Matthew BaileyToday marks the first of July, and that means we are going to start this year’s summer marathon. Last year I managed to review 56 games, and this year I am going for a nice round 60.
Before I begin, the slight theme of this year is going to be “then and now” as I’m going to finally get around to doing what I have been meaning to do for a year or so now and re-review some of the first games that I reviewed back in 2021. At the time, most of my reviews were a few lines and didn’t really do the games justice. As such, some of these are going to get re-reviewed this summer along with a mix of new releases, upcoming Kickstarters, prototypes, and whatever “new shiny” I see in a board game shop over the summer.
Without further ado, game 1# of the “Now & Then Summer Marathon 2024” is “Shadow Ninjas” by Outset Games.
“Shadow Ninjas” is a fun and simple hidden movement game where one player plays as the dog guards and up to four more players play as the cat ninjas. The dogs start in the pond and are going to be guarding the dojo against the cats. Each cat player takes their token and a number of other shadow tokens. Their cat token also has a shadow token on the back, and as the dog player looks away, all of the cat players place their shadow cats down into the starting location.
The game is fairly simple after this, with players taking turns to move using dice. The ninja players try to get their cats to one of the koi ponds while the dogs try to catch them. The brilliant part of this is that the dog player does not actually know which of these shadow cats is a real ninja and which are purely decoys. This is also enhanced by the fact that any player can move any token, and you are not limited to the tokens that you, as a player, put down on the board.
The game continues until either all the cats are caught or one of the cats reaches the koi pond.
This is a really simple game, but as a “my first hidden movement game,” this game truly excels. “Sniper Elite” is an excellent, slightly more complicated movement game. I would really recommend “Shadow Ninjas” as an entry to the genre; it is perfect in what it does.
The component quality is high, the board is really nice, and the phenol-based tokens feel nice to play with. The game also comes with a really nice cardboard insert, which is unusual and definitely adds to the theming of the game. The artwork on the front is a little odd and didn’t fill me with a lot of confidence, but once I actually played the game, I was really pleased by what it had to offer.
If you haven’t played a hidden movement game before, then this is an excellent one to get you and your children started and is a brilliant game to kick off our “Now & Then Summer Marathon 2024.”
Disclaimer – A copy of “Shadow Ninjas” was provided for the purposes of review by “Outset Media” via the “UK BG Review Circle.” All of our thoughts and opinions are our own.
