Harrowed Halls

Mwahahaha! Yep, that cry was heard a lot last night as we played the game of the same name.  But before we get into the game, last night was also gift night. Ben brought birthday gifts for Mike and I, plus my Christmas present for 2007. He gave Owen something, but I don’t know why. But enough about everyone else, let’s talk about my Christmas present for 2007. It was a hand-made, large scale version of The Settlers of Catan. Wow! It looked great and we can’t wait to actually play the game on it! (Now back to other game…)

Mwahahaha! is a card game of Mad Scientists and Global Domination. You assume the role of an (insane?) evil genius who builds a criminal empire and constructs a doomsday device with which to cow a trembling humanity. The only problem is your rival evil geniuses, those inept other players, are trying to do the same thing. During the game you gather the needed resources for your doomsday device, while also hiring minions and talking over factories, businesses, and institutions (empires). During the rivalry phase of the game you can attack a rival’s lair or one of his empires, thus setting back the development of his device. On the last phase of the round, you can threaten a city, state, country or the world with your device. If they do not concede to your demands you will unleash the awesome power of your device! The first evil genius who can successfully threaten the world is declared the winner.

What did we think? Well, for one, we had a good time playing it. The rules are long and wordy, but contain lots of explanations and examples. After a slow start, the game moved right along. There’s really not a whole lot of difference between the evil geniuses available to you. The doomsday devices vary somewhat depending upon what kind of strategy you want to employ. Owen chose to never threaten anything until he could threaten the world while the rest of us threatened whenever we could. We ran out of time with Owen being the only one to try threatening the world. He failed. Others would have been able to on the next round so we considered it a 4-way tie. My rivals insisted on a 3-way tie, leaving me out. But as the author of these chronicles, I can say whatever I want without ever getting my comeuppance.  Nope, no comeuppance for me. Never.