{"id":3701,"date":"2005-04-13T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-04-13T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/2005\/04\/13\/swordand-skull\/"},"modified":"2005-04-13T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-04-13T10:00:00","slug":"swordand-skull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/2005\/04\/13\/swordand-skull\/","title":{"rendered":"Sword\nand Skull"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sword
\nand Skull<\/a><\/h2>\n

reviewed by Moritz Eggert<\/i><\/p>\n

The expectation for the new AH’s first pirate-themed game was enormous, but many a
\ngamer felt slightly puzzled when looking at the back box of the published game, clearly
\ndepicting a game that looks like a hybrid of “Monopoly” and
\n“Talisman” instead of an updated and playable “Blackbeard”.<\/p>\n

After reading the rules of and playing the game it is evident that this is anything
\nbut a typical AH game, rather something that Parker or MB could have published (even
\nunder Hasbro the line has tried to maintain a certain “gamer” status, but the
\npowers-that-be seem to want to change this in the future with baser offerings).
\n“Sword and Skull” is mainly a family game, and perhaps one has to judge it not
\nby playing it with gamers but with kids and family. But then nobody is looking for a
\nfamily game when purchasing an AH brand game. This dichotomy is the crux of the problem
\nthat I have with “Sword and Skull”.<\/p>\n

The game material is up to AH’s new standards, each player gets two nice
\nfigurines, an officer and a pirate. Both try to retrieve a stolen ship from the evil
\npirate king (i.e. find the crown of command, for “Talisman” fans). To achieve
\nthis they move around the board in clockwise fashion, a roll of two dice gives two
\nchoices of movement points, and only one of both figures can be moved. If you roll
\ndoubles, BOTH figures move forcedly (sometimes to unwanted effect), and if you roll a
\ndouble naught you can teleport a figure to any space on the outer track. At first glance
\nthis seems to give more options for movement than in “Talisman”, but actually
\nthis is not so, because of the one-direction-only movement. Moreover, doubles are common
\nwith two dice! The spaces consist of mainly “settlements”, these work exactly
\nas in “Monopoly”, you get “shares” (for free though) that represent
\narmed personnel that is accompanying you. Some bolster your pirate, some your officer.
\nYou can also go for personnel with money symbols (1 is normal, 2 is maximum). Owning them
\nforces player that land on the same settlement space later on to pay “mortgage”
\nto you. You even get money when you pass “Go”, sorry, “Start” on your
\nway around the board.<\/p>\n

\"board\"\/<\/p>\n

Some spaces let you buy equipment, which works very much like in “Talisman”,
\nthere are also gold hexes that constantly replenish themselves (and therefore bring more
\nand more money into the continuum, actually a good idea). You can also fight combats
\nagainst creatures, but this is actually a less important factor in the game, although the
\nrewards are sometimes high. Much more often, you will fight your fellow players,
\nespecially with 4 or 5 players. The outer track around the pirate’s cove has actually
\nvery few spaces, and as each player has TWO pawns it is practically impossible to tread
\nsomewhere without landing on another players pirate or officer’s feet, forcing you to
\nfight battle after tedious battle. Like in “Talisman”, combat is handled by
\ndice. Losing is not severe, but it is possible to steal “shares” from other
\nplayers, which somehow leads the whole “Monopoly” business ad absurdum. Imagine
\nplaying “Monopoly” – already an awful game – and players could STEAL your
\nshares by rolling higher in combat! This happens so often that it is actually useless to
\nfollow any money strategy, which first presents itself when reading the rules (you can
\nbribe the pirate king instead of fighting him to win the game).<\/p>\n

\"cover\"\/<\/p>\n

Trying to end the game is even worse: to find the pirate king, players have to enter a
\none-way path that is not even an advanced form of “Snakes and Ladders”, it IS
\n“Snakes and Ladders”. No matter how prepared you are, rolling the wrong number
\nwill kick you back to starting space, quite literally. One space in the middle
\naccumulates gold like hell; the first player landing there (by pure luck of course) will
\nmost likely win by money. Otherwise, you could try to beat the pirate king and his
\nhenchman by combat.<\/p>\n

Regardless of what “strategy” you follow, you will have to roll many dice
\nand wait a long time until the game finally grinds to an end. Playing time is certainly
\nshorter than in “Monopoly”, but still a bit to long to enjoy this purely as a
\nquick, silly diversion. We had some fun playing though, the theme is handled well and
\npresent throughout, and there is lots of Schadenfreude as you see other players lose what
\nthey have accumulated so far. There are also several mechanics that are designed to bring
\nback players who fall behind, also a nice touch. When we stopped playing (because of the
\nlast train back home), no player could be said to be the clear winner.<\/p>\n

A winner this game certainly ain’t, though, simply through addressing a misjudged
\naudience. It is an okay little family game, and nobody would bother had it been published
\nlike that, but presenting it under the AH label is a kind of strange insult. Although one
\nhas to admit that the old AH has published worse in their time – “Global
\nSurvival” or “Assassin” anyone? Compared to these heinous miscreations
\n“Sword and Skull” could indeed be called a masterpiece. Decide for yourself, if
\nthis game is for you for its pure fun factor only, we were slightly disappointed to be
\nhonest. Take my bloody word fer it, matey. Ahoi!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sword and Skull reviewed by Moritz Eggert The expectation for the new AH’s first pirate-themed game was enormous, but many a gamer felt slightly puzzled when looking at the back box of the published game, clearly depicting a game that looks like a hybrid of “Monopoly” and “Talisman” instead of an updated and playable “Blackbeard”. … Sword
\nand Skull<\/span> weiterlesen →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spieleabende"],"views":10,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3701\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}