Fowltemptress' Poultry Presents: Board Games

[fowltemptress]

Forbidden Island

You know what hobby I love as much as tabletop gaming? Camping and hiking! America boasts some wonderful parks, and you'll enjoy visiting some of them in Trekking the National Parks!

Winger and Britta, contemplating a board game date night.

In this game you're taking actions to move across a map, collecting stones and visiting parks that help you earn points to win the game.

The parks are pictured on large sized cards with neat little blurbs about the park printed on them. I've always loved learning random bits of trivia, so I really appreciate they added that to this game.

For a modern board game, this game has a nice old school feel about it, so people who haven't played much more than Clue or Careers should feel right at home playing. I love the bright, clunky pieces and the simple rules. I feel like a kid again when I play this game. In fact, I wish I'd had it back when I was a kid. I know it would have been one of my favorites.

This camper is worrying about a bear approaching his tent, but if I were in his place I'd probably be more concerned about the giant muscovies lurking in the background.

Presenting this game are Winger and Britta. Winger is feeling particularly good these days in spite of his silly looking molt, because he's recently become the sole drake in my flock and he's enjoying having the women all to himself. Britta is one of his many admirers, and my first muscovy to have hatched out ducklings earlier this year. They make such sweet parents.

 

[fowltemptress]

Trekking the National Parks

IT'S OCTOBER!

The most wonderful, magical, splendiforous time of the year! For October I'm going to try to cram in as many spooky themed board games as I've got into my posts this month. In all honesty I'm more a fan of the cutesy aspects of Halloween, like the type of stuff you used to see adorning the walls of elementary schools back before people got weird about public schools acknowledging the existence of holidays, but my "spooky" board games tend to trend more towards zombies for some reason. Speaking of school and zombies, what could be better than a mash-up of literature and the undead? My spooktacular guineas present to you Marrying Mr. Darcy!

Okay, by itself there's nothing scary here, unless you just happen to have a crippling fear of Jane Austen. But this simple little card game happens to have a couple of expansions available, one of which is the Undead Expansion. In the core game you'll be using all your charm and wiles to capture the perfect suitor, but with the undead expansion you may wind up cursed and become a zombie! Which is, naturally, slightly preferable to becoming an old maid or saying the wrong thing whilst playing bridge with the neighbors.

Play-wise, I categorize this as a Fluxx type game; pick a card, play a card, do what the card says. When playing this with friends I like to pull out my fancy tea set and make platters of cakes and finger sandwiches. Now, I understand that afternoon tea didn't become a thing until the mid 1800s, well after Jane Austen's lifetime, but anachronistic as it is, there's just something about sitting around eating dainty edibles with your pinky finger up that gets you all in the Jane Austen spirit. Add to that the fact that most of of the people I play board games with are burly, bearded men - well, just let that visual wash over you and I'm sure you'll understand why I love playing this game.

The other expansion that comes with Marrying Mr. Darcy is the Emma expansion. It isn't at all spookily themed, but I felt I had to make mention of it because I could never understand the appeal of Mr. Darcy, that sour old stick-in-the-mud. I've always been a Mr. Knightley fan, who, frankly, was far too good for Emma.

The guineas presenting this game are my two oldest guineas. So far they've survived hawks, eagles, bobcats, neighbor dogs, and goodness knows what else living in these woods. Given how guineas' sole purpose in life seems to be finding new and exciting ways to die, I'm rather impressed with these two. No doubt they'd come out of a zombie apocalypse unscathed.

 

[DesertSplash]

I really enjoyed playing this game, and I also appreciate they added park trivia to the cards.

Your ducks did an excellent job of presenting the game.

Trekking the National Parks

IT'S OCTOBER!

The most wonderful, magical, splendiforous time of the year! For October I'm going to try to cram in as many spooky themed board games as I've got into my posts this month. In all honesty I'm more a fan of the cutesy aspects of Halloween, like the type of stuff you used to see adorning the walls of elementary schools back before people got weird about public schools acknowledging the existence of holidays, but my "spooky" board games tend to trend more towards zombies for some reason. Speaking of school and zombies, what could be better than a mash-up of literature and the undead? My spooktacular guineas present to you Marrying Mr. Darcy!

View attachment 3650650

Okay, by itself there's nothing scary here, unless you just happen to have a crippling fear of Jane Austen. But this simple little card game happens to have a couple of expansions available, one of which is the Undead Expansion. In the core game you'll be using all your charm and wiles to capture the perfect suitor, but with the undead expansion you may wind up cursed and become a zombie! Which is, naturally, slightly preferable to becoming an old maid or saying the wrong thing whilst playing bridge with the neighbors.

View attachment 3650664

Play-wise, I categorize this as a Fluxx type game; pick a card, play a card, do what the card says. When playing this with friends I like to pull out my fancy tea set and make platters of cakes and finger sandwiches. Now, I understand that afternoon tea didn't become a thing until the mid 1800s, well after Jane Austen's lifetime, but anachronistic as it is, there's just something about sitting around eating dainty edibles with your pinky finger up that gets you all in the Jane Austen spirit. Add to that the fact that most of of the people I play board games with are burly, bearded men - well, just let that visual wash over you and I'm sure you'll understand why I love playing this game.

The other expansion that comes with Marrying Mr. Darcy is the Emma expansion. It isn't at all spookily themed, but I felt I had to make mention of it because I could never understand the appeal of Mr. Darcy, that sour old stick-in-the-mud. I've always been a Mr. Knightley fan, who, frankly, was far too good for Emma.

View attachment 3650683

The guineas presenting this game are my two oldest guineas. So far they've survived hawks, eagles, bobcats, neighbor dogs, and goodness knows what else living in these woods. Given how guineas' sole purpose in life seems to be finding new and exciting ways to die, I'm rather impressed with these two. No doubt they'd come out of a zombie apocalypse unscathed.

View attachment 3650686

How in the world did your guineas survive all the horrors that befell the others? They are the perfect ones to introduce spooky themed board games.

 

[fowltemptress]

Here to present the next spooktacular board game is Nattie, with Unmatched!

Unmatched is like Funkoverse in that it's a battle on a board, but instead of using dice for combat, Unmatched uses cards. Each character comes with its own unique abilities and attacks you can use to drive your opponent's health counter down to zero. There are several sets you can collect, containing fun characters such as Deadpool, the raptors from Jurassic Park, and Bigfoot.

Like Marrying Mr. Darcy, on its own Unmatched isn't necessarily a spooky board game, but some of the boxes that have been put out contain October worthy characters. For instance, Cobble and Fog is a set that contains Dracula and the Invisible Man. But there's one character in particular that takes the cake on creepiness, to the point that if I were playing with children, I'd consider hiding the set that contains her. I'm talking about Bloody Mary, a character that's fed into my lifelong irrational fear of mirrors. The Unmatched team outdid themselves bringing this horrifying figure of urban legend to life with her miniature bursting through shards of a broken mirror, and images on cards that are enough to give me sleepless nights.

Light a candle in a dark bathroom and say her name three times while looking in the mirror . . .

If you'd like to enjoy Unmatched without all the trauma inducing terror, just avoid the Battle of Legends Volume Two set. None of the other sets so far contain anything nearly as creepy as Bloody Mary.

To offset all that scariness, here's Nattie with her chicks.

When I moved here I ordered several Easter Egger and Brown Leghorn pullets because I wanted somewhat flighty birds that would fare well avoiding predators. The hatchery goofed and sent straight run instead of pullets, which left me late in the season scrambling for whatever breeds were still available to make up for the pullets I should have had. Nattie, named for Nat King Cole, came as one of my unmatched set of last-minute brown eggers. I don't regret it: all the brown layers are super sweet, and it is nice to have brown eggs in with all the whites and greens. And with her black feathers, Nattie's all dressed up and ready for Halloween year round!

 

[DesertSplash]

I'd like to play this game next time I visit. Looks like fun.

 

[fowltemptress]

Unmatched

Today's terrifying tabletop game is Arcadia Quest, with its Beyond the Grave Expansion!

And also, confession time: I purchased Arcadia Quest right before moving here, away from my weekly gaming buddies. So, er, I've never actually played it.

But I'm sure it's fun!

You know who else has never played Arcadia Quest? My dog, Rip.

I managed to stop Rip from peeing on the board game. The pumpkin wasn't so lucky.

Rip is the reason my birds aren't being gobbled up by all the scary monsters that dwell in the forest. If he had his way, he'd go on a never ending quest to kill every predator in the woods, along with any mice, squirrels, and rabbits as a bonus snack. I'm fine with the woods being owned by the woodland critters, so unfortunately for Rip, his reign of terror is kept reined in, but his mere presence is enough to cow even the wickedest of goblins and ghouls.

Frankenstein style monsters and skeleton bosses are a couple of the many Halloweeny foes you face in this expansion for Arcadia Quest.

Hopefully by next Halloween I'll have gotten around to playing this game. Rip, on the other hand, has other quests he's more interested in.

So many trees to pee on, so little time.

 

[DesertSplash]

I'm so happy Ripp was able to be featured in a game board post. He is quite the protector of your flock!

 

[fowltemptress]

There's murder in the air - a Murder of Crows!

In Murder of Crows you're trying to be the first person to manage to spell out the word murder while also strategically playing cards to block the other players from spelling out Murder. Once you spell out murder, your cards will have a fun little story about who committed a murder and with what. As Alex is demonstrating above, his particular murder story involves a bludgeoning with a frozen Turkey. So, you know, your standard murder weapon.

I don't have a picture of the box this game came in, unfortunately, because it was one of those awful, poorly designed card boxes that you couldn't quite fit all the cards into after the initial unpacking. It was like trying to cram a fake Christmas tree in its original packaging. Or rather, a fake Halloween tree. Which would actually be really cool; someone needs to make Halloween trees a thing.

Speaking of Alex and birds, Alex is my other flock protector. Whilst Rip patrols for ground predators, Alex scans the skies and wards off hawks and eagles. He barks at the crows, too, but I enjoy having the crows around; they chase off hawks. Earlier on Alex actually killed about half a dozen of my chickens, but I've since trained him out of that and he's become a trusty flock guardian. He particularly enjoys getting back nibbles from the ducks and geese.

 

[fowltemptress]

Murder of Crows

What's October without a nice cauldron or two? Whether filled with mulled apple cider, Adder's fork, or blind-worm's sting, a bubbling cauldron is a nice cozy staple of October imagery. But be careful what you add to your boiling brew, lest it bubble over and leaves your Halloween festivities all wet - something you're trying to avoid in Quacks of Quedlinburg.

You'll find no ducks in Quacks of Quedlinburg, and you'll hear no quacks from my muscovy ducks!

In this game you're pulling ingredients out of your bag to add to your cauldron, but there are some volatile ingredients that could make your cauldron explode should you add too many of them! You're trying to get as many ingredients into your pot as possible without having the whole thing explode. Depending on how far you're willing to push your luck, this game has the perfect ingredients for a heart palpitating good time! Every draw from the sack can be nail-bitingly tense, but it's almost as much fun to go bust as it is to succeed. There's an expansion you can get called The Herb Witches that adds a few tricks and treats to this already bewitching game.

I won't go on - I love this game so much that if I don't stop myself I might bubble over with praise.

Presenting Quacks is Katya, my only original female Muscovy not from Metzer Farms. She's significantly smaller than the Metzer girls and doesn't seem to be into the whole mothering thing. After some half-hearted goes at sitting, she finally managed to hatch a few ducklings. She took one look at them and decided childfree was the way to be. Those ducklings did quite well without a protective Mom, but I'm hoping by next year Katya will be more in the mothering mood. Either way, she's guaranteed a spot in the flock.

Katya, pre-motherhood. Her head grew whiter after hatching ducklings - an experience I'm sure many mothers can empathize with!

 

[fowltemptress]

Quacks

There are few things more terrifying than a zombie apocalypse - except, of course, rabbits. And cold weather.

I hate cold weather.

So, here to present a chillingly terrifying game is the rabbit horde with Dead of Winter!

Save us from the rabbits, Sparky!

In Dead of Winter you're working together to survive; unless you're not, because secretly one of you could be working to sabotage the colony! Controlling several fun characters (including my personal favorite, a dog named Sparky, who happens to be masterful with a handgun despite lacking opposable thumbs), you're working to search areas for needed food and supplies while keeping up morale and suppressing the ever present zombies. Everyone has personal goals, which may or may not align with the colony goals. And, of course, there's always the possibility that someone drew the betrayer card, and they're biding their time until they can make the perfect play that will dash the hopes, dreams, and future of the colony. If anyone suspects a betrayer in their midst, the group can hold a vote to exile the suspected player from the colony.

In my very first play of Dead of Winter, I was the betrayer. At a certain point I slapped a card down on the board and stood up, whooping and hollering and doing a victory dance because I'd crushed my fellow players and won the game.

Except I hadn't.

A stupid math error on my part meant the colony was still alive and kicking, and I had just outed myself as the betrayer in a spectacularly over-the-top fashion. My friends took great pleasure in voting to exile me, and I spent the rest of the game playing as a shamefaced outsider. It was possibly one of my favorite moments in board gaming history.

One of the more interesting elements of Dead of Winter are the crossroad cards, which can be triggered randomly throughout the game. Crossroad cards add a bit of twisted story to the game, forcing players to vote on issues that can really make you question your personal morals.

As much as I enjoy Dead of Winter, I really can't say I'm much of a rabbit fan. I mean, I love my rabbits, but I would have much preferred guinea pigs as pets. As fate would have it, though, I wound up adopting several rabbits from the place I worked when no one else could take them in. At one point we bred one to see how we liked rabbit, and I gotta say, I found rabbit meat repulsive. So my horde of rabbits were allowed to live out their natural lives. Throughout the years they've contended with hawks, dogs, and direct hits from tornadoes and lightning. Dealing with a zombie apocalypse would probably be a snoozefest compared to what they've dealt with already. Heck, they'd probably join the zombies and happily feast upon my brains. If Monty Python has taught me anything, rabbits are dangerous foe!

I'm not sure which are scarier in this picture: the zombies or the rabbits?