Pinkthunder

So it was table top day and the chance to play some bigger games.
So when Caverna was mentioned my ears pricked up.
This was a game on my list of games to play.
I have become somewhat of a worker placement fan.
Well I don’t really want to go through the rules and set up as this information is readily available.
So I would like to share my experience with the game as a first time player.
I was so eager to play this game, but after 20 minutes of learning how to play the game and set up of the game, I was like a 10 year old on Christmas morning.
So many things, corn, sheep, dogs, donkeys, and even shiny rubies all mine to covet.
We had a 6 player game with 4 never having played before and 1 who had only played it once.
The choices are aplenty; I can furnish my cave, cultivate the earth, farm animals, dig for rubies and go on expeditions with my Dwarf, All the time being mindful of scoring victory points.
Always keeping one eye on food supply, well fed Dwarves are happy dwarves.
After 4 ½ hours, I had more interest in the mighty miniatures of Cthulhu wars on the opposite table.
So is Caverna a bad game, No it isn’t.
But slowly watching the interior and exterior of your cave blossom and your fields becoming overflowing with fluffy white sheep, is somewhat satisfying.
But the interaction with other players around the table is minimal and I found myself placing my dwarf, and then walking around the table to read all the furnishing that I could get for my cave. Then I found myself wandering further and looking at other games on display.
Still get back in time to take my turn.
This game is huge!!
It looks brilliant, but, and this is a huge but for me, I don’t find there was a great deal of social interaction within the game.
Many hours where spent just doing my thing within the game, in the time it took to play Caverna I could have played at least 2 other games.
I had played Cayles and Aquasphere before I sat down with Caverna and both those games were wonderful.
But for me Caverna, was just too long, not enough player interaction and there was no real reason to watch what others were doing, so I could maybe mess with them in anyway when my turn came around.
I could take an option that some else needed, but you could pay a ruby and select the imitation and undertake that task anyway, so no real way of messing with someone’s game plan.
Would I buy this game? The answer to that is no, I don’t have the room for such a large game and I would find it difficult to set aside the time you need to invest in the game.
Would I play the game again? Well having given this some thought, I think I would, yes! But it would only be on special occasions such as International Table top day.
If you are looking for a huge, great looking game which needs time and space committing to the game, you like worker placement and sheep meeples are your thing, this could be the game for you.
I still rate this game high, because it is a good game, just not on my Christmas list.

Great fun game.
Simple to play, simple to set up and simple to teach.
Fun for all the family.
Played this with a bunch of 40 something blokes and we had a ball.
Buy it for the kids and you will find, you will never be off it.
Replay value could be an issue as the game never really changes.
But it’s all about having fun.
The object is to keep Louie in the air so he doesn’t take your chickens out.
Losing your chickens is bad!!
But you want Louie to take out your opponents chickens so you can win the game.
So you have a rotating Louie in a plane circling.
You have to time your button press so you help Louie fly over your chickens.
Too hard and he will fly over your neighbours too.
Not hard enough or poorly timed and Louie takes out one of your chickens.
Once your chickens are all gone you’re out of the game.
The person with the last chicken standing is the winner
I think I would find myself returning to it time and time again.
It’s just fun!!