alone myself.

Well anyway, today I'm going to insert one picture with people here. This is how it goes.

So recently I've been very in to boardgaming. Not the very well heard of games like Monopoly or Game of Life, nor those wordplay or general knowledge games like Pictionary or Taboo, but games like Ticket to Ride: Europe, Shadows Over Camelot, Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Family Business, and of course, Bang. All out action games, with no knowledge required whatsoever, although, strategic thinking is indeed necessary to be able to survive.

I will not go into an extensive review of any of these games, there are countless of reviews out there already. My friend Supa has also wrote his thoughts on the subject. Let's just say, in terms of strategy, I put Ticket to Ride: Europe, Settlers of Catan, and Carcassonne on top of the list. However, there's more to gaming than just strategy. Ticket to Ride is just beautiful to look at, exquisitely produced, and very fun as well, in addition to being quite strategic. Family Business (a card game, not a boardgame), on the other hand, has no strategy at all, and its played purely to have some laughs. Bang, is very good for laughs as well, and thus good for people who just want to play to have some fun (basically means people who don't want to think), but also having that element of strategy that will attract people who want to play to win.

But Shadows Over Camelot wins hands down when it comes to theme. SOC is a cooperative game (which means good for people who are not so competitive) where players band together to try and beat the game. Its just like playing a computer game, where bad things happen every round, pushing you further to defeat. Players play as Knights of the Round Table (as per King Arthur legend) and must complete quests to win the game. What pushes the game above the rest is that there is a possibility that one of the players may be a traitor, and thus wants to lose the game for everyone else. Players just can't help but feel like they are really in the game, and events are conspiring to beat them.

Maybe that's why, last Friday, the group of 6 of us played the game from 9pm at night, till 7.30am in the morning. Because we couldn't beat it. We kept on losing and losing until the last game, when the first streaks of sunlight were beginning to stream in through the window, we finally beat the game. We were all so tired by then that we just played by assuming there was no traitor in the game, and coincidentally, there wasn't.

And we all took a picture to commemorate our victory.