Martin Wallace is a fairly well known board game designer, and this was his foray into a Cthulhu game. Given the type of games he normally designs, it is no surprise that this was also a train game. Now train games are not my first choice when I look for a new game, but Cthulhu always makes that list. I loved how he is seen on the cover in the reflection of the binoculars.

In this game you are gathering resources from seeded locations on the board. You will use these to build farms, build forces, and lay train tracks to further explore the area. Everything you do though costs you time. And time is your enemy because as time marches on the Old Ones awaken. The Old Ones are face down tiles around the board. Not all of them are going to be Cthulhu, that would be crazy. But they are Lovecraftian horrors trying to kill you and drive you insane. Ok, technically sanity isn’t a factor in this game, but most of the time when you deal with cosmic horror you lose some of your sanity.

As the game progresses Cthulhu gets closer to waking up. While you are trying to win over the other players, there is also an enemy marker on the score track that can effectively make everyone lose. So there is a clock you are playing against as well.

This game has been on my mind a lot lately because they recently released two expansions for it. I plan to get them soon, and will do reviews of those.

While I haven’t played this in awhile, it was a tremendous amount of fun. Naturally the group you play with has an impact on how much fun is had at any table. I am confident that when I bring it to the table next, it will go over well with my current gaming group.

I can guarantee you that if you ask me ten years from now, it will still be on my shelf. Nothing is going to push it out the door. Or replace it as gamers often talk about some new shiny game doing.

8 Stars