I started watching Table Top on the Geek and Sundry Network on YouTube a few months ago. I found the show very entertaining and found some of the games they were playing really interesting and fun looking. So, when I started playing games with my friends, there were a number of games that I really wanted to pick up so I could try out.
One of the first of these was Castle Panic (In the Bag to come). So, after playing Station Master at Silver Spring Hobby Shop on Saturday and grabbing some lunch, I started reading the second half of the instructions.
When we had a few people show up looking for a game to play, I suggested the one I had out and we were quickly setting it up.
We had the same four agents from Station Master (Steve, Bill, Nate, and myself) with a new warrior to add to our list, another Bill.
So, we set things up and started playing pretty quickly and the game was simple enough to start off with that by the third player's turn, everyone was understanding of the basic rules and by our second rotation, people were three moves deep in strategy.
The game started out a little slowly from our end as we killed off a few goblins, but had trouble dealing with a troll that ran through and killed himself on a wall. Another wall quickly fell, but I was able to rebuild it on my turn, leaving us with only 1 wall down and all towers remaining.
The game was pretty tame for a few round until Nate pulled the Goblin King forcing him to draw three more monster tokens and one of those being draw four more monster tokens. This was when extra strategy slowed the game a bit, but led to some really good moves. We managed to kill off the new foes, but at the expense of two more walls. We built one back, but lost a tower and then another tower to a boulder that rolled through the downed tower to take down another one.
As the monster tokens began to dwindle we had a pretty good handle on the horde, but most of the final monsters came up as trolls, leading to a bit of a panic before we started drawing the cards needed to down them.
On Bill the 2nd's turn, he managed to kill a monster with only a troll with 1 hit point remaining. The final two turns could not lead to a kill, so the game ended with a troll trying to storm the one fortified wall and dying for his efforts.
The Five Generals of SSHS won the day with 3 towers remaining. All generals were valiant and wise, but in the end, having dispatched 3 of the 4 bosses, 2 trolls, and an orc, Stanley the Strong won the hearts of the kingdom due to his magnificent conquests.
Final Thoughts:
Castle Panic was a fun game that played fairly easy on the first attempt four all five of us. I was very happy, though after the extended study needed to start Station Master, that we were able to setup and get up to speed very quickly. Th
The tough middle of the game added allot of fun to the experience, however, the easy ending made for an anti-climactic ending.
We were very lucky in this game by drawing 5 or 6 tokens that could have devastated us at other times, but did little to nothing when they were drawn, such as a draw 3 monster tokens for the last token when there were no monsters left to draw.
Overall, it seemed that everyone enjoyed the game and that with our luck the game played much easier than it can. This worked for a first game that could make us work much harder for victory upon a further play.
Now that I know the game, I am looking forward to playing it with another group down the road.
Also, the Wizard's Tower expansion is sure to add an additional level of difficulty and fun after a few plays, so it is on my horizon for a future purchase.
I was very happy to have gotten to play one of the two games that I was very excited to play at this event. It was fast moving and fun and I hope the difficulty level will greatly vary through it's plays.
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