It was the start of the third meeting of our shiny new board game club, The Boardgamers, and Jo, Craig and I wanted something quick to play while the others were playing their own quick games. I hadn’t played Gloom and liked the look of it, so off we went.
I got the Green family, Joanna got the Reds and Craig had Blue. My first thought was what a shame that these beautifully rendered and conceptualised family members make no difference to game play.
Anyway, some of our early play was quickly plastering good fortune on one another’s family members. I was responsible for Melissa Slogar being married marvellously, followed by a delightful picnic in the park and suddenly becoming popular in parliament. Craig’s Belladona, who got off to a great start being badly betrothed and then widowed at the wedding suddenly got to dally with dignitaries, which put off an otherwise certain untimely death.
Joanna quickly knocked off a few family members with bonus points, such as Lord Slogar having broken many bones (to fit in his box presumably), and having stolen from a stiff was suddenly slain by an heir.
I found it difficult dividing my awareness between the black humour of the story telling and the actual game strategy, which didn’t seem to support one another well. Still, beginners luck was with me because I bumped off my whole brood, finally pushing Angel down the stairs and netting a whopping 175pts. Joanna had 110 and Craig’s family were obviously having way too much of a good time for 55pts.
I’m not sure if the humour of the game, which is essentially a one joke kind of thing, will bear repeating over multiple plays but the strategy of the game is interesting so we will see what the future brings.
From post on boardgame geek