Harrowed Halls

If you have Claustrophobia (the game, not the phobia itself) then you know it’s a game about tactical survival in underground catacombs. I’m sure it will get compared to Descent, but it’s a different game that stands on its own. Claustrophobia is a two-player game where one player is evil and the other runs all of the heroes. “Heroes” is a strong word, since most of them are condemned criminals. Only one of the heroes is not a criminal, he is called the Redeemer. The back drop for Claustrophobia is that it is set in the world of Hell Dorado and takes place in the tunnels under New Jerusalem. The idea is to cleanse the tunnels of its devils and monsters. Each game is a specific, pre-defined scenario. (Later, experienced players can bid to create a more free-flow game.) The idea is that the heroes are in the catacombs and must make their way to the exit tunnel.

In our game, Mike naturally played the evil character, while I had four heroes (naturally). We were playing the first scenario which has a pre-defined number of tiles that need to be explored before reaching the exit. At first things were going well for my trusty band of heroes. We slaughtered troglodytes, and even one devil, like no tomorrow. But as we began the second half of the game the winds of fate suddenly changed. One of my heroes became badly wounded, and darn if Mike didn’t try to kill him again and again. Eventually he did….kill him. About that same time my first hero escaped the catacombs. I only needed two to escape Evil Mike’s clutches to win. Unfortunately the rest where straggling behind and beset by troglodytes. I suddenly went from looking at a confident win to staring at a disaster as Evil Mike killed each remaining hero in succession. No!

Claustrophobia is a fun, two-player game. It has a good amount of replay-ability and only takes about an hour to play if everyone knows the rules. Mike and I’s first game, including going over all the rules, lasted about two hours.

Tonight we play Battlestar Galactica…if I get the 32-page rulebook read.

Chaos Steve