Discworld Ankh-Morpork

Treefrog Games | Fantasy | £26 | 1-4 players | 60 minutes | www.treefroggames.com

With the sad passing of Sir Terry Pratchett, Discworld and the city of Ankh Morpork have never been more ingrained in people’s thoughts. The Discworld universe is one of comic-fantasy, filled with witches, wizards, dragons and of course – the big man, or skeleton, himself - Death.

The Ankh Morpork board game, invites players to become influential Discworld characters as they vie for control of the city. At the start of the game, you’re given a secret role and win condition. There are seven roles: Lord Vetinari – Must place minions in a specific number of areas. Lords Selachii, Rust or Worde – Must control a number of areas. Dragon King of Arms – Must spread eight trouble tokens across the board. Chrysoprase – Must collect fifty dollars. Commander Vimes – Must maintain the peace until the draw deck empties. On your turn, you play a card and perform actions such as - place minions, build, assassinate, remove trouble tokens, take money, perform special actions, play cards or trigger a disaster. When you’re done, you draw cards and your turn ends.

Well-conceived gameplay, beautiful artwork and a plethora of Discworld characters make Ankh Morpork an excellent, highly thematic, light to medium-weight game. In fact, it’s arguably the best Discworld-based board game out there. The hidden role element adds a degree of suspicion and you’re always wondering what others are planning. However, you can use that suspicion to your advantage and trick your opponents into helping, rather than hindering, you.

Despite the thick theming, you really don’t need to be a Discworld fanatic to play Ankh Morpork. Sure, you’ll recognise the characters, but the gameplay is strong enough to ensure that even if you’ve never heard of Great A’Tuin, or the Disc-shaped world he carries upon his back, you’ll still have fun. (Tom Randell www.gamesquest.co.uk/blog)