F:AT Thursday - Legends of Andor

The four enter the seedy taproom. It reeks as alehouses have reeked the world over since time began. A stink made of equal parts urine, smoke, vomit, and stale beer. The worn wooden tables are gouged with the names of prior patrons and crude phallic drawings. They choose the one that appears the least likely to collapse under it's own weight and seat themselves.

The barkeep, maintaining the standards of cleanliness about his person as he does in his establishment looks up from his task of wiping a filthy rag on an equally filthy mug.

"Whacha want?" he growls.

One of the travelers speaks for the group and says, "The usual."

"Right," come the reply. "Board games coming right up."

It's F:AT Thursday.

We assembled once again at the cabin in the woods known as the Rose Secret Lair. All the true believers were there.

It would seem that we all had a really crummy day for one reason or another. One of the great things about our hobby is it allows us to forget our real world troubles for a time and travel to distant places and times together. And deal with imaginary problems.

A little while ago, Moofrank, one of the elder statesmen of The Fort, wrote a brief review of the game Legends of Andor. Now Frank has reputation of being an enthusiast and fan of the most esoteric of games. He has a collection of some of the most obscure and offbeat games you have never heard of.  So when he says he likes a game it is sort of a crap shoot as to whether it is really good OR it's just so bizarre that it appeals to that alien portion of Frank's brain.

I'm happy to say that we all really  enjoyed this game. It is a co-operative  adventure game with a fantasy theme. One that really rewards working together and absolutely will punish you if you fail to do so. Punish like a mean nun at the catholic school with her favorite ruler in her hand. It will hurt!

The game was such fun that we played it twice in a row! You may now take a moment and pick your dropped jaw up off the floor. It was an unprecedented event in the long annals of F:AT Thursday.

We managed to squeak out a victory in the intro scenario and then we were taken to school in the second scenario...school...with the mean nun...and the heavy ruler...and the smiting...and the ouchies. In other words, we got destroyed. Wasn't even close.

Production is fabulous. The board is beautiful. The cards are sturdy. The standies are great and actually a little bit cooler than plastic would have been, I think. Hey, there is a 3d cardboard tower that you must assault in the second scenario! At least there was one on the board but we were all killed by hell hounds long before we got there.

The game play is fast and engrossing. The cooperative aspect is very important as stated above. Multi-player solitaire this game is not.

Did I mention there isn't a real rule book? Whoever made the decision to dispense with a traditional rule book needs to meet that nun. What a boneheaded choice. The game teaches by introducing new rules and elements via cards as you play. This is cute and clever and perhaps a bit more welcoming to a person who shies away from long and intimidating rule books and it works so far as it goes.

But man is it annoying when you want to reference a rule. There is a brief summary which can answer some questions but I think is a bit inadequate. They should really have gone the Mage Knight route. Have the walk through and incremental instruction but have a real rule book as well.

When asked which is superior: Ashardelon or Legends..it was tough to say. They have a very different feel. A better comparison might be to Defenders of the Realm. I would say Legends beats Defenders but in honesty it's been a long time since I played Defenders of the Realm.

Our discussion of the weighty issues was mostly us bitching about our shitty day. We came to the conclusion that the rest of the world is filled with fools and only we are enlightened. I think you will all agree this is true.