Battle Sheep is a modular game where players battle for control over pastures by moving stacks of sheep across the board in an attempt to block their opponents while avoiding getting blocked in themselves. Players begin with 16 sheep and a stack of 4 identical pasture tiles which will be used to build the play area. To start the game players take turns placing one of their pasture pieces next to the others, this allows the players to build the board in a way that is as easy or difficult as they wish and can lead to some very creative areas to navigate. Once all players have no moves to make the players count up how many pastures their sheep are on and the winner is the one with the most pastures.

 

Once all the tiles are placed player place their stack of 16 sheep on one of the outside edges of the map and the play begins. Each turn, players split their stack of sheep by leaving at least one sheep on the tile and moving at least one sheep in a straight line as far as it can (until it hits the end of the pastures or runs into another sheep). The game play is very straight forward and easy to learn for younger players with a suggested age of 7+ but offers enough complexity that it is still enjoyable for adults looking for a lighter game.

This game relies heavily on direct confrontation younger players (at least here) may feel this is an attack on them personally but after a moment of being upset they quickly got back into the game and learned to not be blocked so easily next time.

Overall this game is a definite keeper for us and our only regret is that it sat unplayed on the shelf for so long.

Wynken’s Thoughts:

I liked that you could move as many sheep as you wanted (while leaving one behind) but that you were able to split your sheep into many stacks and move them around the board. If you don’t watch your sheep closely you can get blocked and not be able to go anywhere, losing the game. If there is more than one sheep on a pasture it only counts as one sheep so if you get trapped you don’t get as many points.
10 Stars

Blynken’s Thoughts:

Battle Sheep is a fun game because you can trap people’s sheep and once they are blocked they are stuck there. I do not like that you have to leave one sheep behind when you go I wanted to be able to move all of my sheep. I like to make a line across the middle of the board so I can block everyone at once (Wynken says “Now I know what you’re going to do next time HAHAHA”). I want to play this game again!
10 Stars