Charterstone

[lathany]

We (Toby, Gemma, Martin, Dom, Bea and me) finished Charterstone last night. A legacy board game of 12 rounds.

After various ups and downs, Martin won and became Queen Martin of Uncanny Gully. This shot may be a little spoilerish, but I suspect the focus isn't good enough to really ruin things for anyone wanting to play it themselves.



Out general verdict was that it was a lot of fun, there were some great surprises as mechanics were introduced and we enjoyed the ongoing story a great deal. The underlying game is not terribly well balanced - but was fine for 12 rounds.

Comments

[miss_newham]

Ah, we've just started playing this at home - I will come back and read this when we've finished!

[lathany]

Please do! I am keen to hear what you think.

[miss_newham]

We finished it last night! Kevan won, as is the usual state of affairs in my household, but the game was simple enough for me to give him a run for his money. Though I think that in some rounds, the twists and surprises were more interesting than the game itself (and giving the characters funny names). I was very excited when some unexpected golems turned up, but then we never used them!

Anyway, we liked it a lot and thought it was nice to be able to play a legacy game that worked well for two people. We wondered what it would be like for a bigger group - our game was very focussed on coal-mining, but maybe pumpkins and bricks were more useful commodities in your world?

Have you played it as a standalone game since you finished the 12 rounds? I'm wondering whether that would be worth a go or feel a bit pointless.

[lathany]

Very interesting! We played as a six, so all the stuff had value. I think coal did well, but so did other things. Players set up some mini-machines - where coal/pumpkin/etc become something else and something else. We did use all the pets though! If anything golems were a favourite.

I think we too liked the naming, surprises and the plot a bit more than the game itself. I haven't played it since and I'm not sure I will - not because I hate it, but because we have better games.