It was Miniature Market Cave Springs for our Semi Regular Retirees Game this week and something a little different on the agenda. The assembled group did a run through of Osprey Games “Brian Boru High King of Ireland” board game. This was both to familiarize the players with a new game system and evaluate it for use in our History Through A Different Lens Initiative using our historical games as educational tools. (More on that Initiative is available on the front page of this website).
The game set in Ireland about the year 1000 finds each player as a clan leader with the goal of uniting the eight areas of the island under their banner. Standing in the way of that goal are obstacles such as Vikings, currying favor with the Church, making good marriages for your clan and a four other pesky players trying to do the same thing. Players Steve T, Steve L, Mark W, Kurt L and Chris K all took up the call to bring the island united leadership.
The map showing the provinces, marriage track to the left, Vikings to the top left and Church box to the upper right. The towns which are to be the subject of the players attention are on the well illustrated map with a victory point track on the outside of the board. Cards, markers and tokens are of excellent quality. This game required some proxy tokens as the GM had a hiccup when packing up the game and they missed movement. Fortunately in a well stocked gaming store replacements were available and using them along with a bit of ingenuity on the part of the players we muddled through the Irish bogs.
With the help of all the players and DJ who pitched in with some GM duties, we got through the rounds and turns learning some of the nuances of the system. Big Thanks to Kurt who kept things running smoothly with his fast reading of the rules when questions came up.
All Hail Chris K The High King of Ireland……
Consensus was that this will be a suitable game for the Initiative and we will proceed with plans to create an enhanced version to take on outings as well as for the benefit of the group. Thanks to all the players Steve T, Steve L, Mark W, Kurt L , Chris K and to DJ for their help with the play through and their thoughts on the game. Thanks also to Miniature Market Cave Springs for their continued support.
