review
Mythical creatures - a nuisance?
Hexenhaus
Gingerbread lures basilisks
It‘s a small step from adventures in fabled realms to the fabled mythical creatures of fairy tale lands, which often, and usually in games for children, provide the background topic. This is also the case in 2018, and, for your information, we can name examples that cannot be classed as games for children and can be mentioned very well in a more exigent context. An unusual treasure hunt around Nordic trolls offers an especially fancy topic, or you can divest a mysterious tree of his winterly fruits. But in this review, we look at the classic saga of Hansel & Gretel from a rather different angle.
Honestly: Didn’t you always think it a bit funny, that old ladies living in the woods, so-called witches, are rumored to gobble up children, because of a few pieces of gingerbread? Are they simply crazy or could one - at least marginally - understand that madness? Take up the guise of one of those witches and see for yourself:
Gingerbread and fairy tale characters? That’s like bees and honey!
“Those fairy tale characters are beginning to turn into a real nuisance”, one of the witches complained at Beltane”. “What do you mean, beginning to?”, countered another one. “Let’s come up with a plan how we can put a stop to that!” But how? With a honey-trap?!
It will be easy: We attract them with their favorite gingerbread and catch them. We know, after all, the preferences of Snow White, Frog King, Rübezahl and company. Well, even what the seven goat, the basilisk and Rumpelstiltskin prefer to nibble off our so very sweet gingerbread houses is not a secret!
Therefore, round after round, we build our gingerbread house with gingerbread bricks = tiles, to receive more and more irresistible gingerbread tiles from building over other tiles. Four types of gingerbread are highly appreciated by the various fairy tale characters, albeit in different combinations. The Big Bad Wolf, for instance, prefers lots of green ones; the Wolpertinger wants one of each kind, and Tom Thumb is happy with only two, a blue one and a heart shape. As soon as you have the desired pieces, you hand them to the fairy tale character - and the trap is triggered! You are rewarded instantly with a joker gingerbread brick for building you house as well as victory points at the end of the game, based on the fact that the greedier the being is the more rewarding it is!
If you complete a level, you are rewarded with one of the bonus cards that are very often a deciding factor in the game: Special bonuses for completed levels or for each trapped category of mythical being - for instance, good or bad ones, humans or hungry creatures - in your guise as a witch you should not miss out on that.
Game mechanics wise, the hunt for those creatures is completed by special brick tiles, which allow a witch to swap types of gingerbread, to acquire staircase tiles to complete levels or even to make a reservation on a creature. Reservation facilitates planning. In general, you should keep an eye on neighboring witch houses, not only as regards to available fairy tale characters, and are recommended to build levels speedily. The nicely predictable, sometimes, however, arriving quickly and rather unexpectedly, end of the game is very rarely brought about by an adventurer relying on luck to be the most successful witch - it is worth your while to employ your gray brain cells.
Hexenhaus is an excellently balanced game that plays very well with all numbers of players; it is a bit strategic, suitable for friends, but also for families, offering uncomplicated access. It has been lovingly implemented, has fancy theme and a well-working collecting mechanism. A real titbit!
… and the morale of story? Provoking witches is NOT a good idea!
By the way: The never-published statement of THE witch on occasion of the above-mentioned Beltane night:
“Hansel & Gretel? Small, but greedy. Very greedy - they gobble up more than a dragon! Don’t now what might happen there!“
Thomas Bareder
Players: 2-4
Age: 8+
Time: 30+
Designer: Phil Walker-Harding
Artist: Andy Elkerton, atelier198
Price: ca. 25 Euro
Publisher: Lookout Spiele 2018
Web: www.lokout-spiele.de
Genre: Area filling, collecting
Users: With friends
Version: de
Rules: de en es jp nl pl
In-game text: no
Comments:
Unusual topic
Good Mechanisms
Some strategy is necessary
Very attractive design
Compares to:
Area management and collecting games
Other editions:
999 Games (nl), Asmodee (es), Hobby Japan (jp), Lookout Spiele (en), Rebel (pl)
My rating: 7
Thomas Bareder:
An attractive game for friends, but also suitable as a family game, with a witty topic and demands for strategy!
Chance (pink): 2
Tactic (turquoise): 2
Strategy (blue): 0
Creativity (dark blue): 0
Knowledge (yellow): 0
Memory (orange): 0
Communication (red): 0
Interaction (brown): 2
Dexterity (green): 1
Action (dark green): 0