This week, we tried out Beowulf and I enjoyed it a good deal. Designed by Reiner Knizia, it could be described as a competitive Lord of the Rings type game. This is because, collectively, you tackle a series of encounters but the rewards/penalties vary depending on how much you participate, through the playing of cards. The longer you stay in, the better reward you can claim. Also, even if you don’t have the cards to continue in the encounter, there is an opportunity to gamble and draw cards to seek to stay in but, at the risk of getting a scratch. Luck plays a part but the potential downside can be significant as your fame points are reduced at the end of the game id you suffer too many injuries.

This proved critical in our game as both Nige and Mark K suffered 3 wounds, whereas Mark G and I both gained fame points for having no wounds. Also my concentration on placing well in the final high-scoring encounters gave me enough to claim the win.