All my life I’ve been fascinated with the idea of being a wild west gunslinger in a band of outlaws. I imagine the free life of a grizzled spirit roaming, looking for ill-gotten-gains, always to return to their favorite hiding spot.
Enter the game Thief’s Hoard by Brass Engine Games and suddenly you can live in this fantasy world through an easy to learn and easy to play card game.
When we first started playing this game, I imagined a dirty group of rough and tumble thieves gathered in the local cave, huddled around a stolen oak take with a lantern in the middle of the table. Our leader would slap an artifact down on the table and yell, “LET THE BIDDING BEGIN”...
After only spending a minute or so to read the rules we were able to quickly launch into the playing the game… it was fairly intuitive. I was surprised by how quickly cut-throat the game became. Once people started paying attention to their hand of Thief’s cards, the scheming began, stealing items from hoards, besmirching the good reputations of fellow players and reducing the prestige to next to nothing, and just plain and simply dirty bidding tactics.
Thief’s Hoard delivers a fast paced, thieving, backstabbing gaming experience for hard core gamers and even their grandkids! The goal of the game is simple...steal $10,000 of various quirky artifacts and store them in your hoard. Sounds simple until the other players start thieving the artifacts that you already stole...doesn’t seem fair does it?
For the non-gamer:
We had a new addition to our gaming group while we were playing this game. He hasn’t had much experience with gaming beyond the childhood classics, but picked up on the game play and surprised with how quickly we was using Thief’s cards to steal his way to a near-victory. His final comment, “I’d love to play that again”
For the experienced gamer:
While the game might seem simple, it’s rich in varying strategic mechanics. Press early and lean on people with your prestige or stay behind and back-stab your way to a victory later, both played equally as well.
For the game-night organizer:
This would be an excellent addition for groups of varying experience. Most of our gaming group are pretty hard-core board gamers, but our simple one hour lunch-hour playtest quickly turned into a two-hour session and only ended there because we had to get back to work.
For the family of gamers:
Thief’s Hoard is a great fit for families. It is appropriate for all ages and the play is quick enough to keep everyone’s attention. Besides our family likes nothing better than backstabbing each other!
Overall Ratings:
Nostalgia: 4 out of 5
Brought back old memories of playing cops and robbers as kids.
Play: 5 out of 5
Was easy for even the most novice of players to pick up and be included in the game.
Ease-of-learning: 4 out of 5
There was a couple of small issues with setup that confused us but we were able to quickly move beyond those.
Cult Status: 5 out of 5
It feels like a game that will have a place at the table for the those end of the night quick games that we always go back to.
Family Gaming: 5 of 5
The ease and speed of play and the fun of backstabbing is perfect for all ages.
Overall Rating 4.5 out of 5
Solid addition to anyone's game library
Update: They're now live on Kickstarter, check them out!