Shape-ter Ops: "Halloween"

Greetings, Final Girls n' Guys!

Welcome back to the blog formally known as "Yet Another Friggin' Gaming Blog." From here on in we'll be going by the following new name: 

"Horror Board Game Play-Throughs and Reviews"

Sorry, I know the content here has been kinda, um...genre specific lately, but hey...you gotta go where the bloody heart leads.

Much of the reason for this trend is because purveyors of spooky merch Trick or Treat Studios announced that they were gonna bankroll a series of IP-based board games a few years ago. Then, when I heard that they were actually hiring professional game designers to make these macabre titles, I went from vaguely interested to "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!" 

First out of the gate was the Scott Rogers-helmed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which I love irrationally simply because of the theme (TCSM is definitely one of my top five favorite horror moves of all time) and the press your luck / bag builder elements. But it was the next announced title that really caught my eye.  

Waaaaay back in 2015, I reviewed Spectre Ops: Shadow of Babel, a sci-fi themed hidden movement game by Emerson Matsuuchi, who also brought us the not-even-vaguely-related Century trilogy as well as the obscenely-opulent Foundations of Rome. I liked Spectre Ops fine enough, but the generic sci-fi setting failed to ignite my imagination...ergo it didn't translate into a buy for me.

But what if you took the solid mechanical foundation of that game, integrated nearly a decade's worth of rules streamlining and then married it with John Carpenter's seminal horror classic Halloween? Well, you get a slick, suspenseful "one versus many" hidden movement game that makes me forget all about top-heavy affairs like Fury of Dracula.

So, what's the police report on this one? Welp, here's the 918A straight from the source:

It was the night HE came home... and one player must take on the role of Michael Myers! The others will control Laurie and her friends as they scramble to find weapons, the kids, and a way to escape. Their task will be made more difficult because Myers can only be seen when you're looking right at him!

This 1 vs Many game by renowned designer Emerson Matsuuchi is the first time the original Halloween movie has been made into its own board game.

Player Count: 2-4

Play Time: 60 min

Wanna read Loomis's psyche report on this l'il nutter? Well, click on the following link to bone up on the full portrait of evil.

PLAY-THROUGH

Michael starts out on space J14, Annie Brackett on L18, Lynda on M6 and Laurie is on E19.

TURN ONE

Annie moves four spaces, Searches on L16 and finds a "Telephone." She then faces west,  looking out the window onto J19.

After moving four spaces to reach K8, Lynda Exerts to move onto L8, facing towards L10. She then Searches, taking another Exertion to use her special ability to keep the "Knitting Needles" and bury the "Shovel." 

Laurie moves four spaces onto B20 and Searches, locating a "Board Game." How meta!

Michael uses his Pursue action to move all the way from J14 to J8. After using an Infiltrate action to move through the window onto K8, he’s literally standing right next to Lynda!

TURN TWO

Annie Searches again on L16, exhausting that space and locating "Matches." She then Moves four spaces to O15, facing towards O14. 

Lynda suddenly gets a case of the heebie-jeebies and moves four spaces to N8, facing back towards N9. After moving once again onto P8, she opts to face the window and look out onto P10. 

Laurie Searches again on B20 and steps painfully onto some "Action Figures." She then moves three spaces onto C22, facing towards D22. 

Michael uses a double Stalk action to end up standing directly behind Lynda on P7! Ruh-roh!

TURN THREE

Annie makes a phone call, dialing up "Ammo", a "First Aid Kit" and a can of "Hair Spray." She puts the latter on top of her house's search pile and buries the others, taking care to put the bullets on the very bottom. She then spends her second Action to move onto O16, changing her facing to look out the window onto Q16.

Again, Lynda’s sixth sense kicks in and she uses two moves to back-track to L8, facing the window between K and J8.

Discarding Action Figures as an Action, Laurie picks up "Ammo", a "Doll, "Matches" and - HUZZAH! - "Lindsey"! Naturally, she puts the latter on top of the deck followed by the Doll, Matches and the Ammo. She then uses her second Action to Search the spot and find Lindsey! Since she didn’t move, she retains her current facing.

Feeling slightly toyed with as well, Michael uses a double Stalk action to end up standing next to Lynda again in the gloom of M8! 

TURN FOUR

Annie Searches her current space and (not surprisingly) gets a can of "Hair Spray." She searches again, cleaning out that space by finding a "Kitchen Knife." Again, since she didn't move, she doesn't change her facing. 

This time Lynda stays where she’s at, takes an Exertion Token and Searches L8, picking up a stack of "Vinyl Records" and an "Iron." She keeps the Iron, buries the Records and then spends a Rest Action to remove all of her Exertion. 

Laurie Searches again and retrieves a "Doll." Now intent on a different house, she moves four spaces to E22 (facing towards E21), Michael suddenly springs up out of nowhere on M8. Before he can attack, however, Lynda instinctively uses her Knitting Needles...scoring two hits! Michael strikes back with three dice..rolling one hit! He Attacks again...but not before Lynda whips out the Iron! This time she misses and Michael’s second slash causes another single hit!

TURN FIVE

Annie double moves to P19. 

Lynda double moves to L12 then Exerts to move one more space, ending up on M12 and facing west towards L12. 

Laurie double moves to I20, facing north towards I19.

Michael double moves to N12, putting him right behind Lynda. Since it's now the end of turn five, Michael draws one of his special power cards! 

TURN SIX

Annie Searches twice on P19, first discovering a "Frying Pan" and then the "Yellow Car Keys" this time! Awesome...all they need to do now is locate Tommy!   

By some miracle, Lynda moves away from Michael instead of turning towards him. She double moves, making it all the way to G10.

Laurie wriggles her way through the hedge (NOTE: check out the "Important Rules To Remember" section at the end of this play though) for an Action and then Exerts to move through the window, ending up on K21 and looking back outside onto J20!

Michael Pursues to I12 then Stalks to H10. 

TURN SEVEN

Annie goes out through the window from P19 to P20 and then Moves 4 spaces to Q21, facing towards the door to the west.

Lynda double moves all the way to D5 and then turns towards the door leading to D6.

Laurie uses the Doll to look at the top four items of the white house's Search Deck. Finding nothing new, she then Moves through the house, ending up on N19 and facing towards N18.

Michael double Pursues Lynda to E10 and then all the way to E6. 

TURN EIGHT

Knowing that the white house has been pretty much turned upside down, Annie double moves, joining Laurie in the hallway. Their goal: get to the barely-explored blue house!

Lynda Moves to C4 and Searches, Exerting to use her special ability to draw two cards. She keeps the "Bat" and buries the "Bullets."          

Laurie jogs past Annie, double moving a total of eight spaces, ending up on O12 and facing towards N12. 

Michael Stalks to D4 and then Attacks Lynda. But before that happens, P.J. swings her Bat at the Shape, connecting for a solid two hits! Michael counter-attacks, striking for two damage that TOTALLY kills his quarry. He then spends his free Action card to Heal one damage. 

Looking to ensure that “evil dies tonight” (and prevent a distant sequel from being killed by cringe), Dr. Loomis appears at space A12. 

TURN NINE

Annie double moves, ending up at L10 and facing down the street at K10. 

Loomis double moves to E8, facing towards E7. 

Laurie double moves to O8, Exerts to move one more space onto P8 and then faces west back to the space she just left.

Michael Infiltrates through the window at D3 and Pursues all the way over to I3. 

TURN TEN

Annie double moves to O5 and faces towards the door she just passed through.

Loomis moves, Exerts to push himself to G5 and then Searches, finding "Coffee." He then changes facing towards G6. 

Laurie Searches twice, finding "Blue Car Keys" and "Bed Sheets." 

Michael does a double Infiltrate, first passing through the hedge and then through the window at K3. He also picks up a brand new card.

TURN ELEVEN

Annie makes it to P4, faces towards the east door and then Searches, locating "Bandages." This puts her at her six-Item limit. 

Loomis Searches G5, locates a "Blanket" and then Exerts to reach G8, facing H8. 

Laurie double moves to L4, coming to rest facing M4. She has no clue that Michael is lurking in the room just a few spaces away!

Michael Stalks to M4 and (in an on-brand move) Attacks Laurie! Reflexively, Miss Strode clobbers him with her copy of Twilight Imperium. By some miracle, this doesn't kill him outright, he just flips his card to the "Staggered" side. Undeterred, Michael continues his assault, now rolling only two dice. Despite this handicap, he still manages to dial up two Knives! Yikes! Laurie would love to use her re-roll special ability, but unfortunately she’s capped out for Exertion. Monsieur Bogeyman then flips his Action card back to its "Ready" side. 

TURN TWELVE

Annie Searches and finds a "Coat Hanger" but immediately trashes it since she’s at her max capacity. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, she then runs screaming out of the house and ends up on R2, facing the direction she came from.

Loomis drinks his Coffee for a free Action and turfs his two Exert Tokens. He then searches G8 twice, finding "Bandages" and - WOOT!!! - "Tommy", who - I guess- decides to go with this slightly-less-creepy stranger! He immediately discards the Blanket to accommodate his hand limit. 

Burdened with three Exert tokens, Laurie is forced to Rest! She then Moves four spaces to L2, Exerts to move one more space (ending up on K2) and wisely looks back behind her. 

Michael Stalks to K3 and then Infiltrates through the window, ending up on J3.

TURN THIRTEEN

Knowing that Michael is uncomfortably close, Annie double Moves from R2 to R10, facing down the street towards Q10.

Hearing the screams coming from the blue house, Loomis Exerts twice to double move onto J11 and face north along the hedgerow. This reveals Michael on J3! 

With the Shape now revealed, Laurie runs in the opposite direction! She Exerts on her second Move to get to N8, glancing back over her shoulder towards N7 in an effort to keep tabs on her pursuer. 

Michael does indeed Pursue (in a straight line from J3 to J10)...but he's now intent on Loomis! He Attacks...but rolls all blanks! He then spends a card to re-roll a die, finally getting one Knife!

TURN FOURTEEN

Seeing the Shape lunge at Loomis, Annie bravely surges ahead four spaces, uses Matches to light up her Hair Spray...and promptly rolls only one measly Knife worth of damage! 

Loomis retreats four spaces to M10, facing towards Michael and guarding Annie! He then uses a Trade action to shot-put Tommy towards her in exchange for the Kitchen Knife.      

Laurie moves to N9 and spends her second action to hand the Blue Car Keys and Lindsey over to Annie, simultaneously swapping them for the Frying Pan and Bandages.  

Michael Pursues and Attacks Loomis, who Exerts to use the Kitchen Knife. Unfortunately, he blanks out! Michael is equally unlucky, scoring only one Knife hit on three dice! The good Doctor is still in it! The Shape ends his turn by scoring a new Myers card!

TURN FIFTEEN

Annie scrambles to P11 and unlocks the van, facing towards P12! 

Loomis is forced to reset his Exertion. He then unloads his revolver, rolling four dice in total thanks to his special ability. Unbelievably, he only scores a single hit!

Urged on by Annie, Laurie Exerts to move five spaces into the back of the van at O11. She then uses her second action to flush all of her Exertion. 

Michael does one final gambit, playing a card that lets him move an extra space! He breaks away from Loomis, moves to P12 and attacks Annie! Unfortunately he only scores one hit!

TURN SIXTEEN

Annie and Loomis use their actions to join Laurie in the van and drive off, leaving the Shape stewing in mute rage.  

***

IMPORTANT RULES TO REMEMBER

• As per the game rules, make sure you split the Search cards into four stacks and then seed one Key Item Card - the two car keys as well as Tommy and Lindsey - randomly somewhere in the bottom four cards. Full disclosure: I'm pretty sure I just shuffled and dealt all of the cards randomly into four piles for this play through. Whoopsie!
• Hedges are completely impassible to Victims...only Michael can pass through them!
• Myers Cards can't be spent on the turn you acquire them.   
• If Victims have three Exert tokens their next action must be a Rest.
• Every time a Victim causes damage to Michael, he is Staggered. 
• If Michael is Staggered, you can move through his space freely.
• Line of sight is only checked when facing is chosen at the end of Victim movement. 
• You can Attack through Doors and Windows. 
• There are three specific spaces on the Van and two on the Car that you can unlock and then enter. 
• Dead Victims place their Item cards back on the top or bottom of the Search deck in the quadrant they died in. 
• Refresh all of the Search Tokens in the house where the Victim died.
• Victims don't block LOS of each other.
• Only starting Victims begin the game on their co-ordinates. Replacement Victims start out either on A12 or R12.

***

REVIEW

PROS

• It makes sense! Whereas the rulebook for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was brief and kinda confusing, I felt like I could jump into this one right away without a lot of questions. Even though I did screw up a few things on my first play, I wasn't constantly rooting around in the manual to figure out how to resolve something.   
• It's tense! Sure, a hidden movement mechanic for this kind of game is a no-brainer, but it's the execution that impresses. At first I thought the rule where characters can only see in an orthogonal straight line right in front of them didn't make a lot of sense. But, as the game progressed, I realized that, not only was it easy to adjudicate, it was  also thematically relevant. Don't believe me? Just re-watch Halloween and take note of how dimly lit all of the rooms are, to the point where Michael just emerges out of the darkness like he's a part of it. This really amps up the game's tension. 
• It's quick! Turns fly by with no fuss or muss!
• It's faithful! The special abilities are all pretty solid. Annie can hold a bunch of crap, Loomis is a crack shot, Sheriff Bracket is a meat-shield, Laurie can off-set damage, Bob's a bit tougher in a fight and Lynda is a good searcher. With his ability to pass through windows and hedges like Homer Simpson and haul ass like the mama dinosaur in Raptor, Michael's in-game capabilities are equally well-realized. 
• It's moody! The board alone is a phreakin' work of art. The mats actually summarize player actions very nicely. Michael's hidden movement mark n' wipe board is a vast improvement over the wasteful ream of paper in Spectre Ops. Not only is it easy to use and clean up, it actually clarifies some "not-so-obvious" geographical elements on the game board. 
• It's adjustable! Props for the designers providing ways to tweak the difficulty for both the survivors and Michael. 
• It's genuinely co-operative! My play-though exemplifies how important it is to fan out, search thoroughly, protect each other and co-ordinate trades. 
• It's variable! With its big board filled with lots of challenging obstacles and lotsa  mechanically-clever items scattered all over the four locations, there's plenty to contend with in each match.  

Less CONS, more CON-cerns

• More plays will reveal just how punishing the Exertion system is for players. I can see characters like Laurie being constantly awash in the stuff, since she has to take a token whenever she wants to re-roll one of Michael's hits. Forcing fully exhausted characters to Rest before doing anything else also seems unnecessarily harsh. (UPDATE: after two more plays I think the Exertion is quite manageble) 
• Towards the end of the late, lamented Friday the 13'th online vidja game, the  councilor characters were so jacked up on perks that packs of them would often band together to "bully" the Jason player. I'm thinking that this might also be possible to do in this game, but I'm just speculating. At any rate, I'm hoping that the in-game Michael is sufficiently tough to the point where he won't become a laughing stock as he's poked with knitting needles, covered in percale sheets and then unceremoniously bludgeoned with a copy of Foundations of Rome. I mean, he's supposed to be Michael Myers...not friggin' Ghostface. (NOTE: after two more games I can safely say that this is definitely a concern. Sadly, the "Murder Myers" strategy is a very, very valid option, especially when compared to splitting up and painstakingly searching the four decks of cards. Having said that, there's nothing preventing Michael from vanishing for awhile, healing, performing quick "hit and run" attacks and anticipating where Victims will go next. Hell, feel free to run out the clock if you think the Victims won't find the cards they need to escape in time! A few more plays will be required before cranking Michael's Health Points to 14 or more.)  
• Even though I love the art design of the board and the characters, the item cards look kinda cartoony. Please note that's a very superficial complaint since the overall package is ridiculously slick. Also, I know this is petty, especially considering how amazing Nathan Milliner's art is, but the portrait of Michael on the cover looks like production designer Tommy Lee Wallace gave up half-way through converting a Shatner mask.    
• The standees are fine but this game really, really should have included the "sold separately" miniatures. 

***

FINAL THOUGHTS

With the release of Halloween, I think we may be entering a Golden Age for horror-themed board games. This particular title is what happens when a publisher has enough respect for the IP to hire a real game designer as well as a top-notch graphics teams to give both movie and gamer fans what they want and expect.

Halloween scores four pips out of six with a big ol' tilt up to the balcony that Mikey just fell off of. 

Oh, and if you're listening Trick or Treat studios...can you please do this one next?