Catapult Feud

I have little to say about the cards and rounds in the serious mode. They feel like the bit most people happened to receive alongside the plastic castles. Even when I cannot get down on the floor to be competitive, trademark pending, there is plenty to enjoy in refereeing or coaching Leo the Despoiler and the next unfortunate target. The children adore it, which is generally all the market research I require.

At heart, you set up the castles and fire the elastic-powered catapults, trying to bring down the other side’s fortifications. Cards and rounds are there for anyone who wants a more formal game around it, but the real business is the shot, the miss, and that small held breath before the last tower goes over.

The interaction is admirably direct: you aim at one another’s castles, and everyone has an opinion about the attempt. Keep the castles 1.5 metres apart when using the supplied elastic bands, though; anything closer makes the siege rather flat. Safety is not the concern here, but proper distance is the difference between a battle and a quick bit of demolition.

I would take two or three base boxes over the expansions, whose design work is not quite as convincing; the ballistae did not win me over. Still, the base Catapult Feud is exactly what I wanted: a noisy, safe siege game that turns a group into a grandstand and an adult into an official. Quietly excellent, in the particular way that only a freshly collapsed castle can be.