Harrow County is a small, rural community, but that doesn’t mean it’s always quiet and peaceful. The truth is, this little town is haunted, and as the spirits grow more restless, it is best to keep your wits about you in order to stay safe. Some people protect the townsfolk of Harrow County, while others only live to try and destroy it. Will you choose one of their sides, or embody the Witch, Hester, herself, perhaps?

What Is It?

Asymmetric – Players can play as The Protectors, The Family, or Kammi (in a 2-player game). They can add the Witch, Hester, for a 3-player game. If they have the expansion, they can use the Fair Folk faction as the 3rd player, play a 2-player game against Hester, or play a 4-player game with Hester, and any of the other 2 factions. Each player has a different play style and some have different ways to win.

Route Building (Protectors/Family) – The Protectors are attempting to connect routes from the townsfolk to their home space in order to rescue them. The Family is trying to make a route of storm tiles in order to destroy buildings.

Pick-up and Deliver (Protectors) – The Protectors can move townsfolk through partial routes when possible in order to eventually move them back to their home tile

Bag Building (Family) – They are using action tokens to curate their available actions, and upgrade them in order to be able to have more powerful actions on their turns

Deduction (Fair Folk) – They are working to figure out where on the map their hidden items are

Movement Points – All players use movement points to get around the board to help them with their goals

Conflict – Cube Tower – Players can attack each other during the game to remove units from the board. They’ll use actions to add strengthen cubes to the battlefield and, when attacking, they will drop the cubes into the tower to determine if an attack is successful, then spend cubes to carry out that attack

King of the Hill – Players can attempt to control the brambles in the center of the board for a point each round

Who Is It For?

  • 1 to 4 Players – It’s primarily a 2-player game. The base game allows for solo or 3-players, and the expansion allows you to play with up to 4. I definitely think it works best at 2, personally. I thought the flow of the game was best at 2, and found 3 and 4 a little bit too long
  • Ages 14 & Up / Experienced Gamers – There is a lot of front-loading with this game as each player has their own set of rules in some ways so I wouldn’t recommend it to younger players, or those with less gaming experience. I think it is good to have some experience with asymmetric games in particular
  • Fans of asymmetry, player interaction, and certain mechanisms based on their faction
  • Players who don’t mind some randomness when it comes to combat

Variants / Expansions

Players can start with a very basic training game, which I think it a little too light if you’re fairly experienced gamer. It’s really introductory to just teach the basic actions of the Family and Protectors, but doesn’t give them full access to their mechanisms. In the full game players have more characters/abilities to choose from as well as a 3rd faction, Kammi, to play against either of the other 2. Players will be able to be more strategic, using things like their upgrade/tactic cards to assist their main actions. The full game definitely had more “oomph” and it felt more interesting for sure.

If players want to try a 3 player game, someone can take on the role of Hester. I thought this character was very complex, so it’s definitely good for someone who is familiar with the game to play her. I think she is an interesting character who can really mess with the other players, so if you like that type of interaction, you might go for Hester. You can also play as Hester in solo mode, which can be a good way to learn her character before trying it in a multiplayer game. For me, I thought that solo had just a bit too much upkeep, and was a little too long.

The Fair Folk Expansion gives players a different option for 2/3/4 players, depending on which other character(s) are played. The Fair Folk kind of play their own game alongside the others. They are trying to deduce where their hidden items are, which are marked by one of the other players on a sheet, and while other players can interact with their offers, the Fair Folk don’t have haints that can be killed, or other visual elements on the board that can be messed with, so they just need to focus on the deduction more than things like attacking or blocking paths like other factions. I really enjoyed playing as them because of that less chaotic play style, but if you’re big on player interaction, you probably will want to pass on them yourself.

PROS

  • Aesthetics – Great art, and overall spooky vibes
  • Components – I did play with the deluxe game, keep in mind, but I have to comment on the great wooden and plastic components and the convenient trays to store everything for each player
  • Tree Cube Tower – Definitely a bit gimmicky, but really fun that the tower is built into the box
    • Combat is simple and snappy which I like because I think combat can often be clunky in these sort of games
  • Smooth Turns and a lot of options for players on each turn, even as they use up the mason jars; it always felt like there were good choices to make
  • Theme is spooky and interesting
  • I like how different the factions feel, it can feel like a very different game every time, which is neat

CONS

  • Rules are not amazing. I did read the updated rulebook which is better than the one in the box, but it just came down to their being a ton of information right off the bat that is kind of hard to parse through until you get to playing, in my opinion
  • Randomness of combat could be frustrating at times. Even if you have more cubes to begin with, it doesn’t guarantee a successful attack
  • While I liked the Fair Folk myself, they did feel kind of “removed” from the main gameplay, so I can definitely see some people really disliking them
  • I thought solo had too much upkeep and 3-4 player games ran far too long

Final Thoughts

The game definitely has a cool theme, and fun gameplay. I thought it was a little rocky to get into, but once you get past the heavy upfront rules for all the different characters, it’s really not too difficult of a game. Once players learn their roles, turns are fairly swift and smooth. And although combat can have some luck and randomness, I definitely appreciate how easy it is to resolve.

I think if you like asymmetric games, and want something with a spooky vibe, this is a great choice. If you struggle with asymmetric roles, or don’t like them, then this might not be the right choice for you. But overall, it’s certainly a solid game!

Additional Information:
My Final Rating – 7/10

Designers – Jay Cormier, Shad
Artist – Tyler Crook
Publisher – Off the Page Games
MSRP – $65.00 (Retail); $99.00 (Deluxe);
$15.00 (Fair Folk Expansion)
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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