05-07-2013, 04:27 PM
Village is The Game of Life you grew up with as a kid. OK, it is a super-Euroized multi-generational medieval Game of Life. Each player has multiple generations of a family to control and lets them lead their lives and bring great glory to the family name. The family with the most glory at the end of the game wins.
Village is an excellent 60-90 minute Euro with a few caveats that might or might not be important to you. I want to get the caveats out of the way first, just so you know what is what.
1. The end game trigger is filling the town’s Book of Honor or the pauper’s graveyard. How do you do those? By having your family members die. If you are uncomfortable with the fact that the game encourages you to work your family members to the bone quickly and have them pass on to bring glory to the family name, this game is probably not for you (or it will last hours longer than intended). My first few games I was trying to keep my family members alive and the game did not really grab me. Once I internalized that I should be killing the first generation off while having them do things that would benefit their descendants, the game clicked. In all honesty, the illustrations could probably have been done by Edward Gorey or Tim Burton, rather than Dennis Lohausen. Dennis did a beautiful job with the board, but it does not communicate the darkness of the game’s theme.
Village is an excellent 60-90 minute Euro with a few caveats that might or might not be important to you. I want to get the caveats out of the way first, just so you know what is what.
1. The end game trigger is filling the town’s Book of Honor or the pauper’s graveyard. How do you do those? By having your family members die. If you are uncomfortable with the fact that the game encourages you to work your family members to the bone quickly and have them pass on to bring glory to the family name, this game is probably not for you (or it will last hours longer than intended). My first few games I was trying to keep my family members alive and the game did not really grab me. Once I internalized that I should be killing the first generation off while having them do things that would benefit their descendants, the game clicked. In all honesty, the illustrations could probably have been done by Edward Gorey or Tim Burton, rather than Dennis Lohausen. Dennis did a beautiful job with the board, but it does not communicate the darkness of the game’s theme.
