I can’t say I’ve read all the Terry Pratchert books but I’m not far off. He was brilliant and the worlds he created were sublime. Ankh Morpork is a fairly simple area control secret mission game set in the titular city which reeks theme and features lovely artwork and good solid production values.
Each player starts with a lord secretly picked that dictates your win condition. There’s only a few and those are things like, have control of four areas, have some of your dudes in seven locations or spread trouble to x amount of areas.
The city map is split into a dozen or so locations each with a build cost and a special ability card for the one (and only) who builds there. There’s considerable difference in property prices and money is always short in this game.
There’s a nice trouble mechanic. A black cube pops into existence when someone enters a location. Evidently nobody in the Disk world gets on with anyone else. It takes cards and effort to get rid of these trouble cubes so you can build there (unless of course your mission is to spread trouble)
The game is straightforward once you learn the icons on the cards. It’s a racetrack type game insofar as you need to learn the cards or have players at your level of stupid to best appreciate the game. All the myriad of characters from the books are in there in card form and act pretty much as you would expect them to. Cards have an icon or icons at the top which allow you to add some of your dudes to a location, bump off someone else’s, remove trouble, build, gain that all important gold or do something else as described on the card. It’s a fast game to learn as a lot of the rules are written on the cards.
Is it any good? Yes it’s a fun game. Is it really good? Nope. Not as games go but it does have a lot of charm if you’re a Pratchert fan. It’s good for younger players too. Would I recommend getting it? Sure. It’s a good buy but it’s expensive for what it is and like the Great man himself it’s out of print. If you’re a die hard Pratchert fan this is a must or you’ll be cutting your own throat.
Good game, good fun, magnificent theme.
Huzzah!
Vic
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