Customer Reviews

Shadows Over Camelot

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Most boardgames based on legends and tales seem to quickly lose their fantastical feel as the players are forced into learning complex (or overly simplistic) strategies. And all too often these strategies and modes of play are only loosely aligned with the tale they are based on, thus dropping the player right out of the fantasy and into the "boredgame" syndrome. However, Shadows Over Camelot neither loses its fantastical feel nor disconnects the elements of play from the rich Arthurian history. Its designers should be hailed for their brilliant use of characters with unique strengths, relevant and interesting quests, wonderful artwork and incredible game play balance. Their use of positive and negative player actions, a secret "traitor" character and the constant pressure of ever encroaching enemies is exiciting and challenging. They have successfully captured some of the "funnest" attributes of fantasy gaming, while offering a strategic challenge that had our group clapping and shouting at hard-won victories. It was easy to learn, but will take some time to master - one of the attributes any great game should possess. Our hats (and helms) are off to the Days of Wonder folks. Great stuff!

Days of Wonder strikes again with a game that combines playability,skill, repeat play ability and twists and turns enough keep you guessing till the end.

It is a game easy enough for kids and challenging enough for adults, and it is a fast enough play so that a group can finish it and still play something else. Our gaming group usually has one or two people who show up late due to work (this happens when you game in your 40's) this game is an excellent multi player choice to play while waiting for the latecomers.

The basics are these you play one of the Knights of Camelot and try to complete quests as either teams or as individuals. Each Knight has abilities specific to himself. The different quest vary from the Holy Grail to the recovery of the Sword Excalibur to more mundane quests like defeating Picts or Saxons or solo quests such as defeating the Black Knight.

You can quickly adjust the skill level of the game by playing with our without the traitor rule. With the traitor rule one player is a traitor, but his loyalty is known only to him at the start of the game.

If Days of Wonder keeps putting out quality stuff like this pretty soon I'll be calling the old Avalon Hill "Avalon who?"

The game's enjoyment really comes from taking on the personas of the characters - kind of like a mini roleplaying game - and getting into the action that way. You're actually working to beat "the game", and not really competing against each other. That's part of what makes this game so creative.

The best part of the game is that one player can end up as "The Traitor" and actually be working against the other players without their knowledge, advancing the cause of the "Dark Side" in the shadows. There are 'loyalty' cards dealt out at the beginning of the game; all of them say "LOYAL" except for one. We always include ONE more loyalty card than there are players, that way, someone probably is the traitor, but not necessarily.

I remember the first time I was the traitor - it was so exciting! I mean, I was just so into that game, trying to pretend like I was helping, and instead going to a location where I could burn through my good cards without anyone realizing it. Then, when I blew my cover, I made a really bad play, intending to harm the other players, and ended up killing off my character! I just wanted to cry. (Well, not REALLY.) Anyway, this is a great game. Takes about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours with four people (but that's with 4 kids running around and lots of snack breaks.)

The other thing about this game is that it is just BEAUTIFUL. I mean, every time we open it I just marvel at the level of detail and the beauty of it. (And it smells good, too!) This game is expensive, but when you open the box and play it, you'll know why. It FEELS like a $[...] game; nothing cheap or cheesy about it.

Shadows Over Camelot was the game that got me into board games. It's visually arresting, fascinating to play, and the complexities of the game don't get old, even if you play once a week for almost 2 years! In fact, the game gets better the more you play - at first, wrapping your head around all the rules can be a little daunting. But stick with it! More than likely, by the time you finish playing the first or second time, you'll have all the rules and a good deal of strategy down as well.

But let me skip right to the good stuff. Shadows Over Camelot is my favorite game, for one main reason. The Traitor. Not only does the mere idea that one of your knights might not be loyal throw a wrench into the cooperative mechanics of the game, but actually *being* the traitor is... is... so delightfully treacherous!!! You undermine your friends' work. If you have Lancelot's armor, you pretend to wince about your limited choices while playing a black card that may well screw them all over. And so long as you remain unrevealed, it's wonderfully stimulating to try and remain that way. (Last time I was the traitor, my hands were shaking so hard that I was sure both my "fellow players" (read: opponents) knew what I was up to. Also, the amount of King Arthur lore embedded in the game is really fun to discover! For example - the quest for Lancelot's armor turns out horribly when Guinevere appears on the scene, but Merlin may be able to save you...

One last note - once you get the hang of the game, be sure not to give each other too much information!! Our most recent handicap is that we give each other no advice or information about cards other than what we intend to do on our next turn. If someone wants to say more than that, they have to discard a white card or lose a life point, so you can imagine it doesn't happen very often.

This game has a lot of moving pieces and is rather complicated to learn. It has different "quests" that the knights of the round table can complete for points. At the same time, the evil doers are competing against the knights to get points as well. What makes this game interesting is that each player has to complete a "good" action and an "evil" action at the same time. That is to prevent the team from easily guessing who the traitor is. The pictures are fun, the game board complicated, but there is lots of opportunity for strategy. The game cards have interesting actions on them. Takes lots of time to play and needs dedicated players but fun in general.

We bought this game because we were intrigued by the idea of a collaborative game. We have three competitive, perfectionist kids (ages 7, 10, and 13), and we thought they may enjoy playing a game where you try to beat the game instead of each other! It worked! They love the beautiful game board and the knights theme, and they love that, when we win, we all win (and losing isn't nearly so bad when we all lose)--not factoring in the traitor here. This game takes a while to learn (a rather lengthy instruction book), but it's great fun. If you like games such as "Settlers of Catan," I think you'd like this one!

Shadows Over Camelot is great fun to strategize over, but not as much fun to play. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy playing this game quite a bit, but the strategy and planning is where most of the fun is derived. This game is different from others in that the players cooperate, it is not often that boardgames require this much teamwork.

There are many "quests" to do in the game to hold off a losing scenario. I say hold off, because losing happens often. Some quests are easier than others, and some quests require multiple people to work on them at one time, which makes teamwork even more vital. It is a very negative game, as something bad happens (by rule) on each and every player's turn. This makes winning a difficult task. I have played this game about five times, and have yet to win. I am determined to win, and my normal game buddies hope that our next strategy will be the one to finally save Camelot.

Each player gets to choose one of the famous knights of the round table to be, and each knight comes with his own special ability. This adds a great deal of strategy to a game with loads of strategy already involved. Each player then chooses his or her own task to undertake (often depending on what cards the player has). This is sometimes a solo quest, and sometimes as a small part of a much larger or ongoing multi-player quest.

Winning requires you to complete enough quests before a losing scenario eventually comes to fruition. Completing the quests gives rewards which vary from quest to quest, and some of the rewards are extremely useful. The trick to winning is in utilizing each player in the best way possible to complete the quests.

The game, as is the case with most all of the Days of Wonder games, is very well constructed. The knight figures have some pretty decent detail, and are made of a good plastic. The boards are thick and the artwork is excellent. The cards are typical playing card thickness and durability, and I don't see them wearing out any time soon. This game will not need replacement parts due to wear and tear.

Overall, this game has great potential for fun, and I have enjoyed myself in each session. Don't get too addicted, though, as it has the potential to keep you strategizing deep into the night!

I'm not a fan of role-playing, but my husband is. While this isn't an actual role plating game like D&D or Shadowrun, it has similar elements and style. In this game, the players don't compete against each other but against the game (unless one of them is the "traitor" but that's another matter!). Players work together as knights of the round table to complete quests before evil wins the game. Different knights have different skills, and each quest has a different prize to help the players win the game. While this game is fun, my main issue with it was that the odds seem stacked in favor of evil.

Evil gets an action every turn. Knights are allowed one heroic action per turn - but, movement counts as the turn. For example, if I am working on the Grail Quest, I can lay down a grail card as my action. But, if I don't have a grail card to play, I have to return to the round table in order to draw cards from the draw pile - but returning to Camelot counts as my heroic action so I have to wait until the next turn to actually draw the cards! Plus, there is the added problem that one of the players may be a traitor working against the team. So, my husband and I made a house rule that drawing cards still counts as a heroic action, but you can draw from anywhere on the board.

The game is nicely designed, but with a lot of small plastic pieces, the durability isn't as good as it could be. I recommend this game for anyone looking for something new and interesting to play.

This is a rebuttal of the review entitled Tooo Hard. I have played this game several times, and won more often than not, even with a traitor, if you choose your quests correctly and work together on them (ie do the grail first and ignore the dragon) then you stand a very good chance of winning and the traitor will have to get pretty lucky to stop you. I think that the difficulty scales reasonable well with the number of players (each player 'advances evil' each turn) but with more people you can concentrate your efforts better and the game becomes easier. However, if you split up and all attack separate quests you are sure to fail.

First cooperative game I've ever played. Initially the game is quite difficult and it seems like you all lose all the time--but this is mostly because we were not used to games where you are supposed to work together and plan ahead. The game is great in how long it takes to play--I'm used to games like Axis & Allies and Risk 2210 where you need to block out five hours for especially chatty gamers, but this game can be very fun and completed in 1.5 to 2 hours (great if you want to get together with your guy friends and play a game but your wife doesn't want you out too late).

Regarding game play, it is a lot like playing poker. You all have a hand of cards, and you move your token to different areas of the board to lay down certain numbers (two pairs, a full house, a straight, or just discarding). The neat part is that everyone must keep their hand secret and you can only give your intentions ("I plan on going after the grail" but not, "I have five Grail cards, so I'm going there."). Eventually you get the hang of it, but then when you throw in the traitor element, you always need to be on your toes! For example, I was playing with six people, and we had locked in a win condition, but it was getting late so two guys had to leave, and one had to go because something came up. I thought we'd win for sure, but then one of the remaining three revealed he was the traitor and started adding siege engines around Camelot--we barely won, and it was so exciting (my friend did a good job "bluffing" so we didn't know he was the traitor until we were vulnerable).

Another nice element is that players can jump in at any point and also leave at any point, so it's not like other games where it's absolutely necessary for everyone to be there on time or through the whole thing.

Very fun and a different outcome every time--and very challenging with varying levels of difficulty. The possible traitor makes the game very exciting (many moves in the game could look suspicious even if a "loyal" player is doing them, which adds some suspense). A good time for the first co-op game I've played.