October 2014 Games of the Week

By Margaret Duncan, Ed.D.

The Histocrats support the idea of incorporating board-games into your personal life as well as in the classroom.  As such, we support and participate in a local board-gaming group.  Any and all board-game enthusiasts are welcome to join the Game Nights that are held every first and third Friday night of the month.  As part of our gaming group initiative, we also recommend history centric games that are fun to play each week to all of our followers.  The selected games receive our “Game of the Week” distinction.  Recommended games are a mix of cooperative, card games, as well Euro style games.

Council of Verona, Crash Games
In Council of Verona, players take on the role of influential citizens of Verona and act to use their influence to either add characters to the council or cast them into exile. Through thoughtful hand management of their cards and clever placement of influence tokens, players gain victory points based upon the agendas of the characters at the end of the game. The player with the most victory points wins!  We've all heard the story of Romeo and Juliet - now is your chance to steer the story and determine who will rule Verona once and for all!


The Downfall of Pompeii Board Game, MayFair Games
Can you escape the inferno? It's the year of the Consulship of Augustus and Vespasianus. The rich, beautiful Roman city of Pompeii sits at the foot of majestic Mount Vesuvius. Renowned for exotic, easy and ample luxury, the wealthy town attracts the best of Rome's proud citizens. But a terrible secret lies deep beneath the slopes of the mighty mountain. A primeval secret is about to unleash unspeakable horrors on this fateful afternoon. The mountain, so very long asleep, is finally reawakening. Come to beautiful Pompeii. Use your cards to attract your Roman friends and relatives to visit select sites. But beware. The dreaded Vesuvius card means the mountain is awake, spewing fiery lava onto the unsuspecting city. Now you must struggle to get your compatriots out of the doomed town before they are engulfed. Rushing to avoid lava flows, your people must flee before Vesuvius explodes and ash seals their fate. Lead the most survivors to safety and you win.


Guillotine, Wizards of the Coast
The revolutionary card game where you win by getting a head. This irreverent and humorous card game takes place during the French Revolution. Players represent rival guillotine operators vying for the best collection of noble heads over three rounds. Each round twelve nobles are lined up for the guillotine. The nobles are worth varying points depending on their notoriety. During your turn you play action cards to change the order of the line so you can collect the best nobles. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins. Will you be skillful enough to bribe the guards to collect Marie Antoinette? Or will you lose points for beheading the Hero of the People? Heads are going to roll!




Sheriff of Nottingham, Arcane Wonders
In Sheriff of Nottingham, players will take turns stepping into the shoes of the Sheriff himself, while others act as Merchants attempting to bring their goods into the city for profit! Beware though, while many may act as honest merchants, there is always the possibility of contraband being smuggled into the city!






*All product descriptions are from the manufacturer.