Eketorp
2026/05/17
Today, there were 5 players. We were supposed to be 6, but (thankfully?) Litchi didn't come.
So, I have a few good 6-player games, 7 Wonders for example, which plays very well with 7 players, but I have to admit I didn't see the point in introducing 7 Wonders to young kids who aren't used to board games. It's like learning to drive in a Formula 1 car. So I went with Bang! and brought Medici and Eketorp just in case.
Similarly, regarding French practice, since I don't know the French level of the two newcomers, I just made sentences for them to read to learn the rules of Bang!. They seem to read and understand without any problem.
Bang! is played with 7 to be well balanced: 1 Sheriff, two deputies to help him, 3 outlaws to kill him, and one renegade lying in wait. But there were only six of us, so I removed a deputy, which made the game harder for the sheriff. Anyway, we started playing. Hoa was the sheriff, and I explained the cards as they were played; they understood well. I was the Outlaw. I would have loved to riddle Hoa with bullets, but he was too far away, so I waited to see who the deputy was. The sheriff was clearly surrounded by two enemies, taking bullets, "love at first sight", and other robbery. Phuc, a new player, finished the sheriff off. The Outlaws won!
Well, Phuc was the deputy... and Nguyen, the Renegade, next to the Sheriff, had taken three lives from him with his Volcanic. Yet I clearly explained at the beginning of the game, emphasizing it quite a bit, that the deputy had to kill everyone (he was alone and therefore couldn't shoot another deputy), and that the renegade had to kill the outlaws while impersonating a deputy.
Anyway, I don't care, I won with Kiet and Minh. :)
They didn't want to play again. It's the kind of game you can easily replay since you change secret roles, but they preferred to play Eketorp.
It's a Viking fighting game, and with 6 players, it's excellent, much more interesting than with 3 or 4 players. There are plenty of warriors for a good fight.
I won with 23 points while Nguyen had 22, and the others were right behind. It was extremely close, and I was incredibly lucky to be positioned where no one else was going (so no fighting, and therefore no warrior ending up in the hospital for 3 turns). I had a hand with 6-value combat cards (the maximum) when Kiet decided to attack my village. Kiet should have won, but he had some bad luck. Nguyen plays very well, but sometimes, on a whim, he uses up all his chances just to win a fight. Anyway, I shouldn't have won that one, but luck is part of the game. :)
Surprisingly, it was calmer than usual. :)
