So the four characters started in the main entrance of the Mansion and we split into two groups of two and started to explore. Tom, the games owner was the game DM as such and controlled the bad guys whilst we stumbled about. The idea behind the game is that there are a number of clues that we have to discover, put into the right order and then solve the mystery. There are also locked doors and items to over come, basements to delve into, mysterious rooms and locations to examine.
There is also a clever sub-game puzzle system; some rooms have a pile of cards to look through to turn over one at a time if we were to search the room - sometimes this would uncover a puzzle that would need to be completed before any more cards can be unturned. These little puzzles were great - they might involve sliding tiles around, rewiring a circuit etc to complete the puzzle. Depending on your characters intelligence depends on how many turns you got to complete the puzzle. Also there were items such as a locked cabinet that needed a key to open, but if you found an axe, like we did, you could bash it open!
The DM as I thought of him had lots of creatures and Cultists (humans basically) to place on the board and attack the characters. Basically the night progressed by the two groups search around for clues and solving problems and taking out the occasional cultist and creature. Unfortunately each creature comes attached with it a Sanity check - every time we came across a creature we would have to roll a die and have a modifier attached which affects the die roll (the more hideous and scary the creature, the more likely you will fail the sanity check). If you fail the check, your character gains a token and if your limit is reached, you go Insane and can be affected by the DM - come under his control and/or do crazy things.
After a while, it started to become clear the DM was up to something and we needed to get to the basement. But although we were making a path through the bad guys - Sanity checks and our healthy were taking their toll. Eventually we lost the game - partly down to me miscalculating a Rewiring Test and failing it.
It was a good game, made better by the great artwork, fantastic miniatures, loads of counters and great mini games - unfortunately it has a really long play time; starting around 8:30, we finished very late.
The Mansion laid out and the Investigators proceed inside
Hello Professor! Urk, my mind!
Sold some games! Zombies!!! went to Brian after the 3 hr fiasco the last time we played it; I didn't really like it and didn't think that the game wasn't amazing. Pandemic although good, didn't really work with us as a family; the couple of or so times we played it we found it frustrating and annoying. The thing we love about Euro games is the not knowing who has won until right at the end, right up to the final count. Even then things can change in some games. But Pandemic you can see the end coming like a brick wall at 60 mph. You can see the fact you are going to loose and nothing can be done about it, but you have to keep playing otherwise why play. And the fact no one wins if the game wins makes it a bit frustrating. So, it's going to a better home where it might be loved more.
