Designed by:
Catacombs & Castles is a team (or 1v1) game of battle, where the conquest is driven by flicking discs (the combatants) around the board.
One team is the Catacombs, and one is the Castles. The (reversible!) board is laid centrally, with a series of obstacles/shields in the form of grey wooden blocks and cylinders placed upon it. The game offers two modes: Team, and Boss. We’ll describe Team mode to start with: both sides have a crew of Heroes that are represented in two ways: by discs that you’ll flick around the board, and cards that tell you what options you have with each Hero. Some can use missiles (represented by extra discs) or claws that can drag the enemy (or a friend!) toward you. Or you can simply melee and charge into battle yourself!
Each team has a collective set health points, and when damage is inflicted by missiles, melee, or other means, these are depleted. But as well as inflicting damage, your heroes also have special cards they can charge up using the other team’s ‘stolen[‘ health tokens – on a future turn, you can choose to take the special action instead of the standard one – discarding the tokens and making the card available to charge again.
As soon as one team hits zero health, they lose!
I love the idea of a game like this - a dungeon-crawler dexterity game. But in reality, I find myself getting impatient with the (admittedly fairly simple) rules surrounding the flicking. For me it's like adding a similar theme to snooker; now the pink ball is a mage who can cast spells, and the reds are minions who can gang up on the cue ball. It feels unnecessary and I find myself willing it to resolve more quickly. Ah well, I can definitely see the appeal for some - and it's beautifully produced.
It's all Take That - a battle royale in the shape of small wooden discs.
Minimal - when it's not your turn you're cheering on your team-mates, or hoping the other team screws up.
What order you play your heroes in and timing of the special moves is important, but nobody should find the game confusing.
There's some randomness in the set-up, two modes of play, and four heroes to choose from on each side. But the variety here is really about the flicking; which has some tactical depth.
2-8
Players
10+
Years
30
Mins
Sam says
Part of a series of 'Catacombs' games, there are some extra wrinkles to both Team and Boss mode we've not covered in detail here, but in essence both are a 'fight to the death'. It's more than just a game of taking turns to swing a sword - metaphorically - at each other, as the abilities and obstacles add a layer of tactical play. But on the other hand that depth to play is a double-edged sword: if you expect a flicking game to be inherently silly, this might seem a tad... serious? As such it hasn't gone down a storm with gaming buddies, but I've enjoyed quite a few plays with my kids, who really love it.