Play as Robin Hood with Sherwood Bandits: rob wagons, grab as many valuables as you can and collect them in your chest to distribute to the poor!
Just like Robin Hood, this game takes place in Sherwood Forest. The setup is simple: you raid wagons filled with valuables and collect them in your cardboard treasure chest. Because the wagons are sometimes (heavily) manned, you are fortunately helped by Lady Marion, Little John, Friar Tuck and of course Robin Hood himself. To raid a wagon, the bandits placed near the wagon throw their dice. The furthest placed bandit that eventually needed to rob the wagon receives a bonus.
After everyone has chosen a colour and corresponding bandit leader, the game can be set up. Everyone gets the matching bandits, a set of dice and a box to collect the valuables. Next to the board, the valuables tokens are placed upside down and some coin tokens are also placed. The corresponding wagon cards are placed upside down in the wagons area. Then it is time to place and reveal the initial effects of Lady Marion, Little John, Friar Tuck and Robin Hood.
The game is played in three different phases. In the first phase, players place their bandits at the wagons. The players now only see a range of the strength of the wagons’ crews. When placing bandits, you have to take into account the strength of the wagon crews, but also the location you choose for the bonus. At this point, you and your gang leader can also enlist the help of Lady Marion. But beware: you can only place your gang leader on one of the four helpers per round, so think before you leap. Next, the exact strength of the wagons’ crew is revealed and Little John’s help can be activated. Then comes phase 2: time to attack the wagons! During the attack, the help of Robin Hood can be called in. When dividing the loot, the players must consider which loot they choose, as certain combinations are worth more than others. After the results have been determined and the loot has been divided, the sheriff also pays a visit (phase 3) to imprison the bandits of players who have scored too high. This way, the game becomes more balanced. Whoever has the most points after four rounds, wins.
I like the theme of Sherwood Bandits. The illustrations are cheerful without making the game feel childish (according to the box, the game is suitable for players aged fourteen and above). The physical chests are a nice addition, on the one hand because of the look and feel and on the other hand because it makes sure that you have less of an idea of the loot of your fellow players during the game. So you have to keep an eye on the loot of your fellow players. The game is not very big, which saves space on the shelves and also ensures a reasonable sized box to easily take with you to friends or family. Introducing the game is also easy, because the difficulty and complexity level is not very high, which makes it easy to explain the game to a group. Although the difficulty of the game is not very high, the game is exciting until the end and with a combination of luck and tactics, you can still beat your fellow players.
All in all, Sherwood Bandits is a fun themed game that is easy to play with new groups and exciting until the end.
