Mansions of Madness - A Board Game

[FullAuto]

I've gone over to the dark side, chaps. I've started playing board games, like a complete and utter geek.

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Mansions of Madness is a board game for 2-5 players. One player is the Keeper, and controls the enemies and runs the game (not like a typical Dungeon/Game Master, in that he's there solely to give the players a good story, he actively tries to win and has stuff to do). The other players control individual investigators in a range of scenarios, and have to go poking about a variety of spooky locales, complete with various kinds of monsters. The game is Lovecraftian horror in theme, and investigators can easily be driven insane as well as get killed, and as you can see

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it has a few bits and bobs in the box to set up. The game comes with five scenarios, each one with three variants, which can be mixed to a certain extent, keeping things fresh. At about £50 for the game, this might seem a bit steep, but there are also about 20 fan-made scenarios over on BoardGameGeek, which are free and quite a few of them are really good. The game isn't that complex really, especially on the investigator side, but there's a lot to keep track of and it gets a bit fiddly (it's not as fiddly as Arkham Horror, for instance, but is more fiddly than Betrayal at House on the Hill).

 

I'd had experience of playing before but not as the Keeper, so it was a relief that the first session went well. A group of four, all newbies, and an easy scenario. The three investigators went looking around the house of a madman, who sprung from the shadows in classic horror film style repeatedly, and was struck down many a time only to rise again. A flaming zombie livened things up at one point as the trio searched the mansion, and various rooms caught fire. Although battered and slightly crazed, the investigators foiled the madman's attempts to summon a horrible thing from another world. It was an unqualified success. It ended in a win for the investigators, and everyone had an excellent time. I had great fun as the Keeper, as it's basically an excuse to be evil, summon monsters, manipulate investigators, deal out mental and physical injuries (in game. So far) and just do your level best to ruin their chances at winning but without being an arse about it. The game was good-natured and that went a long way towards it running smoothly. You forget just how important people are to games some times, and it's all the more obvious when you're all sat around the same table. A few beginner's mistakes were made, but after 5-10 minutes of reviewing the rules, everyone was good to go, and with the help of the quick reference materials from various sources, we were sorted.

 

A week later, we had our second session, with a new Keeper into the bargain.

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A few small mistakes occurred, but nothing serious, and the new Keeper did a good job of being the arch fiend behind our impending doom. Our main brainbox, the writer Gloria Goldberg, was quickly crippled with a back injury, so as she staggered about the map solving puzzles and unlocking boxes and doors, she left a trail of items behind her, unable to carry them. I cocked up there, as the veteran player and meat head, I really should have been hoovering them up.

 

Sister Mary, our wild card, turned into a surprisingly fearsome close combat monster, taking on enemies three at a time armed only with a crowbar and some holy water, including a nifty knee-shattering smash that killed a zombie making off with a sample of her hair (to be used for disgusting, nefarious ends, no doubt).

 

Playing the goon Michael McGlen, I polished off the first few monsters with my Tommy gun, and the Keeper responded accordingly at a critical juncture in the game, first jamming my gun, then making me fumble it, then having it run out of ammo. Forced to take on the undead with bare hands, I wasn't worried as I had full health, but a constant flow of Dexterity tests and McGlen's pathetic Dexterity stat ensured I stayed locked in combat with a pair of zombies, unable to kill them or escape, until I set the room on fire.

 

While I and my new best mates were busy being immolated mid-fisticuffs, Gloria and Sister Mary proved utterly incapable of fording the flow of monsters, and getting access to and solving the last puzzle in time. Time ran out and the game ended a draw, after some three hours of play (including plenty of drinking and a meal). A great time was had by all, as the Keeper stayed the right side of being a dick, and the ensuing shenanigans were challenging but not impossible for the Investigators. If we had indulged in a little more teamwork, we would have won.

 

So with two games under our belts, and having had such a great time with each one, I decided to invest further.

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Call of the Wild is an expansion for MoM, with additional scenarios, rules, NPCs, monsters, and a whole load of stuff.

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We've got a little way to go yet before we get to it, however. It's my girlfriend's turn to be Keeper next, so that hurdle needs to be cleared, and then the remaining two scenarios that came in the first box were not playtested enough, so they shipped in a somewhat poor state of playability. Revisions aplenty are available on BGG, so I'm currently combing through there in hope of finding solutions. Then, Call of the Wild, and further expansion time.

 

It's been something of a revelation for me, getting back into board gaming after more than a decade away. But with the right group of players, it's amazing.

[Tycho]

If you like that, you'd also like Betrayal at House on the Hill. It's a team game until a random event reveals that one of the players is actually the villian. The game's overall theme plays like everyone is in a B-grade horror movie. In our last game, my character was revealed to be the leader of a clan of cannibles and had lured the others into the house to be dinner.

[FullAuto]

I do like BAHOTH, the random layout is reall good and keeps things fresh. It's also much quicker to play than MoM. Pandemic is another great one.

 

Third game, and the last of the immediately-workable scenarios out of the box. I was Keeper again as the gf had not learned the rules (or even glanced at them). Investigating a cult, the trio were quickly ambushed by cloaked figures, and made short work of the first few, armed with an axe they found in the chapel (don't ask). I made sure to gather a group of cultists around an atar and sacrificed them to spawn a shoggoth. The investigators reversed course. Said beast chased the investigators through the mansion, its unstoppable bulk smashing aside barricades and cornering them in the crypt, where the cult leader awaited them. One investigator, driven almost mad by the various horrors, decided to tackle the nightmare bare-handed, and using his special ability, killed the shoggoth.

 

To say I was disappointed is a vast understatement. As the investigators fled the monastery, I ambushed them with cultists and rooms plunging into darkness, bouts of panic and item-dropping hysteria, but it did no good. One was driven insane, and all three bore mental and physical wounds, but they all escaped. And I was left looking at a despondent group of cultists, still huddled around where the investigators had been, wondering what to do now they had cocked up so hugely. Although the investigators had bad luck on the whole with the dice, they had one or two excellent turns when it came to the crunch, and managed to kill the shoggoth, which turned the tide of the whole game. With my powerhouse unit gone, I had only dribs and drabs to fight with, and could not stage a comeback. It was an absolutely fantastic game, and had I bothered to use my Mythos cards properly, instead of spending threat on monsters, I could have won. As it was, I left it until too late, but even then it was telling. Weapons and items were dropped, many horror points were inflicted, and I did the majority of the damage indirectly, with scary stuff, rather than directly with monsters I controlled. Cannot wait until next time. These games are the highlight of my week.

[Space Voyager]

The last board game I enjoyed playing were The Settlers of Catan, an instant classic. The first expansion makes it even better. Next ones are redundant though, they add too much complexity. When one needs a small book and two card collections for the game, the game is just too complex to play while drinking. And I usually don't opt for water, however good it would be for me.

[Thorondor]

One investigator, driven almost mad by the various horrors, decided to tackle the nightmare bare-handed, and using his special ability, killed the shoggoth.

 

Evil was foiled again!

 

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By the way, FA, check out The Wargamer's coverage of Spiel 2013 which took place last week in Essen. Some interesting strategy games were shown there.

[silencer_pl]

FA, maybe you didn't notice or maybe you did, the game Talisman is getting a multiplayer and it is available on steam I think as an early access. If you remember this old board game you can now play it with firends. I know I've spent plenty of hours with my friends and there were quite a few add-ons for the main part that could extend the play time. It may not be as scary as what you have shown here but still plenty of drama because of those dice rolls

[FullAuto]

I'm familiar with Talisman, and I've seen the single player raved about on PC/iOS. Had no idea that MP was coming!

[Knan]

In Arkham Horror, we've had Sister Mary come hopping out of the Abyss, with nothing more horrible happening to her there than finding money lying about. She then proceeded to close the gate there and get rid of several monsters with a tommygun. Great hilarity was had by all

[FullAuto]

She can be ferocious!

 

Just found out about Eldritch Horror. So that's added to the list, along with Zombicide, Last Night on Earth, Ghost Stories, Letters from Whitechapel, etc.

[Thorondor]

https://australianwargamer.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/waroftheringbig.jpg

 

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War of the Ring and the Lords of Middle Earth Expansion were just reviewed at The Armchair General.

[Thorondor]

[Space Voyager]

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[Thorondor]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/14/jan/CC2014eldboardcu.jpg

 

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RPS' Robert Florence contemplates Eldritch Horror and comes away, well, mesmerised.

[FullAuto]

That's a shoe-in for purchase for my group!

[Thorondor]

Though I don't expect you need much in the way of further encouragement to get it, FA, here's a fresh video review of the game all the same.

[Thorondor]

[Thorondor]

*slightly off-topic *

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jk7UBlwUPI

 

Coming this winter, Mutant: Year Zero is a post-apocalyptic tabletop role-playing game, published by Modiphius Entertainment and developed by the Swedish games studio Free League Publishing, under license from Paradox Entertainment.

 

30th Anniversary Return for Tabletop Post-Apocalyptic RPG - Mutant: Year Zero

 

Mutant: Year Zero goes back to the origins of the Mutant franchise: role-playing after the Apocalypse. In this game, you play as one of The People - heavily mutated humans living in The Ark, a small and isolated settlement in a sea of chaos. The outside world is unknown to you, and so is your origin.

 

A series of expansions are already in development. The smaller expansions, called Zone Compendia, will each contain illustrated adventure locations in the Zone, extra mutations, artifacts, rules, and more. The major expansions will each focus on one new playable class: mutated animals, robots, then un-mutated humans. Each major expansion includes a campaign letting you play the origin story of the class, and then introduces the class into the game and into the Zone. We expect to release the first expansion for Mutant: Year Zero in early 2015.

 

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The core game is coming to retail December 2014 priced £34.99 / $54.99.

 

[Official site]